You’ve decided to check out what is out there for you to create your online grocery website. There is a lot of different things you need to take into account when creating it. There are general items which every website must have and then there are those things that are specific to groceries stores. If you don’t do it right or include everything you need, it’s not going to work out well. Just in case you were wondering it is definitely worth it to create a website for a grocery store, especially if you want to provide a delivery service. Grocery delivery has risen almost 18% from 2016 to 2017. It’s a billion dollar industry you definitely want to take part in. Before you start Your customers not only want to shop for the grocery items but they want an easy way to access discounts, create a shopping checklist, earn rewards, and more. Should you build from scratch or use a ready-made framework. Well, that depends. Often times you can find a framework that suits most of your needs and you just need to do some custom work on top it. If your online grocery website needs a lot of things that frameworks can’t provide then doing it from scratch is the way to go. Do keep in mind that using a framework is less expensive and quicker but does not provide much wiggle room for adding unique functionality. E-commerce There are tons of 3rd party API’s you can use in your website to make it user-friendly and provide what your customers want. Obviously, the biggest piece of your website is the e-commerce portion so you want it to be perfect. You’ll want to use something like Magento because it’s highly scalable and great for larger sized businesses. If you are on the smaller end and looking for something more simple OpenCart or ZenCart would be good options for you. You’ll want to spend a lot of time deciding on this point because your customers need to have the most beautiful and easy experience if you want to keep them coming back. Also, keep in mind your dealing with thousands of items which means people can fill their cart up with hundreds of items as many do when it comes to grocery shopping. Your system must be able to handle all that and make the checkout process smooth. Deleting, editing items, and saving for later should be easy. Do not take the payment system lightly. It could look very simple on the front end but in the backend, it better be secure and does what is needed to keep the payments system working correctly. You can do this by choosing the right payment gateway for online grocery websites. Design Although e-commerce is very important, the design should also be very well thought out. The user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) should be flawless. You only have a few seconds to impress them so your design should be stunning. The e-commerce platforms mentioned above have design templates that you can choose from if you want to make things easier on yourself. There are a lot of options that are simple yet impactful. Again, make sure it’s what your customers would want and need. The images and videos you choose to use should look beautiful and fit in correctly. Everything must be the right size. If you choose to show a video of your bakery do so because people want to see that but do it right. The right length, the right placement, and the right content are things to take into account. Customer Service There has to be a place where people can easily get access to help. It’s a good idea to think about Chatbots to help lower cost but provide 24-hour customer care. Do something a little new and different by providing customer support through texting. We see a lot of chat now windows or send us an email, fill out a form…etc. Texting is a newer way but highly interesting to today’s customers. You can choose to do a combination of these options or just 1 but again, it should be something your users would want and use. Providing proper support should be easy to find. Customers look down on a business that makes it hard to get in touch. Marketing On the website itself, there should be room for various marketing tactics. Think about AI recommending products based on users search and buying habits. You can upsell by showing options that go with what the user wants to purchase right before checkout. For example, if someone is buying pasta, you can suggest pasta sauce. Targeted discounts are also very important. You want to provide the right amount at the right time. This can be difficult but there are solutions. There are a lot of options when it comes to marketing but that is something that AI can help with tremendously. All of this is important for keeping customers engaged and interested in other products that relate to their needs. Of course, there are all the other marketing tactics to bring people to your website for which you would want a customized marketing plan. Talk with your development company to see if they provide marketing services. Delivery Over the past few years, delivery services have taken on a life of their own. Although shopping in the physical store is still the main way people shop for groceries, delivery is coming in strong. Over the coming years, grocery delivery services will continue to rise and then possibly surpass the in-store shopping. If you want to take this on, which you should there is a lot to consider. How will the ordering process be on your online grocery website? Again, it has to be easy for them to choose what they want, enter their delivery details, set up recurring deliveries if they want, and more. Of course, you need to have the infrastructure to take it on. Content With any website content is important. You want to get your message across quickly but in an interesting way. Grocery shopping is no different. You have competition so you need to become more interesting to potential customers through your words. Provide them with the information they need but also more. It’s also what helps you rank better on search engines. Take what is unique about you and tell them. If you support a charity, mention it and show them what items they can buy which will provide a portion of proceeds to that charity. Of course, it’s not just about the words but also how you display them. This is very important and lends to the design portion of your online grocery website. Responsive You can’t have a website that’s not responsive. Users need to have a fantastic experience not only on the computer but also on their phones, tablets, and iPads. Every detail must be taken into account when designing so that it can also work for the other devices. This is something most people are familiar with no matter what industry you are in. You may want to consider having a mobile app as well. An app makes things really convenient for your customers where they can access all the most important items they need when it comes to buying groceries. Your backend should be extensive to support all of this. Making sure you’ve got all the functions you need is important and a smart web development team will be able to provide you answers to that. Lastly, getting the right cloud and hosting solution will bring everything together or make it all fall apart. Remember that it’s about the right solution for your online grocery website. There are many solutions and the right web development team will know what to use. The best thing to do is find a team who can do both web design and development, mobile app design and development, and marketing like SDI. You need a partner who can do everything and provide your company with the right tools to help your grocery company succeed. When you are ready to get started you can talk to Sakshi Sharma who can discuss your business goals and find solutions that work for you. Call her at 408.621.8481 or email her at sakshi@sdi.la.