For many of us, 2014 will be the year that we take our businesses to new heights. If you’re determined to stick to this resolution, here’s everything you need to know to drive forward your e-commerce business.
Branch out
At first, many small businesses are run from home, usually with one or two people completing necessary tasks. However, as popularity grows and your business expands, it can become increasingly difficult to meet demands.
Investing in an office or specialist premises is a big leap that isn’t always suitable or necessary, especially if your business venture is not your main career. Instead, you can choose to outsource some of your business processing.
For example, if your home is becoming overcrowded with products, it may be worth considering bonded warehousing. Certain companies will store your goods in their warehouse and even offer an order fulfilment service, where they will process, pack and send your goods whenever an order is received.
Perfect your site
Many of us are dubious about purchasing online: who are we giving our bank details to? Where will our personal details end up? Is this site secure? These are all questions that consumers ask themselves before they buy.
Because of this, it is vital that your website is both professional and secure. As the BBC reported, spelling mistakes can reduce online sales by up to 50%, and research has found that slow loading sites can lose up to £1.7 billion in potential sales. Thoroughly checking and optimising your site can help to avoid this.
Consider an app
If you are pretty happy with your website and its performance, it may be worth considering developing an app to further increase sales. According to research published on internetretailer.com, 55 per cent of purchases made online in Q2 of 2013 were on tablet and mobile devices.
As you will agree, this is a lucrative market that your business can undoubtedly benefit from taking advantage of. In order to ensure your success, the app should be well designed, with a simple and appealing user interface. Take a look at this guide from Forbes for some extra advice.
This helpful sponsored guest post was provided by The Storage Place.
