We're all familiar with the online cab service - Uber. Even if you live in a country that doesn't yet have it, as a business owner, you must have heard about its success and some of the turmoils that it constantly has to go through in order to stay operational. 

One thing is certain - it is a successful business because it applies some of the best practices and most importantly, it offers a convenient alternative to the traditional cab services. Your eCommerce business can utilize the same principles in order to gain a competitive edge and boost your sales. Let's take a closer look at some of these to find out how exactly your online store can excel in its niche. 

Simplicity

Uber is simple to use, doesn't require cash and it takes just a couple of taps to call a cab. So the main principles are: make the service easy to use and most importantly - make it easy to pay for. How can you apply this to your eCommerce business? Very easily, especially if you're running a Magento store. Here's a couple of things you could do to greatly increase the simplicity of buying from your online store: 

 Simplify the Product Page

Long and essay-like descriptions don't always fly with the customers. People are usually looking for benefits and features of the product. Offer them just that. Don't clutter the product pages with social media buttons, like some online retailers do. Do you see a lot of people sharing their purchases on social media? Exactly - this is not what people are looking for. Pay more attention to the images of the product. 

 Implement One Step Checkout

There are plenty of solutions online, which allow you to gather all of your checkout steps under one single page, as showed on the example above. In many cases, it doesn't even require much input from you - just install the right extension. Check out some of the best checkout (pun intended) Magento extensions at MageCloud. There's another option: simplify your ordering process by removing some of the unnecessary fields, implementing auto-fill functionality or merging the checkout process pages. 

 Build Understandable Product Categories

Research your products better, think about your audience. For example, if you're serving to an international audience, it might be a good thing to explore a more appropriate name for the category or the product. Knickers and panties mean the same thing, but you won't find many women searching for 'knickers' in the US, as this term is more prevalent in the UK. Same can be said about specific regions within US. Do a research, based on these findings to build better SEO descriptions for your product categories. 

 Stick with Simple Design

Flashy and bulky designs are a thing of the past. Explore modern design tendencies and requirements to  offer better UI. For example, Google spent a lot of time researching and working on material design elements. Maybe it's time to freshen up your website and remove all of the clutter? 

Innovation

As you probably know, Uber is working very actively to create a local delivery service, which will rival with some of the big guys, like UPS and FedEx. Innovation is essential to their survival, especially when they're being attacked. In some cases - literally. 

Of course, you don't have the resources and the budget to work on something of the same magnitude. But it's the innovative spirit that's important in this case. It doesn't have to be something big. But you have to always pay attention to the innovations in your industry and try to implement even the smallest changes to your practices. 

New payment method available? Check it out - add more options for the customers. Your stock management provider released a new product? Give it a try, see if it works for you. Don't get stuck in the loop of 'if it ain't broke - don't fix it'. For example, Blockbuster had the opportunity to buy Netflix. They didn't and we all know how it worked out for them.

Convenience

If you used Uber then you know how ridiculously simple it is to order a ride. Here are some of the traits of a convenient online store:

 At least 2-3 delivery options are available

 Returned customers have the opportunity to purchase in 1 click

 Products are delivered fast

 Pricing is clear and final (no hidden charges or taxes)

 Emails are responded to within 24 hours

 Products are easy to find and navigate to

Please keep in mind that 'convenient' doesn't always mean 'simple', but these terms are very interdependent. It's always nice to test your store to see, if you're missing something crucial in your organizational process. Luckily, there are places like Reddit and numerous Magento forums where you could ask for additional feedback. 

Feedback Loop

With Uber it's simple - good drivers stay, bad drivers go. Feedback is essential to keeping the service appropriately convenient and useful for the customers. Same has to apply to your store. If you're selling a bad product, the customers will not only dislike the brand that they purchased, but also the store where they bought it. It makes sense to discontinue bad products that constantly get negative reviews. It's up to you to know the exact products in this case. 

But it's not the only domain, where it's crucial to receive information from your customers. Feedback also pertains to the usability of your website and its features. It's not difficult to gather the information, once you know how it's done. 

Would you add something to this short list of small business marketing tips? Let us know in the comment below.