After investing years of my life on providing tax and legal advice almost exclusively to e-commerce stores, I have decided to write down some ideas related to the performance of European e-commerce stores.

Without the presumption of being a digital strategist or e-commerce manager, my position has enabled me to learn some insights (the tax advisor is like a Father Confessor) over time and to be more unbiased than many marketeers are.

Here are some random thoughts to improve local and cross-border online sales:

1)   Large, beautiful images are the best possible content (cit Nicola Siano);

2)   If the brand marketed on the site is a new brand, consideration should be given to promote its name also via an established multi-brand online store to gain some trust;

3)   A trust-mark seal is usually a cost-effective solution to foster prospects’ trust;

4)   Free or low cost delivery…

5)   Nowadays, at least a single ground-breaking idea is required;

6)   Price wars are risky – there is always somebody selling at lower prices;

7) A generous cooling-off period for returns is always appreciated by customers; 

8) When the moment to create a foreign-language version of the website has not come yet, at least a local language speaking customer service should be available for the main target countries;

9)   Reference to your home country regulations in the international version(s) of the site should be avoided, as they may scare prospects living far away;

10) First focus on Old Europe, then….

Any other ideas….?

Best,

Alan