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Posts Tagged ‘e-commerce development’

Smart E-Commerce Trends that will Emerge in Holiday Season 2019

October 14th, 2019

Since the time e-commerce stores starting outselling their brick and mortar competitors, the holiday season has been like a retail war that each company tries to win every year around. The competition is no longer between physical retail stores and e-commerce stores. Will a plethora of online stores emerging in every single category, the battle is on between all the giants of the e-commerce industry along with the new players in the market. 

So, in this highly competitive situation, what would be the trends that e-commerce companies would and should follow to maintain that competitive edge? Well, that is exactly what we are diving deep into below. 

Major Trends to Follow this Holiday season

Targetted Marketing Approach

At the beginning of the so-called e-commerce revolution, marketers would bombard all potential customers will advertisement wherever possible to gain as much traffic to their site and do as much branding as possible. As time went on, e-commerce marketers became more aware of the benefits of a targetted approach. 

They realized that not every potential customer was worth going after. Through A/B testing and various other methods, they were able to narrow down the customers that would bring them the most revenue and the least cost. This targetted method of marketing would continue to expand e-commerce store owners’ sales and profits this holiday season as well without any exception.  

Integrating Video Marketing

One of the most important trends in online marketing in the past five years has been video marketing. Brands are using videos as a powerful marketing tool on platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook to generate new customers and keep the existing ones engaged. The opportunities are so vast in video marketing that any e-commerce company that is not implementing this strategy stands to lose not just money but their foothold in the industry.

No matter what you sell, if you want a presence on the internet, you need to be creating fresh content regularly. This holiday season, e-commerce companies will spend a sizeable chunk of their marketing budget on video and those who have not implemented it in the past will begin to remain in the competition. 

Brands Will Improve Customer Service

Your customer service plays a big role in deciding whether a customer returns to your brand or not. Even if your product is great, there is no guarantee someone will come back to purchase more merchandise from you if your customer service is not up to the mark. The cost of acquiring new customers is always higher than the cost of retaining old ones. So, from a purely financial point of view, providing good customer service is crucial.

This holiday season, many e-commerce sites are expected to use AI on their platforms to provide their customers with many self-help options. Chatbots would be implemented by more sites to help customers with some basic queries like their product’s delivery time, return policy, shipping information, etc. In customer service, small changes like these can make a huge difference. 

Connecting Online with Offline

For retailers that both have a brick and mortar store and sell online, there are ways to track the conversions moving from online marketing to offline sales. For example, a customer sees your social media post or ad and then visits your physical store to buy the product you advertised. This is what we mean by connecting your online and offline retail efforts. Years ago tracking these types of sales was not possible however, there are advanced analytical tools that can do that today.

This holiday season, brands are going to capitalize on this conversion tracking and implement it in their marketing strategies. This will give them a clearer picture of the success of their marketing efforts and track the ROI of their ads from both online and offline channels. 

Customer Reviews Will Remain Critical

Online shopping depends a great deal on customer reviews. Every one of us has at one time or another read the review of a product online before placing the order. If the review was negative, we would remove that item from our cart. The reason is simple. We trust customer reviews. That mentality impacts the bottom lines of e-commerce companies more that you would think. 

This holiday season is going to be no different. Customer reviews will impact online sales a lot. Brands would try their best to ensure that their customers have positive experiences and leave their comments accordingly on their site and other online review platforms. As for negative reviews, it is an art how to handle them tactfully and even get those customers to change their ratings and reviews from negative to positive.  

Create a Truly Personalized Shopping Experience

E-commerce stores will continue to work on making the online shopping experience of their customers truly personalized. Using marketing methods such a retargeting, customers can be shown related products or products they showed interest in previously on any page they visit. Every click, every purchase, every product view of the customers is recorded and used to cater to each customer in a personalized manner. 

This growing trend of personalization will ensure no two online shoppers have the same experience or see the same products on a site. This personalization not only improves customer experience but also improves the site’s conversion rates but understanding how customers behave on the site and what attracts them more. 

Conclusion:

E-commerce sites earn a majority of their revenue in the US during the holiday season. These last 3 months of the year play a vital role in the profitability of an online retailer and can shape their strategies and growth going forward. The trends given above would most likely be followed by e-commerce businesses this season to grow their market share and have a truly blessed holiday season and pave the way for other online retailers going forward.

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Categories: Ecommerce

E-Commerce Online Marketing Approach That Delivers Results

September 13th, 2019

Regardless of whatever category of products you are selling on your e-commerce website, chances are there is already a lot of competition in the market for it. When your potential customers search online for the products you sell, they see many options that pop-up in the search results page of Google and Bing. The question is, how do you stand out of the crowd? The answer is by recognizing e-commerce online marketing strategies that actually work.

However, this brings about its own challenges. There are several strategies out there but not all of them are right for you and not all of them are proven effective. Your online marketing approach needs to incorporate elements of different strategies and create one that has been the most result-oriented. 

E-Commerce Online Marketing Tactics That Work

Well-Defined and Targeted Social Media Marketing

It is no surprise that social media is the number one platform for e-commerce marketing, especially for a few categories. If you sell clothing, jewellery, gadgets and other accessories, social media is the right platform for you. While many companies use SMM, many do not know how to use it effectively. 

The best feature of social media marketing is how well you can define your target audience. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram let you target potential customers based on their gender, age, location, interests, professions, level of education and groups they have joined. Once you have determined what your target audience actually looks like, you can use these targeting options offered by these platforms to market directly to them, thus leading to a better conversion rate.  

Strategic Search Engine Marketing

One of the most effective inbound marketing techniques is PPC. While in social media, you are placing your products in front of potential customers, in PPC, the customers that are actually searching for the products you sell would see your ads in the search results page and visit your e-commerce site. 

The most important thing for your SEM to succeed is finding the right combination of keywords that have the highest search volume in your target area and that have medium to low competition. These metrics are provided to you in the Keyword Planner Tool of Google Ads. 

You must also have a negative keyword list added to make sure you do not lose money due to irrelevant clicks. Having the right keyword mix, proper location targeting, the right ad scheduling and the ad copy that speaks to your customers is the path to SEM success for your e-commerce site. 

Perfect Blend of Technical and Offpage SEO

SEO has so many different components that need attention when you are trying to optimize your e-commerce site for search engines. A complete SEO strategy starts at the level of the inception of the site. From adding keywords in meta tags and creating product schema to generating site maps and adding them to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster, all these steps are crucial for on-page optimization. 

Once your site has all the technical on-page optimization in place, the next focus comes to the link building methods. For any e-commerce site, content marketing is the single most important off-page SEO technique to draw in visitors to your site and get links from other websites in your niche. Through natural link-building through content marketing and getting local citations in case of local e-commerce businesses, your site’s visibility on search engines improves steadily over a period of time.

Partnering with the right Online Marketing Agency

You cannot be expected to handle the workload of running a successful e-commerce store while coming up with online marketing strategies, running campaigns, measuring their ROI and pivoting strategies accordingly all on your own. That is why partnering with an experienced online marketing company can help you increase your business’s reach and revenue. 

At Clap Creative, we understand e-commerce marketing because we understand e-commerce sites. We are not just an e-commerce SEO agency but also an e-commerce web development company. The sites we create are already optimized as per SEO guidelines for better search engine visibility. We have a proven track record of helping our clients grow their customer base using our online marketing techniques. For more information, please contact us today. 

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Categories: Ecommerce

20 Must Have Essential Features for Your E-Commerce Store

July 14th, 2018

Have you ever wondered why some e-commerce sites barely scrape the surface while others generate high revenues month after month? Is there some secret recipe for their success that only they know about? Well, as the saying goes, “Winners don’t do different things, they just do things differently”. For e.g. they start with covering up their fundamentals such as UX driven design, fast and reliable hosting, SSL certificate etc. Next, they focus on features that make your website easy, fast, secure and visually appealing.

But I understand you have a lot going up your sleeves and doesn’t have much time for exploring these issues. Don’t worry though, you are not alone in this. Here I have covered 20 such features to boost the sales of your online store. You can either try these if you are more of a DIY person or can take the help of any E-Commerce Web Development company to help you deal with the issue. Let’s move on-

Page Header

  • Domain Name

Domain name is your unique identity that protects copyrights, trademarks, build credibility etc. so always aim for a domain name that’s easy to read and remember.

  • Logo

Lay special emphasis while creating your business logo as it will serve as the chief visual component of your company’s overall brand identity

  • Tagline

Create a rock-solid tagline that represents the vision and mission of your business and encompasses everything from your business image to the summery of your benefits to the help it provides in recalling your brand.

  • Call-To-Action

Insert a clear call-to-action button that helps to direct your reader’s attention from decision fatigue and confusion to the meaningful content based on your needs.

  • Navigation

Providing an easy-to-use navigation is one of the safest ways to ensure that your customers don’t get confused while surfing your site by providing the most descriptive path to your products and services.

Above the Fold

  • Image Slider

Telling your story with sliders instead of displaying one image after the other randomly is one of the most popular visual display modes in web design today which not only give a professional look but also helps in grabbing your visitors’ attention.

  • Reviews/Testimonials

The benefits of providing reviews and testimonial options are many, it helps build trust with your visitors as well as allow you lots of media attention which will eventually lead to an increase in SEO rankings.

Below the Fold

  • Content

Providing high-value content will help you generate more sales apart from providing value and enhancing usability. Magento E-Commerce Development software offers special plugins just for the sake of developing a strong content strategy.

  • Features

Always include the main features of your products and services as it helps in distinguishing characteristics in order to boost its appeal to potential buyers.

  • Links

Build clear and visible high-quality links that will help visitors circumvent your website’s inner pages with ease.

Footer

  • Live Chat Feature

Offering your customers, a live-chat option is of great value to your site as it facilitates instant communication to help them through whatever stage they are having trouble with.

  • Social Media

Adding social media links at the bottom of your main page will offer your site visitors an option to better understand your business via social media channels.

  • Contact Information

Providing contact information at the bottom is essential as it proves the authenticity of your business as well as let your visitors contact you whenever need be.

Page-list

  • About Us

You may not know but ‘About Us’ is one of the most visited pages of your site. Use it efficiently to present your brand’s story to your audience in a compelling way.

  • Contact Form

Including a contact form page is also an important feature that lets your visitors know when to expect a response to their query.

  • Privacy Policy

The main purpose of this page is to let your customers know that you collect, use and share the information provided by them.

  • FAQ

Now, the FAQ section is a must as it’s the prime go-to destination for customers that have any specific questions regarding the products or operations of your business.

Blog

  • Search Bar

In the blog section, a search bar greatly helps your visitors to narrow down the information they are seeking, do not forget to add this feature.

  • Comment Section

A comment section in your blog has many benefits, including improved visibility, helps in establishing credibility, increased user engagement etc.

  • Share Feature

Allowing your audience with an option to share your articles is the next best thing you can do to promote your site in the social media realm.

A Tip: use WordPress Web Design Services to unleash the full potential of your blogging feature.

Conclusion

Running a successful e-commerce store requires effectively handling its back-end features way more than just managing the front-end ones. As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your shopping portal is kept up-to-date in order to keep your customers engaged. How? By thinking two steps ahead of your competitors and making it a regular habit to install fresh, customized and user-friendly features.

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Categories: Ecommerce

Advantages of E-Commerce Website over Brick and Mortar Store

June 25th, 2018

In order for a business to grow, it needs to reach new customers consistently and learn ways to communicate effectively with the existing ones. But if you are already running or have run in the past a traditional brick and mortar store, you know how difficult it can get to achieve these two requirements. However, creating an e-commerce website for your retail store might just be the only thing you need right now to break through the limitations your physical store presents while increasing sales for its products.

What is E-Commerce?

Before venturing further into e-commerce business, you should know what e-commerce selling entails. It encompasses the transfer of information across the internet followed up by a commercial transaction. Therefore, it comes in various different formats. E-Commerce can be anything from a branded website to marketplaces like Amazon and eBay for selling through social media platforms to any such stuff. Due to the availability of multiple ways to sell to consumers over the internet, businesses are no longer bound by time and distance.

Major Benefits of Having an E-Commerce Website:

  1. Customizable

Personalisation can greatly enhance the online shopping experience for customers. Apart from the segmented email list based on location, purchases made and how much money a customer spent, personalization can also be achieved by retargeting a customer who abandoned his/her cart in the past by showing the ads of the products abandoned or greeting them with a name on their next visit etc.

  1. Round-the-clock Availability

Another advantage of an e-commerce website is that your online store will be open for business 24/7 whereas your physical store will only let you open from 9 am to 9 pm. Even with Facebook ads, you can attract someone only from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. But with an e-commerce site, you can attract almost anyone whether working in odd shifts or with time boundations or simply being lazy enough to go to a store.

  1. Outreach

One limitation of having a brick and mortar store is that it only allows you to sell products on a local level but with an online store you can easily sell your brands to customers on a worldwide scale. Your e-commerce site will also let you the ability to discover your customers whether they be in UK, Latin America or neighboring countries. Also, its drop shipping option will take care of pricing and shipping issues.

  1. Cost Benefits

One of the major benefits of online stores is that it has a much lower start-up cost compared to physical retail stores where just the rent of store location amounts to thousands of dollars per month, not to mention the additional costs of employees, infrastructure etc. However, you can easily start your own e-commerce store single-handedly in a couple of hundred dollars, plus you will save plenty on employees etc.

  1. Showcase Bestsellers

E-commerce makes it much easier to show off products to customers as it provides the option to display best sellers in an effective manner. The reason I mentioned displaying best sellers is that they are proven since other customers have already bought it and are happy with their purchase. Also, you can easily showcase new products as well by including them in upsell and marketing campaigns.

  1. Impulse Buy

Getting your customers to become impulse buyers is another big advantage that your online store can provide but your physical store can’t. All you need is an attractive product photography, the one with human emotions or vibrant colors and use them to create amazing ads that can drive impulsive buys. You can even use showcasing limited quantities or countdown timers to further the drive process.

  1. Order-taking

In retail stores, we have often seen long lines at cash counters which makes the overall shopping experience, a painful one and deter many people from going to stores. But with online shopping, there is simply no waiting time. A customer can easily place orders in his own time schedule and from the comforts of his own home which, as a result, allows you to accept a high number of orders with ease.

  1. Scalability

In your brick and mortar store, whenever you want to grow your business to accommodate new products or hire more cashiers, you will need to find a bigger space, spend money on renovating and wait for your lease to end. However, with an e-commerce website, you can easily add countless products to your store without worrying about holding inventory or shipping products allowing you to scale quickly.

Conclusion:

Operating a business is challenging and time-consuming in itself. But you can make it easy for you by investing in a professional website. Just remember, e-commerce is no longer considered a luxury in today’s times but more of a necessity. Without it, you are limiting the potential for growth. And with it? Well, you can answer that for yourself now.

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Categories: Ecommerce

6 Magento E-Commerce Trends to Follow in 2018

January 2nd, 2018

Magento, since its foundation in 2007, has seen its share of ups and downs but through continued persistence and a strong will to survive it has turned out to be the most successful e-commerce development company among business world in the recent years and will continue to do so in 2018 and well beyond that.

Magento basically provides a sophisticated e-commerce platform, easy to navigate for users and operate for owners. What gives Magento an edge over its competition is its ability to increase user engagement and improve conversions by providing a variety of user-friendly options and an ease to access them.

Speaking of user-friendly options, below are listed some of the hottest Magento trends of this year which will continue to dominate in 2018. Be sure to follow them.

  1. Chatterbots-  are basically chatting robots which are designed to engage users interest by providing useful info and solving queries in real time via auditory or textual methods. It recognises keywords the user inputs and responds with a pre-programmed answer in order to move the conversation forward in a meaningful way.
  2. Omni-presence- everything is interconnected in today’s world, thanks to technology, why should our shopping experience be any different. Another hot feature added by Magento is allowing the users to be present in various shopping sites at once and the freedom to access these sites from any device.
  3. Mobile connectivity- smartphones are getting smarter by day and those who embrace it are far ahead in the race for modernisation. Magento grabbed this opportunity early on by making its software mobile-friendly and providing the users hassle-free experience of shopping anywhere, anytime.
  4. Live video feed- live video chat is another revolutionary idea implemented by Magento which has escalated the user experience tenfold since its introduction. Just the idea of another person live streaming the demonstration of his product is intriguing. One can also ask questions and clear doubts in real time thus building trust.
  5. Using social media- this feature works in collaboration with social media sites by providing links to your searched items on social media (this is called indirect marketing) for reconsideration purposes. You can also tag the product to your friends and it also provides ‘easy to purchase’ options which are just a few clicks away.
  6. Push notifications- this process works by re-engaging your visitors by providing them with an option to accept notifications for future. These notifications contain the information of newly launched products or offers/discounts, reviews from authentic users on items viewed, alerting them of pending items in shopping card and informing them about the delivery details of their products.

Magento has been a leading software company in e-commerce development for many years and a trusted name among famous brands such as Coca-Cola and Burger-King. Evaluating its growth over the years, it is safe to assume that the future of Magento is bright and the new features it introduces every year to stay on top are nothing less than icing on the cake. Stay connected to remain in touch with the future of e-commerce.

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Categories: Ecommerce, Magento

Gaining Edge in E-Commerce Sector through Digital Experience

December 5th, 2017

As it has been mentioned several times by me, the e-commerce sector is a highly competitive one. It is one where you must capture the attention and the trust of your visitors from the very get-go to be able to stay alive in. You may have already read many articles about how your e-commerce business can gain an edge over your competitors. One thing that might have been missed is how important digital experience is for your business. That is what we will be discussing in this particular post.

There are certain methods that can be implemented in order to enhance the digital experience of your website’s visitors or your prospect customers. Here are some the key things to put under consideration –

Awesome Multi-Channel Experience

There was a time long ago when the digital experience was only limited to the computer screens. That has not been the case for many years now. Your website must be ready to offer customers the best experience on every single device and screen size. The transition a customer has to make between a desktop and a smartphone has to be smooth and seamless. This goes beyond making a site responsive. It is about putting yourself in the user’s shoes. The familiarity with the brand must not change nor should the customer have to enter their already submitted details again when they change devices.

Go for the Personal Touch

Personalization is another way to enhance the customer’s digital experience. It does not just mean that you should have the customer’s name mentioned on the checkout page or on the website’s header. It means to truly offer them a personalized and customized shopping experience. At every step, your customer should see product recommendations that are tailor-made just for them. When customers will see products that they actually are interested in, it will also help increase the conversion rate for your online store.

Different Approach for Different Users

Implementing Technologies to Improve Experience

In order to achieve all the above-mentioned changes, there need to be certain technologies implemented during the e-commerce development stage of your websites. These technologies can include plugins, CRM integration, Interfaces, visitor analytics tools etc. With the appropriate use of the right technology, the transformation of the digital experience for customers can be enabled. Webstore owners need to identify and partner with the right e-commerce development companies that have the necessary tools for this purpose.

It is high time for online stores to think beyond their products and web designs. They need to wake up to the fact that their competitors are now competing on a whole different front where providing customers with an enhanced and personalized digital experience. Just having the knowledge of what to do will not be enough, having the tools and the know-how is what that is needed.

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Categories: Ecommerce

Infographic: E-Commerce Platforms Usage Comparison

November 27th, 2017

Clap Creative Infographic

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Categories: Ecommerce

Is Your E-Commerce Store Ready for the Holiday Season?

November 15th, 2017

The holiday season is upon us and for the e-commerce sector, it is the time of the year when they make their chunk of the annual sales. The two big days that are Black Friday and Cyber Monday are days when the profits of an online store can grow anywhere up to 20% as per a research by Deloitte. This time of the year, your websites need to be prepared to handle the excessive traffic that will be landing on it. There are many things that you must do to prepare your online store for these days. Everything from ensuring the site does not crash to optimizing its design. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity for making the most of this season.

Here are some steps you can take to ensure your website’s preparedness –

Spread the Cheer through Design

Your website may already have a very peppy design but you want it to look different on Black Friday. You want the visitors to feel like it is a special day and you know it. Adding some holiday-related stock images on the site and changing up the design of your homepage to make it look more holiday like can be an added advantage. Remember that design has a big impact on visitors and your homepage is like the cover of the book that most people judge your site by.

Ensure Proper Loading Speed

With so many websites to choose from, if prospective customer clicks on your link and the site take forever to load, that customer is never returning. A quick load speed is necessary to ensure a positive user experience and can lead to more returning visitors to the site. The loading on mobile devices is very important as a majority of shoppers use their smartphones for making online purchases these days. You do not want to miss out on sales simply because your site does not load fast enough on mobile devices.

Test for Malware

Malware can cause your website to slow down and also disrupt its many functionalities. Even though you may have a protocol in place for regular malware testing, you can do a few days before the big day to make sure there is no malware infecting the website and hampering its overall performance. If any malware is detected, you must work on removing it and recovering your site in time.

Online Promotion

Proper Internet marketing is needed to get the word out about the various discounts your online store is offering. Capitalize on social media to entice your followers to visit your site on Black Friday and Cyber Monday by strategically planning your posts for times when people are most likely online. Leave no platform behind. Update posts every way on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to Pinterest, Snapchat and even Tumblr.  Run paid promotions as well to gain a competitive edge.

Create A Sense of Urgency

This is something you can tie-up with your online promotions. Whenever there are any exclusive sales coming up, you must create a sense of urgency about it. Use words like “limited period offer” or “once in a lifetime deals” etc on social media or in your email campaigns. This creates a Psychological impact on the shopper’s mind. You can also use such terms on your website or landing page’s content.

So, these were some of the steps you can all take to make sure you have a profitable Black Friday weekend as well as a prosperous holiday season ahead with your e-commerce store. For any help with your online marketing, website maintenance, and web design, contact Clap Creative today.

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Categories: Ecommerce

5 Common Myths about E-Commerce Web Development

October 30th, 2017

A good e-commerce website is very critical for the survival of any online store. There are so many new e-commerce websites that are launched every week on the internet. However, not all are successful. In fact, approximately half the e-commerce websites launched across the world shut down within the first year. A major reason behind that is a list of common misconceptions people have about e-commerce web development. Recognizing these myths and misconceptions will get you closer to coming up with a better and concrete e-commerce strategy.

Myth 1. All platforms are the same

There are so many platforms that can be used to create e-commerce sites. Magento, Shopify, and BigCommerce are a few of them. If you believe that it does not matter which of these platforms you use to create your website, you are seriously mistaken. Each and every one of these platforms has their own unique features and advantages for e-commerce web development.  Know your online store’s requirements and understand the features of these platforms to make an informed decision about which platform to develop your site on.

Myth 2. The cheaper the better

Most online store owners believe that the key to e-commerce success is reducing the prices of the products. The ideology is that customers flock towards inexpensive goods and increase their sales in the process. Although e-commerce is a very competitive business and price point gives companies advantages, it is not the only factor. There are other factors like product availability, the popularity of the brand, customer loyalty, customer service etc that give an online store competitive edge.

Myth 3. Traffic will come by itself

If you believe that all you need to do is to make your website live and customers will automatically flock towards it, you are completely wrong. In order to bring traffic to your website, there are so many activities that need to be carried out. Some of these are – Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Social Media Optimization (SMO) and many other activities for online promotion.  Along with generating traffic, the important thing is to generate relevant traffic to the website to increase conversions.

Myth 4. E-Commerce business does not cost that much

Although running an e-commerce store does not have all the expenses that are involved in operating a brick and mortar store, it can still burn a hole in your pocket if you are not careful.  You need to have long-term business plans and focus on the customer journey. The key areas of expenditure are usually in marketing, logistics, inventory procurement and inventory management. Make sure you do not overstretch your budget.

Myth 5. One size fits all

If your website targets an international audience, then you must modify a few things or add additional features on your website to make it more appealing to the customers of your target country. Even though English is considered a universal language, visitors will have more trust in your site and would purchase products from you if your website supports their local language as well.

Once you recognize these myths, you can create a better and more informed e-commerce web development strategy that will reap you benefits for years to come. A good understanding of your target audience and their needs are just as important as knowing which platform to choose for your webstore. If you need any further assistance with setting up your new e-commerce store, contact Clap Creative today for a free quote.

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Categories: Ecommerce
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