Give your customers the ability to purchase from you when they want, from where they want
What exactly are online stores and how do they work?
An online store is a website through which customers place orders and purchase goods. It may represent a small local store, a major retailer, or an e-commerce-only store (no physical store), to name a few. Online stores can operate under several business models, including business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), or consumer-to-consumer (such as personal classifieds).
To operate an online store, you need a few essential parts for it to work correctly. This includes:
A Registered Website Domain and Hosting
If you already have a website, an online store can simply be linked to it.
A Working Storefront
eCommerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento, or Shopify are commonly used.
A Product Catalogue
You must have a product or service you can sell.
A Shopping Cart
This allows your clients to add multiple items before checkout.
A Payment Gateway
To secure payment for the orders. Summit7Marketing prefers working with NetCash, one of the most-trusted payment solutions providers in South Africa for over 21 years.
An Integrated Delivery Service (optional)
In most cases, to deliver the product to the customer. While a delivery service is optional, it greatly extends the reach of your products to be delivered seamlessly and get paid at the same time as the products ordered.
7 Fantastic Benefits of an Online Store
to Your Business
Your Products are available 24/7 to be purchased
You don’t need staff to work all hours of the day to assist your customers. And your customers don’t have to drive over to your store to pick up their product—they can have it delivered to their door!
You Can Reach New Audiences with Search Engine Visibility
In addition to the branding and relationships you create in your office, adding an online store will increase the traffic to your website through search engines. When potential customers search for a product that you carry, those results will show up in their searches.
You Can Lower the Cost of Retail
When you have an online store, it becomes easier to measure which items sell more regularly than others. You can adapt your stock levels according to measured demand; this means you can focus more accurately on stock orders that you know will sell. You will also be able to expand your product selection with little overhead cost. You probably won’t need additional staff until you hit major growth. Advertising and marketing are less expensive to get the word out about promotions or new products. Best of all, as your online sales increase, you don’t need a bigger physical shop, and the products are shipped directly to the client.
You Can Create Targeted Communication Around Sales
As a business owner, you should have a clear idea of what your clients are buying from you. This knowledge is particularly important! You can target consumer interests through communication and marketing online, such as planning sales, offers, and discounts on products and services—which your clients can easily redeem online.
You Can Showcase Your Best Products
When you have proven products that you know will sell and be in demand, you can highlight these items front and centre in your online store. You know that other customers have purchased the same product and were happy with them, so you are confident that these products will benefit other customers as well.
You Can Increase Your Brand Awareness & Loyalty
Every business owner and manager wants their business to be easily recognizable, known as a choice provider, and loved by its customers. This is called brand awareness; brand awareness is the amount of familiarity consumers have with a particular brand. This includes the name, logo, or any defining characteristics that the public associates with a brand/business. Most customers research online first, whether they buy online or in-store. An online store ensures that potential customers find your product information and pricing. When consumers do a product search online, you want to be listed among the top results.
You Can Gather Valuable Customer Insights
Online stores provide a wealth of data about your customers’ shopping behaviours and preferences. By analysing this data, you can gain valuable insights into what products are popular, which marketing strategies are effective, and how customers interact with your store. This information can help you make informed decisions to improve your product offerings, enhance customer experience, and tailor your marketing efforts to better meet the needs of your audience. With these insights, you can continuously optimize your online store to drive more sales and increase customer satisfaction.
Give your customers the ability to purchase from you when they want, from where they want
Summit 7 Marketing can assist with the full build of your online store, no matter if you are a small business with just a few products, or a large business with a complex trading model including B2B, wholesale, contract pricing etc. We have been around the block with online store builds and can give sound advice on best practice for your online store with regarding to optimal customer experience, seamless management of the store and most importantly – security of your online store and purchases made.
Which e-commerce platforms do we specialise in? WooCommerce and Shopify
What to Expect When We Build Your Online Store?
The 7 Steps towards eCommerce Success
Initial Consultation and Planning
Understanding Your Business and Website Needs
We start with a detailed consultation to understand your business goals, target audience, and specific requirements for your online store.
Defining the Scope
Together, we outline the scope of the project, including the features you need, the design preferences, and any specific functionalities.
Design and User Experience
Concepts and Mock-ups
We create mock-ups to visualise the layout and design of your online store. This helps in refining the user experience and ensuring the design aligns with your brand..
Responsive Design
Ensuring your online store looks great and functions seamlessly on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. The responsive design is sometimes only actioned later in the building process.
Development and Integration
Platform & Plugins
Based on your needs, we recommend the best e-commerce platform (e.g., WooCommerce), exactly which specialist plugin will be required to achieve required functionality and start the development process.
Proper Hosting Package
We look at the expected traffic on your online store and get suitable hosting in place to ensure your online store loads swiftly even if a large amount of people transact on it at once.
Product Listings
Assisting with the creation and optimization of product listings, including descriptions, images, and pricing.
Custom Development (optional)
We build custom features and functionalities tailored to your business, such as product catalogues, shopping carts, and payment gateways.
Integration (optional)
Integrating essential tools and services, such as inventory management systems, CRM, and marketing tools.
Testing and Quality Assurance
Comprehensive Internal Testing
Our team conducts thorough testing to ensure your online store is bug-free and performs well across different devices and browsers.
User Testing
Gathering feedback from real users (including you, as our client) to identify any usability issues and make necessary improvements.
Launch and Training
Go Live
Once everything is tested and approved, we launch your online store and ensure a smooth transition.
Training (optional)
Providing training sessions to help you and your team manage the online store effectively. For larger changes and updates, Summit 7 Marketing is however ready to assist!
Ongoing Support and Maintenance (optional with SLA)
Technical Support
Offering ongoing technical support to address any issues that may arise.
Secure Backups
We do secure, offsite backups of your online store once a week to ensure rapid recovery should your online store be compromised in any way.
Updates and Enhancements
Regularly updating your online store with new features and improvements to keep it running smoothly and securely.
Marketing and Growth (optional with SLA)
SEO and Digital Marketing
Implementing SEO strategies and digital marketing campaigns (such as social media and marketing email campaigns) to drive traffic to your online store.
Analytics and Reporting
Setting up analytics tools to track performance and provide monthly reports with insights for continuous improvement.