How to Take Your Magento Store to the Next Level

With ecommerce steadily climbing to $4 trillion in yearly sales, it’s no wonder why thousands of business minded individuals enter the industry hoping to take a piece of the pie. The result is a booming ecommerce landscape with e-tailers offering just about anything a consumer could want.

As online sellers soon learn, running an online store requires skills in sales, marketing, administration and much, much more. It’s a lot to handle, but most e-tailers get into the swing of things and reap the rewards. However, if sales start to slow or an opportunity arises, online sellers look for ways to take their Magento store to the next level.

These are some of the most successful strategies for selling online.

Create a Custom Developed Site

Chances are, you used a free or low-cost theme when you opened your online store. This isn’t to say that those themes are less functional, but there is so much more opportunity when your site is custom built. There are several developers all over the world that specialize in ecommerce platforms and can create a site that matches your vision. The unique design will be more memorable for shoppers who are browsing online and are that much more likely to return and buy.

Start Cross-Channel Selling

Cross-channel selling is the new normal, and it has proven beneficial for the e-tailers who have implemented it. In fact, companies that pursue a multichannel presence enjoy a 9.5% average growth rate. That’s because customers prefer to interact with brands at multiple touchpoints – an official website, a marketplace and a social media profile, for example – before making a purchase.

Opening new channels will let you reach a wider range of consumers who otherwise might not have found your store, and that will ultimately give you more data. And with a Magento CRM, you can automatically aggregate that data to see order, shipping, and other trends so you can make smarter business moves.

Keep Shipping Costs Low

Consumers have grown accustomed to fast, free shipping thanks to Magento setting the new standard. While not every e-tailer can afford to ship for free, there are ways to keep the cost low and still appease customers. Two popular solutions are to build shipping fees into the product price or to identify a purchase minimum that can offset the cost. These tactics are used by huge brands like Zappos and Glossier, and they can work for your Magento store too.

Offer Hassle-Free Returns

Did you know that more than 60% of consumers will read an online store’s return policy before purchasing? They want to be sure that it will be possible to send back any product that doesn’t work due to one reason or another, especially because they have likely never experienced the product beforehand. Give your customers the confidence they need to click “Buy Now” with a hassle-free returns policy and they’ll be more at ease to shop with you for the long haul.

Generate Regular Reports

The only way to improve your Magento store is to understand how it has been performing. By generating regular reports, you can see your best sellers, most engaging advertisements, and much more. You can then use that information to strategize for the upcoming month or quarter and set new business goals to achieve. Use Magento CRM, Google Analytics, and social media analytics (natively or through a third-party site) to gather all the data for your reports and see how you can optimize your store.