Have you ever sat down and spent a few hours browsing the web looking at various online stores? Some of them look boring, boxed in and quite bland. Others look vibrant, colourful, dynamic and really original. The difference is that one is an instant store and the other is completely customised and these differences speak for themselves.

When a potential customer is choosing to purchase an item online, they want to be sure that the store they’re buying it from is a reputable and well known established e-store. They want to feel comfortable buying this item online through this supplier. If your store looks out-dated or of low quality, chances are they aren’t going to feel overly safe about buying from you.

Separately, if you’re running an online store that is template based and looks like a hundred over online stores, then how are you adequately differentiating yourself from your competitors? Templates not only look unoriginal and somewhat boring, but they don’t do much for positioning yourself in your market. They may be a cheap solution but they can have adverse effects on your market position and overall sales.

These are just a few of the hazards that can arise from using a template-driven instant store solution.

The best method in developing an online store is to implement a completely customised solution that compliments your branding in every single aspect and separates your business within its market appropriately. Such customized solutions take into account the following:

Custom designed template:

A custom designed template not only refers to the actual layout of the site but everything that goes with it. Custom designed buttons, pointers, styled dropdown boxes and list points – anything and everything you can think of. The entire site will be completely customised to suit your branding.

Custom shopping cart:

Shopping carts all look the same now a days. Why not jazz yours up and tweak it to be a little different? Whether this be displaying product images in the cart, showing coloured boxes based on the product options specified or simply adding a thank you message. It’s all possible.

Custom checkout options:

Custom checkout options include things such as gift wrapping, discount coupons, gift vouchers, free shipping, custom questionnaires and more. All of these small changes add up.

Unique product & information pages:

Customising the look and feel of every e-commerce driven page is also a possibility. Whether this be changing the way the product or category lists look or sculpting a product information page to truly showcase your products/services, its possible and what’s more, it provides added value to your store and ultimately may be the difference in whether someone buys from you or someone else.

Other unique additions:

Other changes and unique modifications include displaying related products on a per product basis, quick buys, suggested purchases, custom scripting, user accounts and order tracking functionality, warehousing support, temporary/limited edition items, downloadable items, “must include” product options and so much more.

These suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. Custom e-commerce sites can be designed to incorporate just about anything. Whether you’re after a bidding site such as eBay or a feature rich online store such as Amazon, it’s all within your grasp. Never let the cheap price tags found on instant solutions persuade you from having the site you’ve dreamed about. It will be far more detrimental to your business than you could imagine and could ultimately be the breaking point between a successful online store and a failure.

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