Web Design Ireland

Wrong Business Decisions

1). Wrong choice of product

Many people think that its time to jump into e-commerce just because everyone else is doing it- or sometimes because competitors aren’t doing it. You have to stop and ask yourself, will my product lend itself to the web? Are other retailers selling this product successfully online? If the answer is no, then it may be the case that people need to feel or touch the product to make a buying decision (for example - lipstick, a mattress or perfume.) The chances are that these wont sell well online unless they are already known to the consumer. It also goes without saying that If the product doesn’t travel well (perishables), then you are not going to make waves online with it.

2) Keep it simple stupid. KISS.

KISS everything. No I don’t mean pucker up to your computer monitor. Keep It Simple Stupid, both with the design of your online shop, with your checkout process and with your online marketing. Getting too clever with either is likely to result in frustration - learn the lesson of Boo.com, one of the dotcom boomers that forgot about its customers and ended up being a technology chasing a market. Too much flash, too much animation, and focusing on making the visitors notice the web design rather than making them purchase products. It’s true that brilliant web design, neither attracts compliment or critique - instead it simply works.

3) Failing to value add

1990 has come and gone. Simply building it and hoping that they will come isn’t going to work. You are now in a global marketplace competiting with millions of other retail websites, so how do you plan on being different? One easy way to separate yourself from the competition is to add value to your visitors experience. Make your website a place that people return to, regardless of whether they are in “buying mode” or not. Give them information, whether it be the latest fashion trends, or what David and Victoria Beckham have been up to in the week. I’ve said it before, but think like your visitors and feed them accordingly. Blogs are a great way to do this, as they provide regular interesting content to make people return.

4) Underestimating cost

Successful e-commerce solutions cost money. If you decide to go with an open-source e-commerce solution and try to implement it yourself (not recommended unless you are a techie. In fact I’d go as far to say that its a recipe for disaster unless you have experience in it.) you are still going to have to put money aside for a reliable hosting service, website maintainance, domain names and for marketing. If you think you can simply get paying customers through the search engines, you had better be ready for the competition. There are however many ways of sizing this up before you make the investment in stock, or indeed in a website design or e-commerce store, but my advice would be to set aside a budget for both online and offline marketing initiatives, prior to launch.

5) Overestimate the value of your brand

If you are an offline retailer already, and are established without a website presence, then you probably think you can stick an e-commerce website together, and the sales will follow. Wrong. As the web can be a very competitive place, you are going to need to examine where and how you can make waves online. Are you building backlinks to your site around the web? Are you putting content together to launch alongside your product catalog that people will read? If you are going to be successful you need to spend the same if not more time on your new shop (you are treating your website with the same attention as opening a new shop right?) to get it off the ground and get it promoted. However if you have the right recipe of interesting products and compelling content then you *can* expect it to generate alot more sales than your existing offline shop. Infact if you do it right, you may find yourself in 1-2 years concentrating on your webstore alone, as the overheads associated with e-commerce give you a major competitive edge.