Are you counting the days till Christmas? Does the holiday season mean anything to your business? If your answer is yes, then probably you have done your share of research on ecommerce solutions to improve the Yuletide appeal of your online store. Days are coming by fast and merchants are soon ringing the proverbial cash registers for end-of-the-year profit. If you're running out of time and need a quick fix before online shoppers hit the checkout line, make sure you got four essential elements of your ecommerce store decked out!
ECOMMERCE WEB HOSTING
Online merchants are usually attacked during the holiday shopping deluge on their weakest point. They may be well equipped with an ecommerce merchant account, efficient shopping cart, a wacky website design, and all the caboodle but when traffic picks up, their stores can't handle it anymore. You, however, can:
- Test your ecommerce store for maximum traffic and fastest loading times it can handle.
- Make sure the bandwidth is sufficient and your store doesn't completely depend on your server.
- Have your store open 24/7 -- customer service and all.
ECOMMERCE WEB SITE DESIGN
Just as you would in a flea market, the more attractively you present your goods on display, the more online visitors are likely to buy. Excellent design means good taste and convenience. You may have your site dolled up with Flash and high-res images but if it took five minutes for a BCBG dress in a different color to load, forget it. Your ecommerce solution should be to:
- Spruce up your site with attractive but fast loading images
- Put categories for gender, age, interests, etc.
- Emphasize the discounts and freebies. (Ex. free shipping)
ECOMMERCE SHOPPING CART
'Nuff said about shopping cart abandonment. Even though a lot of ecommerce solution experts have discussed preventive measures, people inevitably find a way to quit shopping on an ecommerce store halfway. If you're smarter, you should look at the essential details that your customers need such as:
- Shipping schedule, cutoff dates, deadline for ordering
- Product page information: price, shipping, availability
- Policies and payment methods you accept
ECOMMERCE MERCHANT ACCOUNT/CREDIT CARD PROCESSING
As my conclusion draws near, you probably would have noticed that all the elements in the truly prepped holiday ecommerce store are related to each other. Your web design meshes with your hosting capabilities; your shopping cart is tied up to your ecommerce merchant account features. Your ecommerce solution to getting people to finally reach past the checkout line requires you to:
- Offer alternative payment methods other than credit card
- Take into account real time reporting and statements
- Make sure your credit card processing system is secure from fraud
There are more ecommerce solutions than I have covered in this article so keep on reading for my updates!
