- 24/7 Availability
- Inventory Management
- Non-Cash Payments
- Advertising/Marketing
- Sales Improvement
- Customer Support
- Improved Communication
I'd like to take each of these features and discuss them a little further, looking at how I might implement them in my own e-commerce website development.
24/7 Availability
The internet never sleeps! This means that if my website offers deliveries of goods, I have to ensure that I am keeping up to date with orders and enquiries from my consumers. A new online venture would struggle to have the staffing to make sure that this was possible 24/7, so I may want to include a disclaimer or note to my potential consumers to say that it is a UK based company that has office openings hours of 9.00 am to 5.00 pm GMT. I could also add some information on my contact page that all emails and correspondence are responded to within 24 hours.
Inventory Management
An essential component for goods/product based e-commerce especially, but even if it were a service based e-commerce website, there would need to be some management of resources; time, space, office resources, staffing, etc. For good and products this would mean that you could implement a just in time [1] ordering system linked directly to stock levels, therefore limiting the amount of warehouse space required and hopefully avoiding any excess products or non-selling/popular products being repeat ordered.
Non-Cash Payments
An essential component for any online business as there are very few ways to pay for services and goods online with cash! This could be using a secure online payment system within the website itself, where the consumer would input the debit or credit card information on a secure payment page on the website (using an https [2] website and used in conjunction with an up to date SSL Certificate [3] to give your customers peace of mind). Also, allowing for PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, etc. options is now an integral part of online consumerism. Although direct bank transfer payments are an option for non-cash payments, the majority of consumers tend to avoid these as it offers them little protection should there be a dispute or problem.
Advertising/Marketing & Sales Improvement
I shall look at these two features together as they work in conjunction with one another both in respect of the promotion of my own e-commerce website, but also in a way of bringing in revenue from outside sources. Obviously, I would want to promote my own services or goods on my website, perhaps offering deals or packages that work together and offer a form of bulk discount when bought together. However, to improve my sales, I need to try and get my business network up and running, so offering space to trusted and high quality sites would be beneficial to me growing my business and encouraging a growth in my own reputation by association.
Advertising/Marketing & Sales Improvement
I shall look at these two features together as they work in conjunction with one another both in respect of the promotion of my own e-commerce website, but also in a way of bringing in revenue from outside sources. Obviously, I would want to promote my own services or goods on my website, perhaps offering deals or packages that work together and offer a form of bulk discount when bought together. However, to improve my sales, I need to try and get my business network up and running, so offering space to trusted and high quality sites would be beneficial to me growing my business and encouraging a growth in my own reputation by association.
A way of improving the outreach of my site would be including social media links and content; Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are all platforms I use personally as do many of my friends, so these might be ones I would set up accounts for in my eCommerce site as I can bring my friends (and potential customers) in via my personal accounts by inviting them to like my business pages.
Customer Support/Improved Communication
I would offer a live chat feature on the website, but have specific hours outlined on the policies page/contact page to say how quickly this will be responded to during the working week. I may be able to use a Bot to do simple responses, but I don't want to alienate my customers if their question is more specific. I would also have a contact page and social media links to aide my customers in finding information out that isn't covered on my FAQ page.
Footnotes:
[1] Just-in-time stock control is an inventory management style used to limit the amount of stock within the warehouse and helps buyers make informed purchasing decisions. It works by matching stock levels with what is needed for production or customer fulfilment. So rather than carrying large inventories of parts or goods, manufacturers can operate a just-in-time model that ensures parts only arrive as, and when they are needed. Here we explore the benefits of just in time stock control in manufacturing. (Whitehouse, 2018)
[2] HTTPS is primarily designed to provide enhanced security layer over the unsecured HTTP protocol for sensitive data and transactions such as billing details, credit card transactions and user login etc. HTTPS encrypts every data packet in transition using SSL or TLS encryption technique to avoid intermediary hackers and attackers to extract the content of the data; even if the connection is compromised. (Techopedia, 2019)
[3] HTTPS works in collaboration with certificate authorities that evaluates the security certificate of the accessed website. (Techopedia, 2019)
References:
Features of e commerce. (2017). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpW7iB4KJ0 [Accessed 1 Jul. 2020].
Techopedia.com. (2019). What is HTTPS? - Definition from Techopedia. [online] Available at: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/5361/hypertext-transport-protocol-secure-https [Accessed 1 Jul. 2020].
Whitehouse, S. (2018). What is just-in-time stock control?. [Blog] Winman Advanced ERP Systems. Available at: http://www.winman.com/blog/what-is-just-in-time-stock-control [Accessed 1 Jul. 2020].
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