I see many different retail websites out there on a daily basis. Some are very horrible in almost every way and others are well built they are almost awe aspiring. If you have an e-commerce website that is not panning out like it should it might be that you are just missing some important elements of an e-commerce site that are vital in achieving good website conversions. Let’s take a look at the department store giant, Target. They are one of those websites that are doing it right in many ways.

Let’s take a look at some of the elements that they have nailed down correctly to have a successful converting website:

Daily Deals

Target realizes that they are the most chic department store in the U.S and to acquire market share from Walmart.com they will have to announce deals. As you can see most of the type on the home page is in red and they put the Daily Deals in orange to allow it to stand out. This tells people that they are just as serious about discounts as they are serious about offering well designed pricier products to high end community. They also place this section immediately on the left hand side of the screen knowing people read left to right.

Free Shipping

To entice people even further they offer free shipping on everything over a certain dollar amount spent. This is important because people hate to pay for shipping and most people will spend very close to $50 bucks on an online purchase. Offer free shipping regardless and you will see sales increase.

Categories

The categories are clearly outlined right in the middle of the screen. You don’t have to fiddle with any long winded drop downs. You see all areas of the site neatly laid out on the home page in nice buttons waiting for the end user to click on. If you do want to fiddle with drop downs they offer about 4-5 other ways to get into a category leaving the end user with many options.

Newsletter

The newsletter sign up clearly states that it is a place to sign up for people to receive special promotions and discounts. Don’t just put “newsletter”, give your website traffic a reason to want to sign up and give you their contact information.

Shop Section

I found over ten separate entrance ways into the online store just from the home page. A person has absolutely no reason why they can’t find a way to get into the area that they want to shop in when they arrive on the home page.

Mobile Phone App

The mobile app craze is here and Target realizes that people do more and more on their phone than ever before. They let their end user and hardcore audience know that now they can visit the target website and do everything they need to do when they are on the go. Further increasing and strengthening the brand and giving people what they want.

New Products

They offer a section where scrolling new products appear for people who might like to frequent the website. This lets online traffic know there is new fresh inventory being added to the website continuously.

Some people might say that this e-commerce site has too much going on at the home page level. The reality is that people are conditioned to this when they arrive at a retail website. They want options and the ability to make choices of what they want to see and how they want to see it. If you have an eCommerce retail website give your end user more and they will dissect what they want to use and where they want to navigate to. Put a plan in place because it isn’t just about jamming everything on the page like a stew. Be methodical about it and highlight areas that are more valuable and minimize areas that are not so important. Over time you will see an increase in online sales, assuming your pricing is right but that is a whole other topic for discussion. To learn more please visit the www.target.com website and take a look at their website features.

Image Source: Target.com