The Dos and Don'ts of Automotive Ecommerce

The changing landscape of the automotive industry means that companies have to quickly adapt the way they operate. This is largely driven by increased adoption of online channels. Customers are quickly educating themselves on auto industry trends, and are far more likely to make big purchases online than ever before. Concurrently, there has been a rise in the presence of online automotive eCommerce websites. Many platforms are offering specific tools for the auto vertical, increasing competition and sales online.

Given that this trend is fairly new, there are some common mistakes that businesses make with their online presence. In this article we’ll take a look at some of the dos and don’ts of running an automotive eCommerce website. This covers both technical and practical aspects of running a website. We’ll detail key things to look out for, as well as demonstrate why our own platform, Shopping Cart Elite, is the most effective solution available.

Do: Use Specific Automotive eCommerce Features

As we mentioned in the introduction, many web hosting platforms now offer features that are targeted specifically to the auto industry, making the process of buying online easier for both your business and your customers. Some features to look out for include:

• Integrated Fitment Databases: Your fitment data will be some of the most important you have. It’s very easy for it to become overly complicated, both to maintain and to navigate. Ideally you want a central place where the data is stored and maintained. This central database will then sync to your website’s frontend, as well as any other channels you have.
• Intuitive Search and Filters: Most of your customers will be looking to filter results based on make, model, and year. It’s therefore important that these refinements are easy to achieve, whether that’s by using an intuitive search system or by using filters specifically designed to meet these needs.

Don’t: Forget to Optimize Your Website

Even though the topic of your website is fairly niche, it still needs to operate in the same way as any other eCommerce site. As a result, there are some key features that need to be optimized. Without them, not only will your customers suffer, but your overall search ranking will too. Sites such as Google are continually striving to promote websites that best serve the user. Here are some of the areas that will need to be optimized:

• SEO: Search Engine Optimization is a developing area of expertise. Search engines are constantly trying to improve their algorithms and as such there are different ways sites are measured. Usually though, sites that are fast, have good content, and a good conversion rate are the ones that appear at the top. Failing to optimize for this could be one of the most costly mistakes you make.
• Speed: Most internet users are fairly discerning when it comes to how long it takes a website to load. If they have to wait for more than a few seconds, the chances are that they’ll move on to the next website in the hopes it will be faster. Although there are steps you can take to improve page load times, having a solid foundation for a fast website is perhaps the most important aspect here.

Do: Use Other Automotive eCommerce Channels

With large eCommerce retailers increasing their presence in the automotive market, there’s little surprise that the industry is expected to grow to be worth over $30 Billion by 2025. With this in mind, businesses need to market themselves in the best ways possible. This includes selling their products on every available channel, including sites such as Amazon and eBay. Platforms such as Shopping Cart Elite have integrated automotive marketplace features so that companies can seamlessly list their products on other major websites. There are other channels you can explore to promote yourself too:

• PPC Advertising: This is a great way of generating new traffic to your website. When done correctly, it can bring an increase in conversion and sales too.
• Affiliate Marketing: Being listed on other notable sites is a great way to increase exposure to your business. It can be an efficient and cost-effective means of finding new customers.

Don’t: Let Leads Go Cold

Good eCommerce businesses know how to reach new customers, particularly when they’re on to a hot lead. It’s important to both know your customer demographic and also how to convert potential customers into actual customers. There are definitely tools that can help you do this. Many CRM suites will give in-depth analytics on who uses your website, and how. It can provide an effective way of collating customer data and suggesting segments. With this information you can then take market trends and other information to better target your advertising. Shopping Cart Elite’s built-in CRM software can also help you identify leads and suggest ways to convert them. This type of powerful analytics is vital for increasing your customer base, as well as communicating with your customers.

Do: Appeal to Mobile Users

Internet users are trending towards mobile, something that is expected to continue over the coming years. Because of this, having a website that is optimized fully for mobile and tablet use is important. The user experience of your website should be seamless across all platforms. Some software platforms, such as Shopping Cart Elite, can help you create adaptive and responsive designs that will automatically adjust to display on a range of different devices. Ignoring your mobile and users can hugely impact your user experience, and by extension you conversion rate.

Don’t: Allow Poor-Quality Traffic

Above, we mentioned that PPC and affiliate marketing is a great way of driving new traffic to your website. There are many businesses that use these channels without fully understanding how they work. Just because your ads are generating new traffic to your site, there’s often no guarantee that it’s of a good quality. By this we mean interested and engaged customers who are likely to convert. One of the biggest problems, particularly in PPC marketing, is clickfraud. This is where competitors or bots will send spam traffic through your website. It costs you money out of your ad budget, without brining any benefits. One of the ways to combat this poor-quality traffic is to use TEA Software, a powerful tool that helps identify and block traffic from unwanted sources.

Do: Choose Shopping Cart Elite

Hopefully with the pointers we’ve given so far you’ll have noticed that Shopping Cart Elite boasts a wide variety of features that can help. Through our wide experience in both the automotive vertical and eCommerce, we’ve learned how to maximize performance on line. By choosing us to provide your eCommerce site, you’re gaining a number of benefits:

• Dedicated Automotive eCommerce Features: Shopping Cart Elite was founded in 2007 after our CEO, Igor Soshkin, had gained a wealth of experience working for his family’s automotive business. He identified the need for auto websites to have features specifically orientated around the industry. That’s exactly what we now provide, with integrated fitment databases, fitment search, marketplace integration, and support for multiple dealer sites.
• Expansive eCommerce Functionality: We’re proud to offer a full eCommerce package to all of our customers. Unlike many other sites, you won’t need to pay for a variety of different add-ons in order to achieve a functional site. All sites that run on our platform will have the latest technology, as we update all of our master templates regularly. Furthermore, page load speeds are lightning-quick and SEO-ready thanks to the extensive optimization. This applies both to our servers and infrastructure, and to our client’s websites.

There are far too many features for us to outline here, but trust us that we know both eCommerce and the auto industry inside and out.

Don’t: Hesitate to Contact Us

By choosing Shopping Cart Elite, you can rest assured that you will get the best possible service. Contact us today, to find out more about how we can help your business. We’re committed to solving any headaches that you’ve been having with your website, whether you’re setting one up from scratch or transferring from an existing platform. We have a team of experts on hand who can help deliver you eCommerce solution is 30 days or less, and we’re dedicated to providing world-class customer support once you’re up and running.

Automotive eCommerce Made Easy

We’ve tried to emphasize the importance of having a website that is both good for automotive customers, and good as an eCommerce site. As we mentioned at the start, the industry has seen a rapid change that is expected to continue. Keeping up to date with these trends is crucial, as is making the most of your online presence. Shopping Cart Elite can help your businesses with both of these elements. Our extensive knowledge and features have combined to create the best automotive eCommerce platform available.