E-Commerce Platforms
General context
The globalization of the markets for products and services and the expansion of modern means of communication have provided small businesses with a particularly effective means of promoting their sales: the e-commerce.
In this article, we expose the handling of this kind of projects on the technical and administrative scales.
What features?
Knowledge of the products and services marketed by the Company is essential to avoid unforeseen events during implementation. To this end, the products are structured into various categories according to their attributes(weight, volume, color, size, ingredients, etc.).
A set of "catalogs" present product listings by providing filtering and search functionality.
The "basket" is a key component of the e-commerce site since it saves the visitor's shopping list for the duration of the session and it is by validating this list that the customer goes to the stage of "ordering".
It is through this phase that the customer provides his personal data and chooses the appropriate method of payment. It is important to point out at this level that the main payment brokers (visa, mastercard, paypal ...) provide e-commerce sites with easily integrable secure components that manage payment transactions from end to end.
Once the order has been placed and paid, the back office sends the necessary notifications to managers to deliver the order to the address previously communicated. A dashboard allows them to monitor the progress and completion of each order.
Details that make the difference
In addition to the basic functionality for e-commerce, there are certain aspects, although auxilliary, but which can impact sales.
The first is the trust factor. Indeed, in a context of small businesses, it is important to build a bond of trust with your virtual customer. This can be through highlighting the employees through their photos and their own contact. Images of the actual store are also a guarantee of reliable and available customer service.
Allowing visitors' comments and interacting with them helps reassure other users of the quality of products and services.
In addition to the "Confidence" factor, it is important to underline the "Expertise" aspect of the company. Indeed, some customers does not only settle for the commercial aspects but require a detailed knowledge on the side of the seller, of the products he markets. For example, for an online dietary supplements site, it is necessary to provide general articles which deal with the role of vitamins for each function of the organism.
Finally, it is recommended for an e-commerce site to take into account the local specifics of its Customers. This may result in an adaptation of the rates in several currencies by automatically detecting the geographical origin of the Customer or by editing the site in several languages.
To move further on
With lower deployment costs than actual stores and often higher revenues, e-commerce sites are the future of small businesses. Contacting us is probably the first step on your path to online success.
