4 Full-Proof Tips for Launching a Successful Online Store in 2019

Starting an online store is a complicated process that’s made up out of hundreds of decisions you need to get right.

And while there are plenty of opportunities, merely opening up a store doesn’t guarantee results. In fact, although thousands of new stores open up each week, only a small percentage of them are able to enter the marketplace and become profitable.

Luckily, even if you’re a complete beginner starting your first online business, there are plugins to grow your sales rapidly that can make the entire process much easier and increase your odds of succeeding.

By using the right tools and knowing where to focus your attention, it’s possible to enter even the most competitive markets and carve out space for your online store.

To get you started on the right path, here are four tips you should consider that are sure to make your efforts much more likely to pay off.

Build an App for Your Ecommerce Store

No store owner that wants to have any chance of success online can afford to ignore its mobile audience – with the majority of all online traffic now coming from mobile devices, this is the segment of shoppers that will ultimately dictate whether a store is successful or not.

And while having a website with responsive web design is a good start, most sites already have it, and that’s not enough for ecommerce stores that want to provide the best possible experience to their mobile users.

The solution? Develop a mobile app for your store.

An app provides unique opportunities for broadening your reach, increasing sales, and gaining another platform to engage and nurture your leads.

Ecommerce has completely revolutionized how people shop, with retail stores being rapidly replaced by online stores that allow users to get everything they need with just a few clicks of a button, from the comfort of their own home.

The next step of the evolution is not even having to turn on your computer, and shopping using your smartphone wherever you might be – at home, on a bus, or whenever you have a free moment.

If the user experience of your mobile users isn’t seamless and feels unnatural, they won’t stick around because today, there are plenty of stores ready to step in if you fail to deliver.

Since mobile is the main growth driver of the U.S. digital audiences, with desktop becoming a “secondary touch point,” your best bet is to develop a mobile app that will give you new opportunities to enhance the experience of your shoppers and provide a customized experience that’s tailor-made for convenience on a mobile device.

And the good news is, developing an app doesn’t have to be a complicated process.

There are many tools that allow you to convert your website to a mobile app without the need for advanced coding experience. You can create a custom app that’s on-brand with your store and make it an extension that offers your visitors added functionality and hassle-free shopping experience.

You could even use the app to develop customized loyalty programs based on transaction histories, send reminders of abandoned carts, and make sure that your users are always aware of special promotions.

Offer Multiple Payment Options

One of the worst things you could do as an online store owner is to limit people’s ability to buy from you. It’s hard enough to get leads to your site, so when some of them decide they want to buy something, you better be sure that you offer their preferred payment method and that checkout goes as smoothly as possible.

Obviously, you won’t be able to keep up with every new e-wallet service that pops up, but at the same time, if you’re just offering payment by credit card, it’s likely you’re leaving a big chunk of potential profits on the table.

A good motto to follow is that paying for your products should be the easiest step in your customer’s journey, so you should research and monitor the types of payment methods that are popular among your target audience and take steps to add them to your site.

But how many payment methods should you have?

Well, although having every single one available is humanly impossible, don’t be afraid to add as many as you think might be necessary to satisfy the large majority of your users.

Adding credit card payments are a given, but you should also have PayPal, Square, and Google Wallet for mobile users, just to name a few. If possible, you should also strongly consider cash on delivery option – many users are still hesitant about paying online, so you might be able to increase sales if you allow paying upon receiving the items.

In the end, the specific options that you decide to go with should be selected based on what your users prefer because that’s the only thing that really determines your bottom line.

Consider the Best Shipping Options

Shoppers dread having to wait for their orders to arrive – it’s no accident that the big online retail shops such as Amazon place such high importance on offering same day delivery and try to cut down the time it takes to ship to a minimum.

Therefore, if you want to have any chance of competing in your market, you need to have an ecommerce shipping fulfillment system that gets the products out of your warehouse as quickly as possible after they have been ordered.

You should also consider the different needs of your shoppers – some of them will want the item delivered as quickly as possible, while others may want a cheaper or free shipping option, even if that means they have to wait a little longer.

In other words, you should have more than one shipping option, and make sure that the shipping is as affordable and efficient as possible. In fact, you might even consider increasing product prices by a little if that helps to offer free shipping, although that should be decided on an individual basis.

There are a few shipping payment plans that you could offer, and each of them provides its own benefits. Let’s explore them.

• Real-Time Shipping Quotes. If you want to be transparent and clear about the shipping costs with your audience, real-time shipping quotes allow you to provide custom pricing based on a number of factors such as shipping location and the size of the package. The drawback is that customers won’t know the price of the shipping until they go through the checkout, which may deter some buyers.
• Fixed Shipping Price. Another popular model used by many online stores is the fixed shipping price approach. This approach works well if you don’t have a large variety of product sizes and don’t ship to remote international locations – just come up with a shipping price that’s not cutting into your profits while still being fair to the prospects and you’re set to go.
• Free Shipping. If you’re able to offer free shipping while still offering competitive prices of your products, you can gain a huge advantage over the competitors and significantly increase your conversion rate. For this approach to work, you need to have good profit margins on your products, because free shipping will cut into them, but if you can remain profitable while reasonably pricing your products, you may become quickly see yourself become the go-to online store in your niche.

Be Ready to Answer Customer Questions

Success online in 2019 and beyond will be all about providing top-quality customer service to your target audience, and that includes attentive and quick support that’s able to answer all questions and offer helpful solutions immediately.

The good news is, there are solutions that can make the task easier – using technology, you can optimize a lot of customer support tasks and reduce the manual responsibilities of responding to queries. Tools like knowledge base software help provide quality assistance to your audience and make sure that no question is left unanswered.

With knowledge base software, you can create an information hub that allows users to get answers to common questions and learn more about the technical side of using your products.

Having a knowledge base will also allow your team to focus more time on unique support cases, and if you integrate your knowledge base tool with apps like Slack, you can enhance communication between support staff and other employees to find a real-time solution to any unique problem that the support staff can’t handle on their own.

 

from Feedster https://www.feedster.com/business/4-full-proof-tips-for-launching-a-successful-online-store-in-2019/

Top 5 Practical Tips for Professional Women

There’s no doubt about it – life gets busy for most women.

After all, trying to balance work, home, family, and friends isn’t always easy. Throw fertility treatments into the mix and your schedule can get flat out chaotic.

No matter what type of fertility process you’re going through, the time commitment is often that of a part-time job. Creating an ideal timetable for things like bloodwork, finding egg donors (if needed), travel, and phone calls with nursing staff isn’t a simple task.

Hopefully, these five practical tips will help you manage your work life and fertility treatment more smoothly.

Tip 1: Determine How Much Time You’ll Actually Need

Let’s face it: most patients at your fertility clinic have jobs.

Nurses within this field are used to helping women work around their schedules and are masters in understanding how much time an individual treatment process will take.

Take advantage of their knowledge and find out everything you need to know about what’s to come – specifically, how much time the various stages will take. When you have an idea of what to expect with your IUI or IVF cycle, you can better plan your time off of work accordingly.

While flexibility will still be key, things will feel much less stressful if you go into the process with clear expectations.

Tip 2: Try to Be Open with Your Boss About What’s Going On

While it’s true not every boss will be sympathetic to your circumstances, many will be courteous if you’re honest about what’s going on.

There’s certainly no pressure to give them all the intimate details – and you should never say more than you’re comfortable with – but offering an honest explanation can certainly win you a little more understanding when it comes to a potentially erratic schedule, and any discomfort you may experience while undergoing treatment.

Also, you should have a clear plan in mind regarding your schedule and necessary time off before you approach them.

Tip 3: Invest in Some Comfortable Clothing

This may sound like a strange tip, but investing in some loose, comfortable clothing can be helpful during an IVF treatment.

When taking the various medications needed to prepare your body for egg retrieval, you’ll more than likely experience a fair amount of swelling and bloating throughout your abdomen. Having some good wardrobe choices will cut down your discomfort and keep you focused on the tasks at hand.

Tip 4: Avoid Unnecessary Obligations

Trying to maintain a full-time job while undergoing fertility treatments is enough of a leach on your schedule – why add anything else to the mix?

Even if they seem like low-key relaxing options, be wary of how much you’re putting on your plate. A week-long vacation may seem nice, but it’s simply not ideal when you’re in the middle of an IVF cycle.

Allow yourself to say no and be picky about what you’re taking on.

Tip 5: Say Yes to Self-Care

While it may not be the time to try and plan a big party or take on a huge new promotion at work, it’s essential to carve out some moments for yourself.

Self-care during IVF will be one of the best things you can do.

No matter what fertility treatment you’re going through, all of them can take a large emotional and physical toll. By taking a few moments here and there, you’ll provide your body with the gentle relaxation it needs for a successful outcome.

Say yes to a pedicure or massage, curl up with a good book, and even grab a glass of wine – do whatever it is that’ll make you feel a little bit more at ease throughout the process.

Finding Fertility Success as a Professional Woman

We’re lucky to live in an age where women have more professional opportunities than ever before.

However, this doesn’t mean they should have to put a family on the back burner, even when things like IUI or donor egg IVF are needed.

It all comes down to striking a balance amongst your obligations and having a good plan in place to provide the right environment for success. When all is said and done, the amount of time needed for these fertility treatments will be a small blip in time compared to the joyous results that await you on the other side.

from Feedster https://www.feedster.com/all/top-5-practical-tips-for-professional-women/

Insights into how consumers shop in 2019

The retail sector is a hugely lucrative and competitive market so it is vital that retailers understand how consumers shop in the modern landscape. Bricks and mortar retailers face pressure from the expanding ecommerce market which thrive without overheads including property and fewer staff costs – in fact, over 23,000 UK shops are expected to close over the next 12 months.

Online sales are becoming increasingly important to retailers – the proportion of online sales of the total amount spent by UK consumers hit a record high in November 2018. This was partly down to the ever-increasing popularity of Black Friday amongst UK shoppers, who spent over £7 billion during the sale in 2018. To underline the importance of ecommerce, online sales during Black Friday rose by almost 12% compared to the previous year whilst the amount spent in bricks and mortar stores dropped by around 4%.

Just as importantly, shoppers must be fully aware of how they can maximise their spending to ensure that they get the best value for money possible.

Some items are worth spending more time researching before taking the plunge and finally making a purchase. Electronic items usually come with a much higher price point, so it is understandable that consumers do more research when preparing to make a purchase than if they are simply adding to their wardrobe. Consumers also tend to only make these purchases once every couple of years, so it is only natural that they spend more time looking into offers to ensure they make the correct choice. In fact, research shows that shoppers are most likely to browse several websites when they are searching for electronics items than products in any other category. Similarly, only 25% of electronics purchases are impulse buys, compared to around a third of total online purchases.

What are the benefits of research?

Regardless of what product you’re searching for it is important to fully research the market. Price comparison websites are an invaluable tool that allow you to get a snapshot of the cost of a product across several websites and retailers, whilst also providing you with all the information you need about the product itself and delivery options so you can make an informed decision which suits your needs.

UK price comparison website Money Pug explains that the popularity of these money-saving platforms is part of a shift to promote consumer empowerment. Previously, shoppers had little flexibility or choice on where they purchased products or services from, an imbalance that has reversed in recent years. With a growing number of comparison platforms and services including collective switching sites and mobile apps, consumers have greater control than ever before to secure the perfect deal for their needs.

Browsing the market ensures that consumers have:

• More choice about products and pricing
• More information about products
• Information on delivery options
• Information on the availability of products

There is plenty of opportunity for consumers to secure better value for money as research shows that 60% of shoppers head straight for their favourite stores or websites rather than search engines or online price comparison marketplaces. This is a real missed opportunity for shoppers to make considerable savings on deals.

Consumer trends to be aware of

Even once shoppers have fully researched a specific product, they should ensure that they are aware of the range of money-saving tips that other consumers employ to secure the very best deals.

Regardless of how a shopper has arrived at the decision to purchase a specific product, it is worth checking whether there are discount vouchers or codes available for that retailer or supplier. The process of signing up to some of these offers is simple yet can be financially lucrative so it is well worth spending a few minutes checking before you finalise a purchase. Currently just a third of shoppers search for vouchers before they make a purchase. It may even be beneficial to hold off purchasing an item if the retailer regularly offers discounts to ensure the best possible saving.

Equipped with these tips and insights, consumers can ensure that they secure great value savings on a huge range of products and services.

from Feedster https://www.feedster.com/all/insights-into-how-consumers-shop-in-2019/

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