e-commerce | BizSieve.com

Shopping for Digital Goods Online with Ease

As more people buy into the world of mobile devices, e-commerce continues to grow at a steady rate. It is forecast that by 2016, US consumer online retail purchases will increase by 62%. Not only will people be spending more, but there is predicted to be 15% more consumers buying online by 2016 as well. While retailers are thrilled at these prospects, the online digital shopper will be looking for ways to shop that are simple, safe and fun.

Understanding Digital Goods

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the many types of digital goods that are available today. E-books, digital images, music, templates, manuals and software are examples of digital goods. They can easily be purchased through a mobile device or PC. They are also referred to as e-goods or electronic goods.

Digital items can include anything that is used, stored and delivered in an electronic format. These items are usually delivered to the buyer either through an email or a download directly from the Internet. Once payment has been received, the seller will send an email with an attachment of a link where you can safely download the item you purchased.

Advantages to Buying Digital Goods

These days, it seems that everything is going digital. There are many advantages to buying the digital version of a product. Usually, a digital product is cheaper. For example, a music CD in the store can cost anywhere from $10-$20. When you buy the songs digitally, you can decide which songs you want. Also, because the download can take place on your mobile device, you don’t have to try to transfer the files.

Programs that are downloaded can save money on shipping and the hassle of trying to figure out where to store all of the CD’s that you must keep. Textbooks can be accessed from your mobile devices and you don’t have to carry all of the bulky books around. Of course, the #1 advantage of buying digital goods is that you never have to leave your house!

How to be A Smart Digital Shopper

While shopping online is fun, you must always use caution when buying over the Internet – and that includes buying digital products. First of all, you want to do some comparison shopping to make sure you are getting the best price for your products. Secondly, you want to find out what types of payment are accepted. Most vendors are now offering a variety of online payment solutions.

You want to make certain that you use caution when buying online. It’s best to buy from a reputable store. The website should be secure which can be identified by a padlock on the bottom of the screen or by seeing “https” in the address bar. This means that it is a secure site that can’t be seen by others.

Another way to check for safety is to look for a “secure payment” icon. This is a small picture that lets you know what payments are accepted and secure. For example, there may be a small graphic with a padlock that reads “Shop with confidence. Secure website.” Next to that will be a list of the types of payments that can be made securely on that website, such as Visa, PayPal, MasterCard, American Express, etc.

Also, make sure you check out their guarantee policy. While it’s less likely to actually return a digital product, it is important to know what to do if something should go wrong. As a buyer, you have rights, even though you are buying online. If the link or download is faulty, you must know what to do to get a refund or get the correct item.

Enjoy Yourself!

Buying digital products online can be a fun experience. Just as we walk down the aisles of a store, we can browse the Internet from the convenience of our homes. You can compare products, chat with an online support person and even jump to another store to see what they can offer. As long as you take the time to be careful, you will find it to be easy, convenient and even addicting!

The Beginner’s Guide to e-Commerce

In the current economic climate where employment opportunities can be scarce at best establishing a small business can seem like a tempting proposition. Being self-employed can free an individual from the endless process of job hunting and provide much desired independence.

However, establishing a business is not as straightforward as some may presume. There is a lot more involved in creating and managing a business than may at first be imagined. The owner of the company is not only responsible for day to day operations but also for managing the business itself.

A working business idea

In many respects coming up with a working business idea can be the most difficult part of establishing a new business. The majority of entrepreneurs approach this problem from one of two very different directions: having a business idea and creating a business based upon it or simply having the desire to create a business with a working business idea yet to be created.

Either way, caution should be exercised. In the first instance the prospective entrepreneur must ensure that there is a market for the business and that they do not simply press ahead with the idea based upon passion and emotion. This would be a sure route to failure.

In the second instance the prospective entrepreneur should ensure that the business idea that is adopted is of course viable but they should also ensure that they have sufficient knowledge and enthusiasm for the product. This is essential to succeed.

The basics of e-commerce

Once the newly established business has a product with which it can proceed, the next challenge is to create the infrastructure necessary to sell the product. This generally starts with a website. For more sound business cases this may involve designing and building a professional website or having one created on the business’ behalf.

If the desire is to simply test the water before committing significant resources many companies have found eBay to be a good starting point. Products can be advertised and sold on eBay for minimum investment and maximum return.

Of course the business should ensure that it has sufficient stock to be able to sell to clients, whether using eBay or a professional website. Moreover, the business should consider supplies of consumables including cardboard boxes, jiffy bags and other packaging. The business should also consider the creation of address labels, packing slips and invoices.

Business development

It is always a fine balance between failing to take advantage of a market and overreaching too soon. The business should be ready to take full advantage of the market if it is available and the sale of the product is successful.

However, the business should also ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support this expansion to prevent overreaching. The company should aim to expand progressively in a controlled and calculated manner. By doing so, the owner of the company can ensure continued success and this will allow the business to grow naturally.

Reasons Why People Don’t Buy From a Website

Even if you have a lot of traffic coming to your site, these visitors might not be doing what you want them to on your site. Whether that’s buying a product or filling in an enquiry form, these visitors aren’t converting. Often, website owners will look at this problem and decide what they need is more visitors coming to the site, rather than making the most of the potential customers that are leaving. This can be expensive, especially when you’ve got the potential customers visiting already – you just have to appeal to them a bit more.

This is all about conversion rate optimisation, which can help you get the most out of the potential customers already coming your way. Below are some tips to consider when looking to optimise your site.

Can you find items easily?

If you look at your site as a customer would, can you find things easily? Finding a certain page should be easy and straightforward. Easy to read sign posts that direct people are necessary. If people can’t find exactly what they’re looking for straight away, they’ll look somewhere else.

However, trying to get every link on every page may make the site look a mess and cause more problems than it solves. As long as the directions are there, it should make sense.

Is the information there?

When potential customers have found the page they’re looking on, they’re going to need some information on what they’re looking at. Whether it’s a product or service, the attached description could decide whether they buy from you or someone else.

The description should contain enough information so that a potential customer can decide if it’s right for them, as well as being written in high quality, detailed enough to cover everything and completely unique.

Online, you don’t have the ability to hold an item like you do in a store. The description needs to replace and recreate that feeling, or you won’t give your customers the confidence to buy from you. High resolution images that customers can zoom on to see the items in detail and technical specifications are really good things that should be included on the page too.

Customers need confidence

When it comes to conversion rate optimisation the first thing you need to assess is if customers have enough confidence in your site. Customers will not part with their credit card details on to a site they can’t completely trust, and they’re quite right too as well. With this in mind, it’s important to make sure that you and your site are doing everything you can to gain the customers trust.

Making your website look professional is the first step. The more professional the site looks, the more trustworthy it’ll come across as. It’s also a good idea to make your contact details as open as possible and to not hide them away or refuse to put them on the site at all. Customers will gain confidence if they know you’re approachable and they’re able to contact you should anything not go according to plan.

This post was written on behalf of Boom Online Marketing the conversion rate optimisation experts