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Online Shopping – How to Increase Sales

27 Apr 2017
by: Angela

What you can do

More and more Australians are using the internet to shop. In fact, over $30 billion is expected to be spent on online sales during 2017. Every month 40% of shoppers will buy something online. There are various reasons for the large growth in online shopping. Some of them include the high use of the internet by Australians. Over 85% of the population now use the internet so that creates a huge market for online retailers. Another major factor is the rapid rise in the use of mobile phones. Online shoppers can now make purchases ‘on the go’ – so much so that around 35% of online purchases are now made via mobile phones.

online shops how to increase sales

So how can your online shop make the most of the growing trend for customers to buy online?

1. Streamline the checkout process

Shopping cart abandonment is a big issue for most online shops. Shopping cart abandonment is where a customer has got as far as selecting a product but for some reason has decided to abandon the purchase before the sale is completed. It is estimated that the average shopping cart abandonment rate is as high as 75%. Of course, some people may have just had a change of mind, but others have hit a road block that causes them to look elsewhere for what they want.

It has become increasingly popular for online retailers to try and gather as much information they can about a customer. This is good if it works – but if asking for too much information causes you to lose sales that is not so good. For example, by letting shoppers checkout as a guest – rather than signing up and providing lots of information can increase sales by 14%.

2. Invest in good quality photos

The main disadvantage that online shops have over ‘bricks and mortar’ shops is that customers cannot touch, or in the case of clothes, try on the products for size. That is why it is so important to make sure you have the highest quality photos for the products you are selling on your website. Ideally, customers should be able to click on the image of the product and have it increase in size for a more detailed view. For clothing it is recommended that you have multiple photos showing the clothing from different angles.

3. Make your online shop mobile friendly

If your online shopping website is not mobile friendly then you really need to invest the time to rework your website. It is especially important that your website pages load quickly and are easy to navigate. It is also essential that photos of your products can be seen properly on mobile devices.

Interestingly, a lot of people who use a mobile phone to shop online, do not make decisions straight away about a purchase. For this reason your online shop needs to allow customers to come back to their carts at a later date – even if they are using a different device. It is well known that some customers start looking for a product on a mobile phone but choose to finalise the purchase on a desktop.

4. Don't forget the about us page

There are stories everyday about people being scammed on the internet. That is why when you have an online shop you have to create trust so people feel comfortable buying from your website. One of the easiest ways to do this is to create an ‘about us’ page. An ‘about us’ page can help share the story about your business and the people behind it. Using photos are a great option as well as giving your address and phone contact numbers. That way people know that if there is a problem there is a way to contact you.

By using these simple steps you will notice a steady increase in your online sales.

Dynamic Websites specialise in small business web design. We are based in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and provide services throughout Australia. We understand what it takes to get a small business online at an affordable price and with the minimum of fuss. Along with designing websites for small business, tradies and NDIS service providers we provide online marketing services. Our online marketing for small business extends to Google Ads, Google My BusinessMicrosoft Advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO), content writing and, blog writing.

Give John a call on  (03) 9028 7337  or email to find out more about how we can help your small business.