14 Useful Tips for Online Shops

Just as physical stores update their equipment to keep up with the times, so should your online shop implement more modern technology. Over the years, new technical innovations have emerged that appear appealing to users. In particular, the internet is no longer exclusively accessible via desktop computers or laptops, with most people now using their tablets or smartphones to surf casually. This means that online shops need to be responsive, meaning the layout of a page changes depending on the size of the screen accessing it. Online shop pages in particular should be operable on a smartphone or tablet without having to scroll through them. Less relevant information can be found by scrolling through a page, but a customer should be able to place an order without having to do so. Responsive design has become so important due to a far better user experience, that most pages have their own responsive design, even Google considers this when it comes to SEO, giving clear disadvantages to pages that are not responsive. Online shops that are not responsive can have a negative effect on your Google ranking.

Your online shop should offer different search options so that as many users as possible can quickly find something to meet their needs:

• Customers who know exactly which products they want to order should use an article number search. In some industries, this search should also include other numbers, for example in the automotive industry a search for original part numbers (OE numbers) would be useful. Saving of shopping carts is also useful to speed up repeat orders - this saves searching again. For corporate customers, uploading several article numbers via Excel may also be helpful, as internal coordination is often still conducted via Excel.
   
• Users who know exactly what they want but do not yet know the appropriate article numbers should be able to limit their search using a good search structure and parameter filters. Product categories that refine their products step by step in a tree structure serve as a key search structure. Parameter filters should differ in the categories if you offer different product ranges (for example, a filter by pressure for valves and by shaft length for drills). If you want to offer numerous spare parts in your shop, then a search via the main products can be useful (e.g. search for the defective pump and there display and availability of the spare parts via an explosion drawing). In the case of vehicle parts, a search via manufacturers, models and vehicles is often relevant, since users are familiar with this from TecDoc-based systems (such as ANTEROS.tecdoc). In any case, it is important that the customer does not receive hundreds of search results, but can limit the number of results as required.
   
• Users with general requirements should be able to refine their search by keyword and category.

Users often leave an online store because they find either no product information or completely insufficient product information. If customers are left in the dark about the exact specifications, they are more likely to leave the shop. This is particularly important for technical products, as many applications require technical constraints to be met. Provide your customers with as much information about the products as possible: sizes, materials, dimensions, certificates and documents such as safety data sheets or operating instructions.

To avoid having to manually maintain this product information for the online shop, although it is already maintained for print catalogs, data sheets, dealer exports, etc., PIM systems such as ANTEROS can help. These mean product data for various media only have to be centrally maintained and changed ONCE, for example the technology-leading PIM software ANTEROS.

Products in specialist retail stores are grouped according to how they will later be used in practice. This way, the customer can find suitable additional products and supplements without having to walk through the entire shop, and even grab additional products that they did not initially plan for when they entered the shop. This so-called cross-selling should also be used in the online shop. Online shops with technical products can be used to provide accessories, consumables, or spare parts. Some shop systems only offer fixed relationship types for this (such as Magento), while others can be configured as required (like the ANTEROS shop software) - with which you can present the additional products in different groups, e.g. separately for standard accessories and special accessories. In any case, it is important that you manually set these relationships between the products, e.g. between a fitting and the matching wheels. If the shop user then navigates to the product, the accessories are also displayed so that they can order them directly.

If you offer intensive spare parts in the shop, then a function that presents the main product (e.g. a pump) to the user in an exploded view is advantageous, simply click on spare parts directly in the drawing to see details about the spare part or place it in the shopping basket. Incidentally, if you save the relationships in a PIM system right away, you can also use them in your print catalogs, data sheets, dealer exports, etc. Some online shop systems (e.g. ANTEROS.web) allows you to import spare part relationships with comparatively little effort via the parts lists of an ERP system or link spare parts in an exploded view with a graphical editor.

The conversion rate indicates how many visitors really made a purchase in the online shop. Using statistics, you can not only analyze this percentage, but also which categories or search words were used more frequently, from which page or search engine the users entered the shop, etc. This is very valuable information that you can monitor regularly to improve your shop step by step to meet customer needs. This can mean adjusting the category structure, offering more parameter filters in specific categories, displaying more product information or images, placing or improving search engine advertising. Good search engine advertising tells customers exactly what they can expect on the specified page and is not misleading. Misleading advertising, on the other hand, leads customers into your shop who can't do anything with the articles - this results in a low conversion rate. A good online shop is not only visually appealing, but also efficient.

For most customers it is important to know who runs the shop, especially in the corporate customer area (B2B). You want to know who you can contact if there is a problem and you want to be personally catered for. If contact information is difficult to find and can only be accessed with several clicks, potential customers will have less confidence in you and may therefore refrain from shopping in your online shop. In addition, there are also legal requirements that require certain information in the imprint and a privacy policy page.