The online market is increasingly competitive. Not long ago, few people did their shopping online, and there were relatively few retailers to serve them. Now, most people shop online at least once a week, and the number of online shoppers continues to grow. The number of retailers continues to grow and diversify.
That means in order to succeed, businesses need to work to improve their online stores. Better stores and shopping experiences translate into higher sales volumes, higher average transaction values and repeat customers. There are a few tricks you can use to increase online store sales.
Offer a Better Experience
More people are shopping on their mobile devices: Smartphones and tablets allow potential customers to browse your store and its wares quickly and easily, anywhere, anytime.
Does your store offer them a quick and easy online shopping experience? One improvement you can make is to ensure you are offering the best possible online shopping experience. That means that searching for products is easy, and that checkout can often be completed with the mere click of a button. Mobile shoppers have a cart abandonment rate of about 70%. The simple solution is a simple checkout procedure.
Capitalize on Impulse Buys
One advantage bricks-and-mortar stores have had over their online cousins is their ability to capitalize on impulse buys. Customers shopping in a physical store often grab up additional items as they wander the aisles, figuring that they have already made the trip and might as well get this item “while I’m here.”
Online stores do not encourage impulse buys, and lengthy checkout processes discourage this tendency. Customers have time to rethink their purchases—that’s why your checkout process needs to be quick and simple. Another way to capitalize on impulse buys is to offer automatic cart recovery, so that a customer’s shopping cart is available the next time they visit your site (which also helps reduce mobile shopper drop-off).
Encourage Higher Average Transaction Values
While most people focus on completing more individual transactions when they want to increase online store sales, you should also work to encourage customers to spend more money. Capitalizing on impulse buys is one way of driving up average transaction values (ATV). Another method was pioneered in bricks-and-mortar stores: Offer the customer some incentive to buy more. Buy-one, get-one promotions work just as well online as in a physical store.
Even better? Online stores can offer free shipping to their customers above a certain dollar amount. The customer who spent $95 is likely to spend an additional $5 to $10 to meet free shipping criteria.
Give More Options
Which payment methods do you accept in your online store? If the answer is “just 1,” there is a quick and easy way that you can increase online store sales for your business: Add more payment options.
Customers who prefer to pay with a method that you do not accept will likely take their business elsewhere. By expanding the payment options offered to your customers, you increase the chance that they will simply purchase from your store. Accept debit alongside credit cards, and look into other options such as additional currencies that may be available to you via your payment processing provider.
Provide Pay Later
Upfront payment has been the go-to for online stores from the beginning. Now, however, pay later options are becoming increasingly popular with both retailers and customers. Customers love the convenience of being able to place their order, then deal with the payment portion of checkout later. And businesses like the fact that the pay later option can help them reduce chargebacks, as well as increase online store sales.
