What would you consider to be key elements for a successful e-commerce site?
 

What do you look for before hitting the "submit" button ?
Yes exactly.

Not clear on the question.

Are you asking what aspects of a site make me feel secure/comfortable with making a purchase?

I look for the Amazon logo. Seriously. Amazon lists most of the products that I would purchase online and normally at the lowest prices. They have good policies for returns and have good customer service.

If I do a search for a product and find it on a few e-commerce sites, I will order from Amazon if the price is close. There are too many unknown sites out there and it is not worthwhile to gamble.

Good customer reviews (froogle.com), a clean and professional site (something that looks like it was hacked together by a third grader may have been), reasonably use of the English language, appropriate security certificates ... it all goes into an impression of the site. If it looks shady, it may be. But then, I'm pretty free-wheeling with my digits, because I've never been burned.

Security certificate, easy to navigate, good prices and a product I would buy.

Newegg and Amazon are very sucessful.

I can tell you what I don't like.

• "IE-only" sites; if you can't code for anything other then Internet Explorer, you shouldn't be coding
• data validation laziness: let people enter the CC info as it appears on the card; if you want to remove spaces, do so behind the scenes. Same goes for phone numbers; let people enter them in the format they've been using since Alexander Bell invented the damn thing; if your lame-ass table layout wants them a different way, you do it.
• mailing lists: don't add customers to your marketing list unless they beg you to. Just because they're buying something from you doesn't mean they want more of your crap. I buy gifts for people online, stuff that I wouldn't want in a million years, but I keep getting stupid catalogs in the mail and emails about 'specials'
• process flow: don't keep making people circle back around through the site. Have your ***** together so that if they do stray to another page on your site, they don't have to re-fill their shopping cart. I've been to some sites where if your at the 'checkout' and you decide to go back and add something to your cart, it dumps out the entire cart and you have to start over.

Trust. You have to have the customer on board with recognition and being comfortable. I bet a lot of Pelican buyers found the forums before making that first purchase.

I know that doesn't answer the question, but somehow I think new sites struggle w/o some sort of validation. A good place to start selling online is simply eBay. A high rating there is a good beginning. I buy welding stuff online from people I've never heard of. If they are recommended on a welding forum, I will lean towards them. If they are also an eBay store, I'm on it.

Later on I will buy direct. After that it's all about price/shipping. No one is loyal anymore.

Oh, and if there is any fitting to the product, count on a lot of trouble from the public. The people on the other end of the "submit" button can be real duds. Having done a short stint on the Pelican phones doing vacation relief years back taught me that big time.

make the site complete and finished.......... "under construction" under half the tabs is a big red flag.

I always click on the "about us or contact us" tabs. Give me an address so I can see you're in California or Florida or where-ever, AND a phone number so I can talk to a real live person that speaks english.

call me old school, but 80% of the times I'll add stuff to my shopping cart at site XYZ to get all the sku numbers and items organized, but physically place the order over the phone, so my sku number listed size 34 pants really are size 34 and my credit card number or paypal info isn't blasted all over the web.

I want to talk to a english speaking person who knows the products.

that's called customer service. something the USA is losing left and right to India and Achmed Apu.

know something about what you are drop shippin--

boss ordered some theatrical fixtures with HID balasts, ordered online fromm the cheapest site he could.
they showed up and I went to plug them in where they were intended to be used and all the smoke came out the wires. they were the 110v model, I needed the 277v model-
I called customer service and there was a very rude lady that proceded to tell me that "America has 110v power and I should not lie about the country I am realy in" she refused to exchange the items and hung up on me-

coustomer service that isn't just going by a book, they know about the product-

Lane, you and your boss gotwhatayouaskedfor.


I'd like a light bulb. Great we'll sell you them............they show up, poopah for you, you ordered the wrong voltage.

not saying they shouldn't make it right, but still..............

Zero whine credits in your bank IMHO.


I ordered a beer, you served me a dark beer, i wanted a coors light..........give me a free beer if I send this one back??

You realize that they are taking nearly 25%-50% of the margin of the average retailer? At that level of reduced profitability, do you expect the seller to maintain the same level of expertise and service when their profits are cut in half?

Yes, this is the Walmart arguement.. Still... If you buy a higher-end item from Amazon at the SAME price as the sellers website, you are screwing him out of a huge portion of his margin. Will you expect the same level of customer service? Of course. Will you get it? Not for long!

Shopping by price alone is gambling too. The loss is just not as obvious.


So as a consumer what do I look for?


1. A phone number for customer service that is obvious. I shouldn't have to dig for it!
2. Secure checkout of course!
3. Professional looking site.
4. Paypal only sites are out.
5. Complimentary items
6. INstructions for use and good support online (ie, directions, diagrams, etc..)

to your point-
yes the boss was not specific with the order as he needed to be

our lesson-
only buy from established manufacurers dealer for everything-
any savings in price could easily squashed buy the bs factor after-

Complimentary items, as in free items!? Or items that compliment (go along with) the item you're interested in?

Complimentary as in related.

If your main objective is to sell product X, but it is often purchased with products Y or Z, you should carry those and make it easy to buy at the same time. Related items being displayed on the same page.

If you and your competitors are similar in price then the consumer also knows this. Those consumers that want to buy the package of X, Y, and Z are going to skip you and buy from somewhere else so they don't have to make two purchases and pay shipping twice, again assuming prices are relatively equal.

efficient and real time order tracking after the sale.

This, and more.

If there are logically similar items, stock them. A good example is when I'm buying VW brake parts. Let's say Vendor A has the wheel cylinders and lines, but not the bake shoes. Vendor B has all 3, but their prices are slightly higher. 9 times out of 10, the price disadvantage is eliminated by the shipping advantage.

...oh, and answer the phone!

Ecommerce businesses are so easy to get going, it's being available to answer the phone and understand what you're selling that makes a difference.