E-commerce is galloping along at breakneck speed. It’s natural enough for businessmen, startup entrepreneurs, as well as business minded college graduates to think of setting up an online store to sell their innovative new products, somebody else’s products, or their services.

2018 is all set to unroll a new world of opportunities in ecommerce, and it’s the right to prepare, so that you have a professional looking, well designed, and ready-to-sell e-store. In this guide, I will cover the most important aspects you need to consider for your 2018-ready ecommerce store.

Choose A Hosted Online Store

The modern entrepreneur is all about shedding off all non-crucial activities. Hosted ecommerce stores are in sync with this philosophy, leaving you free to invest your undivided attention and focus in expanding your business. With a hosted ecommerce solution, the web hosting, backend tech upgrades, and the e-store building software are all taken care of by the vendor.

Ecommerce store creation platforms come aplenty – rife with professional looking storefront designs, WYSIWYG website design interface, sales functionalities such as shopping cart, easy checkout process, taxation and shipping management, inventory management, and returns handling. Also, these platforms offer marketing functionalities such as email and social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, integrated blogging, etc. You can even use market leading platform like Shopify to integrate your ecommerce and store location via a POS system.

Address all Security Concerns Before the Launch

A question to ask yourself before you even think of a soft launch – is my e-store ready to handle my clients’ personal and financial information? Hosted ecommerce platforms offer you the best of security; however, the liabilities (legally as well as ethically) point at you. So make sure to check and ensure that your online store has:

• A SSL certificate, to convince users that they can safely use their credit card and other sensitive data on your web store.
• Server protection, such as hosted maintenance service or a firewall to keep cyber attacks at bay.
• Strong security practices, such as stringent password policies, and trained core team of employees that works with your store’s backend system in admin capacities.
• Automated upgrades to the latest versions and releases offered by the ecommerce store platform service provider.
• 2 factor authentication for approving payments

Set Up A Backup Plan – It’s Like Buying Insurance

Put in a process of automatic backups of your online store’s data. Most ecommerce store builder platforms offer this option; opt for the most frequent backups. In 2017, a debugging activity in Amazon’s S3 system took off many sub-systems (more than intended), which caused severe connectivity and accessibility issues for thousands of websites - Quora, SailThru, Business Insider, Giphy, and Slack among them. The point is – if one of the leading innovators of our times can do a mistake, so can any of your team members. A few dollars a month for additional storage space for your backups versus the risks of waking up to a web store that’s lost its blood – what would you have?

Shipment Management – Must Have for A Modern E-Store

Logistics will be a make or break for any product focused online store. The following options are must-have for the modern online store:

• Tracking of shipped packages
• Ability to club together different orders placed for the same shipping address
• Automated management of outbound deliveries
• Capabilities to handle returns
• Creating and printing of package labels
• Consider opting for e-procurement platforms. With the help of big data, e-procurement platforms can identify strong vendors and prospects.
• Automated update emails to customers (upon shipment, and delivery)

How do you plan to make sure your online store has these capabilities? Thankfully, ecommerce platforms offer you built-in logistics management functionalities, along with the options to integrate with 3rd party solutions, such as Clarity.

Other Must Haves for Your Future Ready Online Store

Ecommerce store design and UX styles keep on changing. If you’re working on your online store, keep these in mind to get the best results:

• Customers need visual clarity about products; post images from multiple angles, and consider adding videos for complex products.
• Make your online store optimized for mobile viewing.
• Make sure you optimize your social media management campaign to build your visibility, more likes and a loyal following.
• Product star ratings and reviews are the number one factor used by consumers to make a purchase decision; make every effort to get good ratings and reviews for your products.
• Wish list functionality is a must have; not only does it inflate your chances of making a sale even the when user is unsure, but also lends you superb remarketing options.

Concluding Remarks

No matter which product or service category you’re targeting, the core success factors for ecommerce businesses remain the same. As you set up or revamp your store before entering into 2018, make sure you cover all the bases listed in this guide. Happy selling.