5 reasons to use & improve Ecommerce

There are a lot more than 5 reasons to use ecommerce software such as Magento – however I though it would be easier if I just told you my 5 favorite features of how ecommerce can help any business, big or small.
1. Run your Ecommerce and High Street Store Together
Really, if you are a small business running out of a shop then you are probably feeling attached to your store. It’s like a home away from home, you have styled it up in your brand and it has become a part of you.
For some, Ecommerce sounds like a risky proposition, they believe that the costs involved are astronomical and that it will require more time to manage than your real-life shop. Well this isn’t true. You can create a fantastic looking e-commerce website using open source software that almost runs on it own for less than £3000. Factor in professional payment gateways from as little as £20pm and you will see that the hassle of setting up an online store is pretty much hassle free these days.
2. Harness the Power of SEO
I’m not going to say it again, I’m really not. Those of you who visit this blog regularly will know that I harp on about this all the time. SEO is important. Enough said really.
However, I’ll try and put it another way in the context of this piece of writing. Having an Ecommerce store is like setting up a market stall on the busiest market in the world. SEO is all about making your stall appear to be the best, moving it closer to the more populated areas of the market and therefore generating a lot more sales.
The very fact that your Ecommerce store is set up online is the first step in this process – you are on the market, however initially you will probably be up the street, round the corner, under the bridge and down the hill. SEO will move you ever closer to the thriving central square – and when you reach the top you’ll really notice the difference.
3. Join in with the Community
This one is simple enough. It’s like moving house. You are in a nice new house but you don’t go outside – you don’t visit your neighbors and you don’t nip down to the local, you only see those people who happen by your house and knock on your door. Community is all about one thing – making contacts.
There are so many ways that you can drive traffic to your store which does not involve anything at all resembling hard work. This is your store after all and who knows the subject better than you? Your competitors? Pah! Get out there and talk about your subject, whether its clothes, swimming pool gear or bespoke pottery solutions – when you start talking about it people will listen, these people will then perhaps visit your site because they have seen you around. Visits mean potential sales.
Get on twitter, facebook, related forums and blogs and just let people know who you are and what you do. You’ll find its fun and its very useful, you will then have an ecommerce website that is making sales through yourself as a person – not just through keywords and pretty colours.
4. Keep it current
One thing that owners of ecommerce stores forget is that they are adaptable – especially if designed and built correctly. Take Magento as an example. It is a fully operational content management system as well as an ecommerce store. You can do whatever you like to it. Write content or add images, anything that will push the sale.
You would be doing this already in your high street store and it should be mimicked online too. If its approaching Christmas and you have tinsel in your store why not add some snowflakes to your site? Valentines day? Get some love-hearts on your site! If you can’t fingure it out yourself get your web design company to do it for you. It may cost you a little money but for a website that the customer can see someone really does look after, the return on investment is really worth it.
5. Buy Open Source
Bit of a conflict of terms there as open-source is by definition free, however the work involved in using, designing and developing the system is not. The reason why I say your Ecommerce solution should be open source links to one of my points above – community. The community for an open-source ecommerce platform such as Magento is huge. The developers of the system too are always tinkering and updating for our benefit.
Think of it this way – you purchase a nice house – a few months down the line you get a knock on the door asking you if you want your windows replaced with heat-insulating ones free of charge. You say yes. Improvements, upgrades, extensions and support are all the attributes that make open source the wisest choice.

Do you know some more reasons?