E-Commerce Development: Technology Must Keep Up with Promotion

A businesss Web site has become one of the most powerful marketing tools around. If that Web sites design affects the customers negatively or the technology behind it is just too slow, e-commerce development suffers. Here are some elements marketers should consider to keep technology moving at the same pace as e-commerce development efforts.

In the highly-competitive world of e-commerce development, marketers are so caught up in the battle for traffic that its easy to lose sight of the technical aspects of e-commerce Web site design and administration. However, most experienced online retailers cite technical limitations as a drag on business expansion. Therefore, a vital part of e-commerce development is making sure that technology keeps up with promotional efforts.

These days, its not only the nightmare scenario of an e-commerce Web site crashing that can sabotage a marketers promotional efforts. Even if that e-commerce Web site starts running a little slow, shoppers can lose patience and move on to other things. After all, Internet shopping is largely about immediacy, and when the technology cant support that immediacy, promotional momentum is lost.

Ironically, the earnest efforts of marketers can indirectly result in those technological problems. After all, it is marketers who are trying to increase the flow of traffic to the site. It is the marketers who are pressing for flashier e-commerce Web site design elements. These are the very things that can put a strain on the underlying technology.

Five Elements of E-commerce Development and Technology

To prevent these things from happening, here are five things marketers should consider to help keep technology up with the e-commerce development effort:

1. Communicating growth expectations. Marketers should lay their growth plans out clearly to the technology team, and include a reasonable upside scenario to make sure that better-than-expected promotional results are not rewarded by technology failures
2. Accounting for volume spikes. Of course, its often not the steady-state growth rate, but rather spikes in volume that bring an e-commerce Web site to its knees. Many an Internet retailer has been done in by holiday traffic, and success with a special promotion can bring on this type of problem any time of the year. One reason why platform outsourcing is such a viable option is to help account for spikes without investing in infrastructure based on exceptional occurrences
3. Prioritizing e-commerce Web site design features. Video and other dynamic effects may be eye-catching, but they can also strain speed and capacity. It is important not to push the design elements beyond what the technology can consistently deliver
4. Understanding the user base. Depending on a companys target market, user equipment may be more or less technologically advanced, and their fluency with navigational elements may be similarly variable. E-commerce Web site design has to be appropriate for the user base
5. Preparing a service policy. In this context, this means knowing what to do if something goes wrong--how to communicate with customers who were affected, and if possible, what might help make it up to them for the inconvenience. In short, a plan for preventing a temporary technology problem from becoming a permanent loss of customers

Marketing professionals dont have the time or technical expertise to directly handle the systems issues involved in making sure a companys technology can follow through on its e-commerce development efforts. However, since those efforts ultimately rely on that technology, marketers cannot afford to turn a blind eye to it either. Rather, they should lead from a bigger-picture perspective, making sure adequate technical resources have been allocated to back up their promotional plans, and advocating outsourcing if that is the most practical option.

Source

eCommerce Journal