With global ecommerce sales forecast to increase by 19% in 2020, now’s the time to start taking your online marketing plan seriously - optimising your website and company logistics alike for the hungry and highly competitive consumer market that awaits. No matter how well your existing business is doing or how young your startup is, looking towards upscaling your ecommerce capabilities and increasing your profitability as a result should be the logical next step for any online retailer.
In this article, we’re detailing 3 crucial considerations to take into account when upscaling your online business. From recalibrating your digital marketing strategies to increasing your shipping capabilities to keep up with increasing - perhaps even global - demand, we’re offering actionable advice to ensure your ecommerce business is built on the right foundations to realise its growth potential.
Pay attention to user experience
Simply having an ecommerce store isn’t enough to convert customers - especially not in crowded online marketplaces. Besides ultimately appearing untrustworthy, a poorly designed online store - with such symptoms as confusing navigation, difficult-to-read content and slow page speed - could also impact a user’s ability to interact with it, and therefore buy through it. As such, in order to maximise your profitability potential, it’s crucial that you optimise your website with user experience (UX) in mind.
To do this, you need to make sure your products are housed in clear categories which are easy to navigate with a single click of a mouse, or tap of a finger - which brings us onto our next point…
With studies showing that 49% of website traffic now comes from mobile devices, it’s crucial that your website is quick, responsive and easy to use on all of the following devices categories: mobile, desktop and tablet. Minimalism is key here, so ensure your design is clean and simple to ensure users can find what they’re looking for with minimal disruption.
Consider your content
True in all aspects of life, communication is key. So, when it comes to effectively communicating your brand and products to your audience through a screen, looking to optimise your content should be one of the first things on your list. After all, content marketing is a powerful medium for convincing those already on your site to invest in your products or services, but content that’s optimised in line with search engine criteria in a natural and sophisticated way will also help you to reach previously untapped audiences.
Whether you decide to hire content marketing specialists who’ll conduct all of the necessary keyword and audience research to create content that will attract genuine potential customers, or you choose to carry this out yourself, a focus on giving users what they’re looking for is key. Identifying core keywords and creating content that incorporates these terms in logical, natural ways should be your first port of call when looking to reach a large audience and upscale your business in the long term.
Think about your logistics strategy
It’s all well and good actively seeking out new customers and optimising your online store in line with your preferred demographic, but, without considering your shipping and logistics strategy ahead of this increased demand, you could see your brand’s reputation take a hit as quickly as it began to see success.
To combat this, it’s important for small and growing businesses to find the best shipping and transportation companies to help them meet this demand as, ultimately, by planning in advance, you can rest assured your logistics strategy will complement your online strategy to ensure complete customer satisfaction from start to finish.
When preparing to take the next steps towards upscaling your online business, there are a number of crucial considerations to bear in mind to maximise your chances of success. We hope the above insights will provide the base you need to create a sustainable ecommerce strategy that will not only enhance the user experience, but also leave your business prepared to deal with their increased custom.
