5 things you didn’t know about e-commerce
Company: Garden Connect
The UK is the number 1 online shopping country of the world. Brits are spending more online than any other population in the world so there are plenty of opportunities for you to make that next step forward. In this article Garden Connect shows you 5 things you might not have known but can be very valuable for you.
- Plants are sold online by your older customers
Surprisingly, age group 55 – 65 spends more money to buy plants online than age group 45 – 55. On average, 10% of their money spent on plants is spent online. Age group 45 – 55 is in 8% while 65 & older is on 6%. If you’re not offering plants online you can only fulfill 90% of the potential in this important category. Figures are based on a survey of the HTA so you can be sure they are correct! - Making money is very hard
Even nowadays some garden centres feel their webshop should be their second, virtual garden centre and should generate a profit. It’s pretty hard to make that happen: Amazon is not making a profit on its webshop, nor does the big fashion retailer Zalando. Looking at your webshop as an online extension of your garden centre and serving your own area will make your life easier and customers happier. And it will generate a profit on the longer term since online orientation & offline sales are strongly related to each other! - Paypal is not a perfect payment method
It is good, but it shouldn’t be the only one. The disadvantage of Paypal is clearly shown if people do not have an account. Yes, it’s possible to order with a credit or debit card without a Paypal account but the number of people cancelling the order at Paypals payment page is way higher than average (to say it better: it’s what we figured out at Garden Connect after analyzing multiple sites and shopping carts). You’re a serious business so spend some money to get an online payment account at Sage or Barclaycard. - Selling Weber barbecues is not the way to go
Not exactly if you’re inexperienced. Weber and other major brands are fully covered by a wide range of webshops. You will face tough competition in this product category and online it means: hard to rank on the top-3 in Google and you have to spend a small fortune on Google Adwords to generate traffic. If you’re just starting, stay away from the big brands and find yourself something unique. It saves you time and disappointments. - The small screen matters a lot!
To be honest: it differs from site to site but on average about 30% to 40% of the visitors on your webshop is coming via a tablet or smartphone. If you’re working on your new site be sure it fits on a small screen. The small screen matters a lot whether you’re looking for a garden centre to buy a gift on the go or if you’re looking for new garden furniture while you’re on a sun lounger with a tablet in the garden.
There might be 100 more things you don’t know yet about e-commerce. In that case you’re free to join our e-commerce webinar, in association with the HTA, on the 22nd of November at 9.00 am. Just send an e-mail to edwin@gardenconnect.com to join this free webinar or if you want to learn more about e-commerce.
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