Initially i thought of about commerce was just an exchange of goods and services for money but then a term eCommerce comes and i got to know that ecommerce is an integration of communication services,data management and security mechanisms that allows organizations toexchange information about the sale of goods and services .it not only involves buying and selling electronically but also involves marketing, retailing, customerservice, banking, billing, corporate sector purchasing,secure distribution of data and other value-added services over the internet.
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In recent years we are seeing a great deal of interest in
eCommerce from retailers. An increasing number of retailers
are adopting eCommerce tools and getting involved in
online business. The influx of large number of new players
has intensified the battle for customer's time and pocket book.
Gone are the days when you could build a good site and expect
a number of visitors to rush in. Today, websites are using every
possible promotional method available to attract visitors. As a
result, web promotion has become a complex and expensive
part of company's overall online marketing strategy.
However, getting a visitor to your site is just half of the job,
even if the visitor is from your targeted segment of the market!
One of the primary issues that you have to deal with as an owner
of an eCommerce site is to convert a visitor to a real customer.
You have to take a number of measures in order to increase this
odd. Unfortunately, a huge number of prospective customers leave
a site after even placing items in the shopping cart. Most of
the site owners grossly underestimate the number of abandoning
customers. When asked, none of the respondent site owners gave
a figure for visitors from this category more than 30 percent.
But, the reality is quite different! According to various
studies, the abandonment rate can be a staggering 67 percent
for an average eCommerce site! So, what do you have to do to
reduce this number and increase your sales?
Some latest web development ideas combined vaguely
under the name of Web 2.0 technology can be used
to increase functionalities of a website and lower
shopping cart abandonment rate.
Web 2.0 as a concept has become big in the Internet world, but
this phenomenon has yet to make large impact on conservative
business segment like eCommerce. Over the coming months this
is going to change as more and more online shopping sites are
embracing Ajax based technology and other Web 2.0 ideas. The
originator of the Web 2.0 describes this term to define new
generation websites that use collective contribution, social
networking, tagging, open APIs, remix, etc.
Ajax, a short name for a combination of website developing
technologies and a key instrument of Web 2.0 concept, is used
to create web applications with enhanced usability, interactivity
and speediness. Present eCommerce sites are also in a position
to reap similar benefits.
Below are listed the primary reasons for visitors to abandon a
shopping cart and possible ways of dealing with it.
1. Cost of shipping too high and not shown until checkout
This seems to be the number one reason for most of the people
to abandon a shopping cart. The first step you need to take here
has nothing to do with technology. You have to understand that
people are not willing to pay extra on top of the real shipping
and handling charge. People are not stupid! They have more or
less rough idea, how much shipping might cost. That's why keep
shipping and handling costs really low or at least reasonable!
The second step which can radically improve your conversion rate
is the use of new technology to keep the shopping cart with all
its content visible at the right upper side of the page presently
visited. Once a new item is added to the cart, all calculations
will take place right away without reloading the page or the
cart. If you feel that shipping and handling costs could be
crucial in buying decision, once the first item is added the
system will ask for visitor's zip code and automatically
calculate the final price.
2. Changed mind and discarded cart content
In this case, unfortunately, you can't do much! However, if your
site automatically saves the content of the cart, there is a
chance that the same buyer might come back and continue shopping.
Analysis of the exit page of the visitor might also help you
determine the reason why she/he has left.
3. Comparison shopping or browsing
Apart from monitoring your competitors' sites and keeping your
offers aggressive, you should also create a site with better
functionalities and contents than your competitors.
4. Total cost of items is too high
Again, if the cart is constantly visible with the final price
always calculated automatically, the buyer will be able to
take a more informative decision.
5. Saving items for later purchase
The moment an item is added to the cart, it should be saved
automatically without reloading the page. If the buyer is not
logged in, request the buyer to register with just login
and password, explaining that this way he or she can come
back and continue shopping on your site.
6. Checkout process is too long
If you have a shopping cart as described earlier all the buyer
will need to do is click to check out. A simple form with
minimum information needed to execute the check out process will
appear upon checking out. The filling out of this form should be
the final step of the buying process.
7. Out of stock products at checkout time
The functionalities of the cart, as described earlier, will let
the buyer immediately know whether the product is available.
8. Checkout requires too much personal information
The Web 1.0 eCommerce sites collect a lot of information about
the customer, which presumably help get marketing data. These
days, online customers are not willing to reveal more than
necessary information for nothing. Avoid the temptation to ask
questions unrelated to check out. All you need is name, shipping
and billing address and credit card information. That's it!
9. Poor site navigation and long download times
With the help of above mentioned technologies you will be able
to increase interactivity, speed and better navigation experience
many folds.
10. Lack of sufficient product or contact information
Your contact telephone numbers should be always visible! Use A
form or wizard based product adding system. This will help you
not to forget crucial information related to an item when you add
it to your database.
Of course there are other minor reasons why visitors abandon a
shopping cart, but if you make over your eCommerce site with
the help Web 2.0 technologies many of these issues will also
disappear. About the author:
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present
CEO of
http://Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology,
he has wide experience in Business Consulting, International
Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B
eMarketplace with solutions to start and run online business.
Unless you have been hibernating for the last few years, you have probably heard about e-commerce. And you have heard about it from several different angles. You may have heard about all of the companies that offer e-commerce because of the bombardment of their TV and radio advertisements or read all of the news stories about the shift to e-commerce and the hype that has developed around e-commerce companies or seen the huge valuations that Web companies get in the stock market, even when they don't make a profit or bought something or the other on the Web, so you have direct personal experience with e-commerce .