E-Commerce Philosophy

For the typical consumer, an e-commerce website is no different than a brick-and-mortar retail store. You go in to buy a product(s) and leave. The transaction is simple enough on the consumer end, but on the business end, there is a multitude of layers that add up to the sale. For an expertly developed e-commerce site, the customer buying the goods will never even notice the complexity of the transaction that just took place.

One can relate the act of a customer browsing for merchandise to the flow of water – always taking the path of least resistance. With literally thousands of competitors online, all it takes is one tiny hindrance and you can lose the opportunity of earning that person’s spending dollar. Your task as an online merchant is to let the visiting buyer get to the desired product or service with greatest of ease. Nothing is more annoying for the customer than having to dig through tons of content to get what he or she wants. An effective e-commerce site will allow this luxury for all prospective shoppers. However, this is not the end of the story. You have to go one step further, and be able to encourage them to buy that good from your website, and somehow convince them to keep coming back, amid the huge influx of similar websites that are direct competitors.

To add more complication to the matter, there are different kinds of consumers that all businesses have to deal with. The smart businessman will understand and be able to cater to the different mindsets of these consumers, and be able to earn their trust. There are three general types of online shoppers:
The customer that visits your website with a predetermined intent to purchase one specific product or service. The dream of all business owners, all you have to do is open the door, and show them the way to the checkout stand.

This customer goes to your website with a general idea of what he or she is interested in. They know the general category to look in, and is medium to highly interested in obtaining the product from you. Although their decision is not definitive, they are still ideal customers because your focus will be to let them know that your place of business is the best choice for them. You still have the advantage because you do posses what they want, and can use any means necessary (such as rebates, coupons, discounts) to seal the deal.

The most common consumer, this type might just happen to stumble upon your website, and may or may not be in a spending mood. Your site may or may not have anything that interests them at the moment. Presentation is key here, as your main task is to present them with easy access to all information pertaining to your products or services. Note that your content has to be laid forth in a manner that will allow them to easily obtain if they so choose to.

Forcing unwanted product pitches, no matter how good they may be, to the viewing shopper can often be the death knell for many businesses. Much criticism has been made of online sites using intrusive methods to get eyeball time. Your website has to be fine-tuned to encourage consumers to stick around and shop, without forcing unwanted clutter in the mix.

A successful website will find ways to circumvent the difficulties of pleasing all three types of consumers listed above. Many departments and resources will have to come into play- from graphic design, programming, to marketing. What kind of layout and navigational tools will you allow your shoppers? Will the color scheme of your site add or detract from its value in the eyes of the consumer? When is a fancy design too fancy that it obscures the actual merchandise?
Our E-Commerce philosophy insists that all these questions and more will have to be answered before one hour of time is put into development of the website. Fortunately, we are here to do the work so that you don’t. Everyone here at ewwws.com is waiting to put our e-commerce philosophy to work for you. In the end, the measure of success for any commercial website is the amount of sales it generates. The road to that goal starts with ewwws.com.