The holidays are over – Reviewing your 2014 E-Commerce KPIs

So, the Santa Claus is back to his house and it’s time for us to get back to our jobs. The holidays are over and it’s time to start planning for the New Year. E-commerce merchants need to evaluate their new year’s KPI and develop a framework to achieve the same.

Here are some key areas that you might like to review in 2014:

• Store traffic: Of course, start with analyzing unique store visits, bounce rate and other related site stats and compare it with last year. Try to analyze it for each quarter to reach to the nearest possible stats. If needed develop a custom e-commerce web design.
• SEO: Try to see which SEO techniques proved extremely beneficial to you. Identify the most promising keywords in 2013 and see how you can gain more organic search engine referrals in 2014.
• Mobile traffic and sales: Have you been mobile friendly in 2013? Did that help you gain more customers compared to 2012? Review your mobile commerce performance and adopt a multi-device compatible approach for 2014. In case there is a need to create custom website design concerning multiple devices, please do so.
• Revenue: Have you gained a lion’s share of revenue in 2013? If not, it’s time for you to look back and analyze the revenue by individual product lines. Check the new customers vs. repeat customers. Look for the growth areas and new business development possibilities.
• Inventory: Falling short of physical inventories? Measure the physical inventory. Conduct spot checks and re-check it with your automated inventory system. See, if you will be able to cater to the consumer demands in 2014.
• Shipping costs: Identify your shipping costs in 2013 and how much of your profit margins are getting wiped off due to shipping costs. Evaluate your current policies and if necessary amend your strategy from free shipping to flat shipping price. Also, consider new carriers and modes of shipping for 2014.
• Suppliers: Identify your most expensive suppliers and see if you can cut down some costs and buy in wholesale at a discounted price.

Few other KPIs that you can measure are customer service and marketing or advertisement channels to ensure optimized results in 2014. So, what after evaluating the KPIs for 2014?

• Set your New Year goals. Identify the top 10 things that worked wondered in last year. Enumerate the new enhancements and eliminations possible to incorporate in 2014.
• Research your competition and identify the new KPIs that you can possibly set. Communicate these new KPIs to your teams and set up processes and systems required to pillar such KPIs. Don’t forget to keep custom e-commerce webdesign in the top list.
• Do a cost-benefit analysis for 2013 and set up an annual budget which can be reviewed every quarter. Add all the hidden costs and expected declines. Visualize a financial position and review the same every quarter.
• Connect with your internal and external customers to understand the overall brand positioning. Take a feedback from your customers and improvise the weak areas to ensure superior customer experience and radical satisfaction. You may also connect with your suppliers to identify the kind of products they aim at engineering in 2014.

Wrapping up, these KPIs are vital to step up the bottom lines in 2014. Keep an eye on all of the above points and if need be, hire an agency who can develop custom website design for your store.

QualDev is your one stop destination for all your ecommerce needs. Be it Web Designing, Web Development, Graphics, Animation, Search Engine Optimization, Branding, Translation, or e-Commerce. http://www.qualdev.com/