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How has the pandemic affected the growth of online sales in the world? Why are more and more retailers abandoning the classic sales model and turning to web stores? How to achieve successful growth of web store in a short period of time with quality analysis of sales and customers?
Although web stores in underdeveloped countries have evolved more slowly than elsewhere in the world, the emergence of pandemics, various bans, and quarantines ‘forced’ customers to web stores. Statistics show that web stores in underdeveloped countries have experienced a big boom in the last few quarters, and experts suggest that the growth of web stores will continue.
If you are planning to start the process of opening a web store soon, it is important to know that just opening a web store today is not such a complicated process. With quality tools, webmasters, designers, photographers, virtual assistants, automation, and analysis systems opening a web store today does not have to be expensive and demanding. However, for a web store to achieve significant success, it is important to tackle the analysis of sales, customers, and their habits. Find out more about everything below…
Huge Growth of Web Stores in Underdeveloped Countries During the Pandemic
Underdeveloped countries have been lagging behind developed European countries for many years when it comes to online shopping habits. People in these parts of the world have had resistance to online shopping for years, and the main trigger for the lack of shopping was the fear of fraud and losing money. But the pandemic has turned the e-commerce scene of underdeveloped countries upside down and pushed them alongside many Western European countries where online shopping is already quite common.
Research in 2020, which was marked by an epidemic, showed that some less developed countries in Europe, such as Croatia, were countries with the fastest growing online sales sector on the ‘Old Continent’. Specifically, according to publicly available data, as many as 69% of Internet users in Croatia bought online last year. For example, in 2015, that percentage was only 44. Online shopping is especially popular in the UK and Germany where more than 85% of Internet users shop online.
Speaking still of Croatia, the growth of web stores was especially noticeable in 2020, when many people there had to turn to online shopping, given that various bans on physical shopping and movement were in force. According to research, an increasing number of older people are buying online, which is certainly a reason for joy for many online retailers who can now expand the range of products to the elderly population. Croats mostly buy clothes and shoes online.
Small Businesses Are Increasingly Looking for Their Place in the Online World
More and more small entrepreneurs are recognizing the importance of appearing in the online marketplace. The fact is that today almost everyone surfs the Internet, and as many as 69% of these surfers buy something online. It is a large base of potential customers who need to be served with a quality offer. Small retailers and entrepreneurs have recognized the potential of web commerce and we can say that new web stores are emerging almost every day.
And while it is hard to deal with the big competition selling everything ‘from needle to locomotive’, the great potential of web stores lies in niche stores. Niche web stores are specialty stores that sell only one product category. For example, a web store can only be dedicated to selling fishing gear.
Many entrepreneurs have recognized the potential of niche web stores, which provide customers with a unique and customized shopping experience. Namely, in the niche web store with fishing equipment, you can find the best tips for buying carp hooks or fast water rods, etc. However, in order for a niche store to function in its full scope, various skills and experts are needed – from web designers, content creators, and marketing experts to experts in web system analysis and automation.
The Abandonment of the Concept of Classic Physical Web Stores Is Gaining Momentum
And while the market for niche web stores is finally booming in underdeveloped countries, there is a complete turnaround in the business of many companies around the world. Namely, more and more large and small retailers have decided to permanently close their physical stores and move their sales completely online. At a time when people have limited opportunities to physically buy, such a move seems quite logical, especially because it brings certain savings in rent, less need for sellers, savings in logistics, etc.
Experts agree that web stores are the future of shopping and that classic physical stores will increasingly close their doors. Therefore, the rapid growth of web stores in the world and in underdeveloped countries should continue in the coming years when customers will increasingly shop online. Thanks to the many delivery services that have appeared all over the cities, online shopping provides customers with more and more satisfaction and faster delivery.
The Most Popular Systems for Online Sales
Starting a web store is a big deal, especially if you want to offer customers a multitude of different products. You need to photograph each of the products, describe them in words, arrange the prices, enter the quantities in stock, etc. In creating a modern web store you can go in two basic directions: you can create your own web store of unique design and structure or you can use ready-made sales platforms where unfortunately you depend in part on the algorithms and rules of the platform.
In the world of separate (own) solutions that allow you to fully manage and adapt the design and functionality to the smallest detail, one of the leading roles has been played by WooCommerce for years. A simple system that upgrades to WordPress CMS will allow you to create your own platform that is completely independent of any rules and is fully owned by you (not just only for web sale but also for non-sales industries, such as sports betting for which there are themes and plugins too, many of which are used by top iDEAL bookmakers and similar other). In addition to the popular WooCommerce, Magento is often used in the market of many countries, which is mainly intended for larger web stores.
If you decide to sell on existing ready-made platforms, the rules are significantly different. First of all, such platforms generally charge you for monthly use (or per product), and one of the downsides is that you largely depend on the rules and functionalities of the platform itself. On the other hand, such platforms are simple and you can start web sales practically in one day. Some of the most popular platforms for web sales are definitely: Shopify, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, etc.
In addition to the above platforms, in recent years, social networks have also developed many tools that enable online sales. In particular, Facebook and Instagram have separate systems within these networks that allow you to create web stores through which you can offer your products. Selling through social networks can be a quality choice if you plan to sell according to the fan base you have built on the social network. However, such sales largely depend on various algorithms and rule changes, which can mean major turbulence in sales depending on the preferences of Facebook and Instagram.
Ease of Shopping as the Key to Web Store Success
Research has shown that many customers give up on the final step of online shopping, i.e. filling in the data for delivery and payment. Interestingly, the reason for this is not in the high price of the product in the cart, but in the fact that many web stores have a complicated billing system at the end of the online shopping process. If you want to keep customers and make more sales, you need to simplify the buying process for the customer as much as possible.
In order to improve sales results for customers who are already in the online store, it is important to make an analysis of where customers most often give up buying. If the products are too expensive, not well described, or simply don’t satisfy the wishes of customers, they will usually give up on the product page itself. But if customers give up on the finalization step, when they should fill in the information in the cart, then the problem is very likely in the process of completing the purchase.
The importance of analyzing customer behavior is evident in many segments of web store operation and is especially important for improving sales and user experience. Experts who analyze data are increasingly in demand in the digital market every year, and the demand for such experts will continue to grow in the future. Data has become the ‘new gold’ and the basis of trading, and the sooner small businesses realize this, the sooner they will achieve better online sales results.
Analysis of Customer Behavior as an Input for Future Success
Thanks to modern digital systems, very detailed statistics can be followed on the website. From how many users visited a particular website at what point, to which part of the screen the user watched the most and where he kept most of his attention. Detailed analytics is an excellent prerequisite for improving web store sales results, especially if the analytics are interpreted well.
Fortunately, today we have more and more experts on the market who deal with the analysis of various data. Experts analyzing traffic and user experience in web stores will be increasingly in demand, as the number of web stores grows rapidly. Such experts obtain large data sets, compare, analyze, and draw conclusions based on experience and knowledge about possible improvements in the operation of the web system.
In particular, the results of web store analysis can help web store owners optimize the entire web sales system. For example, if statistics show that a product is not selling because of bad photos, new photos can be taken to improve results. Also, if products with short text descriptions perform worse, content creators can supplement and improve product descriptions, which will lead to increased sales.
By analyzing the current web store business in detail, trained data analysis experts can produce high-quality reports that will greatly increase the web store owner’s sales. The advantage of online sales lies in the ability to analyze customer behavior and optimize the system for better and more successful results. Offer customers what they want and the sales results will be fantastic.
Mobile Web Store for a Successful Future
Just a few years ago, most online shopping took place through customers’ desktops and laptops. Today, the vast majority of customers search and buy products via mobile phones. The versatility and general acceptance of the use of mobile devices have gained enormous momentum and today almost everyone surfs the Internet at least occasionally via smartphones.
Mobile web stores bring a whole new set of challenges that need to be overcome, in order for sales to go in the desired direction. All this just means that even more digital experts from various fields of activity will be involved in the development of new mobile web stores: from web designers, UX experts, developers, virtual assistants, marketing experts, data analysis professionals, content creators to the inevitable sales experts.
In all this, a new role will be played by the new 5G networks used by more and more users throughout world cities. The 5G Internet brings a whole new dimension of opportunities for development professionals and end-users. Who will use it and how, we will see it in the near future. But what is certain – web stores have become an unavoidable part of our lives.
