With so many e-commerce platforms available online now, I thought it would be helpful to point out some features you need to seek prior to selecting that e-commerce store.

1.) Portability: this is important: many web hosting companies offer a merchant e-commerce solution built into their hosting platform: make certain that if things go south, you can move your store and / or web site to another hosting company.

2.) Accessibility: Do you have access to add / edit / delete products, etc.? Paying a web design firm or programmer to add your products can be costly.  Make sure that you get the keys to your store so that you aren’t held hostage.

3.) Ease of Use: Ask to see a demo store of the e-commerce software, is it easy to navigate, straightforward and dummy proof? Make sure that you are comfortable with the interface and understand how to accomplish tasks.

4.) Features to look for: Built in affiliate program: this comes in handy down the road, pay folks to sell your products through your store.  Compatibility with payment gateway providers: Not all e-commerce stores are compatible with your payment gateway, make certain that you have options.  Inventory control: the whole point of an e-commerce store is simplifying your life, make certain that the store can handle your inventory needs. Attributes: selling a product with multiple options, i.e. a shirt in multiple sizes can be tricky: Make sure that the store platform allows for product attributes. Look & Feel: if you’re web site has a beautiful front end and your store looks generic, you lose credibility with your clients / prospects when they go to purchase your products.  Make certain that you can alter the look and feel of your store.

5.) SEO: Most stores utilize a database which can echo some ‘rough’ urls for your products. These strings have the potential to be lengthy and can hinder a search engine spider from indexing those particular store item pages.  Ask about URL structures and seo for your store. Also, can you name product pages specificially with title tags and metas?

6.) Open Source.  Open source can be amazing and easy to use, plus, there is always a community willing to help crank out bugs.  This is a personal decision as there are clearly some stellar e-commerce platforms written in open source.  You can typically get these open source programs for free…. Here is my only caution on open source: support.  Some offer it, many don’t.  If you have free time to explore forums and user groups to find answers to your questions, than it may be worth your while.  Otherwise, stick to a known product that you know you can get help with quickly.

I hope these pointers help on your quest!  Here is the shameless plug on our end: we are preferred Miva Merchant 5 vendors and have had tremendous success with the many functions of MIVA.  Call us today to learn more about e-commerce and the Miva platform: 407-830-4550 or visit our website to learn more about your web site, search engine optimization and e-commerce.

The family and I went to see the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Palms Hotel here in Orlando this weekend.  It was a great opportunity to get in the Christmas spirit and have a fun family day out.  Upon entering the convention hall there was quite a line to visit the attraction so we opted to get some lunch and let the line die down a bit. After forking over 60.00 for three sandwiches we hoofed it back over to the exhibit and even picked up our tickets through a kiosk prior to entering the line.  The line had died down a bit and we began the journey.  Upon the first glance, it looked as though we would be experiencing freezing temperatures within minutes, BUT, it was an optical illusion.

The line zigged, zagged, zigged again, then zagged.  You get the idea. Even the cheesy Christmas trivia questions displayed on the huge monitor couldn’t make the time go by any faster.  After about an hour of being herded through the maze, we entered the ‘holding room’.  I thought we were on our way, but NO. A video showing you what you are going to experience in a ‘few’ minutes.  The video was over and then we were ready, led into another room and BAM: Another video again, showing us what we would be experiencing.  UNREAL.  Finally, the moment happened and we experienced the exhibit.  It was worth the wait, but the route to get there was a bit ridiculous.

Do you lead your web visitors through mazes, pointless content etc.?  If you are selling a product or service on your website, make sure that your visitors don’t need to wade through tons of ‘stuff’ to reach the final goal… Yes, content is king for the search engines, and educating your prospects is crucial, BUT, Lead your guests to that ultimate goal. The old rule of thumb in e-commerce is three clicks to a sale: if your visitor gets side-tracked, they potentially run the risk of bailing out on your site and going somewhere else for that product or service. 

Heard this morning on CNN an interesting statistic: 40% of all Christmas shoppers this year intend to order their gifts online.  Statistically, most online shoppers flood the net on the Monday after Thanksgiving scourging for great deals and ensuring that they get the merchandise delivered on time.  Also, make certain that you have your gift certificates predominantly displayed on you web site : 60% of shoppers are opting for gift cards as Christmas gifts this year.   You may also wish to offer a value incentive: Free Shipping or 10% off, etc.  Much like those lines of people in front of the malls on Black Friday, consumers will be looking for those special deals online.

A few quick last minute housekeeping ideas:
1.) Make sure that people can find particular items by a product number or id: some folks are actually seeing what they want in stores, getting frustrated about the lines and then searching for that product number online.
2.) Check your security certificate: make sure it is up to date and functioning properly.
3.) Feature the hot Christmas products on your home page and offer your discounts, etc. on the home page.
4.) Customer Service: Customer Service : Customer Service.  Take care of those inquiries and emails: answer those phone calls with a smile and take extraordinary care of your consumers.
5.) UPSELL: most shopping cart programs offer an upsale feature: Offer an accessory to the product or offer a gift card upsale.
6.) Policies: Now’s a great time to review those store policies: update your return policy, shipping policies, etc.  Make them clear, plain and simple.

Go Get Em.