How do you increase conversions at your online store? Advice from the leader of the e-commerce services firm, IT Delight.

In today’s world, we buy everything online. The e-commerce industry is developing at a rapid pace, with ever increasing product options and convenience for consumers. But how do you know how well your online trading platform is functioning and why customers leave the online store without buying? 

These questions will be answered by Igor Iemelianov, PhD in Computer Science and CEO of IT Delight, an e-commerce website development company that has been providing e-commerce development services since 2012. 

Igor, you have been in the field of e-commerce for more than 10 years, almost since the beginning of its inception. What do you think were some of the key milestones in the history of the e-commerce industry?

IT Delight started in 2012, when Ukraine’s economy was booming and it was easy to attract investments. Then, the number of online buyers was growing and there was a rapid development of telecom operators, so I would consider that era the beginning of e-commerce.

Then there was the war in Donbass in 2014 when we received a lot of support from customers, made some key strategic decisions, signed new contracts and expanded. 

Then COVID came and we entered the pandemic in March 2020 and we did not know how to continue growing or react to customer panic. However, after six months we figured out how to establish an excellent remote work culture and began actively hiring and working with new clients, many of whom are still active partners.

Currently, the e-commerce industry is in a state of uncertainty just like the entire country. Nevertheless, we survived the first and hardest month, helped our employees to get to safe places and resumed effective work. Turbulence doesn’t scare us, we know how to fasten our seatbelts and learn to drive faster.

At what point did you realize that shopping on the Internet is the future and that it was necessary to embrace this new reality?

In 2012, e-commerce was growing rapidly. We studied the existing technologies and chose Magento as our main focus, as we believed it was the most promising technology, plus, it was developed in Ukraine. 

Currently, e-commerce continues to grow. New technologies are being used, logistics are improving, and the range of goods is constantly increasing. There is no longer a need to stand in line at a physical store, because everything can be done while sitting at home. As experience has proven, a narrow focus is our competitive advantage. Shopping on the Internet is the future. 

Your portfolio has a wide list of clients. What types of businesses are your services primarily focused on?

We work with large and start-up companies in any industry, including healthcare, fashion, restaurants, cosmetics and many others. Whether the company sells goods or services to individual customers or to other businesses, we offer a unique combination of flexibility and reliability, guaranteeing satisfaction to manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers.

Tell us about a case where your team had to be particularly innovative? 

Using Vue Storefront, a progressive PWA platform for Magento Cloud, stands out in my mind. We had to run a separate server application and do a bunch of Elasticsearch to make them work synchronously. We also wrote a full-fledged checkout for Vue Storefront PWA, which was an exciting and challenging project.

You help companies create their online markets from scratch. What happens more often, does the client come to you with a vision of what they want or do you design a solution on your own?

It happens in different ways. Sometimes clients come to us only with an idea and we help to flesh it out and build it from the ground up. Alternatively, we have had clients come to us after bad experiences with other agencies and as a result, they already know exactly what they needed but were struggling to get it. In any case, we are there for our clients at every stage of their business development, helping them unlock their full potential and avoid mistakes along the way.

What is important to consider when creating e-commerce businesses?

Competition is constantly intensifying, and it is not just important to stand out, but rather, a necessity. At the same time, a beautiful website design is not enough. The platform should be interesting and user-friendly, and this is a really difficult task. Every second of delay, due to the slow loading of the site or the complexity of the purchase process, reduces potential conversions.

The UX of the platform should be well thought out, logical, and compliment consumer behavior. It is also necessary to lay a backlash for changes in the near future (trends are changing quickly, user requests are growing, and what was fashionable yesterday may not be so tomorrow). 

Also, designing well for both mobile and desktop is essential. Special attention should be paid to the shopping cart in order to simultaneously push the user to make a purchase as well as purchase additional goods.

For companies that create an online store without professional help, what are some of the common obstacles they might face?

In some cases, the creation of an online store without the involvement of professionals is justified, but, typically, the company will be disappointed with their sales results. There are several reasons for this, including insufficient knowledge of CMS, marketing, social communications, innovative technologies, etc. 

I always recommend that companies put together a team of specialists under the guidance of an experienced Project Manager, who will help avoid common mistakes and guarantee a high-quality and successful e-commerce platform.

At the end of the day, every online store needs to make a profit and every online store deals with complex nuances that can’t always be fully understood prior to launch. What, in your opinion, is the number one issue that leads to the loss of customers?

Of course, in such a competitive environment, even small mistakes can cause loss of customers, and moreover, they can occur at any stage of interaction with the buyer, so it is not always easy to determine what specifically went wrong. Basically, the reasons for failure tend to be choosing the wrong e-commerce platform, weak security, poor design, a weak marketing plan, a poor understanding of the target audience or a lack of SEO optimization of content.

What does your company offer customers to avoid this?

We are certified Magento and Shopware partners with dozens of developers with many years of experience, knowledge and skills. They know all the subtleties of the world of e-commerce and are ready to create solutions that meet the precise needs of customers and avoid costly mistakes. With us, clients receive high-quality photos optimized for page loading, automation of all processes, SEO methods that increase organic traffic and much more.