How to create an online store.
Australian retail is explosive, complicated and fast-paced. Shoppers want value, choice, and convenience and this has driven a high proportion to shop online, where they have access to information, products and services online. We’ve moved from online and bricks and mortar to online shopping across multiple devices and in-store experiences.
From the US and Europe to China, the shift in buying power has begun. Here in Australia, this represents huge opportunities for our retail industry. Our close proximity to China means we can deliver quality products through cross-border trade. We can also offer our services and products in our own backyard to people far and wide, urban or rural.
Australian eCommerce is booming, people are buying online at a phenomenal rate. We can offer our products easily and conveniently. They purchase, then get the product a few days later or even the next day in some cases. This makes the whole process easy and affordable, as a lot of online stores don’t have to pay overheads and can cut out the middle man as well.
eCommerce Trends (a few statistics to get started)
Personalised Products
When we think of personalised products we think of sizes, colours, weight, caret, etc. Online stores can offer customised products. Some online services and products can even let you upload a design or create a design from their website.
Buying Behaviour
The latest statistics suggest a rise in buying in the late afternoon or early evening. This is most likely because of work commitments or researching the particular product online then making an informed choice. This is great information because it allows online retailers to use this marketing information to their advantage. Source(Inside Australian Online Shopping: 2018 eCommerce Industry Paper)
Buying Behaviour
People are browsing and purchasing products and services online more than ever, and its mobile phones and tablets that are winning the race. Why? Because in this fast-paced world, we live in, we want convenience, on the go, mobile online stores offer this. But don’t forget about the home computers out there as well as they play a big part in any online store. Some viewers browse for products online on their mobiles then when they arrive home, check them out on their home PCs or laptops.
How to build an online store
This is the big question. Well, I can honestly say there is a combination of two of the most powerful and popular mediums out there and that is WordPress and Woocommerce. When these two combine(along with great user website design), you get a powerful, functional eCommerce solution for a business. With these two working together you get features that are hard to find on other online store builders.
Some features include:
- One page checkout
- One-click invoicing and packing slip print PDF’s
- Wholesaling prices
- More in-depth SEO (search engine optimisation)
- Coupons and gift cards
- Automatic shipping calculations from real-time rates on checkout
- Ratings and reviews
- Unlimited products
- MailChimp and email marketing
- Stock and inventory control
- Product variations such as colours, sizes, etc
- Ship to multiple locations
- Digital products such as eBooks, videos and images.
- And much, much more!
There are literally hundreds of features that WordPress and WooCommerce can do to bring your dream online store to life. I’ve been building websites and online stores for years and I have tried the rest, these two are my pick. You can try to build an online store through other platforms such as Wix or Weebly, but they won’t be as powerful or as functional as WordPress or Woocommerce. They are both built on over 20 years of countless hours of web designers contributing and revising there designs and coding.
Why do you need a specialist web designer?
To create your dream online store you need WordPress, WooCommerce and a specialist web designer. Why do you need a web designer? Because when you have two of the most powerful and trusted mediums online today, you need someone who can put all the bits together. Would you try to build a car motor if you weren’t a car mechanic? No, of course not, you would go to a qualified mechanic with training and know-how to get the job done. Sure those online store builders such as Wix and Weebly are cheap, but they don’t offer the functionality of WordPress or Woocommerce.
WordPress and Woocommerce give you the flexibility to make your store how you want and you can offer your customers the best possible customer user experience online today. Specialist web designers can give your online store the edge over your competitors and increase your online store’s customer base through tried and tested techniques.
Check out this white paper on some statistics for the online retail section of Australia this can help you to optimise your online store or you can use this crucial information to help with marketing.
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Timothy Allsworth is an experienced specialist web designer, content marketer, and search engine optimization ( SEO, SEM ) expert here at Custom Web Creations Web Design Brisbane. He has over 7 years of real-world experience in the field and loves helping people and their businesses to succeed in an online world through his tried and proven techniques. He has numerous university-level qualifications in Australia. Advanced web programming, database engineering, SEO and SEM specialisations, Google marketing, business marketing are some of his qualifications. He envisions a web design business that prefers quality over quantity and gives the client the best end digital product their money can buy at affordable prices.
