by Few types of businesses have enjoyed the same success in the last decade as the e-commerce industry. In 2023, there are estimated to be over 26 million e-commerce sites globally, many of which operate from a solely online environment with no physical stores. The outlook for the e-commerce sector continues to look optimistic, with continued growth predicted for the rest of the decade at a CAGR of over 14%. Thousands of new e-commerce firms start businesses in this online environment every year. If they achieve success in the first few years of trading, the next step is to look for suitable strategies that will support sustained and scalable growth, helping them to secure their position in this increasingly crowded and competitive space.
If you are running an e-commerce firm that has successfully navigated the first crucial years of business, you may be looking for ways to scale and expand your operations. In this article, some key strategies to achieve this will be explored.
Improve your cloud architecture
Almost all e-commerce firms rely on sophisticated online systems to run their business websites. These commonly include deploying a range of applications to the cloud and controlling aspects of the site, such as secure payment facilities and on-page apps that improve customer experience when shopping online. These applications are controlled with application programming interfaces (APIs) and API gateways, which provide the ability to monitor traffic requests and secure potential weak points in the cloud-based architecture. As an e-commerce firm grows, it needs to invest in a class-leading API dev portal. This platform allows the IT dev team to roll out new applications and APIs seamlessly whilst gaining key insights from the performance of a range of online services.
Endpoints in the cloud-based system can be quickly tested to ensure that they function correctly, and new services can be published online effortlessly. In short, API dev portals give your IT team the tools that they need to scale your e-commerce firm’s online systems and help you continue to improve the performance and functionality of your site.
Use SEO best practices for your website
Another key way to expand your e-commerce firm is by adopting the best practices of search engine optimization (SEO). Put simply, these are a wide range of strategies that aim to improve your company’s page ranking when potential customers make web searches for products and services. An e-commerce firm that performs highly in all SEO criteria is more likely to show on the all-important first page of Google search results. When you consider that only 0.63% of surfers click on the second page of results, you can begin to understand how important these SEO techniques are. Your firm will get exponentially higher levels of traffic if it manages to feature on page 1 and these high levels of traffic can then ideally be translated into improved sales figures. SEO best practice encompasses a wide range of different techniques.
Typically, it includes ensuring that each web page loads quickly (to minimize the likelihood of potential customers leaving your site after reaching the landing page), creating authoritative and interesting content, making your site easy to navigate across a range of devices, and providing a pleasurable navigating experience. In short, by obeying the best practices of SEO, your business will be able to gain more visitors to its company website. This can help you enjoy improved sales figures that support continued business growth and expansion.
