Make the most of your Store
As you know, putting together a store requires a lot of attention to detail. We’ve come up with a checklist you can use to make sure you’ve got the bases covered, and that your buyers have a good shopping experience. Remember, a happy buyer is a loyal customer. Follow these guidelines and you should be all set to sell, sell, sell!
To read the complete article, check out our Auctiva Education Section.
- Select an appropriate Theme – Auctiva Commerce has 70 theme options in its growing Theme File Manager. Customize your theme and change it whenever you want.
- Check your categories and products – First select a category then add your products. Make sure your store has enough categories—and that it has the right ones.
- Select at least one payment method – Auctiva Commerce allows you to accept checks, credit cards, purchase orders and PayPal.
- Create a Warehouse – You need a warehouse to set up shipping methods for your goods. Forgetting to associate a warehouse with a product will mean restricted shipping methods for that product—and more important—it could mean customers can’t buy that item.
- Set up at least one Shipping Method – or integrate with at least one Integrated Shipping provider. Shipping is an essential part of any online business. This potentially complex aspect of your business is made easier with Commerce’s integrated shipping carriers.
- Provide your contact information – Make sure your customers can contact you. All stores come with default contact information to let you know where to input yours. Don’t forget to enter your actual information.
- Don’t forget about taxes. – Since tax laws vary from state to state, and change often, it’s best to consult a tax expert to determine the right approach for your business.
- Update your “About Me” pages – More than ever, customers want to know who they’re buying from. Offering your customers good prices is a good start to building buyer loyalty, but in this age of social networking, connecting with your customers on a more personal level could prove profitable.
- Set your e-mail templates – Auctiva Commerce provides automated e-mails that can keep buyers informed while you tend to other aspects of your business. At a minimum, you should have e-mail templates to notify buyers when an order has been placed, when their payment has been received and when an order has been shipped.
- Add products to Google Base – Google Base allows your products to be easily searchable by attaching attributes—or keywords or phrases—that describe your product.
- Set up Google Analytics – Making sales is about getting people to your store; it’s all about traffic. And it’s a good idea to know where that traffic is coming from, and how they’re interacting with your store, so you know where to devote your efforts. Utilize Google’s free Google Analytics to capture data.
- Be your own first customer – Finally, be sure to triple-check that everything is in place to provide a good buying experience. The best way to do this is to make a test purchase from your store. You can always go back into your dashboard and cancel your fake order later.
As a final confirmation it is helpful to go through the complete purchasing process, from start to finish. Repeat the process using several different addresses to make sure you get the expected results. If you don’t have any problems, neither will your buyers. And that will make buyers happy—and keep them coming back!
Remember, Auctiva Commerce has a complete Help Section, replete with step-by-step tutorials and video guides.
If you have questions or comments, please visit our Community Forums.
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