There are a number of growth industries in the age of technology, but none offer quite as much potential as e-commerce. The rate at which consumers continue to spend online is growing exponentially, with the cumulative amount invested in 2015 totaling an impressive £52.25 billion.

This represents an increase of 16.2% on the previous years’ figures, which came in at £44.97 billion. A staggering 15.2% of all retail sales in the UK are now completed online, creating a growing demand for e-commerce brands and service providers.

How to organise your finances as an online seller

While there remain a plethora of opportunities for online sellers in particular, however, it is the brands that are able to successfully organise their finances that will ultimately prevail. With this in mind, here are three steps towards achieving this: –

Secure your site and sales Platform

As an online seller, the first consideration is the security of your site and associated payment options. This should be given careful thought from the moment that you begin to build your website, with a 128-bit encrypted website offering a minimum standard that you should look to achieve within the infrastructure of your site.

Your website should also feature SQL (Structured Query Language), which is a special-purpose program text that is designed for the safe and secure management of customer data. These features will offer peace of mind to consumers and enable you to complete safe financial transactions.

Create an infrastructure that can handle international payments and transfers

One of the main advantages of e-commerce is that it affords brands access to a vast, global target audience, so long as they are able to develop and scale an infrastructure that can cope with this type of demand. Access to the type of viable, international multi-payment solutions is particularly important, as this simplifies the process of transferring funds from an overseas customer or supplier. Without this, you will struggle to expand your business to cater to the needs of a global audience.

Simplify the customer Journey

The layout and ease of navigation associated with your website are also key considerations, primarily because these features help to drive sales conversions and turn unique visitors into repeat customers. By simplifying the conversion process and enhancing the consumer experience you can optimise your income streams and gradually scale your firm over time. To achieve this, use clear and actionable icons across your website, while also optimising the speed with which each product landing page loads.