Welcome to 2023! This year, more than 265 million customers in the U.S. will be shopping online, representing a 3% increase in e-commerce market share from 17.8% in 2021 to now 20.8%.  Is your e-commerce website ready to handle an increase in traffic and sales?

Although a major focus of your e-commerce sales strategy undoubtedly involves driving more visitors who become customers to your website, you also need to make sure your website will be optimized to deliver an online sales experience that meets the expectations and desires of today’s savvy online shoppers.

In order to make sure your website meets e-commerce trends and standards for 2023, here are 5 ways you can enhance your e-commerce site:

1. Provide Multiple Ways to Pay

One of the most frustrating experiences for online shoppers is to finally reach a checkout page, and then realize that their preferred (or only) payment methods can’t be processed on your site.

Sometimes, it may totally be the fault of the customer, who, for example, might have reached the limit on a favorite credit card. However, if you can offer other ways to pay, there is a higher likelihood they will complete the transaction and not just abandon their cart.

If you can, you might even want to find a financial services partner so that you can offer financing options. This can often be what clinches the sale for a high-ticket offer, especially during times of an economic downturn as we’re likely to see in 2023. 

2. Feature Real-Time Inventory Data

If a visitor to your website sees something they want to purchase, you want to make sure the item is available for them to receive. This means you need to be transparent about the actual real-time status of your inventory.

With Amazon notoriously offering 2-day shipping for Prime members and many brick-and-mortar retailers normalizing “buy online, pick up in store” ever since the pandemic, you want to make sure your website showcases offers people can purchase and quickly receive. 

While a small e-commerce operation would not be expected to deliver in just a day or two, you still want your website to accurately reflect the inventory available at the time of purchase and ship the order as expeditiously as possible (ideally with options for rush orders at an additional charge). 

3. Compress Large Files (and Free Up Bandwidth) 

Does your website take forever to properly load, so that your visitors feel like it’s still 2003 instead of 2023?

One of the ways to upgrade the look and substance of your website is to include premium visual features (like high-resolution video) or voluminous detailed information on large files. However, such large files also use a lot of bandwidth, which can cause your site to run slowly. If you experience an influx of visitors at once, the problem will just be exacerbated.

In order to not lose the customers who will lose patience on a website that doesn’t load instantaneously, you want to be sure to compress large files and programs. Or, consider hosting such materials offsite or utilizing a separate online service to process sales – just make sure your customers don’t feel like they’ve stepped back into the days of dial-up internet trying to buy from you online.

4. Optimize SEO & Content Production

When was the last time you audited your site for SEO optimization? The turn of the new year is a perfect opportunity to make sure your site is performing as well as it could. Beyond making sure all your products are properly tagged and all your images and copy are both complete and compelling, there are additional tweaks you might make to improve your search rankings and reduce churn once people click.

In addition to an audit of your current site, which you might do in-house or by hiring an expert, you also want to make sure to have a plan in place for future content development for your site. Again, whether content management is done in-house or contracted out, you will make 2023 your best year of business yet by ensuring you have a solid plan in place to keep your website fresh and relevant throughout the year.

5. Partner with Experts Who Can Help

SEO and content management aren’t the only areas of your e-commerce business that might benefit from some expert assistance. 

Many successful e-commerce sites are run by small teams (or sometimes even solopreneurs), but that doesn’t mean you need to do everything yourself. Rather, your smartest business move is to identify your in-house strengths and then budget to partner with experts. Oftentimes, the right investment will more than pay for itself in increased engagement and sales.

If your e-commerce success in 2023 requires improvements to your digital marketing, consider partnering with our experienced team here at JXT Group. To learn more about what we bring to the table and the unique online marketing solutions we craft, you can always reach us by phone at 718-690-7302 during normal business hours or anytime via our online inquiry form.