Allow space for customer reviews

Often, ecommerce businesses tend to overlook one of the most potent tools by which they can enhance their value. One may have the best design and the best features for the online shopper, but there is perhaps no tool that is as powerful as customer reviews. It is simple common sense that nothing makes a product sell better than a good testimonial.

Why offer customer reviews?

The most important use of reviews is that they build confidence about the product. Undoubtedly, at this, there is no better means for a product to be seen and sold. There is no denying that the most creative ads may not go as far as user reviews in pushing the sale of a product.

Customer reviews are a good way of populating a website with valuable content. By allowing customer reviews, an online business allows free discussion of its products. This is something that never happens in a physical store, because there, a product never gets discussed about in forums.

Reviews aid improvement in the product. As a seller and not a creator of products or services, an ecommerce business has limited control over the quality of the product. It only receives from one source and sells to another. Discussion about the product from its users goes a long way in improving the quality of the product, because the online business can use these discussions as proof that the product is not being well received and present it to the manufacturer. This contributes to betterment.

The way to get them

Having understood the importance of user reviews, the next step that ecommerce businesses should undertake is ways by which they can get these. Getting reviews may be great for ebusinesses, but getting users to give their opinion is a great challenge. The simple reason for this is that the customer has no gain in doing this. So, ebusinesses should induce them to do this. They can reward them for writing reviews. Of course, this is a bit like offering a bribe; but when directed properly, it can work.

Think of variety

The reward can be given in intuitive and different ways. For instance, an ecommerce business may offer incentives or discounts on the purchases made by reviewers. An ecommerce business can also think of enlisting consistent reviewers to an elite panel of select users, which will be entitled to special packages. Ecommerce businesses should also be sportive when it comes to negative reviews. It should treat these as means for improvement.

Using simple commonsense in the ecommerce website

Ok, so you have been in ecommerce for a while now and know what the business is all about. You started the business with a lot of fanfare and enthusiasm, but a few months later, you are discovering that it is not delivering what you expected. There can bemany reasons for which your ecommerce business may not be fulfilling your expectations, but have you thought of the most important element for success –common sense?
Using common sense at every level
Don’t get us wrong –many ecommerce businesses do their best, but fail to use their intuition where it matters most. The grandest design or the most attractive layout may not amount to much if the website does not give what the customer is looking for. So, what is it that is common sense for a website? This can be in every area and section of the website. An imaginary scenario is listed below:
Make the customer feel at home
For example, you could think of what is it that the customer looks for when shopping: Is a product available right now, or is it out of stock? If it is; when are you expecting stocks? When the customer clicks on the product, just have an auto responder mail saying something like: “Thank you, dear…We are glad you visited our site. Congratulations for selecting this product. Unfortunately, at this point of time, we do not have your chosen product. We will be able to deliver it in the next two weeks. In the meantime, you could confirm your order by taking these next few simple steps. We will deliver your product as soon as the next batch of stocks arrives. We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience”. These are seemingly very small matters, but are critical for success. This gives the customer the impression that she is not shopping with a zombie, but with an interactive website that understands her choices well.
Guide thoroughly
Another area in which common sense can be used is in making a simple tab under each product, stating whether it is available in the physical store alone or is available online, or both. And this information has to be placed in a prominent place, or else the customer can get frustrated to make a few clicks through and then, at the time of making the purchase, finds that it is not available under her chosen mode of purchase. This scenario of course, will not arise if the business has only an online presence.
Imagine yourself being the customer
Common sense is the root to successful business. This can be brought about when the business stands in the customer’s shoes and tries to understand what appeals to her and what does not. If you were visiting an ecommerce website; what is the kind of experience you would like to enjoy? This will be a good way to measure up how you are as a business.

Product descriptions are the key to a sale

This seems like the most obvious of questions. It is like askingwhat you go to a school for. Yet, the answer is not so simple. Getting to the bottom of what a customer is looking for is the key to business success. The difficulty in getting to this question is that in ecommerce; you don’t know who your customer is. Yes, you have a pretty good idea of what to place on your website, but just what the customer is looking for is often difficult to understand and zero in on.
Make the customer interested
When a visitor comes to your ecommerce website, getting her interested in your site is the most important aspect. When she gets the product she is looking for; you are still not certain if the sale is going to go ahead. Why? Because your product description may not be fully adequate! Sounds simple, but most shoppers get turned away from an ecommerce site because of lack of proper product description.
Getting the customer to understand the product
The product display is important, but does not in itself lead to a sale. Imagine if a visitor is looking for a water bottle. A photo of the water bottle, colours available and size would probably do. But if a customer is looking for a more expansive product like, say a shirt. Then, what would a display and a small description of the product be sufficient to warrant a purchase? This is doubtful.
Tell more
When does a product get sold? Only when the customer understands it very well, right? This is where a more detailed, yet pertinent description would come into the picture. To use the example we just looked at, imagine if these descriptions were added to the shirt under the picture:
Size: Mention the size of the shirt, and with it, include the height and weight of the person on whom it sits well.
Colour: The colour is there to see; but give a small description of the kind of body structure and build it suits well.
Occasion: Make a small note of the occasions for which this shirt is well suited. Ex: Party; office; travel, etc.
Varieties: Variety consists of not just a huge number of shirts. In this instance, it could mean having images of what it looks like when it is tucked inside the trousers or left outside, or what it would look like when worn over jeans pants or formal trousers. Follow it up with small and effective descriptions of each.
This way, proper descriptions of the product can go a long way in making the customer’s decision making easier.

Inducing customers to buy more from your e-store

Any customer is driven by one motivation –to get more. An ecommerce business should also be driven by the same motivation –to get more. Isn’t this some kind of oxymoron? How do you get more when the customer demands more? Here lies the key: Make the customer buy more, while giving her the feeling that she is being forced to buy that little extra. All that is needed is intuitive thinking. When a customer comes to your site, the trick is to make her buy more, in the process of which you get more from her.
Entice with related products
The essence of any good business is to make the customer happy. How does this happen in an ecommerce business, when you don’t even see your customer? Agreed; you don’t see her, but can sense and track her tastes and preferences. This is the first step to making the customer buy more. Once you have some idea of what the customer is looking for during a visit; subtly and slowly introducing related products is not much of a problem.
Making the customer feel good
This kind of selling is similar to what a smart salesman offers you when you go to buy something like clothing items.When you want to see shirts, the salesman would make you feel comfortable by showing all the colours and designs of the shirt you are looking for. And then, without your being made to realise it, he would introduce a ‘just arrived’ range of ties. Who would not like to try an additional item like this? Even as you are settling for the tie, the next item you are going to fall for is a range of imported belts. And in the entire process; what was bolstered was not just the sale value, but your ego as well. Note the bottom line –the lesser you wanted; the more you ended up buying. And the salesman was nowhere being pushy or obtrusive. This is how ecommerce businesses also need to work to push up sales from one purchase.
The more you know the customer; the better
All this can happen only in one situation –when you have known your customer. When you start analysing a customer’s likes; it means you have got a good idea of what supplementary products to offer. Using the imaginary example provided above, a good ecommerce business can introduce various novel ways by which to induce more buying. It can come up with catchy write ups on the cart once one product is purchased, like “Want to try…?” You can also bait the customer with offers on these appendages. This is one effective way of getting the most out of a customer. Any day, it is much easier to juice an existing customer than to go in search of a new one!

Getting customers to trust your e-business

Trust forever the fact that when it comes to building a business; nothing works like trust. Trust is the foundation of a great business. It is just what drives your business, no matter how much you may have invested into it and no matter how organised and smart you are. Why should an ecommerce business earn it, and how does it earn it?
The importance of trust
No celebrity can drive a brand as effectively as a satisfied customer. This is the ultimate testimonial for a product, and is what may be considered the gospel truth about it. It is this word-of-mouth that is the ultimate seller of the product. No tool is as effective as a good referral. There are obvious reasons for which we would want to buy a user-recommended product rather than one endorsed artificially by a celebrity who is doing it for no reason other than for being paid to do so. The referral from an actual user is like the wisdom that flows from the horse’s mouth. It is something like: “Hey, I have been there and tried it and know it works. Why don’t you try too?”
Special for ecommerce!
While a good word of mouth recommendation is a great thing for any business; it is the final stamp of the quality of your business, when you can earn it doing an ecommerce business. If a customer who does not see you and has not interacted with you can recommend you, it means you know your onions! If you have already earned the rare honour of being recommended by your online visitors, keep up the work. If you have not and want to, remember that there is only one mantra: Quality!
All about quality service
Ecommerce is all about service. Service is more important than the product you sell on your site, no matter how good the products you sell are. It is only this quality that endears you to your faceless customer. Offer them the best you have, and in every sense, and there is no reason for them not to recommend you to their acquaintances.
Give them the opportunity to rate you
This is an important element of your ecommerce website. It should have a section on which you can let them air their views. And this should be a genuine one, upon which you should have no influence. This sounds risky for those who are not confident about their business; but not for those who are. By giving your customers the opportunity to tell what they feel about your product or service and depriving yourself the option of editing or excising it; you are showing that you have the ability to dare! And nothing drives your ecommerce business better than this.

Personalisation in ecommerce

Personalisation in ecommerce has been a highly debated and discussed area. Its genesis can be traced very nearly to the start of ecommerce itself. With the growth of this industry, personalisation grew, too. Today, personalisation is talked about as one of the most important components of ecommerce email marketing success.
Know your customer!
Well, knowing your customer is as important for your business as knowledge of the subject is for the teacher. But remember that this is all the more important in e-commerce, because unlike in the brick and mortar kind of business in which you can see the customer face to face and enquire as to her specific needs; here, you have the faceless customer who drops in and goes out. Getting the customer to stay on the site and purchase is the real challenge in ecommerce.
When a customer enters a website, what is it that is most likely to hold her attention? Of course, the product. But which product does she stay on the website for? This is the key to answering why personalisation is so important. When a woman in her 20’s visits your website and the first display is of an after shave lotion, does that make sense? Similarly, if your ecommerce website offers a glut of products that thevisitor has no interest for; you can be certain that you have lost a potential customer. But then, how do you know that the customer is a 20’s female? This is where personalisation comes into the picture.
Ways of personalisation
The high level of growth in the ecommerce industry can be traced to several factors, one of the most important of which is personalisation. Personalisation has now grown into much more than a customised “Dear Ms Sara”.Of course, personalising the email to the exact customer is an important aspect, but there is more to personalisation than just addressing the customer by name.
Segmentation
The most important purpose of personalisation is served when the customer who is looking for X product is led to X product and not to Y or Z products. This can be arrived at by properly classifying your visitor into a group based on the demographic data she has provided at the time of registering on your website. Market research professionals can help get a proper slot of the visitor. Once the visitor gets to see products that more or less match her needs, you can rest assured that she is not going to leave your site in a hurry.

Getting the basics of email marketing right

It is surprising that although email marketing is inseparable from ecommerce and is its driving force; there are ecommerce businesses that commit fundamental blunders in their email marketing. It always pays toget the basics right, whether it is someone who has been there for a while and knows the ropes or is a new entrant.
Follow your customers!
The old adage, “the way to a man’s heart is through the stomach” can be paraphrased to “the way to the customer’s mind is through the website”. The business has to make a habit of consistently tracking the customer no end. When the website fails in this; it goes out of the customer’s mind. When this happens, it is the end of the relationship with that customer. How does an ecommerce website remain in the customer’s mind, when she visits hundreds of similar sites? This happens only when the ecommerce business is in constant touch with visitors and customers.
Simple mails do the trick
Wouldn’t we greet a person who pays us a visit? This is just what is needed when a visitor comes to your ecommerce website. Just a simple and sincere “hello…thank you for passing by” after she leaves the website is a great welcome message.This is the first step to making the visitor feel at home with your website. Here, the business doesn’t need to go overboard. It can be to the point, rather than trying to promote itself at the first instance.
Following up
When a customer fails to complete a sale, it is a case of cart abandonment. Finding out the reason is not the easiest of things to do, because it can happen for a variety of reasons. To get to the root of the problem, just mail the visitor and politely ask what she expected and did not get from the site. One way of trying to get the customer back into the website is by offering an incentive for buying what she wanted to but did not. Of course, the ecommerce business can use its discretion and offer a discount with some conditions. This will act as a bait to get the abandoner back.
Stay in touch
Remember that any ecommerce business can think of being successful only when it is in the minds of its customers. This can happen when the business shows its customers that it is interested in them. There are some shoppers who register for updates and don’t turn up for some time. When you notice such a gap, you can write to them asking them why there have been no visits from them. When they still show no interest, you can assume that they are just casual visitors and can remove them from your mailing list. When a visitor is bombarded with unsolicited communication, you can be sure they are trashing your mails. So, be selective in sending out mails.

Words to avoid at promotions

A promotion is a sure-fire way of attracting customers to your ecommerce website. Promotions are usually occasional and don’t happen on a daily basis. The aim is to push a few products at a particular time of the year when customers are more likely to buy. While this is the primary aim; a promotion is also a way of making customers come back for more from time to time. Given that these are the twin intentions of a promotion, some care needs to be taken in the choice of words. Some words can have a magnetic effect on customers, while others would turn them off. Research has shown that a few words or expressions tend to be viewed unfavourably by the customer.
Pompous words!
Always remember that an ecommerce website is meant for selling products, and is not a place for showing off the depth of its vocabulary. For a creative person who may have spent a good deal of her career honing her writing skills, it is always difficult to suppress the urge to write creatively. But note the major difference –writing creatively is different from writing pompously. An ecommerce website is usually global and hence caters to customers who are from all parts of the world, many of whom are not native English speakers. Writing high-sounding, grandiloquent terms could deterthem from buying from the website. Keeping it simple and straight is the way to go.
Roundabout expressions
Selling a product does not need too muchmore detail than is necessary to make the visitor understand what the product is about. About the only information any visitor to an ecommerce website expects is what the product is about, and how it could help her.Anything more than that is not likely to make the customer any closer to the purchase. It is well known that web viewers’ attention span is much limited compared to that of readers of print. So, the faster you come to the point, the better.
A few must-avoid terms
A promotion is meant to attract as much as possible. There are some words that are known to be catchier than others. Try to model your promotions on these words and try to avoid some that are known to act as repellent factors. Some of the words any promotion must avoid to avoid being turned away are:
“No obligation”: This gives the impression that there is some hidden bait.
“Sign in”: This could scare a customer away because she might think that signing is a way of pulling her to the purchase.
“Deal”: When you use this word, this is likely to give the customer the impression that there is something deceptive about the whole sale.
“Buy today”: This, along with the related expression, “buy now”, can be quite a put-off. These expressions are almost like demanding the customer to buy.

Ways of getting seen on Amazon

For an ecommerce business, selling on eBay and Amazon is the shortcut for reaching out to nearly 300 million potential buyers, at least a tenth of whom are from the UK. When your ecommerce business can help you get across to such a huge marketplace from where you are seated; it is an opportunity that cannot be missed. But how does one make sure that the product you are going to place there among hundreds of others gets noticed? Keeping a few thumb rules in mind could go some way in helping your product crawl its way in these sites.
Categorise rightly
Categorising your product is a key to selling on these sites, especially Amazon. It is important to know where to place your product. This is what categorising is all about. Getting your product listed on these categories is often the first step in helping visitors to see your product. Getting this wrong can make the product confusing and out of place. No visitor is likely to make sense of a grouping that categorises cell phones with shoes. Categorising cell phones with say batteries and shoes with socks is simple common sense. This is the heart of the matter; there are several sub categories that refine the search further.
Usethe right terms for the products
Obviously, it goes without saying that the more apt the description of the product; the easier it is for visitors to get an idea of what they are looking for. With some experience, a business can get down the specific terms that online visitors use for products. It is important for the business to include words that don’t really confuse the visitor. The words and brand should be clear and the description of the product should be apt and to the point. Basically, the thumb rule is to understand that the buyer usually researches on these sites and does not just browse. Offer words and phrases that make this easy. Any description that is too lengthy or any word that is too high sounding is almost certain to take the visitor away from the product.
Make display attractive
This is another fundamental of any marketing, more so when you want to market on these sites to which there are hundreds of visitors at any point of time. It is a good idea to induce the visitor to see the product for herself. Having a photo or video of the product will complement the text. eBay has the gallery photo option. This is a way to open the auction bid on eBay attractively.

Easy ways of selling successfully on eBay and Amazon

Selling on eBay is not rocket science. It may at first sound intimidating to be able to stand out among hungry competitors, but a business should be more focused on the seemingly unlimited opportunity these websites offer. Like all other activities that one does over the long run, selling on eBaycan take a little time, since it has its own set of dynamics and subtleties, which one has to get a hold of. A person or business selling on eBay could implement a few simple and easy to implement steps that can serve as a basis for successful selling on these sites.
Know who your buyers are!
Knowing your market is as fundamental to selling on eBay as it is for a doctor to diagnose an ailment. This is the foundation on which the whole business is built. When you know which products you have, knowing who needs it should be intertwined with it. The product should be inseparable from the buyer, or else there is no point in having a product. When you are planning to sell several products, it is going to take some time for you to get a precise feel of who your buyers for these multiple products are. Although this can take time initially, once you get used to the brass tacks, it is easier for you to pitch your product.
Try to sell unique items
Once you have done considerable research on your market and have some idea of what sells and what does not, you can consider introducing unique items on your product list. If you have noticed that a buyer of furniture could be making consistent purchases. Keeping such a buyer, you could think if introducing an elegant wall painting to your collection. A small step like this is helpful in two important ways. First, it offers the buyer an option to buy a unique product that really supplements her tastes and preferences. Secondly, when the customer gets the impression that you respect her preferences, it is sure to bring about loyalty. A loyal customer is the best asset for any business.
Think of the long run
Selling on eBay and Amazon need not be only a fad. You could think of it as a serious option. But for that to happen, you have to be focused on being there in the long run. This calls for some planning and mix and match of the products from time to time. You would also be required to understand the market pulse, which will help you outdo your competitor. Like in all other businesses, when selling on eBay and Amazon, you will come across situations that are peculiar to this business. Persistence and intuitiveness is key.

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Ways of increasing sale value

Getting a visitor to buy on your ecommerce site is one aspect of marketing. Making this happen, although at times formidable, is only half the work done. Getting the customer to buy a higher value on each sale is the more important part for the business. If with all your efforts, a visitor ends up buying s soap when you would have liked her to purchase a jewellery item can be disappointing. Are there ways by which the value of a sale can be made to increase?
Entice the customer!
Making a customer buy more than she is prepared for qualifies as success in ecommerce marketing. The most effective way of doing this is by luring her into buying more than she intended to. The way to do this is to offer some incentives that will push her into making that extra purchase perceiving some value from it. If a customer were offered something like a discount on extra purchases but not on single items, it would make her think strongly about placing an order for that extra pack. If a 100-ounce moisturising lotion were to cost say £ 7 and the offer would be three packs for £ 16, the customer would be forced to seriously think of going in for the bundle, thinking of a saving of £ 5 on a product which is going to be used daily and whose requirement she would have anyway for a lot more time to come.
Associate products wisely
Another way of increasing the value of a purchase is to offer different but related products as incentive. This is what is popularly called cross selling. Here, the point to bear in mind is that products have to be associated judiciously. It is good to associate related or supplementary products rather than offer something that is in no way related to what is being purchased. It makes sense to cross sell a pair of socks with apparel, but to someone looking for a flower bouquet, socks would mean nothing. Even if a pair of socks is offered at a very attractive price, it would hardly catch the buyer’s attention, because her mind is focused on a totally different kind of product. This is where a little common sense can go a long way in increasing the value of the sale.
Other incentives
If it is not possible to associate products or cross sell in some circumstances, it will be a good idea for an ecommerce business to offer other kinds of incentives. One of the most popular options relates to delivery. Let us say a set of toiletries costs £ 20. If the cost of delivering it is £ 3; it could make the customer think twice. On the other hand,by offering free shipping for a purchase of three sets of the same item, you would offer the customer a strong reason to choose the three’s pack.
As you go about with your ecommerce business, you will learn that ingenuity is the name of the game. The more you experiment, the likelier you are of better results!

Spring a surprise on your customers!

Good marketing is all about coming up with intuitive ideas at the right time. These should be ideas that work, and should be driven by common sense. Many a time, a really simple idea can take the business places. One of these is the art of springing a surprise on your customers. This is a very smart and neat way of retaining and increasing customer loyalty. In ecommerce, it is all the more relevant because the customer is liable to leave the site at any time and hop to another with utmost ease and without notice, at a far greater ease than a customer to a physical store can.
The art of springing a good surprise
By the expression, “springing a surprise”, what is meant is not offering a 50 per cent discount during Christmas and New Year. This is something every business does, and carries no element of surprise. On the other hand, a surprise on a customer is when there is no particular occasion for it. If you have noticed that a middle aged male has been frequenting your ecommerce business for items like say perfumes, a real pleasant surprise on him would be to send him a free pack of a well-known brand of after shave lotion. The out-of-the-blue element is the real icing on the cake. This is one of the nicest pleasant shocks you can administer on your established customer.
Benefits of springing surprises
A well-sprung surprise is one of the best gestures with which you can rest assured that the customer is going to be really delighted. Figure yourself in the customer’s shoes. How would you feel if you bought a pair of jeans and T-shirts at a store, and a few days later, you receive a parcel containing a pair of shoes? Wouldn’t you feel like hugging the shopkeeper? Here lies the biggest benefit of springing a surprise –you have earned a customer for life, almost.
Who to surprise?
One question that an ecommerce business needs to consider is this: If it chooses to surprise, who does it surprise? It is advisable to try this out on some long-time customers. It is for two reasons. One, this is a customer whose tastes and preferences you are pretty familiar with. Two, this is a way of rejuvenating an existing relationship. Springing a surprise on a fairly new customer is not likely to bring in too many results not only because you don’t know for how long she is going to stay a customer; you are also likely to gift the wrong item to a new customer! Moreover, doing this on a customer who has just started shopping on your website is likely to make her expect more in the future.

Measuring customer satisfaction in ecommerce business

One of the toughest questions that ecommerce businesses face concerns what is at the heart of a business –customer satisfaction. At first glance, anyone doing ecommerce business or having an interest for this subject may wonder if the idea of customer satisfaction exists at all in ecommerce. The reason for this doubt is well founded –when the customer is not at all seen, how does one get to know the level of satisfaction she enjoyed while shopping?
Keep in touch with the customer!
Drawing the visitor to the website and getting her to complete the purchase is one aspect of ecommerce. Once the visitor buys a product and becomes a customer, it starts a whole new dynamics of the relationship. It is from here that the ecommerce business should start thinking of customer satisfaction. The customer may not have shopped by being physically present at the store, but no purchase is complete without some information about the customer. Using the contact information, the business can start understanding the level of satisfaction she derived from the sale.
Start at the beginning
The easiest way to start measuring customer satisfaction is by asking how the customer felt about the shopping experience.A simple, courteous “Thank you for shopping from our site” could be a good beginning. It could be customised to include the shopper’s name, making it more personal and likeable. A few days later, the actual work of measuring satisfaction could begin.
Customer satisfaction surveys
One of the most effective ways of understanding customers’ perceptions towards the ecommerce shopping experience is to invite them to take a survey. Notice the word “invite” here: Unfortunately, no matter how important it is for the ecommerce business to have the customer take up a post-purchase survey; the customer is not obliged to do it. She can only be requested to take one up. The mail inviting her to take up the survey could say as much, while adding that a few minutes spent on completing the survey could enhance her shopping experience greatly.
Continuous exercise
Keeping in touch with the customer after she has purchased the product from your ecommerce website has to be done on a regular, continuous basis. And importantly, it has to also be done with repeat customers. When an ecommerce keeps getting responses from its customers on a regular basis and analyses their feedback dispassionately and seriously, it can be certain that it has a good measure of what customers feel about the way it does business. It helps the business to take important decisions. For instance, a new introduction of a product, such a quintessential feature of engaging the customer; can be decided based on what the customer may feel about it. In ecommerce, it may not be possible to quantify customer satisfaction, but taking steps like the ones mentioned above can lead to qualitative analysis –a better barometer for the business.

Making customers out of visitors

What a fantasy it is for any businessman to have all visitors becoming customers! If the art of converting visitors into customers were simple, business would have been fun. But real life business is no fantasy. Undoubtedly, one of the biggest challenges of any business is converting visitors into customers. How does an ecommerce business make this happen? Although it is not always easy or possible to ensure that everyone who visits your site becomes a buyer; a few methods can be tried.
Get your basics right!
The cornerstone of a good business is inknowing your customer. This is the base on which the business builds its ability to convert a visitor into a customer. The ecommerce business should know who its customers are, what age group it is trying to target, what that age group’s interests are and so on. This is the first step to finessing the art of making customers out of visitors. The greater the business’ clarity about what it is selling; the higher the chances that it could get visitors to buy. If an ecommerce website is targeting the college going market, it should have a sense of what its customers look for. This will help it sell products that its niche market segment could find difficult to refuse buying. Designing the site according the target market’s tastes and preferences, placing products or services at the right location, making usability easy and other related aspects are supplementary to a clear understanding of who an ecommerce business’ customers are and what they want.
Think, think, think!
Any business that has its ears to the ground will know what its customers want. It would clearly know what is selling on its site and what is not. It can study trends for a while and then start making changes into the site accordingly. It a particular product is moving, it can introduce its variants. It a product is not moving, it can perhaps think of giving offers on them. This way, an ecommerce business can juggle its strengths and weaknesses and be sure it makes its visitors buy what they are looking for. Analytics are a good guide to tell what kind of product is selling where; but a good gut feel is a better guide.
Be inventive inequipping visitors with knowledge of products!
Pushing a visitor into a sale is not always possible with just a one or two-line description of a product. Remember –an ecommerce website does not have a salesman prodding and convincing a visitor about the need for a product. So, the product description should take the place of the smart salesman. It should have just the information that will make buyers take well-grounded decisions on the purchase. Make the product description appear like it is specific to that person, even if it is a generic product. Try to give the customer information that makes her understand what is in it for her.

Assess your own ecommerce business quantitatively

Understanding where you stand is one of the most important elements of an ecommerce business. An important way of gauging customer satisfaction is in understanding what they feel about how they felt shopping in your site. This is qualitative and subjective; a more tangible way of measuring this is by using a few parameters. These may not be the most definitive guide to assessing your ecommerce business; but it helps to get some idea of where your ecommerce business is headed.
Number of visitors
This is one of the simplest and easiest methods to know how well you fare in the industry. It is simple common sense that if you are receiving a high number of visitors, your popularity is high, and vice versa. Getting the number of visitors who visit your site is a parameter no doubt, but the ecommerce business needs to use this as just a beginning point. An ecommerce website can have thousands of visitors, but few customers. The business needs to analyse why visitors are not becoming customers. This will give it a good idea of how to fine tune its business.
Cart abandonment
This is another important metric to assess the position of your ecommerce business. This is one of the most common problems ecommerce businesses face. Analysing why there is cart abandonment can go a long way in understanding how well your business is doing. There may be a good number of visitors, but when many of them do not go on to complete the deal, then the underlying reasons for it have to be analysed and corrective steps taken. One way of doing this is in mailing these customers back to find out what is it that prevented them going ahead with the purchase.
Number of registered users
Another important parameter of how your ecommerce business is doing is the number of registered users to the website. Registered users are akin to subscribers in that they are keenly interested in the website. Sending out details of offers to registered users is one of the common ways by which an ecommerce business can expect to grow. The trick is to make a neat profile of these customers and keep sending them information about offers and other related aspects of the business. An ecommerce business would ideally like to expand on this list of registered users from time to time. The greater the number of registered users who come to the site consistently and shop on it, the bigger it is a measure of the site’s popularity.

Making shopping baskets effective

The online shopping bag
In the online shopping space, the shopping basketor the shopping cart may be likened to the shopping bag of physical shopping. In ecommerce, it is the virtual bag you carry to the online store. Just as you pick up your shopped items and put them into the bag and have them billed at the counter; the shopping basket is the place in which you place all your selected items. Although modelled on the shopping bag, the shopping basket comes with a few extra features. Unlike the shopping bag which is more a utility item, the shopping basket should also be equipped with a few aspects of its own.
The extra little
If your shopping bag or trolley is the source into which you put your selected items, the shopping basket is the same, except that it has a system of real time billing. In physical shopping, you don’t get to value the bill with every item you shop for, while this happens in the online shopping basket. This is obviously because it runs on software designed for this.
Combination of effectiveness and aesthetics
The shopping basket is one of the most important elements of an ecommerce website.The shopping basket, being what it is, requires a fine combination of utility and looks to enhance the shopping experience. Since the shopping basket is a source of near total information about the product, online shopping websites would need to be made both attractive and effective.
Scope for many features
A good shopping basket could facilitate a number of thoughtful features. One of the primary features of a shopping basket should be to give the shopper the option of making changes into their shopping list. This is one of the main ways by which the basket looks friendly. This feature is where you could decide what to go for and what to discard. The basket should also have all important details of the product, in a way that makes the online shopping easier. When the total value of the purchase is made known with the purchase of each item, it is that much easier for the online shopper to decide on whether to go ahead with the items or not. It can also have details such as the unit price, the tax as applicable, and the shipping rates and so on.
Other utilities
Another important feature it could have is that of available stocks, which will be another important component of decision making by the shopper. The shopping basket should be made accessible from any page of the website, so that viewers are not left searching for it. Also, there should be space for virtual window shopping, as would be done in real shopping. These are a few of the simple, yet effective ways in which the shopping basket can make for a good experience.

How important is customer service in ecommerce?

Customer service in online selling –an oxymoron?
Some people are sure to frown at this title, because it seems kind of contradiction in terms. Some others are likely to dismiss it, asking if there is such a thing as customer service in ecommerce. Where is the scope forcustomer service in ecommerce? How on earth is customer service imaginable in a business in which the customer is faceless and whom the business never gets to see?
Customer service is indispensable for ecommerce
Anyone asking these questions betrays perhaps the highest ignorance about ecommerce. It is often thought, terribly wrongly, that the ecommerce software does all the work that salesmen are supposed to. There could perhaps be no greater misconception about ecommerce. In fact, if there is one space in which customer service is as critical an aspect of business as say marketing, it is the online space. The logic for this is simple –it is only because of ecommerce that you see the invisible customer who is all the more difficult to please and retain!
Customer service starts much before the sale happens
So, how does an ecommerce business carry out customer service? What are the aspects of business that require customer service? In an offline business, if customer service starts when a product is sold, in the ecommerce industry, it starts much earlier. It starts with tracking a potential customer and answering questions about the product, all of which happen much before the product. Here is how –customer service starts with phone calls to the customer who has shown an interest for a product. The next stages, namely emailing and ensuring that the product is to the exact specifications of the customer request also require customer service. The exact way in which the shipping was requested for has to be fulfilled, which also is another important aspect of customer service.
Post sale customer service
Customer service does not end in ecommerce with selling the product. After this is done, the customer has to be serviced. After the product is shipped, the sales team has to make sure the product consignment was fine and that it reached the right person in the address provided. This is normally never the case with offline selling, because these businesses need not worry where the buyer takes the product! When there are returns, customer service is required. This is how customer service is an extremely crucial aspect of ecommerce.

Understanding channel conflict and dealing with it

For an ecommerce business, channel conflict is often a major problem. Defined by businessdictionary.com as a “situation when a producer or supplier bypasses the normal channel of distribution and sells directly to the end user”, channel conflict can be a potential cause for clash between channel partners, because the distributors get the feeling that they are being overlooked, leading to a loss of business.
The dynamics of channel conflict
Channel conflict is an unhealthy practice in ecommerce, and leads to a unique situation by which a business associate can become both a partner and a competitor. A prime reason for channel conflict is that both the partners’ business is carried out over the Net, which means that businesses could be partners; but could hardly have seen each other. They could be operating in different continents and could still be related to each other by business. Also referred to as disintermediation, channel conflict is a tempting proposition because partners can make direct contact with the seller and make a greater margin, as the channel costs are cut down.
History of channel conflict
Channel conflict began with the emergence of ecommerce. With the advent of this medium, distributors, who were the channel between the seller and buyer, started losing their importance, since their need was no longer as important as earlier. A costumer, instead of going to a shop which the distributor ran, could order online and get it delivered. This caused disquiet with the distributors, who tried to assert themselves by trying to show that they still had importance. Some distributors hit back by transforming themselves into distribution and logistical channels, which are very important for an ecommerce business. Some others devised a strategy of taking on supplemental roles such as order management.
The customer is the arbitrator
The customer is the one who finally decides how these conflicting interests converge. If she decides that it is best to have the product delivered through a distributor, then it is best for both to accept the need for each other. If the customer decides otherwise and thinks that no intermediary is needed, then the two partners need to devise ways by which they can contribute towards a harmonious business relationship, in which both get a share of what they agreed on. In essence, they need to collaborate and complement each other rather than be engaged in conflict, which will cause ruin to everyone –the partners and worse, the customer.

Strategising at the time of setting up an ecommerce business

The decision to migrate from a brick and mortar store to an online ecommerce store is a momentous one for a business. The same goes for a business that is about to start an ecommerce site altogether afresh. When taking a decision of this magnitude, it always pays to do some homework, because a business plan that goes awry is bad for the morale and the financial health of the company.
Am I prepared for it?
This should perhaps be the foremost question a business should ask itself before it embarks upon the idea of starting an ecommerce business or migrating to one. This of course, is a question a person starting any business has to ask herself, but is all the more pertinent to ask in ecommerce, because the entire dynamics of switching from a brick and mortar to an ecommerce business is different. It is a kind of acculturation, because very little, or nothing at all, of all that you did so religiously in the previous business is of relevance anymore. So, it pays to make the groundwork for the eventual transition.
Introspect, consult
The best way to go ahead and do this is to think of your strengths and weaknesses in relation to aptitude, talent, resources and the market dynamics. It is a good idea to consult someone you know who has entered the business. You could also talk to a person who has some idea about the business, even if she has not actually tried her hand at it. Or, if you can afford it, it is a great idea to get the opinion of experts, who will tell you thread bare what the business is all about and what it takes. It you think you have it in you to take it up, take the plunge.
How far is it going to take me?
Ecommerce as an industry is certainly here to stay. It is not likely to go out of the reckoning any time soon. Having said this, when someone wants to get into the business, it is a great idea to look at how far you can get in this line of business. The way to look at it is to see what kind of business you plan to do on the Net. Some of the questions you could ask yourself could be: For how much time are people going to buy my product/s? Can I handle the competition? What share of the market pie can I hope to get, and what does it take for it? An important aspect that is peculiar to this business is that it is completely technology-driven. This means that it is almost always in a state of flux. Can I hold my own in changing times?
Now, take the call!
Once you have a clear strategy that straddles all these areas and many more that you could find on the way to starting an ecommerce business or changing your existing one to that, you will be well placed to take a decision. A well-judged decision is at the core of any success, and so it is for your ecommerce, as well.

What kinds of ecommerce business should have daily deals?

One of the most effective ways by which an ecommerce business can make a good turnover is by offering deals. Which customer would not like a good offer? If a customer can buy three trousers at the price of two, it would have the ecommerce website up and busy, with the cash registers ringing all the time. The prospect of a good offer is as tempting for an online shopper as it is for a shopper in a physical store. Yet, no matter how beneficial it may be for an ecommerce business to rope in customers with offers; there is no universal rule about them. While most products are perfect for offers, only some are suited for daily deals. There is a big difference between those that can be offered on a daily basis and those whose frequency needs to be on the lower side.
Those that click…
An ecommerce website is sure to attract a lot of hits if it offers daily deals on products like consumer items. No individual or family can subsist without a purchase of soaps, toothpastes, hand washes and groceries. Of these, one can rest assured that the items that could sell like hot cakes if offered as daily deals are toiletries. Customers are almost certain to find offers like one mouthwash free for three toothpastes enticing.
And those that don’t…
There are several products that people use frequently, although not on a day-to-day basis. One of the first such examples that come to mind is merchandising items. We all have a fancy for shopping bags, caps, shoes and apparels. But we would rarely look for offers day in and day out. An ecommerce business will not expect to do too well at putting up such goods on a daily deals basis.
Blending for better business
A mix and match policy makes sense for ecommerce businesses that sell both items that are offered on daily deals and those that are offered less frequently. In the course of offering daily deal items, an ecommerce business can selectively also push in other items unobtrusively. It can offer a dangling carrot of a merchandising item; say a T-shirt or goggles, for X amount of groceries bought. This way, it not only stimulates the sale of day-to-day items; it also keeps the customer’s interest high with occasional offers on products she does not need daily. This way, not only does the business grow by pushing less frequently bought items; it can retain customers, because they will like to visit for specific offers from time to time.

Ecommerce integration options for businesses

When into ecommerce, a business is invariably up against a number of scenarios in relation to the integration strategies it has to adapt. Ecommerce is all about integration, and it is important for a business to decide on some points of this aspect. Contrary to some conceptions, an ecommerce business need not integrate all its functions (systems) fully with one another or with the backend. In fact, there are some ebusinesses that run without integration at all. This is dependent on the kind of business that is being done online. In considering integration, a business could think of these important factors: What to integrate? When to integrate? How much to integrate?With what to integrate?
What to integrate?
This is the fundamental question a business would ask itself. Which of its functions does it choose to integrate? The answer to this question lies in the importance these functions have for the business. What to integrate depends on the prospects the ecommerce business has. For instance, the business may not be sure about how it stands in relation to the industry. It may be uncertain about some elements of the business, like how much more time it is going to do business in this particular line. The business could take a decision on what to integrate based on this.
When to integrate?
The next important decision an ecommerce business would need to take after it has finalised on what to integrate, is when the integration has to be done. This again depends on the importance the functions that have to be integrated have for the business. Some functions have to be integrated at the start, while some others have to be integrated at a later time, either midway through the business or at a later stage. It is always a sensible idea to look ahead and complete the task of integration at the beginning, because doing this later would usually be arduous and expensive. This requires some foresight on the part of the business.
How much to integrate?
Once the business has decided on the first of these two options, it needs to next think of how much, or what part of its systems its needs to integrate. Some businesses think it is a good idea to integrate only those systems that cannot run smoothly without integration, and others integrate even less important systems, in the assumption that these could become more important over time.
With what to integrate?
This is a rather simple, but important question for an ecommerce business. It needs to weigh the option of whether to integrate systems with one another or with the backend. This is a purely strategic decision, as it depends on the system or function that needs integration. Some functions need to be integrated with one another, like for instance in a standalone retail store, while typically, chain stores need integration with the backend.

Do you need an ecommerce roadmap?

Asking this question is the same as asking if you need to pass an exam to know whether you have graduated to the next level. It is something like playing a soccer match without the goalpost. Where would you get if you did that? Would anyone know who won and who lost? Doing ecommerce business is much the same. In order to know where you are headed, you need to fix a roadmap.
Fledgling business line, still
Despite all that technology has ushered in, ecommerce is still inchoate. Although its possibilities are limitless, ecommerce has a long way to go before it can be termed as complete. It is still infantile, in a sense. Regulations and compliances are yet to be put in place fully. So, whatever this crop of ecommerce entrepreneurs does will serve as the path the next generation has to follow. That is why it is necessary to create goals and make sure they are fulfilled.
Defining an ecommerce roadmap
An ecommerce roadmap is, in simple terms, as its self-explanatory nomenclature says, a plan for the future of the business. A roadmap is the route to the target that those in ecommerce business set for their business. Using this as a reference, they can gauge how they performed over different points of time in their journey. A roadmap is not a goal; it is the means to one. Ecommerce businesses could be aware of what they want to achieve over a fixed point of time; an ecommerce roadmap is the trail they have to take to reach there.
The difficulty of having an ecommerce roadmap
So, how does one chalk out a roadmap in an industry that still has to grow? This is the real challenge to carving out a roadmap. Chalking out a roadmap may not be very complicated for a business that has settled in; but for an emerging business, it is all the more difficult. What makes an ecommerce roadmap doubly difficult to carve is that this business is entirely dependent on technology, which keeps changing drastically over a short period of time, making everything that was followed till then out-dated.
Keen understanding of the business
Changing scenarios present the greatest challenges to any roadmap; at the same time, it is also this environment that defines the foresight any business has. It is no doubt easier said than done, but once a business has its ears to the ground and is sensitive to all the happenings in the industry, having a roadmap for ecommerce is not impossible. Businessmen with a keen acumen have the knack of foreseeing where they are headed. This is something that a sharp businessman should be able to accomplish without being too much off tangent.

Is e-commerce going to last?

Is there a future for me in ecommerce?
The questions that are uppermost in most e-businesses’ minds are usually these –is this business here to stay? For how long are people going to shop on the Net? What are the growth prospects for this medium? Is it going to be here for a lot more time or is it going to go the dotcom way? What will happen to my business if ecommerce stops?
Scope only for hope, not despair
To assuage all these issues, let us first start by first of all congratulating ecommerce businesses for having taken the decision to start this mode of business. You have after all taken up a business in which you can reach out to anyone on this planet. What a physical store would never ever be able to do in terms of reach is at the core of ecommerce. An ecommerce business is a business without boundaries. It is a business in which you can sell to a person at the other end of the globe in no time.
Born from the Net
E-business is smart business. It is a way of leveraging technology in ways that were impossible to comprehend a few years ago. Ecommerce arose because of the spread and expanse of the Net. So, logically speaking, it should last as long as people use the Net. If anything, the Net can only grow. It still has vast tracts of the world that are untouched by its influence. The influence of the Net can only pervade those parts of the world in the future. If it cannot, it can still remain where it is –in parts of the world in which it is already there. And this can be the worst case scenario.
No way for it to go out
For the world to stop using the Net at any time in the future, the human brain that gave us the Net should eschew the faculty of using the computer altogether. It is only then that the Net, and with it, online shopping, goes out of use!When is the Net going to become obsolete? In this wired world, is it ever possible to figure a scenario in which we will return to the pre-Internet days?
Problems? Maybe, but end? No
Agreed, an ecommerce has unique issues and challenges. This is something no industry is exempt from. If there are problems, there are solutions, too. As the old adage goes, there is no problem without a solution; if there is no solution, it is not a problem. This is in no way to suggest that it is of such a nature that people will stop shopping on the Net. In sum, ecommerce is here to stay. We have already talked about the situation in which it could become out-dated or out of use!

Dealing with ecommerce site crashes

The most embarrassing of all goof ups
An e-business can reach out to a large market and help you push your products anywhere in the world. Only if it functions smoothly, that is. There is perhaps no greater embarrassment for an e-business than to have an ecommerce website with problems with its functions. Apart from the obvious embarrassment this brings; a crashed site can crash your business. Imagine if you are running a physical store and are unable to open the shop door! What would any customer do, other than take the step of walking out of the shop and shopping at the next available shop?
Costly lapse
Having an ecommerce site that does not stock what customers are looking for is one thing; having an ecommerce site that has what the customer wants and doesn’t allow her to go ahead with the purchase is quite another. A site suffering from the problem of glitches is liable to be lost forever in the mind of the shopper. An online shopper after all, expects the best. She goes into the online shop only because she wants something that she doesn’t find in the physical store. Or she could have come to a particular site looking for something that is not found elsewhere. The risk of having an ecommerce website that does not facilitate this is very big.
Getting the right ecommerce website
One of the primary reasons for this is that an ecommerce website is unable to handle too much traffic at one stroke. The basic reason this happens is when it does not have sufficient bandwidth. This happens when the resilience needed to handle heavy traffic surges at different times is not built into the software application. An ecommerce website should be able to handle any kind of traffic at any point of time. It should maintain the same performance irrespective of whether it is low traffic it is handling or high traffic it is up against. That is why a flexible ecommerce application like http://www.nichesuite.com/ is a viable solution.
Combination of the right ingredients
In addition to having robustness in itssoftware to handle any hiccup, the ecommerce backend solutionshould also have the right ingredients that go into the ecommerce site. It should make proper placement of the product features and icons. All the features should be made to function efficiently and neatly. The payment gateway, for instance, should function without any hassles. The same goes for all other aspects. It is thus very important for a business to choose the right software application, or else its business can go down the drain.

Dealing with abandoned carts

Oh, the disappointment of it!
For any ecommercebusiness, nothing perhaps is more frustrating and disappointing than finding abandoned carts. Abandoned carts are those items that a visitor to the ecommerce website puts into the cart (virtual basket), but forsakes without completing the checkout. In other words, an abandoned cart is an incomplete sale, and this can hurt an online business. It is akin to the situation of a person checking into a physical store intending to buy items, selecting them and not going ahead with the purchase, except that this is a more common phenomenon in ecommerce businesses.
Some reasons
Extensive research has been carried out to zero in on the reasons for which people abandon carts. The most commonreasons for which shoppers abandon shopping carts include:
• Finding a better or better looking product and changing the mind
• Design of the product is another reason for abandonment
• Lack of clarity about the next steps
• Being confused at the last moment about whether this product is exactly what they were looking for
• Running out of patience during the checkout time if the page is slow to load
• Apprehensions about passing confidential credit card details to an unknown entity
Difficult to fix exact reason
For shoppers to abandon a cart is easy, but unfortunately, for en ecommerce business to prevent it is not!There is no one reason for which a shopper does this; this makes the job of fixing the problem all the tougher. Each abandoner could have a unique reason. An ecommerce business would ideally have to go to the root of every act of abandonment and find out the reasons for abandonment and then take steps to prevent such an occurrence. This is easier said than done. Yet, despite the diverse nature of the problem, a few generic steps can be taken. These could reduce the rate of cart abandonment.
Working on reducing cart abandonment
As we have seen, although there are a wide range of reasons for this act, some common reasons for which people abandon carts can be worked on.
A good starting point would be to track the buyer. Recent upgrades into buying software incorporate a feature by which the email id of the visitor is obtained before many of the long processes take shape. This may not be the perfect solution, since it is always easy to leave a phony mail id or a proxy one. Yet, this gives an address to contact the customer. A follow up email could go some way in understanding the reasons.
Software that offers verified security, both at the level of the ecommerce website as well as third party payment gateways, is another way of assuring the online shopper that the payment is going to be safe and that her identity is not going to become public.
Making the ecommerce website shopper-friendly from as many perspectives as possible is also another step. Proper design, right placement of the right product and relevant and precise information about the product are some of the ways in which the online shopper will not feel like leaving the site in a hurry.

Understanding f-commerce

Commerce with Facebook
Perhaps no business has matched the phenomenon of Facebook. Both in terms of the size and growth rate, it has few parallels for any business in any part of the world, perhaps at any point of time. Started in the middle of the night, literally, from a room by its founder, Mark Zuckerberg only seven years ago; Facebook has exploded into a multi-billion dollar business. It has three-fourths of a billion users as of mid-2011.
Reaching out to your users
For an ecommerce business, the prospect of being connected to this huge a potential market looks tempting. Agreed, all 750 million may not be targeted customers, but sifting from this huge database can still make it a great source of potential buyers. For an ecommerce business to lay its hands on such a possible market, it is necessary to first connect with it. It takes an ecommerce solution like http://www.nichesuite.com/ to do this. NicheSuite enables integration with Facebook, taking an online business to the next level.
UK too
The number of 750 million may appear to be huge and disparate. This need not be so for a business that plans to sell globally. Nevertheless, for those who want to target only the UK market, there is good news. The UK, for long considered the world’s most mature market for ecommerce, is a big growth market for Facebook. It has no fewer than 30 million users in the UK, which constitutes one of Facebook’s fastest growing markets. It has been growing at an enviable rate of almost four million users a year. It is only set to grow even more in the years to come.
The UK market for Facebook presents a prospect that is too good to overlook: Half the entire country’s entire population is on Facebook. There are no figures on how many actually shop using Facebook, but it is not too naïve to assume that in a country fond of online shopping, an additional, added resource could be an important driver of online sales. Even if an online shopper does not end up buying on Facebook, she can follow a brand or product, which means a potential buyer waiting in the wings.
Connect in no time
One of NicheSuite’s major advantages is that it can integrate your business with Facebook in less than 24 hours. Facebook offers selling in these types: Facebook-facilitated on-site selling; Facebook-initiated selling, and complete selling through Facebook. Transacting on Facebook is done via PayPal after the customer places an order.

Benefits of integrating your ecommerce site with eBay

Reach out, reach out, reach out
Ecommerce drives on the mantra of reaching out. Even for an offline store, one of the most important elements for success is inbeing seen. This is natural, because you may have the best products in the market, but if you are not known in your neighbourhood, there is no chance by which you can succeed. If this is the importance of exposure to a brick and mortar business that has to compete with perhapsa handful of stores, one can imagine how important this quality is for an ecommerce site that has to be found among millions of other such sites. Exposure is of primary importance to an ecommerce business. This is exactly what eBay integration gives to your online business.
The more the numbers, the better
With a user base of over 200 million, 15 million of which are from the UK alone, and with 10 million products traded on it; eBay is the world’s largest online marketplaceat present. For an online business to get access to these 200 million users,integratingit with eBay is necessary. How does you online store integrate with eBay? And what does it take to integrate with it? When you have an ecommerce solution like http://www.nichesuite.com/, your job is as easy as a few clicks, because the entire integration process is carried out by this solution.
Integrating with eBay in toto
The beauty of having an online solution provider such as http://www.nichesuite.com/ is that your work is simplified to the limit. You cannot imagine the ease with which your site integrates with eBay. NicheSuite’s eBay integration suite automates the most important aspects of eBay:
• Best offers
• Counter offers
• Reclamation of fees for any products unsold
• Retrieving current listings of eBay categories
• Second chance offers
• Submitting products to be listed, and many more
Why both an eBay store and an ecommerce site?
This is a fundamental question most ecommerce businesses that are looking at eBay integration have. The answer is simple, and it is ‘yes’. Suppose you are only on eBay and your store becomes very popular with many visitors. Now, in this situation, if you want this success carried over to your ecommerce website, eBay does not permit this. The current situation with eBay is that when you are connected to an eBay store site, you are restricted to only eBay or PayPal users. It is because of this that you need an ecommerce solution as well.Having both gives you the additional ability to addfunctionality at any time in the future.
Your online store and eBay in a single solution
In addition to this, there is one more important reason for which you should integrate with eBay. What http://www.nichesuite.com/ offers you is a single solutionfor both the stores, which means you have the wonderful opportunity of having your customers into one single parasol under which they enjoy the best features of both.In doing this, you increase the chance of drawing more traffic into your site exponentially.

future ready e-business

It happens all too often to ambitious businessmen set on the path of expansion. The most frustrating part of expanding your online business is discovering that your existing ecommerce solution does not allow you to do that. When your e-store cannot add new features and capabilities, the result is all too obvious –the cost of online ownership shoots up with your expansion plans, because you have to dump your existing solution and opt for an altogether new one.

This is why you need NicheSuite. It is a scalable, flexible and affordable ecommerce solution that scales up as your requirements grow. It is a flexible solution with which you can migrate your current e-store to NicheSuite’s all flexible e-commerce solution.

You can create new avenues to sell your products in new markets through eBay, Amazon and Google Base. In addition to these, you can also integrate and seamlessly showcase your products and services through affiliates/partners/franchisees. Isn't this the ideal ecommerce solution for your growing business?

With NicheSuite, you can leave behind all the frustrations of being bogged by a dysfunctional ecommerce solution. Choose NicheSuite. See your profits soar