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5 Steps to a Successful E-Commerce System

Selling products online seems simple: choose a shopping cart, price your merchandise, and watch the sales start rolling in.

In reality, there are a number of critical decisions you need to make before launching a successful e-commerce system. Here are 5 steps to get you there.

  • Organize your products. A surprising number of people who want us to set up an e-commerce system can’t tell us exactly what they want to sell. They’ve never made a comprehensive list of all their products. Before diving into e-commerce, start with the basics. Create an end-to-end product list in a database or Excel file. Include the product name, description, cost, weight, dimensions, and SKU number. You’ll also need product photos for each item. (Tip: Name each jpg according to the product’s SKU number to reduce confusion). Once you can identify everything you want to sell, we can get rolling.
  • Categorize your products. Think about how to organize your products into categories. If you’re a home store selling curtain rods, for example, should they go under Curtains or Hardware? Should a glass bowl go under Room Décor or Serveware? Or both? Choosing categories that reflect where customers will naturally look for products will ease frustration and promote sales.
  • Choose your software. A number of e-commerce options are available; you want the one that best fits your company, products, audience, size, and aspirations. You also need to ask specific questions. For example, do you sell to retail and wholesale clients? If so, your software must feature a tiered pricing structure. Do you sell thousands of different products? If so, you need enterprise-class software … and a sophisticated search feature. Will your customers buy via credit card or PayPal? The list of questions goes on. Answering each one helps us narrow your choices and identify the right system for you.
  • Determine the flow of your cart. The goal is to create a natural flow through your site – one that leads customers from an initial landing page to exactly what they want. To do this, you need to think about how customers would click through your site. What are the broad, top-level categories they’ll start with? (Electronics, for example.) What sub-categories will they expect to see under that? (Cell phones and TVs, for example.) What filters will they to use to narrow those subcategories? (Brand and Price?) Creating a logical flow will help customers easily find and purchase what they want.
  • Choose multiple products vs. a single product with options. Do you have a wide range of products available in different styles? (For example, men’s shirts in various colors, patterns, sizes, and lengths?) If so, you may want to set your cart up to have fewer products with multiple options. In contrast, do you sell products with options (such as color or fabric), but want to highlight the distinctiveness of each one? Then you may want to set each item up as an individual product.

This article should give you a sense of the many questions that come into play when setting up a successful e-commerce system. Before jumping in feet first, find a developer who’s a true e-commerce expert and work through these questions together.

The time you spend up front choosing the right system and configuring it properly will pay off in ease of use and increased sales in the long run.

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Wireframes: What they are, what they’re not

A lot of our clients go wiggy when they see a wireframe. Maybe because of how they look: spare, utilitarian … definitely not sexy. But they play a critical role in the web development process. Here are the top four things to know about what wireframes do … and what they don’t.

A wireframe is a blueprint. A wireframe is very simple diagram that lays out the essential elements of your web pages. For example, a wireframe might have placeholders for a header, navigation, body copy, an image, a search bar, a “call to action” box, and “contact us” information. By carefully assessing which elements are needed for each page of your site, we prevent unpleasant “uh-oh, we forgot that piece” moments once we’re into full development.

It’s not a design. People often mistake a wireframe for a design document. They start to panic because they think we’re using Times New Roman for their font, or arranging their content into boring squares and rectangles. To prevent this, when looking at a wireframe, repeat this calmly to yourself: “This is not my design.” Remember, the wireframe does not represent how your page will look. It represents what it will include.

Wireframes are a step in the development process. Wireframes are just one step in a process that takes your website from idea to launch. These steps include creating a sitemap, wireframes, and design for your site, and then undertaking development. Walking through these steps one by one ensures that the basic elements of your site are established before development begins. So there’s much less chance that development will start, stop, and start over from scratch—which can drive up costs and create a clunky product.

Wireframes are not your final product. Once again, when you see a wireframe, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Repeat to yourself: “This is not my website. This is getting me to my website.” Then, open your eyes and take a critical look. Is everything on the page that should be? Are there too many items in the navigation? Too few? Are there images on the right pages? Is the live chat button where you want it? Ignore the aesthetics, think about what your customer will want to see on each page, and make sure it’s there.

Now you’re seeing a wireframe for what it is – a content planning tool that makes sure nothing critical is left out of your site. And you’re using it the way it’s meant to be used: to increase usability while saving time and money.