Have you ever sat down and spent a few hours browsing the web looking atvarious online stores? Some of them look boring, boxed in and quite bland.
Others look vibrant, colourful, dynamic and really original.
The difference isthat one is an instant store and the other is completely customised and thesedifferences speak for themselves.
When a potential customer is choosing to purchase an item online, they wantto be sure that the store they're buying it from is a reputable and well knownestablished e-store.
They want to feel comfortable buying this item onlinethrough this supplier.
If your store looks out-dated or of low quality, chancesare they aren't going to feel overly safe about buying from you.
Separately, if you're running an online store that is template based andlooks like a hundred over online stores, then how are you adequatelydifferentiating yourself from your competitors? Templates not only lookunoriginal and somewhat boring, but they don't do much for positioning yourselfin your market.
They may be a cheap solution but they can have adverse effectson your market position and overall sales.
These are just a few of the hazards that can arise from using atemplate-driven instant store solution.
The best method in developing an online store is to implement a completelycustomised solution that compliments your branding in every single aspect andseparates your business within its market appropriately.
Such customizedsolutions take into account the following: Custom designedtemplate: A custom designed template not only refers to the actuallayout of the site but everything that goes with it.
Custom designed buttons,pointers, styled dropdown boxes and list points - anything and everything youcan think of.
The entire site will be completely customised to suit yourbranding.
Custom shopping cart: Shopping carts all look the samenow a days.
Why not jazz yours up and tweak it to be a little different? Whetherthis be displaying product images in the cart, showing coloured boxes based onthe product options specified or simply adding a thank you message.
It's allpossible.
Custom checkout options: Custom checkout options includethings such as gift wrapping, discount coupons, gift vouchers, free shipping,custom questionnaires and more.
All of these small changes add up.
Unique product & information pages: Customising thelook and feel of every e-commerce driven page is also a possibility.
Whetherthis be changing the way the product or category lists look or sculpting aproduct information page to truly showcase your products/services, its possibleand what's more, it provides added value to your store and ultimately may be thedifference in whether someone buys from you or someone else.
Other unique additions: Other changes and uniquemodifications include displaying related products on a per product basis, quickbuys, suggested purchases, custom scripting, user accounts and order trackingfunctionality, warehousing support, temporary/limited edition items,downloadable items, "must include" product options and so much more.
These suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg.
Custom e-commerce sitescan be designed to incorporate just about anything.
Whether you're after abidding site such as eBay or a feature rich online store such as Amazon, it'sall within your grasp.
Never let the cheap price tags found on instant solutionspersuade you from having the site you've dreamed about.
It will be far moredetrimental to your business than you could imagine and could ultimately be thebreaking point between a successful online store and a failure.