7 Must-Haves for Every E-commerce Retailer

As an e-commerce retailer, it’s easy to get caught up in the practical day-to-day tasks, but there are other areas where you absolutely need to invest your energy. There’s no way around it if you want your store to truly succeed.

As you probably understand, we work very often with e-commerce businesses—naturally, with our own stores, but also with a wide range of small and large online shops. There are a number of things that successful retailers in their segments almost always do.

If we take a step back for a moment and let go of the daily grind of returns and packing tape, and instead look at what really drives your e-commerce forward, we’d like to highlight the following activities (in no particular order):

Adwords

AdWords is the fastest and easiest way, for most businesses, to increase sales.
Google drives huge amounts of targeted traffic in Sweden, and paying them is a straightforward way to capture that traffic. AdWords isn’t something you set up and then forget—it’s something you need to get good at. If I were you, I’d invest time learning AdWords myself, at least enough to become a smart buyer of the service. Ideally, you’d master it completely, but remember that your competitors often have years of experience and probably specialist help.

Your copywriting

There is never enough text in an e-commerce store—that’s the harsh truth. Good, descriptive copy is incredibly important, especially from an SEO perspective. If you operate in multiple markets, having solid translations is crucial. Working with text can be a frustrating (and honestly, pretty boring) task—especially for e-commerce retailers with lots of products. If you have more budget than time, get help with the copy—at least for all the texts you can’t manage yourself.

Content marketing

This blog has previously described content marketing as a trap that forces you to keep going. One reason you’ll feel that pressure is because it actually generates revenue. Whether it’s informative videos about how to use your products or recipes featuring your ingredients, only you can answer that—but some form of content marketing is necessary.

Email

There are a few key things you need to get right when it comes to your emails. First, you must be sharp with email communication in all support cases—this is a marketing channel. Good email support can generate plenty of sales and is also a great opportunity to suggest other products.

Beyond that, you need to nail some form of automation—whether it’s abandoned cart emails, special offers, or other campaigns—that can significantly boost your sales if done right. Plus, it’s a relatively low-cost activity.

Additionally, having a well-functioning newsletter is important—not just to push your promotions but to be a valued presence in your customers’ inboxes.

Conversion

Conversion optimization can be a slow process, especially for smaller stores. If you don’t have large amounts of traffic, A/B tests can take months and still not provide clear results. This is particularly noticeable at the product level.

Of course, there are many things you can do even without solid data to back it up. A simple way is to get help from someone who has successfully done it before—often, small tweaks can make a big difference.

SEO

There’s no getting around it—SEO is a cornerstone of every well-functioning e-commerce business. SEO is not only an incredibly powerful channel for your sales and marketing, but it also becomes more profitable the longer you maintain it.

Your images

Product images are incredibly important for those who can’t touch or feel the products. You probably already know that, but maybe the investment of time or money feels too big?

Of course, the best option is to hire a professional photographer to take original photos of each of your products, but that’s not always possible. The next best is to take your own photos—get a good camera, a tripod, and a lightbox, and work your way through your entire inventory. The third best option is to select as many good images as possible from your suppliers, though unfortunately, everyone else has those too.

Good luck with your e-commerce!

E-commerce is challenging and demands a lot from those who want to work with it—we understand that better than anyone. So, from the bottom of our hearts, we wish you all the best.