How to Reduce Post-Holiday Returns for eCommerce

As the holiday season gets underway, merchants are gearing up for the onslaught of purchases that will undoubtedly accompany the gift-giving season. While purchases spike during the holiday rush, executing an originating transaction does not mean the sale’s lifetime is complete. Returns are an unavoidable part of the holiday season’s aftermath, regardless of why someone chooses to return a gift. Online sellers should have a proactive solution in place to protect themselves against financial loss. There are two ways a seller faces loss during the holiday season, Changes in price and more product returns.

It is very important to reduce the returns to keep up the balance. Return fraud is a major issue, especially after the holiday season, and it can have a significant financial impact on a company’s bottom line. Retailers may alleviate the agony of return overloads even more by tracking each return and having comprehensive visibility and control over these items. Returns that are monitored in real-time assist speed up the resale of merchandise that is in a good resaleable condition. This reduces discounts while also allowing for accurate inventory visibility.

In this blog, we have highlighted the importance of reducing the return and along with that, we have listed some of our modules that help in reducing the returns.

Best Practices to solve the post-holiday return problem

First, find out the major causes of returns and as per our research, product size, fit, lack of product images, false or now reviews are some of the reasons that cause returns. Indecisiveness could be another reason for this. Using some additional plugins could help your customers in making the right choice and finding the perfect product. Here is a short guide for you.

How Size Chart can help in reducing returns?

The bulk of online clothes returns are due to a customer’s dissatisfaction with the fit.

This isn’t just for online clothes store owners. Many products, such as sleeping bags, fishing poles, and furniture, require some sort of fit.

High return rates are frequently linked to size difficulties and this could be a problem when there is huge traffic in the store. The holiday season is one of those days.

To avoid size returns, you can add a size chart to your store. Knowband offers the size chart module for Magento 2, Magento, PrestaShop, and OpenCart platforms.

Product Videos boosts conversion

Lack of product images or not seeing the product physically is another factor that plays a crucial role when you look for the reasons for product return.

Customers buying your product should know the exact details of the product. Writing them is sometimes not good enough. You can provide a video of your product that will surely give a clear idea of the product.

Without any technical assistance or code changes, with product video plugins, you can easily display YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion videos on product pages.

By entering the video URL in the product video form, the e-merchant can effortlessly post product videos. The product video plugin developed by knowband is available for PrestaShop, OpenCart, Magento 2, and Magento eCommerce platforms.

A gift card is an easy buying option

In today’s world, every eCommerce business owner is concerned with how to get customers. In the eCommerce industry, digital gifting is a new trend. Gift cards are gaining popularity among purchasers since they allow shoppers to give gift cards to their loved ones instead of spending time looking for a gift.

During holiday sales, adding a gift card to your products could be a great converting factor. Many indecisive buyers spend hours finding the right product for their loved ones. This sometimes works and sometimes not and the received end up returning the product.

Save yourself and your store sales from this. Instead offer a custom Gift Card option that not only reduces the product returns but also increases customer acquisition rate. When someone gives a gift card to their loved ones it builds trust for the brand among the new buyers and that reduces the chances of return.

Knowband’s Gift Card is very popular among the sellers of PrestaShop, Opencart, Magento, and Magento 2 stores.

Product Review assures the customer

Feedback, consumer testimonials, photos, ratings, and so on are examples of customer reviews. When selling online, make sure you ask, collect and display product feedback on your product pages.

Why miss out on an opportunity? Reviews can help in reducing post-holiday returns. It doesn’t matter what kind of social evidence you employ as long as it’s relevant to your audience.

Most e-commerce websites can get by with reviews and traditional star ratings. Always remember to show real product ratings and reviews.

The truth is that most internet users are accustomed to discovering phony reviews, and some studies have shown that having so many 5-star reviews might affect your conversion rate.

In truth, every customer is more likely to purchase from a website that displays customer feedback. You can also incentivize your customers with discounts or coupons when they drop a product review. Using a plugin like Knowband’s Review reminder and incentive can help.

Return Manager can ease your work

Holiday season sales are the best time for online businesses. Even after trying a lot of store optimization, there are chances that you will face some product returns on your store. This increases post-holiday sales due to bulk purchases. To handle these returns, you can rely on proficient software that can reduce all your efforts.

The Knowband Product Return Manager! It is one such plugin that is among the best sellers for platforms like PrestaShop, Opencart, and Magento. It allows the seller to manage refunds, return and order cancellations. It also allows customers to drop messages and add images to support their return reason.

In the Return Manager module, the store manager can add multiple return reasons and allow users to choose theirs. It is important to add a return policy and Knowband’s return manager allows you to do that. To keep the users informed about the return status you can send email notifications as well. The module shows listings of all the product returns that are active or pending.

Have a look at the demo of the Magento 2 Return manage plugin here. Click on the links for PrestaShop and Magento Return Manager Plugins.

Final thought

Reset your mindset for product returns before the holiday shopping season kicks out in full force. Keep in mind that buyers who have a great return experience are more likely to return. Customers who return imply fresh sales prospects. Expect a few more re-sales with a new mindset and strategy, and remember to budget properly. A few modules can help in reducing the returns. Let us know if you find this blog helpful.

Why Do Businesses need a ‘Private Shop’?

Ever heard the word ‘Private Shop’? There are a few companies that allow you to see their products only when you register. The website content can be accessible after signup.

While exploring articles and research papers, websites usually show a popup and ask for registration to access the entire content. They show you limited content to build up curiosity and for more details, you have no choice but to register.

Those websites were privatized and the same can be done for your eCommerce store. You can make your Opencart, PrestaShop, or Magento store private using ‘Private Shop’ modules. Why do you need a private shop? Go ahead and find out why.

This article is a compilation of 101s of ‘Private Shop’ for B2B businesses and other enterprises

What is a private shop?

When a store is accessible to registered clients only, the store comes under the ‘Private Shop’ category. Making a web store private allows you to effortlessly regulate the store’s sales. This way, the online store administrator can prevent customers from viewing the store, goods, or categories without first logging in or registering.

You can create a private customer group and allocate numerous private groups to each product/category, each of which is only accessible by the given group of consumers. Send emails to a specific group of clients about new offers, discounts, collections, and so on.

Why do businesses need a Private Shop?

If you have products for both B2B and B2C on your eCommerce site, you’ll need to create a private environment for each, which is where the Private Shop option comes in.

B2B businesses require private platforms

The wholesale group may get complete access to the store, whereas the general group is limited to a single product or category. You can create fully functional web pages and categories for restricted consumers and users.

The business works in a systematic manner and giving access to retailers for the wholesale prices will affect their business. A ‘Private Shop’ gives privacy to B2B businesses.

Increased registration and email subscribers

A ‘Private Shop’ can also benefit B2C businesses. If you run campaigns and tell your customers that you are running discounts on your store, it will influence them to register with your brand and get access to those discounted products.

In a way, you are forcing them to register to get access to your store. This increases the registration on your store and builds up your email list.

Early access to registered customers for high-end products:

Many businesses sales luxurious products or merchandise that have limited editions should go for a ‘Private Shop’. If you have a small set of audiences for your brand that purchases high-end products, you definitely don’t want everyone to access it.

A limited group of people can be notified of this. As a result of which they feel privileged and you will be able to provide a satisfying customer experience.

How to convert your store into Private Shop?

You are just three steps away from converting your store into a Private Shop.

Purchase the module and unzip the files and refer to the user manual
Install the module on your respective website with the source code.
Configure the Private Shop settings and begin!

Features you should consider before buying a private shop module

The store owner has the ability to construct a fully private shop
Create secret groups with IP addresses and only allow some of the clients
Visitors will not be able to see private products or categories
Also, work as a permissions extension for catalogs
Each product/category can have several groups assigned to it by the administrator
Customers can view their personal products/categories by a private group
Allow Google to crawl the private pages of your website
Each product/category can be made private by the administrator
In addition, the admin should have the ability to send emails to members of a private group
The product label/product label image can be changed by the administrator
Have a customized storefront with a registration form that allows changing background

Live Demo for Private Shop modules

Click here to see the PrestaShop demo

You can check the live demo for OpenCart here

Check the live demo for Magento from here

Know How OpenCart Abandoned Cart Extension can Spike up your Sales

Are you among the OpenCart sellers who are facing a lot of cart abandonment? It is difficult to avoid shopping cart abandonment when customers have a variety of products available online.

The mood of the people is very unpredictable and it is difficult to keep them engaged in an online store for a long time.

If visitors don’t find the desired product or service on a site, they will not think twice about leaving a site.

This gives rise to shopping cart abandonments that can create a severe impact on the business fortunes of your OpenCart store.

Although, there is no guarantee to avoid abandoned carts on an online store you can take the help of the OpenCart Abandoned Cart module from the Knowband store for minimizing the effect of this problem.

Here are the various features and functionalities of OpenCart Abandoned Cart Extension that can be a great help for your online store.

Provides Freedom to store admin

The module offers a wide range of functionality to store admin such as, check abandoned carts, customization in an email template, view information about abandoned orders, number of orders, setting the delay time of reminder emails, and other such activities. With a wide range of features for site admin, it will not be much difficult to improve sales and conversions on your site.

Investigate User Behavior

With the OpenCart Abandoned Cart extension, you can keep track of your abandoned carts, better understand your customers’ buying preferences and needs, and present them with a useful solution.

Increase the number of conversions

You can potentially enhance conversions on your site by lowering the high cart abandonment rate with the OpenCart Abandoned Cart addon.

Customer Feedback of OpenCart Abandoned Cart Extension

Fantastic Analytical View

Abandoned Cart vs Converted Cart and Abandoned Cart Amount vs Converted Cart Amount are two comparisons provided by the OpenCart Abandoned Cart plugin in the form of pie charts.

It also shows a bar graph of abandoned and converted carts throughout the year. You can also exclude data from a certain time period.

Increase the efficiency of reminder emails through custom settings

Sending Reminder emails is easy with ready-made templates

For informing customers about their pending orders, you need to send them reminder emails at a regular time interval. With OpenCart Abandoned Cart Extension, it is easy to do customization in your email templates as desired.

This helps you in grabbing maximum customer attention and to recover sales quickly. Store admin can easily add various variables like customer name, product information, discount, and other related offers into their reminder emails to improve their overall impact.

Set the time limit for marking the cart as abandoned

You can define a time interval after which the cart is automatically designated as abandoned using the OpenCart abandoned cart reminder plugin. Hours or days could be chosen as the duration.

Email Follow-Ups on Autopilot

The OpenCart Abandoned Cart email follow-up extension allows you to automatically send reminder emails after a certain amount of time has passed.

Send discounted and Non-discounted emails

You can create discounted and non-discounted emails with the OpenCart Abandoned Cart Serial Reminder addon. The first email is a generic reminder, whereas the second includes a promotional code to entice the consumer to make a purchase.

The discounted email includes all of the non-discounted email choices. In addition, you can select the discount type (fixed or %), the coupon value, the coupon validity, and the free shipping option.

Set the minimum cart value as well as the delay time.

You can select the minimum cart value required to send a specific email type. Also, you can fix a delay time after which the emails will be sent automatically to abandoned carters. This is the best extension to send reminder emails to your customers.

Customers get quick access to abandoned shopping carts in a single click

To recover abandoned carts on a store quickly, you can divert abandoned customers towards their shopping cart with a single click. To do that, the module provides you the freedom to send email alerts with the cart link. Moreover, they don’t have to add products into their shopping carts from scratch which saves a lot of their time and effort.

Keeps a track of the abandoned carts on your site

Tracking abandoned carts on your OpenCart store is now much easy with the help of this OpenCart Abandoned cart module. It can provide important information such as the number of abandoned carts/orders, order numbers. Also, number of abandoned carts that have been converted, and other such details can help in minimizing the shopping cart abandonments on a site.

This module can ensure gold mine of information that can play a critical role in the recovery of abandoned carts.

Wrapping-up

It is now much easy to reduce abandoned carts on an eCommerce site due to the presence of this feature-loaded module for OpenCart stores. Don’t just wait and watch to reduce abandoned carts on your site but take the right steps with the help of this OpenCart Abandoned Cart extension. You have to take the final call by purchasing this OpenCart module from the Knowband store as things won’t fix for themselves.

For better conversion on your eCommerce store, click here.

If you want to know how you can improve customer engagement during holidays, click here.

KnowBand Spin and Win Popup Improving Engagement and Conversion- Sellers are Happy with the Results!

Every brand using a Gamified Pop-up has similar goals: increase awareness of the offer, keep customers engaged in a game, and encourage them to shop on your store by implementing the wheel and quick win function.

Spin and Win is an effective pop-up module for holiday marketing campaigns, and we’re really thrilled to introduce it to you. Visitors to your site can enter their email for a chance to win fantastic discounts and prizes by using the spin-and-win campaign. You can use this pop-up to creatively develop the top of your marketing funnel for your target demographic.

1000+ downloads of Knowband Spin and Win popup

Customers are talking about it!

You can check more reviews on the Knowband Spin and Win Product Pages.

The Spin and Win is a 3-in-1 plugin, use it as an:

Entry pop-up,
Exit-pop-up, or
Subscription popup.

Talking about its advantages, it boosts conversion, customer engagement and develops an email subscribers list for personalized marketing campaigns.

Let us see some statistics on Gamification and how it is helping eCommerce

Gamification in eCommerce and the addition of interactive aspects to online shopping experiences can have a significant impact on customers. Here are some data from AYTM’s eCommerce Gamification survey that explains how customers react to Gamification or any interactive feature while shopping online.

Because eCommerce gamification is still a new concept, companies are continually coming up with new and innovative methods to include it into their shopping experiences.

Customers, on the other hand, tend to choose certain established routes over others.

When sites or apps allow shoppers to earn points for completing purchases, 48% of respondents said they like it.
Customers like it when businesses integrate games or interactive components in their purchasing experience, according to 38% of customers.
36% of respondents stated they are more likely to visit websites with interactive elements.
Also, 30% stated they are more likely to buy from websites with interactive features.
With gamified content, Ford Motors raised revenues by more than $8 million and increased Facebook likes by 600 percent.
There is no way you will lose a customer if you have a gamified pop-up in your store. It can increase the average time spend by 3X just like it did for Verizon Wireless.

You may achieve similar results by including a KnowBand’s spin and win wheel that simultaneously attracts your audience’s interest, rewards them with a fun prize, and collects their email address.

Some Real-Life Examples of KnowBand’s Spin and Win Popup Extention

Use it to improve the UI of the home page
A pop-up that increases customer engagement

Include Knowband Spin and Win Popup in your eCommerce store (PrestaShop, OpenCart, Magento, WooCommerce)

Visitors to your site are prompted to enter their email address for a chance to win one of 12 offers using any targeting parameters you like (e.g., page URL, device kind, session history, and more). On the thank you page, whichever slice of the wheel they land on, they’ll see a promo code that they may use in your online store.

To receive the code, they will have to enter their email address. You can ask them if they would like to receive any further updates from your store and your task here is done. Isn’t Spin and Win is the easiest way to ask for an email!

How to Customize Spin and Win Wheel:

Customizing the wheel is straightforward from your end. Each wheel can have up to 12 winning slices, each with a distinct payout.

Select the wording for each of the wheel’s slices, including the winning and losing slices.
From any of the coupons, you’ve produced in your account, determine the offer and offer code for each of the winning slices.
Choose the colors and theme that will be used on your wheel.
The Module has several themes for various occasions like Christmas, New Year, Halloween, Valentines Week, Diwali, and many more.
Decide how often each winning slice should appear.
To spin the wheel, change the text and design of the tab and form.
Make changes to your thank-you page.
Press the publish button or schedule the wheel to get published automatically.

To summarise, gamifying your e-commerce business would therefore help you grow faster. On any platform, we can share our accomplishments and work progress.

Check out the Spin and Win module in action

PrestaShop Spin & Win

OpenCart Spin & Win

Magento 2 Spin & Win

WooCommerce Spin & Win

To add any new feature in your eCommerce store, you can visit KnowBand store and explore our exclusive range of plugins and extensions available for all the major eCommerce platforms.

How Clients are reacting to KnowBand’s Google Shopping Marketplace Integration Module

Want to reach a wide range of audiences? Why not sell through Google Shopping!

Setting up your store and managing it is itself a tedious job and if someone asks you to do it twice, will blow your mind. What if there is a solution that can help you manage the listings and complete store activity of Google Shopping from your eCommerce store.

KnowBand has developed modules that link your eCommerce store with Google Shopping. The super-smart Marketplace Integration Module! This tool automates the product listing on Google Shopping and reduces your extra efforts. Google Shopping Marketplace Integration is available for PrestaShop, OpenCart, and Magento platforms.

How does Google Marketplace Integration help eCommerce sellers?

The Marketplace Integration Module, along with built-in marketplace catalog models, provides you with direct API connections to niche, local, and global marketplaces, so you can enter new markets and get goods online overnight.

Integration of the seamless marketplace expands the digital footprint by combining orders on a centralized dashboard with marketplaces around the world and monitoring them at the same time.

Scale beyond boundaries and boost global sales by hitting the marketplaces they love with an integration solution to communicate with more shoppers.

Full connectivity for cross-channel– The key to solidifying your online product exposure for future generations is smooth and secure marketplace integration.

What Client’s Have to Say about Google Shopping Marketplace Integration

KnowBand’s Google Shopping Marketplace Integration Module for PrestaShop, Magento, and OpenCart platforms

Google Shopping is the platform that allows the customers to search, view, and compare products on the Google search page. Google Shopping Marketplace Integration helps the eCommerce store owners to map their products to Google Shopping without making extra efforts.

How Google Shopping Marketplace Integration works best for sellers:

You can map the entire eCommerce store(PrestaShop, Magento, or OpenCart Platform) category to Google Shopping.

It is highly compatible with the multi-shop environment. In addition, the Marketplace Integration for Google Shopping allows bulk uploading of the products.

Admin can list or exclude products from the Google Shopping platform by adding filters like products below a specific price, products without unique identifiers (EAN13/JAN or UPC).

Moreover, the auto-synchronization through cron automates the entire process in real-time.

Besides this, it aids profile-based product uploading from the eCommerce store.

Admin can update product inventory from the backend of the marketplace integration addon.

Then anyone clicking on the product of Google Shopping page will be redirected to the product page of the website.

The Google Shopping Marketplace Integration is available for all the major eCommerce platforms like OpenCart, Magento, and PrestaShop.

Click on the links below to see the demo of Google Shopping Marketplace Integration:

Magento Google Shopping

Magento 2 Google Shopping

Opencart Google Shopping

Prestashop Google Shopping

Finally, it reduces extra efforts and proper SEO optimization can help you grow your business rapidly. Google Search engine which is a giant name in the online industry, lists your products on top if you know the SEO Game. It will facilitate optimizing the performance of your eCommerce store by providing a high-quality product feed. It also helps in succeeding with relevant product ads.

Click here to know how sellers can take benefit from Google shopping free listing.

If you want to know the best way to sell on Google Shopping, click here.

To sell on other marketplaces like eBay, ETSY, with free automated listings, click here.

Why your eCommerce Shipping and Delivery Strategy Is More Important than Ever- Explained with live Examples

How fast are your eCommerce orders delivered? How many choices do you give for delivery? What are you going to charge for shipping? Is shipping secure for you? These are some pressing questions related to eCommerce delivery.

You have to have a plan for delivery services that satisfies your customers and improves their customer experience. In eCommerce, businesses are competing over the customer experience and prompt, well-planned delivery can surely improve it.

In this article, I will be giving reasons that explain the importance of delivery strategy and show you some best delivery management plugins that will help you achieve your business goals.

Why do you need a delivery management strategy?

A bad experience with shipping has a major impact on your business. It affects the reputation of your company, consumer satisfaction, and can raise costs. If there is one business area to concentrate on next, consider making it your shipping strategy for eCommerce. A good shipping experience is more critical than ever, new statistics show.

Merchants are now primarily struggling for customer experience.
Merchants don’t meet eCommerce delivery customer expectations.
Customers are more interested in home delivery than shopping from a brick-and-mortar store.
After the COVID-19 outbreak, hygiene and touch-free delivery is expected and merchants are struggling

What do eCommerce customers expect from delivery service providers?

Customers want competitive rates, versatile shipping choices, and quick delivery when it comes to logistics.

Take a further look at these figures to clarify what customers want.

2 out of 3 individuals plan to be able to place an order for next-day delivery up to 5 p.m the night before.
Preference for two-days shipping is up significantly
For time-sensitive personnel, half of the consumers are prepared to pay extra for faster delivery.

But, you need to find an inexpensive way to enhance your fulfillment operations to reach these standards. This takes time and investment and you probably have a lot of areas that need to be changed.

How to improve the delivery strategy of eCommerce: consider using these modules

You probably don’t specialize in supply chain management or logistics, unless you’re Amazon. And, most probably, you don’t have the money to do this either.

Instead, for making your delivery process quick and smooth, you should consider adding some delivery services dedicated modules to your eCommerce store. As a result, these modules will help you improve the customer experience related to shipping.

The best four extensions developed by KnowBand to enhance customer experience on your eCommerce store are:

Delivery Boy Mobile App
Preferred Delivery Time Extension
Cash On Delivery Extension
Store Locator and Pickup extension

Use Delivery Boy App to assign, manage and deliver the orders

Customers drive away from your store if delivery management is poor. You try your best to bring the customer to your store but during the last step of your business, poor delivery management can cost you a potential customer.

To manage the deliveries you need robust software that can handle all your deliveries, addresses, date and time of delivery, delivery assigning and delivery boy registration, etc.

The Delivery Boy App can help you do that with ease. I will be coming to this later. Before that, you need to understand the need of offering home delivery and how it can boost sales.

The module allows the administrator and the customer to interact easily, which will help to improve customer loyalty as they remain aware of the delivery.

The Admin and the delivery boy will also receive updates about the order.
Admin can register delivery boy to the application.
No Admin will monitor the status of the delivery boy and allocate an order to them.
Admin will talk with customers to answer their questions and collect feedback.
Admin can also speak with the delivery boy to ask them questions and answer their queries.
Delivery Boy will make their status as Online/Offline via the application. This will make their presence or absence.
The delivery boy will either confirm or reject the new order assigned to him.
OTP must be entered by the delivery boy to check that the delivery is carried out by him to the correct customer.
The customer can also monitor the activities of the delivery boy.

The delivery boy app is available for two open-source eCommerce platforms.

PrestaShop Delivery Boy Mobile App

OpenCart Delivery Boy Mobile App

Live Examples of Delivery Boy App

PrestaShop Delivery Boy App

The Mayida is a PrestaShop store delivering farm-fresh fruits, vegetables, and green leaves in Saudi Arabia. To make the delivery on time and to avoid the delivery management challenges, they have been using KnowaBand’s PrestaShop Delivery Boy App. This app is a one-stop solution to take care of the delivery process from order pick-up to delivery.

The registered delivery boys will receive the notification when the admin assigns any order to them. Once they accept the order, the order status will be changed.

The next step in the process will be transportation and finding the location. For that, it provides the Google Map location of the customer. With the help of Maps, the delivery boy will be able to find the correct location.

For customer verification, an OTP code will be required. The delivery process will be completed and the order status will be ‘Shipped’.

Explore more- PrestaShop Delivery Boy Mobile App making Delivery Management easy for Mayida!

Live Demo of Myida PrestaShop Delivery Boy App

OpenCart Delivery Boy App

In India, many eCommerce companies are using the OpenCart platform. A Pune-based grocery marketplace startup is using KnowBand’s Delivery Boy App to deliver its products locally. BuyKeyStuff is the website for local stores and they do on-time deliveries.

It isn’t easy to manage the shipping for a marketplace as there are various merchants with a larger customer base. However, to provide efficient delivery, they have a team to deliver products. The delivery boy app helps the merchant to assign the orders to delivery boys.

They pick up the order from the merchant and deliver it to the rightful owner. The complete shipping process can be tracked by the app administrator. In case a delivery boy refuses to pick up the order, then he will have to provide the reason for his denial.

This OpenCart Delivery Boy App helps the owner to track the entire process. This way the BuyKeyStuff marketplace manages the delivery with ease.

Live Demo of BuyKeyStuff OpenCart Delivery Boy App

Preferred Delivery Time for better customer experience

Most of the time the delivery process gets hampered because of the unavailability of the customer at the delivery location.

By offering customized service, the store admin can provide a better store experience. To select the preferred delivery date and time, the store admin can implement the functionality on the OpenCart store.

It enables consumers to pick the preferred date and time of delivery at their convenience.
Store owners can set a minimum shipping gap between the date of order placement and the preferred date of delivery
Defines the interval for delivery time [Start time and End time]
Allows to set up different slots for distribution
The store manager can specify days of non-delivery
Also after placing the order, clients will be able to change the delivery date and time.

These features of preferred delivery time extension give a personalized user experience and merchants can ship and deliver the order according to the customer’s choice.

Cash on Delivery improves trust and builds loyalty

Gain customer loyalty by providing the item with a COD facility. This is simply to allow consumers at the checkout page to make the online payment instead of opting to pay later at the time of delivery. But since many customers are reluctant to share their card details online, you can provide them with the option of Cash on Delivery (COD) along with some extra cost.

The customer does not have to share debit card or credit card details
Shoppers can shop for goods on the web without fear of hidden costs, breach of security, or risk of money loss.
It also allows showing the COD option on the checkout page
You can set different charges for different amounts of the order.
Add your own payment gateway with the OpenCart Cash on Delivery plugin on your web
Set up various COD profiles for different delivery methods and order quantities.
OpenCart Cash on Delivery with Fee Extension enables retailers to charge an extra fee for the option of cash on delivery.

In addition, there are several other features that you can configure from the backend of the OpenCart Cash On Delivery Extension.

Buy online and Pickup in-store promotes up-selling

Retail firms have also moved their company on the online platform to ensure social distancing. It also assures that the customers do not feel troubled to get essentials buying online by allowing in-store pick up.

The Shop Locator and In-store Pickup extension encourage self-pickup facility. It allows you to add store location on your websites and lets customers pick up their products by choosing their nearby shop. You can also add multiple stores.

It allows the store manager to add multiple stores to make sure that the customer can pick up the order from the closest store using a distance filter
Moreover, the store owner can specify timings for the shop opening and closing so no customer sees a lock on the door
It also has Google Maps for quick navigation
You can specify a pick up time slot. Also, customers can pick the date and time slot as they want
In addition, you can notify the customer via email about pickup orders.

Final Thoughts: There is no denying that shipping services play a significant role in deciding whether a customer chooses to buy. If you know your previous delivery strategy isn’t satisfying them well, there’s a fair chance you’ve got to improve it at some places! The OpenCart extensions for delivery will improve user experience and make your business stand out from the crowd.

Recommended Reads to streamline your eCommerce Delivery Management:

KnowBand’s OpenCart Mobile App Success story- Client’s Feedback says it all!

A happy customer is said to be the best advocate for your brand.

By providing great customer service, you acquire a loyal customer. This blog is inspired by one of our happy clients. We have created an OpenCart Mobile app for luckstaribiza, a Spanish online clothing store. They are super happy with their Mobile Apps.

It has been developed using the KnowBand’s Opencart Mobile App Builder plugin which has hundreds of customization features. From App’s theme to its transaction page, every facility is very well optimized. It delivers a satisfactory shopping experience to the customers.

Luckstaribiza Store

The Luckstaribiza store sells an Ibiza collection in US that you can carry and flaunt in every season.

Luckstaribiza Store App Links:

Android App

iOS App

The Opencart Mobile App created by KnowBand’s extension is available for iOS and Android users. It is entirely in real-time synch with the website. In addition, it does not require any extra effort in managing the inventory on the mobile app.

Let’s have a look at its alluring features:

The landing page of OpenCart app is attractive

As soon as a customer installs and opens the app, it will take them to the home page. The attractive pink-themed app grabs customer attention and keeps them engaged.

Choosing the right color palette for the app is important and this clothing store is nailing it.

With a click on the banner, the customer will be redirected to the product page!

Systematic Product Category Navigation

You will find a wide range of dresses, kimonos, shirts, pants, fabrics, and various clothing choices only for women.

A customer can visit the category section in two ways: The left menu and the category button at the bottom menu bar.

Finding a product is super easy

To search for a product on the application, you can click on the search button at the top menu bar or bottom.

It supports the voice-over search option hence, anyone can find the desired product easily.

Customized Product Page

When you visit a category, you can scroll and see all the products falling under that category. It also allows you to sort the product list according to price.

Likewise, when you click on a product, it will show multiple product images, product availability, and product description.

It also shows related products. Best way to cross-sell!

Add products to wish list

If you have already login to your profile, you can add your favorites into the wishlist category or directly to the cart.

How to purchase the desired product on Opencart mobile app?

Once you added a product to your cart, you can directly make the purchase.

Sign up first if you haven’t done it yet otherwise, you can directly log in to your profile by providing an email address and password.

In addition, customers can apply the coupon code and voucher as the OpenCart Mobile App supports all the vouchers and coupons that are applicable and functional on the website.

Finally, you can add your shipping address and complete the payment process.

Your purchase is completed and Luck starts Ibiza will deliver your product from the chosen shipping method.

Complete Package for customer satisfaction:

1. The app provides customer support with live chat

If customers need any help from the store manager, they can connect directly with the customer support team by WhatsApp messenger. Live chat is one of the best customer support channels for online commerce.

2. Product reviews available

To earn customer loyalty, businesses use customer feedback and ratings. To calculate a brand’s success, always count the number of happy clients.

Customers can add product reviews and that will be displayed on the product page itself.

Furthermore, the app supports all the payment and shipping methods applicable in the US.

More features that the OpenCart Mobile App Builder provides to store admin:

Merchant can run sales, campaigns, etc on the mobile app.
Various CMS pages are linked to the mobile app (About us, contact us, etc.)
Your brand identity will be intact in the app as it has a white label solution
Merchant can send unlimited push notifications to the customers
The app allows social login, fingerprint login, and OTP login as well.

KnowBand Support:

Knowband believes in what Laura Ashley said: “We don’t want to push our ideas on to customers, we simply want to make what they want.”

We have thousands of happy clients all over the globe. Here are some mobile app portfolios for your reference. You can reach out to our expert team for mobile app development and custom eCommerce website development. You can also visit the Knowband store for ready-made plugins.

Mobile App Success Stories of Happy Clients:

Real-Life Example of Knowband Opencart Mobile app Online-Mangalore Store

Celebsto- KnowBand OpenCart Mobile App provides Exclusive Shopping Experience

OpenCart Delivery Boy App and Mobile App Success Story of Lokale Winkels

Advanced Marketplace Combo gives Access to Marketplace Mobile App and Marketplace Plugin

No wonder we all spend a lot of time on online shopping. While looking at gadget usage, we are much more reliable on mobile apps as compared to desktop websites. All the marketplaces have mobile apps for users, be it Amazon, eBay, or ETSY. The apps we use to shop from Amazon or eBay are not native mobile apps, rather they have added extensions to their websites.

This is one of the cost-effective and reliable ways to create a marketplace mobile app. Adding a mobile app builder extension could help you build your marketplace mobile app effortlessly. KnowBand’s Advanced marketplace with a mobile app builder can help you create a marketplace application for platforms like PrestaShop, Opencart, and Magento. All your website data will be in real-time synchronization with the mobile app.

Introduction to a Marketplace

A marketplace involves three entities, the marketplace owner, sellers, and customers. When creating a marketplace for your brand or as your startup business, make sure you clearly understand the reliability of each of the three entities on the other two.

Without a customer base, sellers won’t come to your marketplace and with limited products and sellers, your marketplace will struggle for organic traffic. The Chicken and Egg Problem of the marketplace is not new! We have examined the pain points of the marketplace and curated this blog that you might like.

There are several key benefits of an online marketplace for all, admin, seller, and customers.

To earn profits, every marketplace follows different business models. This creates room for more revenue through different channels. You can either earn commissions from the sellers or take membership charges or sell products from your brand. A marketplace is a place for earning money while you sleep.

What is mobile marketplaces app?

Simply defined, mobile marketplaces are programs created exclusively for simple and convenient buying on a mobile device (e.g. smartphone or tablet). They should not be confused with independent retail apps. The independent retail apps are the native apps that are specially created for mobile devices but the marketplace mobile apps like Amazon are extensions of the marketplace website.

Why do we need a Marketplace Mobile App?

Only in the United States of America, e-commerce accounts for roughly 10% of retail sales, with that figure expected to climb by around 15% per year.
In the United States alone, retail e-commerce sales totaled 156 billion dollars in 2017. Furthermore, 82 percent of internet users in the United States said they’ve used their smartphones to make purchases.
Retail e-commerce sales worldwide reached 4.28 trillion dollars in 2020, with e-retail revenues expected to reach 5.4 trillion dollars in 2022.
A study suggests Amazon app users spent an average of 12.843 billion minutes per month in the app, compared to 2.352 billion minutes per month on the Amazon mobile site.

These days, the online market is at its pinnacle. Many entrepreneurs and retailers are considering developing their own marketplace app as the need for online marketplaces grows. It may be one reason that you are reading this article.

I’ll go through a few key points that will assist you in developing an online marketplace Mobile application.

Advanced Multi-vendor Marketplace Combo Pack

The Advanced Multi-vendor Marketplace includes the Mobile App for marketplace customers that give access to products and inventories of multiple sellers. It will be in real time-synch with the marketplace created by KnowBand’s Marketplace module.

Give Customers a Joyful Shopping Experience with Marketplace Mobile App.

Customers can now buy services and products online using their smartphones and shopping applications. You need a responsive mobile application for your marketplace as well. It’s not enough to have a website to stand out from the crowd.

Don’t be concerned! The Advanced Marketplace Module by KnowBand is a one-stop solution. With the advanced solution, you get the marketplace module and the mobile app for your customers. The mobile app plugin is simple to use, and KnowBand professionals will assist you in creating a tailored marketplace mobile app.

Save months that you spend on coding

App development might take anywhere from three to nine months, depending on the app’s complexity and the structure of your marketplace. You won’t have to wait any longer with this ready-made solution, because the app will be ready to launch in a couple of days.

Available for both iOS and Android

React Native was used to creating the app. As a result, it’s compatible with both iOS and Android, allowing you to reach a wide range of mobile customers.

Real-time synchronization

The eCommerce Mobile App inventory and the eCommerce website inventory are properly synchronized. The shop manager does not need to make any additional effort while using the Advance Marketplace Mobile App solution.

Marketplace Mobile App Features:

Whitelabel for branding

Your company’s name and logo will appear throughout the app. KnowBand’s logo will not be visible to your customers. It allows you to change the color and theme of the marketplace mobile application.

Customers get easy access to products

It is easy to find products with basic search and voice search options. Customers can locate a product in various categories from the left menu or the category button.

Layout Switching

The marketplace mobile app also allows customers to switch the layout of the product page. It offers complete freedom to sort and filter the search results.

Shop from sellers profile

It also provides easy access to seller profiles and their shop from the app. Customers can check out the individual merchant store.

Send Push Notifications

Push notifications are the best way to increase customer retention. However, sending messages keeps them informed and engaged with your app.

Support via live chat

The Zopim (Zendesk) and WhatsApp chat functionalities are supported by the Marketplace App Maker. This feature allows customers to communicate with the business administrator 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Quick login and Checkout Process

It also assures secured payment and shipping. The Marketplace mobile app has several login choices like social media, email login, OTP verification login, or using the fingerprint sensor. Besides this, the app supports all the payment and shipping methods you have been using in your marketplace.

Cost-Effective Solution

The Marketplace module and mobile app builder advanced solution is available at a pocket-friendly cost when compared to the cost involved in making an app from scratch. Also, there are various discounts available on the KnowBand store.

Multi-vendor marketplace with a plethora of options

Let us understand the working of the marketplace module as it is the platform where the admin and seller will manage everything from inventories to shipping.

The Multivendor Marketplace’s Key Features:

Separate Admin Panel and Seller Dashboard

Managing a marketplace is a daunting task for the admin as well as for the sellers. The KnowBand’s Marketplace extension has a distinct admin panel and a functional seller dashboard is a part of various marketplace extensions (PrestaShop, Magento, and OpenCart).

The marketplace admin has complete control over the seller’s operations. Every step in the process, from seller registration to shipping, can be monitored by the store admin. As a result, the process will be transparent.

The UI of the marketplace admin panel is technically advance and makes the configuration process breeze.

Quick Seller Registration

Sellers can join the marketplace by registering on the website. Store administrators can set commission rates and allow vendors to request additional product listings with KnowBand’s Multivendor Marketplace.

Track seller’s activities

Along with this, the Marketplace module allows administrators to keep track of vendor information and records. The eCommerce retailer can even see the commission history of the vendor.

Easy Inventory Management-

For an eCommerce merchant, inventory management is a time-consuming process and difficult as well. The Multi-Vendor Marketplace makes inventory management and maintenance a breeze for store managers. It has a bulk upload feature for product listings.

Detailed Reports

Business Analysis is equally important. For better understanding, the admin of the marketplace can analyze the order reports, category request data, payout request data, seller’s orders, seller and product review sheet, etc. These data will help the store owner to plan out the marketplace marketing strategies.

There are thousands of features that the marketplace plugin offers. Click here to know more about the admin panel settings, benefits, and seller functionalities.

The Marketplace App in Action

Check out some live demos of the Marketplace Mobile App Builder which are developed using KnowBand’s Advanced Marketplace Combo Pack.

Success Story of ‘Elettronic Market Shop’ an Italian Marketplace

An Incredible Success Story of eCommerce Handloom and Handicraft Marketplace ‘Cottage Emporium’

Check Out Advanced Marketplace Combo Packs for PrestaShop, Opencart, and Magento platforms.

You can contact the KnowBand expert team at support@knowband.com for marketplace development or eCommerce website solutions. We’ve been assisting clients all over the world for the past 12 years and counting. Let us know what you need and we’ll take care of the rest.

How to Start Food Delivery Business like DoorDash and FoodHub

Food delivery is not a new concept as the world’s first pizza was delivered way back in the year 1889. The on-demand food delivery service market now rising at a rapid pace. What are the best applications for food delivery in your country? DoorDash is the best food delivery app in the USA and one of the largest by sales, market cap, and has recognition as a brand in the world.

If you have some pressing questions for a food delivery business app like these:

What do you need to look for in the food delivery app?
Next, do you have enough resources to manage the whole process?
What all will be your technical requirements?
How you will be managing the deliveries?
How will you deliver your orders on time?

KnowBand has prepared this blog to answer all your how’s and why’s. The food delivery business requires proper planning and a structural approach. Initially, you have to decide the area (location) in which you are going to deliver your food.

This article is specially curated for entrepreneurs interested in launching a food delivery app. Let’s start with statistics and the development of the online food delivery industry.

Statistics and developments of the global food delivery market

The overall annual growth in the food delivery market is expected to rise by 3.5% in the next five years.

It is estimated that the food distribution industry will cross USD 200 billion by 2025.
Once a week, 60 % of customers order delivery or takeout.
At least twice a week, 31 % use these third-party distribution services.
Since 2014, digital ordering and delivery have risen 300% more quickly than dine-in traffic.
Also, 87 % who use food delivery services offered by third parties believe that it makes their lives easier.
Rapid digitalization and growth in both online customer base and spending will assist India’s online food industry to become an $8 billion market by 2022–increasing by 25-30 % CAGR.

You must have heard the names of the world’s famous food delivery apps.

Famous food delivery apps 2021

US

Grubhub
Doordash
UberEats
Postmates
Instacart
Delivery.com
goPuff
ChowNow

UK

Just Eat.
Food Hub.
Deliveroo.
Hungry House.
Uber Eats.
Quiqup
Amazon Restaurants
FEAST
Henchman

Most important features to make a food delivery business successful:

Look for the demand and trends in the market

The demand for the delivery of food has increased significantly over time. People are changing their preferences towards online shopping and food ordering, with many more technology-driven developments coming into the frame!

This trend is only expected to see higher growth with fast food becoming a standard in the country. So if you’re a seller who doesn’t want to tie up with start-ups in food tech or just start with your food tech company, you need to have creative and influential features.

You can rely on social media platforms and add virtual assistant-based ordering facilities, create your mobile app and build up your community if you want to make your food delivery business exclusive.

Use social media to target

For almost all online tasks, such as searching, referencing, and even placing orders, individuals use social media. What if your restaurant app includes a facility to position orders via the social media pages of the client?

Today, very few restaurants offer this feature in the food delivery app, and therefore if the app has this feature, it can get an advantage over other similar apps. This feature will help you draw more individuals to your food marketplace.

Provide virtual assistance to foodies

A virtual assistant is an autonomous contractor that provides clients with administrative services when working outside the office of the client. The virtual assistance in a food delivery app can be a unique feature if you provide it to the customers.

Incorporating AI in an app is advancing the technology. The virtual assistant also provides an approximate delivery time for the food order delivery.

See what your competitors are doing

Extensive research on the apps of your rivals and their promotional efforts need to be done. It will give you the ideas to make your app famous and flawless. You should come up with an app that fixes the vulnerabilities of your rivals’ software.

The delivery boy app by KnowBand is developed with the needful features. It is compatible with mobile app builder and is available for PrestaShop and OpenCart platforms.

More about online food and grocery businesses:

Online Hyperlocal Delivery Business Model | Complete Guide for Food and Grocery Marketplace

PrestaShop Delivery Boy Mobile App making Delivery Management easy for Mayida!

New Online Grocery Stores must have These Website Features

Top features of the food delivery app:

A food delivery app should have features that make online food delivery simple and easier. You can create a food delivery marketplace and connect with local restaurants and earn a commission from them. There is an article for a food and grocery delivery article that might help.

To manage the deliveries make sure to have the following features in your delivery management app.

Design and layout

The food delivery app should have options for front-screen customization. It should allow the app manager to add the brand name, themes, and change the look and feel as per the requirements.

Login and Registration

With this feature, a delivery person should easily be able to register himself. It takes into consideration signing up using a basic username and password and checking with Apple, Google, or other social media site.

Proficient Search Tab

Customers should be able to check and compare numerous restaurants, deals, cuisines, and apps for food ordering. They should be able, according to their convenience, to search by place, cuisine, price, ratings, review, restaurant names.

Manage content

In addition, the restaurant owners need to manage their restaurant’s name, email, address. They also need to edit images, menus, rates, promotions, etc. All this is done by the admin panel of a food delivery program.

Manage orders

The restaurant receives an order with information such as the location of the order, name of the item, payment, and delivery time. Consequently, the admin then handles orders according to priority and schedules.

Managing deliveries

Also, it is delegated to the delivery personnel as soon as an order is prepared. With this function, from the time he leaves the restaurant until he delivers the order, hence the admin keeps track of the real-time position of the delivery staff.

Order Placing and Checkout

The customers should be able to check and compare various restaurants, deals, cuisines with the food ordering app. They should be able to search by place, cuisine, price, reviews, rating, and restaurant names as per their convenience.

Payment Gateways

Your food delivery app should have enough payment gateway options. Clients get offended about sharing their credit or debit card details. Hence, you can provide digital payment options or offer COD if it suits your management model.

Personalized Notifications

If there are any changes in the order location, the order gets canceled, or for any other last-minute change, the delivery boy should receive notifications. So, he should be able to update the customer and administrator about each order’s pick-up and drop-off.

Real-time Order Tracking

The integrated GPS allows the customers and the food delivery app manager to track the orders in real-time. This helps the delivery boy to reach the location without any error or misleading.

Reviews and Rating

Social proofs increase customer’s trust and loyalty towards your brand. Allowing customers to give feedback to the food and delivery agent can help you manage the delivery system. Accordingly, you can remove the delivery boys with a poor rating and food quality improvement can be done.

Help Centre

Also, have a customer care number to help your customers. Be it a chatBot or 24/7 customer assistance. Read this article for the best customer communication channels.

Loyalty Program

You can run a loyalty program on your food delivery app. Loyalty programs or reward point programs increase customer retention and overall sales.

Look for a cost-effective solution

Efficient delivery management software with all the necessary features will keep your customers happy. The food delivery apps should have exclusive UI and UX design. It must have a real-time order tracking system for on-time delivery.

A module like ‘Delivery Boy’ developed by KnowBand can be cost-effective as compared to creating a website with the developer’s help. You can read the user manual of ‘the delivery boy app’ for more information. It is compatible with the mobile app builder and gives real-time order details if integrated with it.

Final Tips

Create a website for your brand with a brand name and a catchy tagline.
Identify your niche before creating the website.
Do market research to analyze the target audience.
Build a strong social media presence using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
Marketing is the key to success- Do content marketing, social media marketing, or email marketing to track the existing customers and the potential ones.
Partner with delivery services active in your locality.
Offer timely deals and discounts in the form of coupons.

Wrapping up:

Briefly, the future of the food distribution industry is very bright and full of opportunities to create. In order to survive the enormous rivalry, delivery giants must fight the challenges coming their way. Keeping these facts in mind, a smart and fully equipped food delivery app is needed to handle deliveries without hassle.

To become the next industry leader, exploit the immense opportunity that the online food ordering and distribution company has to offer and take the right steps. With your new entrepreneurial adventure, we wish you luck.

For Online Fashion Store

How to start a fashion-focused online store- complete guide

The success story of Darveys- Online Luxury Fashion Store

For any eCommerce assistance, drop us an email or add a comment below. KnowBand helps businesses to create their

3 Robust Apps Created using KnowBand’s Mobile App Builder Plugin for Poland PrestaShop Stores

App building requires skilled app developers who know to test and deploy a mobile application. Every app has to be user-friendly and platform compatible with Android and iOS.As you may be aware, the demand for mobile apps has risen in recent years, and the industry has experienced unprecedented growth since the emergence of COVID 19. Many businesses are prioritizing bringing their online enterprises to mobile devices as a result of rising demand.

What if you get a solution that does not require finding an app developer? It isn’t a dream! An eCommerce Mobile App Builder Module helps digital commerce merchants creating their Android/iOS app without hiring any coder. For PrestaShop eCommerce, many clients worldwide have launched their mobile apps using KnowBand’s PrseatShop Mobile App Builder.

In this blog post, we will explain the features of Mobile App Builder that you must have noted for your app and the best Three examples of Poland PrestaShop Mobile App developed by Mobile App Builder Module.

Traits of PrestaShop App Builder- KnowBand Plugin

A sophisticated mobile app software for every online business! PrestaShop Mobile App Builder creates an app with practically all of the features that a company needs. This data-driven app gives customer satisfaction and improves the shopping experience of customers on mobile and tabs.

How to create an app with PrestaShop Android App builder?

It is a simple process. KnowBand’s team takes care of the initial app configuration with three months of free support after your purchase with lifetime validity. You can integrate your website with the app after purchasing it, and it will function in real-time sync.

Some Notable features of Prestashop app builder are:

Builds a native app that is mobile and tablet responsive
Supports a wide range of items, including digital ones
Compatible for multiple languages
Integrated with voice search, provides wishlist option, etc.
All applicable shipping methods and payment methods compatibility
Merchant can redesign and customize the home page
Multiple login options for seamless customer experience

Google login
Facebook signup
OTP registration
Fingerprint login

Link WhatsApp or Zopim for Live Chat support for customer service
Send unlimited Push Notifications to customers
Smooth 3 step checkout process in real-time synch

3 Android Apps developed by Prestashop Mobile App Builder Plugin for Poland Stores

Let us explore the apps and their features:

1. Wieszakshop.pl – Premium Brands Outlet

With 1000+ downloads, Wieszakshop.pl is an online outlet of premium clothing brands. Wieszakshop.pl mobile app offers a large range of fashionable women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing and shoes, as well as accessories, at up to 70% off standard retail prices in Poland and around the world.

For a fashion-focused mobile app, every UI and UX element from navigation tabs, home page design, shopping cart design, product description, layout, to the checkout page, is crucial. With the help of the PrestaShop App builder plugin, Wieszakshop.pl has launched an amazing shopping app for customers in Poland and internationally.

Have a look!

2. e-trucker.eu- PrestaShop eCommerce App

e-trucker.eu is another eCommerce workwear clothing app for Poland users. You will find a collection of exclusive truck styling products, clothes, accessories specially designed for truckers.

The app is feature-rich with a user-friendly interface. Anyone can buy products from anywhere.

Have a look at this cool app created by the PrestaShop App builder module:

3. Comfort-Pur Kosmetyki Hotelowe- eCommerce App

Comfort-Pur Hotel Cosmetics is a platform that provides a range of cosmetics and accessories for your hotel. The software makes buying easy and safe. Shopping with the Comfort -Pur app is simple and enjoyable. You may quickly repeat your previous order or add new products and take the advantage of promotions.

Installing applications provides access to unique discounts only for app users. The mobile app always displays promotions, discounts, and specials on the home screen as the app provides features for updating the banners with drop and drag functionality.

It has all the features that I have listed in the App feature section. Have a look at this amazing app!

Custom eCommerce Development Solution by KnowBand

To create a personalized app, you can share your custom app features with our team, and with some additional cost, we will make an app that exactly matches your expectations. KnowBand has a collection of modules for creating an eCommerce website and for optimizing each and every element from the product page to the checkout page. You can also start a service-providing marketplace that can allow you to sell locally or globally.

Check out

Mobile App Portfolio developed by KnowBand

Mobile App Builder for Android and iOS

Must have modules for PrestaShop stores

10 Must-have Addons to Optimize Prestashop Product Pages