You’ve got an idea for a retail website, one that will sell a lot of products and could make a lot of money. But how do you go about building it? Where do you start and how do you do it right? Here are three things you need to consider.
Ease of Use
Customers want to be able to navigate your website without getting tripped up by any of the tabs or categories in the navigation bar. If you have a clothing website, for example, you don’t want to keep pants and skirts under the jeans tab. They may fall under the branching category of ‘bottoms’, but they need to have their own page as well. Labeling tabs like this can mean a world of annoyance for any customer using the website. It makes it a lot more likely they will click away and find a company with a better, user-friendly design.
Make sure you have a search function present on your retail website as well. If people are looking for something specific, and they know what they want, they will be able to go straight to their product with a simple search term. I have been on sites where there was no way to search for what I wanted and after a while, I gave up looking.
A Chat Support Option
Chat support is something both you and your customers will find useful. When customers can simply open up a message box at the bottom of the screen, type in a query, and get a real human being to answer right away, they are more inclined to buy from you. They are able to have their problem solved and you can also recommend other products that would interest them. As the business owner, you keep your brand reputation up by creating satisfied customers.
Companies like Alexssa Enterprises can offer both in office IT support and act as real-time support for any customers having issues with your website. If both your employees and the IT service you have on hire can be easily reached, problems can be resolved within minutes. This will ensure your website works with few disruptions, which means a lot more profit for you!
A Domain Name
You want to select the right domain name so customers can recognize you right off the bat. After all, your brand is something you want to broadcast to the world. The people who want to shop with you will recognize your brand name whenever and wherever they see it. Since you have such a user-friendly site and respond to customer inquiries quickly, they will refer others to your site growing your customer base.
When you know the domain name you would like to have, don’t wait. Go ahead and buy your domain name as soon as possible. This way, no one will be able to buy it out from right underneath you. A lot of scams exist online, and so do quite a few impersonators, so lock down your business name now.
When marketing your product include the link to your retail website so potential customers don’t have to search for it. If they have to search for it, they may actually find another company offering a similar product before they find you.
Building a successful retail website takes a lot of time and effort. You can find out more about how to get started in “Five Top Tips For Starting Your Online Store”. Despite the time and effort, once you begin to generate sales and profit, it will be well worth it. Here’s to YOUR success!
Carolyn R. Owens has over 25 years of proven experience and serves as a Career Strategist, Leadership and Life Coach. She is the Chairwoman and CEO of Infinity Coaching, Inc. where they help you up-level your skills so you can up-level your income. Infinity Coaching, Inc. provides one-on-one and group coaching, organizational training, and personality assessments. Carolyn is certified to give both The Energy Leadership Index Assessment and Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Assessment. You can find out more about both assessments and other products and services at https://infinitycoaching.net.
