Using My Shopping Cart To Increase Online Sales

Jul 03, 2008 in Marketing

by Kirt Christensen

Two years ago, I took the initiative to begin selling rare books online. During that time, I had visions of people buying my as quick as they could click. However, to my disappointment, things were not as simple as they seemed and here is my recap of what I learned.

I was wrong, time past and my sales were scarce, to say the least. If I had a good SEO strategy and good website design, what was wrong? Nothing. And yet, I couldn’t help wondering “Everything is alright. But how can I use my shopping cart to beef up my online sales?” I had to read a lot of articles on e commerce shopping cart software to find out!

One thing I learned was to know what you are doing before you take the first step. It is not as simple as just choosing the first software you find. You need to research and study the different options out there so you get the one that best suites your needs

Now that I have the right software, I need to see what else is missing. So, I examined my own shopping habits and found that I tend to buy things just because I see them, not necessarily because I want them. This is known as impulse buying and is a great driver for online sales. When a customer sees similar items other customers brought, they will be tempted to buy the same things.

You can also use this impulse buying by adding the possibility to send a volume discount or a discount coupon, it is usually better to sell a client two or more items rather than one! Additionally, some carts allow what is called “group buy”, you will need a forum where your clients may meet and decide to make a volume buy on certain item.

Another way to boost your sales is by using an affiliate program which allows you to expose your products for a nonexistent to minimal fee. This will help to drive customers that may have not previously known about your items to your site. Other well maintained shopping carts offer: payment options, sign up, provide customer information, etc.

Customer satisfaction is important to drive sales. To maintain this, the site should include important information such as pictures of the items, shipping cost, and amount of time for the item to arrive. Shipping is one of the most essentials to online retail.

If all else fails, do not be afraid to ask for help. Professionals are trained in the business and have a wealth of knowledge available. They work in the business everyday and can answer questions you may not have even known to ask.

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