eCommerce Retailer Solutions to the most common Problems

 

Posted at 7:23 PM

Author: Igor Soshkin
Tag: sce-pr3

As many may already know, the retail business via eCommerce has been growing faster than the any other type of retail business today. For those who are familiar with the possibilities that eCommerce has brought to retail, wholesale and manufacturing companies, may already know of the common conflicts that need improvement. For those who are yet unfamiliar with eCommerce retail, consider this article as an educational experience that is needed to start or expand the most prosperous business we all strive to reach. The sole purpose of this article is to explain the problems in simplified detail along with solutions that will universally work. As the best possible referral and solution, a company called Shopping Cart Elite will be used as the reference and a solution to each problem posted below.

Let us begin with one of the most misunderstood concept and terminology:

1) SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Why do you need SEO? Getting highly listed on the search engines organically (free) will drive FREE traffic to your website. The only way to accomplish an efficient, profitable and most importantly a successful retail website is to have the website ranking highly on the search engines. Once that is achieved it may be a good time to start considering doing a Pay Per Click campaign.

This subject needs an article of its own. For those interested in more detail, a great recommendation is to read Wal-Mart Offers SEO, which talks about the basics that are required and recommended as well as what Wal-Mart offers. Quoted from the Wal-Mart article, the author tells us what is required to perform successful SEO, “keyword research; then there’s planning the ad campaign, especially if pay-per-click marketing is a factor, going over the web site with a fine tooth comb to hit all the on-page optimization, building links for off-page optimization…the list goes on and on.” When the author stated “on and on”, he really meant it. I have put together over 100 lessons and videos for individuals interested about what is required for SEO on MYSEO101 website. Please note that learning SEO will require a lot of your time and you must have intermediate programming skills to implement the changes on the website.

SOLUTION

Shopping Cart Elite is the most efficient solution because it has every On-Site Optimization factor automatically integrated into the Shopping Cart. Every lesson that you find on MYSEO101 or in any SEO book on the market will be already integrated in your Shopping Cart Elite store. You will only have to do Off-Site Optimization which is mainly link exchanges and directory submissions, those are very simple and Shopping Cart Elite learning center will teach you how to perform the basics in the simplest form yet for FREE.

Pay Per Click gets a new definition with Shopping Cart Elite; I call it the future of PPC marketing. If you ever decide to launch a PPC campaign, Shopping Cart Elite will not only help you but also

• Research the keywords for you within the products you select
• Suggest the optimized keywords for the campaign
• Launch the campaign for you using your suggested budget
• Track every single click and conversion from that campaign (referral)
• Report back to you daily on the results. The task above is one that is very time consuming and can be very tedious.

Until now, the tasks described were always done manually. Shopping Cart Elite will do everything for you automatically leaving you more time to run your business instead of trying to follow the PPC Trails.

2) Data Mapping

Speaking as a retailer, this becomes nothing less than a hassle. As most retailers will confirm, the daily undertaking in a competitive market requires the addition of the newest and most demanded products from manufacturers in a timely manner. Doing so requires a lot time for data entry of the new products into the website. This task is very time consuming as well as costly. Usually the products are entered one by one by the owner manually or it is done by an employee which requires added expenses in wages for your company. For Instance, a well know online retail company called Auto Accessory Store has five employees to enter such data; each employee processes an average of 30 products per hour. Many manufacturers have anywhere from 400-5000 products. As you can see this task can take anywhere from 10 hours to 170 hours, leaving no or very little way of going around it. Usually established companies can afford to pull this off without feeling a major hit in their pockets. However, the unnecessary expenses can be avoided.

SOLUTION

Fortunately, now there is a way. Shopping Cart Elite has released a new tool called the Data Mapper. It will read any manufacturer’s spread sheet (excel, csv, xml) and map the data into its correct fields. It is too soon to get into details of how it exactly works, but it has proven to work great so far. It usually takes anywhere from 10 – 60 minutes to complete the process. It has been estimated that 12,000 products can be mapped in 40 minutes using this tool. Please note this task would normally take 400 hours to complete manually.

3) Designing your Website

For certain retailers, designing a user friendly and an attractive website can be very expensive. For many this a very common problem that can cost thousands of dollars unless you can safely say that you are a professional computer programmer or literate in HTML and many of other necessary computer languages needed to build a functional web site. In most cases, a manufacture or retail company would usually hire a professional computer programmer and a professional web designer. According to many small companies and even quit large companies, it is often the case that the computer programmer personnel and the web designer have a hard time collaborating the company’s ideas and demanded modifications. In turn the results cause much undesired delays in updates and sometimes incoming orders are affected by such procedures. To eliminate such distorted communications and cost effective procedures Shopping Cart Elite has generated a very useful tool that can solve such a common problem among most internet companies.

SOLUTION

Shopping Cart Elite created a DIY (Do It Yourself) wizard which no designer or programmer can compare to. If you have ever used Blogger Basic Design (illustration below)

you know how easy it is. According to a poll conducted by MimoUSA “The Shopping Cart Elite DIY tool is hundred times better then Blogger” responded most BETA users. To demonstrate an example, the user can select a customized template for each page and drag/drop modules anywhere on the page. The user can also create blocks with multiple images and functions within another block. The examples above are just a few of the many favored features of the DIY tool. Another very important and favored feature is the email system.

4) Emails

The client integrated email with Shopping Cart Elite allows you to:

• Save professional responses
• Automatically tag email messages to an order
• Automatically tag email to pervious conversations and most important feedback
• Evaluating the email replies by conducting automated customer evaluation polls. Such a feature is very valuable and important for internal controls of any company.

5) Shipping / Drop Shipping

Shopping Cart Elite accommodates both services. If drop shipping, the user can automatically map each product in their database with the supplier that the product needs to be shipped to and it will email the supplier or vendor with your approval. The drop ship system is so advanced it can pin point exactly when the order was invoiced and which order requires tracking information or even indicate which order is on backorder. For Shipping, a tool called “Packing List” is provided. This tool is automatically integrated with all major shipping providers (UPS, FEDEX, DHL, and USPS). With one click of a button, the user can have the label printed, tracking # entered in the system and emailed to your customer. An Additional feature also allows the user to use the system to support inventory with bar coding and scanning.

6) Return Authorization System

To keep things organized, whenever a customer wants to return or exchange an item, Shopping Cart Elite offers the RMA tool. The customer can visit there account on your website and fill out an RMA form. This RMA request goes into your system for approval and will be tracked all the way from the product’s arrival to refunding the payment.

7) VOIP (Voice Over IP Call Center)

Shopping Cart Elite supports corporate VOIP. How does this benefit you? Well the fact that the company can cut their phone bill in half should be a good incentive to switch over. ($70/mo – 5 incoming calls, unlimited calling, free long distance) other features include; having a professional auto assistant with hold music, expanding your phone system with a hunting service as your company expands, if your customer would like to be connected, a button on your website will permit it, and the customer can receive a call from you for FREE. Once the button is tabbed, the system will automatically connect you and your customer at no charge.

The small list of features described above is just some of the solutions Shopping Cart Elite provides. I would highly recommend investing the time to check out all the features Shopping Cart Elite has to offer. This program is nothing less than a smart investment made by some of the most experienced and successful business owners. This truly is the BEST Shopping Cart on the market today. But you must find out for yourself.

If you would like more information about this topic or schedule an interview with Igor Soshkin, please contact, email: myseo101_gmail_com

Labels: Distributor, Drop Ship, eCommerce Solution, Retailer, Shopping Cart