My online sales

E-commerce refers to commercial transactions carried out on the Internet from different types of terminals (computers, tablets, smartphones, consoles, connected TVs) on online sales sites or commercial mobile applications. This is the main channel for distance selling.

A marketplace is currently defined as a website on which independent sellers, professionals or individuals have the opportunity to sell their products or services online in return, for the best known cases, for a commission taken by the site on each sale.

A pre-order allows the customer to indicate their willingness to order/purchase, but does not offer an online payment service. Payment can be made by bank transfer or on receipt of the order.

Here are some examples of objectives for your e-commerce:

• to sell your products via a complementary sales channel (cross channel)
• to inform your customers
• to attract customers to your physical store
• to reach new customers
• to sell more per customer (average basket)
• to increase your margin (customer acquisition cost)
• to ensure more users return to the platform (retention rate)
• to keep your customers longer
• etc.

The web developer is in charge of designing sites, applications, software and computer programmes “tailored” to meet the needs of their company or customers (using an Open Source – WordPress, PrestaShop, Magento, Drupal, Odoo, etc. or creating a site from scratch).

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to its customers over the Internet. This refers to sites made with SquareSpace, Wix, Shopify, Contentful, Tilda, BigCommerce, etc.

The conversion rate is a performance indicator that, in the context of online sales, allows you to measure the ratio between the people who have performed the desired action (here, the act of buying) and the total number of people who have visited your online sales site.

The traffic to a website refers to the number of visits or visitors over a given period.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to its customers over the Internet. This refers to sites made with WordPress, PrestaShop, SquareSpace, Wix, Shopify, etc.

The user experience (UX) refers to those elements that, on a particular e-commerce site, produce satisfaction in Internet users, prospects and customers. There are two components to consider when evaluating the user experience on an online store: design (the site’s aesthetic qualities) and ergonomics (ease of use for the user).

Emailing is a direct marketing approach that consists of sending an email to several recipients from a database at the same time in a targeted way.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques allow you to improve the indexing of your website pages on search engines (mainly Google). As the saying goes, “the most beautiful website in the world is useless if it can’t be found”. The visibility of your e-commerce site on search engines, via the optimisation of natural referencing, is therefore very important.

Online payment is an exchange of money by electronic means. These are payments that are made over the Internet or via telecommunications networks, generated either from a computer or a mobile phone.

The service provider is considered here as the logistics partner that you have chosen to deliver your parcels to customers’ homes or to a pick-up point. They are providers such as bpost, PostNL, DHL, TNT, GLS, Mondial Relay, etc.

Each marketplace offers its own delivery methods: simple or tracked dispatch, Colissimo, Chronopost, etc. The price lists and delivery conditions are established, so you just have to adapt your prices to take these costs into account.

Click and collect is a system that allows the buyer to order a product on an online sales site and then pick it up for free in a store.

Information about your delivery and return/withdrawal policy is very important to (potential) buyers on your website. From a legal point of view, it is mandatory to display and keep this information on your online sales site. It can be found in detail in your terms and conditions of sale in your site’s footer, but it is generally preferable to make it easily accessible and readable.

Google Analytics is a free statistical tool from Google, which allows a website owner to analyse a lot of information about the activity on your website and its audience.