Beyond our own opinion, let us know a fact: 80% of online stores in Spain close before reaching 3 years of age. And it is not because e-commerce does not work in our country, more and more users make their purchases online , more and more means of online payment are offered, etc. But betting on having an online store is not without its difficulties , just like opening a business physically and making yourself known to have more and more customers. But as in a physical business, you do not build the premises yourself, or manufacture the furniture, etc., in an online business it must also be the professionals of web development and online marketing, those who must collaborate so that the desired web project comes to fruition. It is relatively easy to have a website with an online store , it is another thing to have it in the right conditions to be profitable, so it is even easier to fail in the attempt. Having an e-commerce is not putting a generic design template on it, putting articles or services for sale without having knowledge of SEO positioning, trying to implement the payment gateway as possible, and waiting for orders to arrive. Well, yes, that may be having an e-commerce , but it does not take you anywhere, nor is it professional, nor does it have usability, nor will your potential clients find you.

First and foremost, the design of the online store must be responsive , on this subject we have also insisted on many occasions, even so we see how many web pages are not, leaving the many online buyers who carry out their searches by the wayside. and purchases from their smartphones and the like. In fact, 74% of online shoppers do so from tablets.

Another question, with more than 85,000 online stores in Spain, how are you going to make yours gain visibility and online presence ? Do you have knowledge of online marketing , SEO positioning , positioning SEM and positioning SMM ? On the other hand, the potential of online sales is enormous, we have more than 12 million potential online sales customers , 12 million people who choose to buy different products and services online today, and this number will increase. . Many people, despite these figures, are still not aware that an investment in web development is necessaryfirst and marketing second , for your online store . Nor is it surprising since as we said, they are sold how simple it is to create their own online store (sometimes it is not true, but you rent a platform, that you modify it as you can, that it does not position and ready).

In addition to the web development of online sales , the price of the products for sale must be taken into account, if they are competitive or not, if the sector is known, if the products for sale are in stock, how they will be managed shipments, what are the shipping costs, etc. And the issue of shipping costs is one of the most relevant factors when customers finalize their purchase, so it is highly recommended to consider the possibility that shipping is free or minimize it as much as possible.

And it is that in addition, the abandonment of the shopping cart is something that usually brings many administrators of web pages with online sales , and the data is clear again, 6 out of 10 of these online purchases without finalizing are due to high shipping costs for online purchases. Another variable that comes into play when finalizing or not the online purchase is the delivery time. But if the shipping costs do not exist or are not perceived as high, the online consumer does not mind waiting more days in which the product they have bought takes longer to receive it.

At Rana Negra we believe that a key factor for an e-commerce to work well and be profitable is to make the user experience similar to that of shopping in physical places, with the comforts that online sales provide , that is:

1st They have to find you, you have to have a store the more visible the better. In the online environment this is equivalent to web positioning.

2nd The image is very important, it must reflect your line of business, be adapted to your mission, vision, objectives and potential clients. This is customization in web design and development.

2nd The shopping experience should be simple, as in a physical store, the articles are not hidden, nor are they mixed up and disordered, and you have staff, informational posters, etc., that help the customer in the purchase process. In the case of e-commerce, this is to make the user experience (UX) as simple and pleasant as possible and to correctly describe what you sell, that the structure of the web is as simple as possible, that the menu is intuitive, that you stand out promotions or new items, that the images of the products are well made and of a suitable size, perhaps that they can be enlarged, that the web page does not take too long to load, that the client knows how returns work, that it is responsive , etc.

3rd Provide the payment methods you can, the more options the better, normally in physical stores you can pay in cash and with a card, in few places they accept only one form of payment. In e-commerce you can provide many forms of payment: cash on delivery, Paypal, credit card, debit card, specific means of payment for mobile phones, etc., That is, you can combine offline and online payment methods.

The customer of the physical store usually takes their products immediately, and in case of large quantities and that they need to send the purchase, they know the shipping costs and the time it will take to arrive, in many cases they know until the approximate time in which you will receive your order. Leave these issues clearly specified in your e-commerce , and minimize expenses and shipping time as much as possible, it is very proven that it is a strategy that works.

Now, reflect, in other matters you will be a great professional, but do you know how to create and control all these aspects of an e-commerce without being a web developer or having knowledge of online marketing ?