When Frooition’s eCommerce design and build team hands over a new eCommerce site to a client, we do so on the understanding that the project is never truly finished. An eCommerce site is so much more than a static sales venue. It’s a living, breathing, ever-evolving marketing channel that will require ongoing care and attention to flourish in the long term.
The question of ongoing support is a concern for many online retailers hoping to make the leap from marketplace seller to fully-fledged eCommerce business. That’s why Frooition offers all of their eCommerce clients two different support options that can be tailored to the individual needs of their business.
It’s also why so many online retailers come to us after discovering their existing website design “agencies” have left them high and dry regarding ongoing design and technical support.
We are also increasingly seeing many clients coming to us after initially launching self-built eCommerce sites on platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify and struggling to develop their stores further.
While those self-serve options are a great starting point, helping you prove a business model and start to develop your business beyond the world of online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, they can be challenging to scale. When eCommerce sites don’t scale quickly, entrepreneurs typically get bored and revert to focusing on being marketplace sellers.
Evolving eCommerce Design
eCommerce design is something that should never stand still. From seasonal sales banners to new product promotions, there is always something that needs changing on your website. Failure to update these promos regularly will, at the very least, make your website look stale and, at the very worst — dead and buried.
The Internet is littered with millions of static websites that do very little to show their customers that they are, in fact, vibrant, engaging and highly relevant businesses. However, when you keep your design fresh and regularly updated, you are essentially showing the world your eCommerce business has a pulse.
If, when you build your eCommerce site, you don’t factor in those all-important design changes, your site is destined to join that graveyard of unloved websites that do very little to steer conversions.
It’s important to remember it doesn’t matter how much you spend on online marketing; if your eCommerce site isn’t optimised for current trading conditions, those sales conversions will always be more difficult to come by. When this happens, your marketing will always be more expensive than it should be, and any potential margins will be squeezed.
Drive eCommerce efficiencies with integrations
It’s not just design best practices that are changing. The eCommerce landscape is also evolving, with new opportunities constantly coming online with the promise of helping you build a better business.
Numerous eCommerce integrations have the potential to make your business more efficient. Of course, there will always be a cost involved with adding new technology to your Martech stack. However, savvy online retailers understand that every minute saved performing manual and repetitive tasks is a minute that could be spent souring new products and optimising other areas of your business.
Whether you are looking to partner with a new analytics suite, payment gateway, multi-channel listing tool, fulfilment centre, transactional email service provider, or any one of a thousand other eCommerce solutions, you’re most likely to need a bit of technical support here and there. This is especially true when the integration of new applications touches multiple parts of your eCommerce business.
While you might think your eCommerce integration requirements are unique, in reality, there is very little that Frooition’s eCommerce build and design team haven’t seen already. And when our in-house developers are presented with something totally new, we pride ourselves on being able to fit a square peg into a round hole.
While Frooition hosts an active network of eCommerce partners, our approach to the integrations we recommend is always consultative. We may suggest alternative solutions, but we will always ensure that we work with the client to ensure that each integration delivers the best possible result. If you are unsure about a specific service you have been sold, we’re always happy to chat and (obviously) will always have an opinion that we believe you’ll value.
eCommerce optimisation strategies
At Frooition, we believe that ongoing eCommerce maintenance and support isn’t just about keeping a site online and operational. It’s very much an optimisation strategy.
Online retailers that consider how they can maintain, support and grow their businesses as part of their regular activities will also outperform competitors who only address the challenges of running an eCommerce business when they become critical.
Are you currently getting enough support from your existing design team, or are you struggling to manage it yourself? How could your eCommerce business benefit from a more consistent and consultative approach to support and maintenance? Schedule a 15-minute call with one of our eCommerce experts to learn how we could help you turn eCommerce support into a competitive advantage.