eCommerce

Setting up eCommerce stores is tougher than it looks. Customers have to find products they want and the shopping as well as checkout experiences should be smooth.

When there are several product lines to be featured, the complexity increases. In addition, they must be linked to available stocks, so that customers are not disappointed when they’ve made the effort to choose a product and then find it’s not available.

The basic implementation right through registration to finding products, adding them to carts and then checking out is familiar to growing numbers of people. The complexity is in the finer details and Blueoshan has the technical expertise to help set up stores with thousands or even hundreds of thousands of SKUs.

Since Shopify and other eCommerce facilitators like Woo Commerce have standard implementations in place that cover the basics, additional customizations need deeper expertise.

Cybersecurity

As the store transactions ramp up, they have to be protected from all manner of cyber-attacks. Having a robust and secure implementation and training all people involved on best security practices goes a long way in ensuring safety.

In addition, HubSpot and Shopify integrations have proven to be robust and scalable across the world. HubSpot uses proven technology and the APIs with Shopify and Woo Commerce make operations less stressful for shop owners.

Addressing gaps in the shopping experience

eCommerce seeks to make online shopping with a few clicks an easy process for customers but human behavior is replicated in online shopping behavior as well.

People abandon carts after filling them up with merchandise. They may be confused about when to apply coupons or deals offered. These deals and coupons should be tracked and the conditions where they apply implemented on the site.

Stockouts of popular products and surging demand at discount sales requires provisioning additional bandwidth before the customers arrive in large numbers at the site. There are implications right down the line, from adding to carts, checkout and payments as well as tracking deliveries.

All of these add up to the overall eCommerce experience and define the trajectory of the site’s performance.

Blueoshan works to resolve the technical issues that arise from implementation and the integrations required with the client’s existing systems. These are the most important aspects for long-term success rather than the aesthetics of the site alone.

Image management, for example, where people spend the most time browsing through the product catalog has to be optimized for different devices depending on whether customers are logging in from a mobile device or a desktop.

Aligning payment, cart management and returns/refunds

Each of these processes have to work in perfect synchronization. And at each stage, customers have to feel they are in total control. Speeding up every stage of the process requires several backend checks to happen without customers thinking the site is slow.

Returns and refunds need to work differently from order processing. They have to be linked back to the order for traceability and to provide data on the percentage of products on which there are returns and refunds. Since this is a major component of customer satisfaction, it has to be monitored and steps have to be taken to manage customer expectations.

As the traffic to the site increases and the number of orders processed per day increases, a different set of challenges arise. Like we’ve seen with some of the major eCommerce portals, the provisioning of systems to meet increased demand and traffic planning plays a crucial role in the success of special sales and discount days.

Integrating marketing with eCommerce

Increasing the customer base is key to continued success. But existing customers are the ones from whom additional value is easier to get. Presenting the right combination of products at checkout, playing on the impulse factor and ensuring continued contact with them after purchase increases revenue potential.

HubSpot makes it easy to schedule and run email marketing campaigns or newsletters for new product announcements and to build a relationship with the base of customers.

The data from each of the campaigns can be mined to build customer profile and product combinations that work. Each of these involves developing systems for review, workflows and implementation.

Besides social media campaigns, blogs and building depth into the eCommerce site is far easier to manage with HubSpot. Streamlining marketing and sales efforts and crucially, keeping customer relationships going builds both long-term value and customer acceptance.

BlueOshan can help you get there, building out the technical connects and workflows to implement them within the eCommerce engine.

Talk to us and we’ll be happy to begin a conversation.