written by at January 2nd, 2012
in category
Selling products and services was never easy, but it is now accepted that selling online is indeed tough and requires skill and expertise, besides a whole host of the “right” features.
The golden rule of selling, to have the right product at the right place at the right time and sell at the right price, holds true for online selling as well, except in this case the place is the global online market place.
Online selling has to make up for dressed up windows, but these can be substituted with attractive landing pages; shop floor, which is now the main website; sales personnel, which really have no match in the customer service agents available online to chat, which again, is very different from a face to face conversation; cashier, who is replaced by a checkout system that issues the invoice and accepts credit card payments, and lastly, the stock controller, who again is redundant in front of the stock and supply checking software installed.
Despite these challenges thousands of e commerce businesses have been successful and have flourished. This is because they have followed the right online selling techniques. An equal number, if not more, e commerce businesses have collapsed and become history, obviously because of mistakes made at some point, which pushed the business into substantial losses and here are some of the reasons why they have failed.
No contact details provided- Potential customers like to see the contact details provided on websites, since they are one proof of the existence of the business, and adds to the reliability of the business. In fact potential customers may chose to forego buying of they do not find these details. It takes very little to post the address, which could even be the owner’s residential address, along with a telephone number, which could even be a mobile phone one. For businesses that do not have telephones, it is simple to get a phone connection, or even purchase phone numbers. A number is just one of the bits of information provided, and unlikely to increase workload or complicate the business in any way.
Impressive home pages help- The home page of a website is similar to the shop front, and needs to be impressive for visitors. Instead of adding testimonials, and placing long referrals and words of appreciation, it is far better to capture the visitor’s attention with promotions, discounts and offers, a seasonal banner, and display of products available, besides links to relevant pages and entry points into the online store. The job of the home page is product promotion, which becomes easier with an impressive layout, format and design.
Highlight delivery information and avoid hidden clauses- Truth, honesty and openness are important in e-commerce, and customers hate to find hidden clauses cropping up after the purchase. If delivery is free, the site must say so, or state in the beginning itself. Any deviation from this will prompt the visitor to dump his purchase and buy from another store.
E commerce is the art of online sales without any direct contact or even knowing who the clients are. But they bring promise of success if these and other mistakes are not made.
No Comments