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The online retail industry has experienced an incredible surge in popularity in the past couple of years. During the pandemic, shopping online became pretty much the only way for consumers to purchase goods. This change in consumer behavior led to the industry thriving and experiencing unprecedented growth. The growth in sales caused by the pandemic is not expected to slow down anytime soon; in fact, it is suggested that sales could reach record levels. According to the Adobe Digital Economy Index, the pandemic has permanently accelerated the growth of the online shopping sector. Adobe predicts that the US is on course to achieve its first year of $1 trillion spent online in 2022.
While the demand for online retail is clearly high, there has also been an increase in the number of e-commerce stores opening. This means that e-commerce store owners face fierce competition and will need to work hard to attract customers to their sites. If you are hoping to get in on the action and start an e-commerce store, it is crucial to get as prepared as possible before you launch. In such a competitive industry, you need to do all you can to give your store the best chance of succeeding. Here are some suggestions to ensure your e-commerce store gets off to a positive start and to help it continue to thrive:
Choose the Best Platform
One of the first things to do before launching is to decide on the best e-commerce platform to host your store. Choosing a platform to host your e-commerce store is crucial as it will influence its success. There are a few different options to select from when deciding which platform is best suited to your business. Popular e-commerce platforms like Big Cartel or Shopify could be your best bet as these are both established names in the industry. As your choice of e-commerce platform will have such a strong influence on your site and how it is run, it is essential to compare the different options rather than committing to the first one you come across.
When selecting your e-commerce platform, you will need to consider factors such as the cost of the different plans offered by the platform, how much support you get, and which extra features the platform provides. For example, you may want a platform that enables you to use a custom domain name for your business site, or you may want real-time stats so you can continually monitor your store’s performance. Weighing up which features will benefit you the most and which you won’t need is the best way to make sure you don’t pay more than you need to.
Work on Your SEO
Perfecting your search engine optimization is essential to ensure your site gets noticed and you receive plenty of visitors. As the e-commerce world is pretty crowded, anything you can do to help your site rank highly on the search results is worth doing. Optimizing your site should help you see an increase in your site visitors and hopefully an increase in sales to match. It is crucial to remember that how effectively your site can be optimized will be determined by the e-commerce platform that you choose. Some platforms come with a whole host of SEO-friendly features. In contrast, others may have fewer optimization opportunities, so this is an additional factor to consider when selecting a platform.
Improve Your Content
Following on from the importance of SEO, it is essential that you take great care when creating content to ensure that it is both relevant and of the highest standard. If you can add a blog to your online store, this is a positive move as it will help you improve your SEO and also make your store more engaging for your customers. Creating high-quality content adds greater depth and personality to your store and encourages visitors to return regularly.
As well as including a blog on your site, it is vital to ensure every piece of content is of the highest standard. This is especially true of your product listings. The better your product descriptions and the clearer the product images, the more likely it is your visitors will make a purchase. When shopping online, customers are dependent on the product description and pictures to inform their purchase decisions as they cannot physically see the items in person. So, the better your product descriptions and the clearer your images, the more likely you will be to convert site visitors into customers.
