I recently came across a great post that showcases 35 online retailers who have done an outstanding job of keeping the user experience simple and fresh. In the past, I have seen a lot of retailers focusing on adding more and more content to the pages so that they can make use of the very last pixel of white space on their page. Looking at these designs, perhaps the focus should be quite opposite – how to remove all the unnecessary content out of a page and increase the amount of that white space so that the users are presented with crisp and quality content that truly matters.

Here’s the list for your design inspiration: http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/ecommerce-ui/

Having been an e-commerce manager for a while, it didn’t take me long to understand the name of the game. When it comes to running a successful e-commerce business, the name of the game isn’t so much about generating traffic, as getting whatever levels of traffic you have to convert. Online conversion can come in many forms. If you’re selling a product online conversion happens when a visitor makes a purchase and becomes an active customer, and if you’re offering a service your conversion might be getting visitors to phone-in. In order to increase your online conversion rates on a budget try my tips below.

1. Mention Your USPs Across The Site – Every online retailer has at least one unique selling proposition. It could be your prices, your level of service or anything of real value to the customer. Most online retailers will mention their USP only on their homepage, but truth of the matter is that many visitors especially those coming from Google search will land directly on a product page. Unless the USPs are copied across the site, they might never be seen so make sure your USPs are visible across the site.

2. Openly Accept Communication from Visitors – Veteran online retailers know that it is important to backup their online offers with a solid communication platform in the shape of telephone and email support. In today’s web reality this might not be enough. You might want to look at additional communication channels such as online chat, Voice Over IP providers such as Skype and online feedback forms to ensure you cater for enough visitors as open communication can help increase your credibility.

3. Compare and Adjust Your Prices On a Regular Basis – Statistics say that 80% of customers will first research before committing to buy. Based on this figure you should aim to ensure your prices are as competitive and as close to your direct competitors as possible because there’s no hidden it, if a better deal is out there customers will find it. When comparing and adjusting your prices, look at the overall price to the customer also taking into account any shipping fees and taxes.

4. Mirror Your Offers Across All Channels – From time to time you might have a fantastic offer on the site. The trick is to mirror your offer across all your marketing channels ensuring that no matter if visitors came from one channel or another the offer is highlighted. Even if on a small scale, you are very likely to employ some form of multi-channel marketing. If for example you are offering free delivery for a day, be sure to mention the promotion on the site for visitors coming directly, in your paid ads for visitors coming via the search engines and in your newsletter for existing customers.

5. Introduce New Related Products – To increase revenue many online retailers focus on two avenues. The first is an attempt to increase the number of visitors to the site and the second is an attempt to increase conversion rates based existing levels of traffic. Another avenue is the ability to increase revenue, to boost conversion rates and expose the business to more traffic by adding new products suitable to the business. As an online retailer you should always be on the lookout for new opportunities and closely follow customer trends and taste.

6. Diversify Product Offers – Over time we came to the realization that some customer groups find free delivery offers appealing, some find buy 1 get 1 free offers appealing and some find price drop appealing. To become an appealing proposition, consider catering for as many customer groups as possible by diversifying your product offers.

How did you increased your conversion rate?

To prevent such fraudulent use of credit cards, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued directive for 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) for online / ecommerce payments that has come into effect from Aug 1, 2009.  According to this mandate, it is necessary validate an additional factor of authentication while collecting online payments.  This applies to all online merchants based out of India.

A quick overview on 2FA.  The first factor of authentication is what you have, which is the information on your credit/debit card (name, card#, expiry date…).  The second factor of authentication is what you know, which is information that is known to you but is not on the card. If you have done any online purchase since the new law went into effect, you would be aware of what I am talking about.  The second factor of authentication supported by most online merchants is Verified by Visa (for Visa cards) or SecureCode (for MasterCard cards).

A related noteworthy point, online fraud in UK declined 23% in the first half of 2009 (the first time ever), thanks to 2FA [and sophisticated anti-fraud systems deployed by ecommerce service providers].  European Commission Payments group indicate that online fraud can be reduced by 80% by deploying strong authentication.  Therefore, there is a lot of benefit awaiting Indian ecommerce industry.

Deploying these secure online payment is simple.  Adding a few lines of code to your payment page.  Secure payments increase conversion rate as customers are more comfortable doing business at a more secure site.  Additionally, reduced fraud results in reduced chargeback, thereby reducing merchant discount rates and profitability.

There is a perception out there that eCommerce is not really picking up in India and that companies are struggling to scale up their offerings. There is no question that the overall market is still pretty small in terms of numbers. However, we shouldn’t ignore that all factors are slowly moving in favor of eCommerce. Retail is getting more and more organized, availability of global brands is larger than ever, internet penetration is climbing and some internet retailers have started to focus on customer experience as a way to differentiate. Most importantly, and I can personally attest to this one , there are some extremely talented individuals who have recently launched new ventures and are passionate about making a big difference in the eCommerce space in India.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while - despite all this activity happening in the industry, recent startups are not getting a lot of coverage unless they are willing to shell out marketing money to advertise their offerings. Therefore, I have setup an eCommerce Directory that would  showcase all eCommerce related ventures and offerings in India . I think this makes sense -  given that Commercewiki has reached a Million page views , enterpreneurs can use this site as the primary marketing vehicle. Ok, ignore that last sentence because it is slightly exaggerated!! I dont think we are anywhere close to million page views yet but we do have access to the core community that has a strong pulse on eCommerce in India and insights that are based upon real experiences in this space. Quality is better than quantity in this context.

So if you would like to share your venture/ offering, please submit your listing here. It doesnt matter how small or large your venture is. The only requirement is that your business must support the eCommerce eco-system in some way.

I remain highly optimistic about all the eCommerce opportunities that are still out there in Indian market. I am hoping that this showcase would demonstrate all the excitement and energy that is currently going on and would inspire potential entreprenurs who are currently sitting on the fence to join this wave of transformation in online retail.

Update (October 09, 2009): Listings are now live under the eCommerce Showcase section. You can submit your listing here.

I’ve been following the US and India eCommerce industry very closely during the last several years.  I have met quite a few talented individuals who are either in the process of or have already built a good online offering. However, I feel there is still a huge opportunity to take the online shopping to the next level and this may be just the right timing to go after that opportunity.

I have now decided to focus on building a next generation shopping portal for US and India market that combines the power of communities, user content as well as product customization in a game-changing way. I am looking forward to the journey over the next several months and I will be sure to post new learnings and insights in this blog as time goes by. Although I feel confident about the opportunity and the timing, I also believe that any successful venture requires a great team with complementary skills and a passion to win! I am in the early stages of building the team of individuals who will support this venture.

I am thinking of building a small team initially that will eventually expand as the idea scales. So if you are an amazing User Experience/Creative individual or if you are an expert in open source technologies such as Ruby on Rails or if you have strong experience in product/merchandising (especially customizable products) but most importantly, if you have the passion and desire to do something big in the eCommerce space – I would love to hear from you.