It seems that with each new holiday season, record breaking sales are a trend, which is again the case for 2012. This season, both Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales have increased in comparison to years past. This year, Black Friday e-commerce sales surpassed $1 billion for the first time in history totaling $1,042 million, according to comScore. Data taken from the same site recorded 2012 Cyber Monday sales having reached $1,465 million, also the most in history. So, while some people still prefer to hit the streets, tolerate long lines and rowdy consumers on these notoriously out-of-control shopping days, others are making the switch to utilizing the Internet to catch similarly great deals.

When looking at this data, there is one thing that is clearly apparent: having an easy-to-use, multifunctioning web store is more important than ever. So now the question is, what makes a web store easy to use and just what does multifunction mean?

A web store is “easy to use” when:

1. Navigation is smooth, meaning it easy for  consumers to move from page to page and find exactly what they are looking for. To accomplish this, your web store might feature a filtering tool that includes attributes such as price, type, size, etc.
2. This type of web store must also help the consumer, for example, it could suggest similar products. This is implemented by grouping similar inventory items together that can be showed in a “related products” section of your web store.
3. The web store’s look mirrors its already established landing website. This eliminates confusion that may occur amongst users who are directed to an e-commerce site that looks nothing like the web page they were just on.
4. Other useful elements are present, such as a shipping and tax calculator.

As for “multifunction,” these points are important:

1. Your web store must function as a storefront for consumers, but behind the scenes, it will need to work seamlessly with your back-office ERP software such as Microsoft Dynamics GP software. When these two functions are in line, order processing and fulfillment will work effortlessly.
2. Secure credit card processing is an important component.
3. As is mobile store functionality in order to reach consumers who browse using smartphones or tablet devices.
4. And lastly, the growing importance of search engine rankings make SEO and analytics a necessary web store function as well. Being able to optimize your web store for search engines will allow it to rank better, thus drawing in more consumers. Likewise, gathering data that can be analyzed to determine rate of abandoned carts, commonly selected items and other shopping behavior will prove beneficial as well.

Implementing these strategies will get your e-commerce site on its way to driving in more sales. For those interested in establishing a web store with these features that consumers are sure to respond well to, check out the Azox e-commerce solution and contact us today to schedule a demo.

by Azox

December 10, 2012 by Stephanie Burke

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Tags: Credit Card Processing, ecommerce solution, ecommerce solution for microsoft dynamics gp, ecommerce website, ERP Software, online payment processing
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