Having worked in both physical stores and online stores, I’ve discovered that it’s generally a lot easier to get repeat customers in a physical store that it is on a web-based store. I think that has to do with the fact that people are more prone to feel loyalty to your store when they’ve actually interacted with you. In order to get repeat customers on your ecommerce store, it is necessary to try to personalize the online shopping experience as much as possible.

Creating that personal experience is a lot easier if you set up your site using ecommerce shopping cart software that offers features which are designed to generate a sense of loyalty among your customers. Some of the features that you’ll want to look for include:

• Ability to offer gift cards and coupons. People are more likely to come back if they feel like it benefits them financially.
• Storage of viewing history for online customers. If your customers are greeted with the ability to see the products they’ve viewed before, they’ll feel like an appreciated customer at your ecommerce storefront.
• Personalized suggestions. Sites like Amazon.com offer "things you’d like" based on things you’ve bought in the past. You should offer that on your site, too.

Seek out ways to personalize the shopping experience on your site as much as is possible. It’s not the same as actually being able to meet-and-greet your customers but it goes a long way towards encouraging them to come back again.

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