A sure way to increase sales on a shopping site.

This time, we'll discuss how to increase sales on shopping sites, a question we often receive.

When people hear about increasing sales, everyone tends to think it's difficult, but in reality, it's not that hard. However, it does require diligence and perseverance. If you grasp a few key points and continue diligently and patiently, your shopping site's sales will grow. This time, we'll introduce the points and methods you should focus on.

1. Thoroughly enrich your product pages.

First and foremost, product pages are crucial. No matter how much someone wants to buy a product, if there's hardly any product information, everyone will feel uneasy. On the other hand, if detailed product information is provided, it will be easier to move closer to a purchase.

Imagine yourself buying a product on a shopping site. When purchasing products online, many people thoroughly research whether the product is actually good, if the price is appropriate, what other people's opinions are, and so on.

In fact, people reportedly look at an average of 7 reviews before buying something online, and are very likely to purchase products with 4 stars or more. Even if you're the type to buy products intuitively, if there's too little product information, there might be cases where you hesitate to buy.

• Capture the product from multiple angles and input as much product information as you can think of.
• Don't hold back information; thoroughly introduce everything from benefits to drawbacks.
• Also, include evaluations from third parties.
• If the product's size is hard to understand, help customers grasp the size by comparing it with something else.
• Upload multiple images and display every corner of the product on the homepage.

In this way, publish everything you can think of that you believe will convey the quality of the target product and inspire trust. It's important to enrich the content of each individual product.

2. Prepare photos that are as beautiful as possible.

Do not underestimate the power of photos. Simply put, for the same product, which would inspire more trust: one with beautifully taken photos or one with poorly taken photos? This is a no-brainer; it's the former.

Furthermore, if photos are beautifully taken, there might be cases where people purchase even if the price is slightly higher. For example, if a competitor displays poor photos, it gives an overwhelmingly cheap impression. On the other hand, if photos are beautifully taken, it alone gives the impression of a high-quality product with a solid price. Even if it's a bit more expensive, when compared to poor photos, the higher-priced product often sells.

Moreover, it's possible to give the site itself a solid impression. If the photos are poor and beautiful, and the price is the same, which product would you choose?

We often hear opinions like, "I don't want to spend much money on photos," "I thought shooting would be quick," or "Just a quick shot is fine." However, you should allocate a certain budget specifically for photos.

And photos aren't a one-time use. Once taken, you can use them repeatedly. Just a small investment in images can lead to sales, so it's better not to compromise from the start.

3. Increase the number of products and pages.

Increase the number of pages. If possible, continuously increase the number of products. If you cannot increase the number of products, publish product plans, campaigns, special features, reviews, etc., on your homepage to increase pages.

Data accumulated on your website will not disappear on its own, unless you do something bad that causes Google to penalize or delete it. Data will continue to accumulate. As it accumulates, the number of cases where users who perform a search reach your site will increase. Let's expand your site with high-quality content, such as thoroughly increasing products and launching projects.

However, what's important here is that it 'must be high-quality content.' If you only focus on increasing the number of pages and mass-produce thin content pages, you will be penalized by Google.

In an era where knowledge that satisfies even yourself when re-reading is demanded, if you can mass-produce high-quality content, you will see a chance to win. Let's increase the number of pages with high-quality content.

4. Pick up best-selling products and push them to the forefront.

There are products that sell and products that don't. This is influenced by seasons, social conditions, trends, competitor situations, and various other changes. Identify the best-selling products at any given time and push them to the forefront.

Best-selling products do sell. Sometimes, the sales for a month can be greatly affected by just one product. By thoroughly timing and picking up products that sell, you can increase sales.

For example, display a large banner on the top page. Create a special page exclusively for the relevant product. If you are running ads, continuously promote best-selling products. Even if users don't purchase that specific product, by pushing popular items, users might be drawn to your site and then purchase other products from there.

Also, when seasons and trends change, promptly switch to the next product. Continuously grasp best-selling products and enrich information and content related to the target products. Discerning what's in and what's out is crucial.

5. Improve usability to make it easy to find.

As a fundamental issue, it's also necessary to verify whether the shopping site itself is easy to use. Even if there are many pages, best-selling products are available, and product pages are rich, if the website itself is difficult to use, users will leave the site before reaching a purchase.

Thoroughly identify difficult-to-use areas and improve them as needed. Conversely, identify easy-to-use areas and apply those insights. Use analytical tools to investigate where users are abandoning the site, and in addition to data, gather feedback from many people to understand how to make it easier to use.

If you ask a professional with some experience, they will design a site with high usability. However, ultimately, it is the users who understand what kind of site is easy to purchase from. Users will give you hints about effective sites. Catch up on user feedback.

That being said, we are not saying you should blindly accept all user opinions; what you get from users are merely hints. Users themselves don't necessarily know if their opinions are truly effective for the majority.

What the operator should do is to form hypotheses based on the hints received from users on how to create an easy-to-use site, and then verify them. Through this repetition, usability will be steadily improved.

6. Conduct public relations activities properly.

When I listen to people, there are many cases where, for some reason, public relations activities are not conducted properly, or nothing is even considered. Without promotion, how do you expect to create a path to your shopping site?

People aren't gathering, and I don't know how to increase sales. When asked, "How are you promoting?" the answer is almost always, "I don't have time for promotion." However, if promotion doesn't start, there's no strategy to speak of. First, prepare a public relations person, or try to engage in PR activities yourself.

There are many familiar public relations methods. For SNS, there's Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, and so on. For blogs, Ameblo and WordPress. For press releases, @Press, PR TIMES, ValuePress!. For advertising, Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, remarketing ads, etc. The methods are diverse.

We live in a convenient era, and there are countless tools for gathering people and promoting if you look for them. If you steadily prepare content that attracts people and strive for updates that are "entertaining," "useful," and "relatable," you will naturally attract customers.

However, instead of engaging in indiscriminate public relations activities, promote with a well-thought-out strategy. Even if you start by trial and error, as you continue to experiment, your understanding of how to promote effectively will deepen. Also, even if there's no initial response, continue thoroughly and steadily with trial and error. It's important not to give up.

7. Clearly narrow down who your target is.

If it's not clear who you want to sell to, both your strategies and products will become vague. If you have an overwhelming number of products, tens of thousands, customers might gather even without clearly defining a target, but if you can't expand your product range that much, then thoroughly narrow down your target.

Create a persona of the person you want to sell to and analyze them. When that person wakes up in the morning, what do they think about, what do they eat for breakfast, and how do they feel going to work? And how do they feel working and returning home? Imagine in detail what kind of life they lead every day.

Once you have a clear image of the person, consider whether your shopping site or product is truly necessary for them. If it is necessary, think about how that person would visit your shopping site and purchase the product.

If you think thoroughly and organize the information, you will naturally see areas for improvement and points that will lead to evolution from the current situation. First, it is important to thoroughly consider one persona and improve the site based on the information generated.

Those who have already been operating for several months might think it's too late to select a target now. That's not true. It's perfectly fine to start midway. Even if you're starting midway, think carefully about what age group you're targeting, what their income is, how old they are, and so on, and re-examine your target thoroughly.

Then, once you've decided who to sell to, customize everything from the site's design and structure to its pricing, keeping your target in mind. A site that doesn't understand who it's trying to sell to won't gain any fans.

8. Develop, execute, and carefully verify your marketing strategy.

Marketing strategy tends to be underestimated in Japanese companies. In addition to the marketing execution team, there is a role called CMO (Chief Marketing Officer / Chief Public Relations Officer) who oversees, understands, and directs the overall marketing activities currently being carried out.

In recent years, as it has begun to be introduced in various magazines and media, its role has become recognized in Japan, but it is still difficult to say that it has been widely adopted. In contrast, in the US, which is at the forefront of marketing, it is already recognized as a position as important as that of a representative director.

In the first place, the concept of marketing itself exists as an overwhelmingly weak one in Japan. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there are almost no companies that effectively utilize marketing.

Everyone, it seems you are increasing sales using methods that are unique to Japan, such as traditional Japanese human relationships and human kindness. However, with the blurring of overseas and Japanese markets in recent years, it's uncertain how long this situation will continue.

Conversely, if you can properly learn and think about marketing, it means you can still be ahead in boosting your shopping site. Let's think and execute things from a marketing perspective and verify our strategies.

9. Implement PDCA.

Once you've established a strategy, prepared your products thoroughly, and executed, it's crucial to then verify and continuously improve. Let's implement PDCA. Plan, Do, Check, Act. Making this basic cycle a routine is the primary condition for increasing sales. Even if you've heard the words many times, you might not be executing them as much as you've heard them. That's what PDCA seems to be.

Be faithful to the basics. It's important to steadily proceed with the belief that 'if you do it, results will come.' The idea that sales might suddenly increase easily by using the internet is a pipe dream. Selling products online is also a repetition of steady customer acquisition and improvement. The key is how quickly and efficiently you can carry out these steady activities, and whether you can set clear goals and proceed accordingly.

10. Incorporate novelty into your shopping site's concept.

Once you've considered your products, let's think about the shopping site itself. If there are only slight differences from others, users won't notice. It will become a battle of simple price competition or differences in presentation, ultimately resulting in no fundamental difference at all.

What's important there is the individuality of the shopping site. If you can incorporate your unique individuality, or your company's unique individuality, into the shopping site, such as adopting an easy-to-search system or handling products that are not available elsewhere, you will overwhelmingly increase brand recognition.

For example, aim for an unprecedentedly user-friendly shopping site, select products from unusual perspectives, offer various delivery processes, or provide special options. Let's think of innovative methods and incorporate ideas not only for the products themselves but also for the shopping site.

Furthermore, if the ideas you come up with solve all the inconveniences and concerns of traditional shopping sites, then it's even better. For users who have previously thought 'this is hard to use' or 'I'm worried about this,' it will be a strong selling point.

The newer the concept, the more creative, bold, and innovative it is for the industry, so take a decisive step forward. Surely, if people find that fresh step 'interesting,' you'll be able to gain many fans from that moment on.

11. If you sense a change, just try to act.

In recent years, the flow of time has accelerated tremendously due to the internet and the IT revolution. Especially since AI, including ChatGPT, has permeated society, progress has become even faster. As a result, technologies and know-how are being updated one after another, and the possibility that simply achieving plans will not suffice is increasing.

This is because while executing a plan, times and situations can change, and even the purpose of the plan may need to be altered. New situations emerge one after another. Trends emerge, technologies emerge. There's no time to spend 5 or 10 years on a plan like in the past. Rather, sticking rigidly to a long-term plan itself can become an outdated risk before you know it.

Let's flexibly change our plans. And if you feel something has changed, found a new method, or that the times have evolved, actively incorporate it into your shopping site. To sense the changes of the times, always keep your antenna pointed towards the world.

Intuition and sudden ideas are also important. In today's fast-paced world, there's no time to deliberate and wait for everyone to give the GO sign. While you're doing that, competitors and rivals will move ahead. If you have an idea, execute it immediately and verify it. In any case, act before you think, and then think after you act. Without this speed, you won't be able to keep up with the current era.

12. Let's execute properly.

This is the most important thing. Let's execute properly. In this world, most people postpone even walls that can be solved with realistic effort, citing busyness, lack of thought, or not being ready yet, and thus don't take the first step. That's why sales don't grow.

Let's execute more and more. The success or failure of a strategy you're thinking about in your head will become clear as soon as you try it. Take a step towards reform. Act with the intention of creating innovation.

Most people can't do it because they don't try. Instead of wasting time thinking about why sales aren't increasing, you should conduct as many experiments as possible. If you spend all your time devising plans and strategies, and organizing your team and situation, you'll drastically reduce your actions, and you'll never make progress.

Once your ideas are somewhat solidified, act immediately. Move, experiment, and think as you go. Surely, the future that lies beyond your actions is bright.

So far, I've introduced tips for improving sales on 12 types of shopping sites. Please give them a try. Things are surprisingly simple. Deliver what people want to those who want it. Originally, business is complete with just that. How to approach that simple phenomenon? There are endless ideas.

Experiment a lot and try to find your own methodology. The most important thing is to steadily go through trial and error. Continuously do the humble, unassuming things. Do everything you can think of that might increase sales, without holding back. Analyze the results, improve, and try again. And don't give up. Keep executing. Keep trying, accumulating both failures and successes. That is the shortest path.