Three online stores, three countries, three pieces of advice
Imagine a completely made-up scenario: a dangerous virus is on the loose, forcing people to spend most of their time at home. Homes become offices, gyms, hobby centres and restaurants – but where can you buy essential items if the stores are closed?
In a parallel universe, where online shopping malls don't exist. But no one talks about the advantages of online stores any more in 2021 – it is clear to everyone that we can't live without them.
"Setting up an online store can be considered a game that helps you understand people's thoughts and their ways of doing business," says Marek, a project manager and analyst under whose supervision three online stores have been fully redesigned: the Finnish Hobbyhall, the Latvian Xnet and Estonia’s own Hansapost. “Though we say here at Finestmedia that we’re IT specialists, we’re also experts at understanding the client's business processes and customer behaviour. Creating a platform is practical work, the greatest value of which lies in its people-centred approach – a good online store is like a sales assistant in a store who can educate the customer, give them some tips and upsell to them.
This is just one of the lessons that Marek has learnt from working on international development projects. Below you will find three tips to follow when designing an online store.
Achieving a good result without professional designers is impossible
What sort of online store is it easier to make a decision in – one with attractive product images, information on shipping and other details, as well as an eye-catching call to add items to your cart, or one where the customer only sees an underwhelming photo and the name of the item?
On this project, my main partner was the designer, from whom I gained a lot of important knowledge in the field of design – especially the technical side of things. The prototype was produced in Figma, which is a really useful tool in which developers can download all kinds of styles, colours and components. Just like an analyst, a professional designer is also an important bridge between the owner of the product and a truly functional and aesthetically pleasing online store.
You need to play through generic scenarios
Branding includes everything a client encounters while shopping: the structure of the store, the visuals, the text and even the preferred payment option. It is essential that the whole experience is as easy and enjoyable as possible. That's why you need to start by putting together all the generic scenarios with the designer, especially if the online store is a large-scale system and there are lots of different tabs.
Test to see how these things work:
• Design solutions used across the site
• Logos, icons and headers
• Product page templates
• Landing page design and content
• Product or service value offers
• Forms, shopping baskets and the checkout
• Homepage design, feed and commerce
• Images, ads, CTA and offers
• Tailor-made components
• And everything in between!
A desktop alone is not enough these days
According to international research, almost 90% of initial searches for businesses or items and 60% of online purchases are made on phones. Even though online shopping is an everyday thing for many Estonians, I still come across pages that don't make the most of the latest opportunities. An online store that only looks good in desktop mode shouldn’t even be up for discussion – for it to be profitable, you definitely need to make it phone- and tablet-friendly as well. That way you can be sure that the website will work and look good regardless of the device customers are accessing it from.
Bonus tip: customer support is your window to the end-user
Hansapost has been our client for five years now. As a beginner analyst, the first thing I got to try out was consulting. During that time, I met with several employees and identified the problematic spots that clients might encounter on a daily basis. In the end, I knew the system so well that I could offer quick answers to any question raised by the client and took on more responsibility in customer support. Now I’m an independent project manager.
Thanks to this experience, in my new role, I understand the need to keep the connection with the end-user and to always stay interested in what the problem points are for them. By understanding these processes we can be strategic partners to our clients, helping them achieve their full potential.
The online shopping industry is growing by 30% annually, which only means one thing: our amazing team is looking for bright new faces to join us! Finestmedia is an Estonian-owned IT company with a community of multi-faceted and talented individuals united in their desire to contribute to an efficient digital society.
If you are an IT specialist with an analytic mindset and you have the desire to develop in the field of online shopping, we only have one question: when can you start? :) Additional information about career opportunities is available online at career.finestmedia.ee.
Check out our .NET developer job ad and join us today!