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Taking Your Store Online: Why an Online Store Can Boost Your Sales

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Having an online store can be an extreme advantage to ones business. Whether it be a stand lone or a supplement to a current business, getting your store online can bring your more sales than ever. Lets delve into this:

First of all, your online store doesn’t have store hours, which means unlike a conventional store, a customer can always access your inventory and make a purchase. Your online store is open 24/7 and sales can be made at any time. In addition to providing more opportunity for customers to make purchases, you are also expanding your potential customer base. You are not just a single physical location anymore. Your online store can be accessed from people across the nation and across the world. Not to mention that an online store is extremely flexible. You can immediately update inventory information, sale prices, or even create daily deals. This type of flexibility allows you to provide a change of information that customers can’t see in a conventional store. So, more opportunity, more customers, and more flexibility equals more sales.

Now, keep in mind that you are also dramatically increasing your visibility by putting your store online. With search engine optimization, online promotion and advertisements, customers will search for your online business and making sure they find you is part of the equation involved in making online sales. Additionally, you are also able to conduct direct marketing for your online store as well. And as opposed to conventional methods, you can closely monitor and manage the results you get for a very detailed marketing plan.

We have yet to mention perhaps the most important reason for having an online store. It is the technology age! People use their mobile phones and tablets everyday to browse inventory and purchase products. There is an entire generation of people that practically live online, and if your store doesn’t exist on the web, then to them it doesn’t exist. If you don’t provide your customers an online shopping experience, you are missing out on a huge market of potential sales. Don’t make this mistake!

For help creating an online shop for your store, contact RG Pacific today. You can fill out a quote submission here

How Much Does an E-Commerce Online Store Website Cost? Depends on What You Really Need

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As an E-Commerce Development company, many bricks-and-mortar retailers always call and ask me this question before anything else is discussed- “how much will an e-commerce website cost me?” And I always reply with the same response, “What do you need?”

An online store can go from simple to complex, because its functionality can vary. Are your customers local or national? Do you sell to consumers or wholesalers, maybe even dealers? Do you drop-ship? Will your site be public or private? Those are just a few questions that I pose to retailers looking to get online, and the answers are different each and every time. For a few hundred dollars, you can get an online store up. Yahoo, Godaddy, and template based websites give you E-Commerce sites for cheap. BUT do you really want to give your customers the impression that you are a run-in-the-mill company? Will you be comfortable knowing your online store will look like thousands of others?

Imagine this: You are walking down the hallways of your local shopping mall. On one side you have Coach, which is a store that stands out, exudes class and brand. On the other side, you have a ROSS store (no offense to those who love that store), a location that looks like a low-end clearance store. Which store you think will appeal more to your customers? Visualizing that scenario should give you an idea of what it takes to create an Online Store.

There is so much functionality that can be done. An Online store can be customized in two ways- look and feel, and functionality. The way your online store looks is vital. The homepage must be an attention grabber, similar to what you experience when walking into a retail store. Also consider that 46% of local searches are done on mobile phones now, so if your business has a local reach, a “responsive” design, which has both a web and mobile version, should be considered. Functionality will really determine your overall investment. A simple store will allow categories, product detail pages, and checkout. But what if you want to add more?? Coupon codes, social media sharing, posting reviews, price comparison, filters, and other options are add ons, but for many retailers, must haves. Those development tools are functions that you should consider in order to realize an adequate budget.

As you see, an online store takes considerable planning. You must determine who your target customer is, what you want your visitors to experience, and how unique you want your online shopping pathways to be to your visitors. Once you figure out what exactly you need, you will be able to fetch adequate quotes with options that are ideal for your business.

 

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