Easy navigation and detailed product information were found to be the most important aspects of an E-Commerce website from the customer’s point of view, according to Sellerdeck’s survey of 500 online shoppers.

The next most important factor affecting a consumer’s purchase is information about whether or not an item is out of stock, with a previous good experience with the retailer’s website in fourth place. Having a professional-looking website was ranked as the sixth most important factor in the customer’s buying decision, with positive feedback from other customers seventh.

Perhaps surprisingly, offering the cheapest prices is only the fifth most important consideration for an E-Commerce company, according to the survey, while having a fast-performing website is in ninth place. The ability to compare products side-by-side is rounds out Sellerdeck’s Top 10 Ecommerce Turn-Ons.

When it comes to the Top 10 Ecommerce Turn-Offs, though, having a site that looks insecure is the most likely thing to put off potential buyers. Bugs and technical issues with the site are the second biggest turn-off, while insufficient product information and product images come in third place.

Difficult shopping carts, long checkout forms and poorly-designed, slow websites also feature on the list of Top 10 Ecommerce Turn-Offs, with a lack of customer feedback and reviews, non UK-based retailers and poor choice of delivery options bring up the rear.

When it comes to retaining customers, though, providing promotions, offers and loyalty schemes was ranked as the second-most important factor behind a customer having had a previous good experience on the site, Sellerdeck’s survey showed.

“Ecommerce sites that get the basics of navigation and providing plenty of product information are best placed to succeed, while factors such as providing the lowest prices aren’t necessarily as important as some may think,” said Phil Rothwell, sales and marketing director of Sellerdeck.

“Although retailers may feel a lot of price pressure, providing it at the cost of customer service is likely to be a false economy. It’s much more important to make sure the site looks professional and feels secure, while offering customers a smooth experience from the minute they enter the site to the point at which they receive the goods. This not only means happy customers, but increases the likelihood of them returning again and again.”

For more information about the survey or to arrange an interview with Phil Rothwell, sales and marketing director of Sellerdeck, please contact:

Ben Camm-Jones

ben@claritycomms.com

+44 (0)20 7100 1333

+44 (0)7515 877 621

Sellerdeck, formerly known as Sellerdeck Desktop, has a range of products that will suit online merchants wanting a greater deal of control over hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback.

The cloud is often cited as a low-cost, low-maintenance solution for small companies that want to get online, but in reality, it has several drawbacks too. Issues of data privacy and legal compliance must be considered when choosing a cloud provider, while businesses also need to consider what happens if their website is knocked offline.

Sellerdeck’s product portfolio – Sellerdeck Catalog, Sellerdeck Business, Sellerdeck Business Plus, Sellerdeck Enterprise, Sellerdeck Designer and Sellerdeck EPOS – will help businesses that want to keep their online activities under their own control.

With 16 years of experience in the E-Commerce space, Sellerdeck has processed more than £10bn in transactions and a new version of the platform, version 12 – to be known as Sellerdeck 2013 – is due to launch later this year.

“If a cloud provider suffers a major outage, as we saw with AWS just last month, a business can be knocked offline for hours with no indication about when it might be back online. And while this can mean thousands of pounds worth of lost sales, how high up the provider’s list of priorities will it be to get the site back online? And what if the site is lost forever?” said Ben Dyer, CEO of Sellerdeck.

“Any company that wants to be certain that issues of downtime, data safety and security and legal compliance are all under its own control would be well advised to think about alternatives to cloud providers. If they have the resources to manage them effectively, these businesses can be better off taking full control over key components such as hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback and not relying on third-party, cloud-based solutions.”

For more details about Sellerdeck and its range of E-Commerce and EPOS solutions, please contact:

Ben Camm-Jones

e: ben@claritycomms.com

t: +44(0) 20 7100 1333

m: +44(0) 75 1587 7621

The Sellerdeck Responsive Design is both a smart and modern page layout and also detects and responds to whatever device the visitor is using, re-displaying the store content in the appropriate format automatically (see image below). For example, visitors using a desktop PC will see the usual design, but anyone using a smartphone will see the page content laid out in a single column, with larger links and buttons.

Phil Rothwell, Sellerdeck’s marketing director says, “We wanted to find a simple and low cost way for Sellerdeck users to be able to start selling effectively online to all their customers, no matter whether those visitors are in their office, at home, in a coffee shop or on the bus.”

He adds, “Many other E-Commerce solutions offer a completely different set of pages for mobile customers, but this gives you the headache of having two sets of pages and two designs to worry about. The Sellerdeck Responsive Design means you just have one fantastic design and just one set of pages for Google to focus on.”

Rothwell also advises all e-tailers to, “take a close look at your website analytics to see the different devices your visitors are browsing and buying on. This dictates how quickly you need to adapt your site design for mobile users. But there’s no doubt now that the trend towards shopping on the move is an unstoppable one and you may well be missing out on sales already.”

Sellerdeck’s Responsive Design has the following features:

• Automatically adapts your design based on the visitor’s browser screen and resolution
• Customisable to support your own branding, look and feel
• Hides content that doesn’t work on smaller screen sizes
• Flags up phone and email fields in the checkout so handheld devices show the appropriate keyboard
• Tightly integrates with PayPal’s speedy checkout options.

 

The mobile-friendly design can be implemented via three services:

Contacts
For more information, contact:
Sellerdeck’s PR: Jane Lee, Dexterity, sellerdeck@dexterity.co.uk, +44 (0)1273 470199

About Sellerdeck
Sellerdeck supplies E-Commerce software and EPOS systems to small and mid-sized companies that want to be in full control of their online business. The company’s desktop application gives merchants control over key components such as hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback without having to rely on third-party, cloud-based solutions.

Established in 1996 as Sellerdeck Software and rebranded in 2012, Sellerdeck is the oldest established E-Commerce developer trading today and has enabled tens of thousands of UK SMEs to make an estimated £11bn in sales over its 17 years.

Twitter @Sellerdeck
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sellerdeck
Google+ https://plus.google.com/102442605679015134459

Provided by Sellerdeck’s own experts, the three SEO services are as follows:

• Initial health check

Following inspection of the website by the consultant, a phone consultation establishes a baseline for where the store ranks currently, what is having a positive effect on the site and what areas need attention. The consultant will also explain how SEO works and give advice on good and bad ways of optimising pages.

• SEO report

The SEO report will explain in detail which web pages are having a negative effect on ranking and how to fix them. The report will also suggest keywords to improve your SEO and other ideas for improving performance on search engines and targeting specific customer types.

• SEO monthly service

The monthly service includes a report that has a full SEO review and recommendations; gives fresh keyword suggestions; highlights what search phrases are most widely used, with a summary of your site’s rankings against these (and how competitors fare too), which also helps with your linking strategy. As well as telling you the latest SEO news and how it could affect your store, the service includes access to the SEO technical support team via a dedicated email address.

Phil Rothwell, marketing director for Sellerdeck explains, “Contrary to popular belief, SEO isn’t a dark art, it’s a skill you can learn and apply, which generates results you can measure.

“Sellerdeck SEO Services not only identify the keywords retailers need to optimise their sites for, they also provide a framework our retailers can use for building good SEO practice into their businesses. The services also include advice on enhancing your online reputation and, optionally, help with editing content and refining page designs.

“The trust that customers have in Sellerdeck has been hard-earned, so it’s been important for us to offer a SEO service that delivers measurable value. By giving customers tools they can use to measure performance, plus the skills and support they need to invest wisely, we make sure our relationships are never put at risk.”
Chris Lacey of London International Paintball Supplies is impressed with the SEO services: “I was absolutely nowhere. My site very rarely appeared on page one for any products. Yet, within six weeks I was appearing on the first page for a couple of my key phrases and after three months I was all over page one for the majority of product pages I had amended. I reckon Sellerdeck’s SEO advice has increased traffic by 30%, and I’m taking around 25% more orders than before – it’s miraculous.”
Costs

• Initial SEO consultation – £50 (or £25 for Sellerdeck Cover customers)
• Health check report – from £450
• Monthly SEO service – from £200 per month.

All figures + VAT. Sellerdeck also offers tailored SEO services.

Contacts
For more information, contact:
Sellerdeck’s PR: Jane Lee, Dexterity, sellerdeck@dexterity.co.uk, +44 (0)1273 470199

About Sellerdeck
Sellerdeck supplies E-Commerce software and EPOS systems to small and mid-sized companies that want to be in full control of their online business. The company’s desktop application gives merchants control over key components such as hosting, payments, fraud detection and customer feedback without having to rely on third-party, cloud-based solutions.

Established in 1996 as Sellerdeck Software and rebranded in 2012, Sellerdeck is the oldest established E-Commerce developer trading today and has enabled tens of thousands of UK SMEs to make an estimated £11bn in sales over its 17 years.
Twitter @Sellerdeck
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sellerdeck
Google+ https://plus.google.com/102442605679015134459