On December 12, 2012, Google India organized a day long shopping festival during which people could shop from hundreds of different online retailers at earth-shatteringly low rates. Following its success, Google organized the same event Flipkart Promocodes next year in December 2013. However, due to the massive success of GOSF in the previous year, this time around, it was organized for 3 days from 11th-13th December. Surpassing everyone's expectations, the response to GOSF in 2013 was so "great," that the organizers had no choice but to extend it one more day, in order to satiate the ever increasing number of online shoppers in the country. Now, come December, GOSF 2014 is expected to woo and please millions of online shopping enthusiasts in India, during its 3 days long run between 10-12 December. Being one of the first of its kind in country, GOSF has played a big role in introducing people to the many benefits of online shopping, even if it's just for a period of 3 days. Moreover, it has proven to be extremely fruitful for the many already-existing as well as upcoming online and offline retailers, in getting their brand recognized and also make good sales in the process.

What's So Special About GOSF?

There are some very good reasons why this initiative by Google is called "The Great" Online Shopping Festival. In order to attract as many shoppers as possible, the event offers massive sales in all categories across hundreds of brands and online shopping stores like Flipkart, Amazon, SnapDeal, Myntra and Jabong, to name a handful. Although the money-saving deals are applicable for a variety of products and brands, there are still some really popular categories that make the maximum number of sales during GOSF, something by which both the customers and the retailers profit. Some of the most sought-after categories are those of;

Electronics

One of the most popular categories, understandably because everyone wants to get their hands on the latest smart phones from the leading cell phone brands, especially if they are available at cheaper rates than the market prices. From Apple, Sony, Samsung and Nokia to HTC, Micromax, Gionee and more, almost every smart phone brand offers amazing discounts on their handsets. Apart from phones, the electronics category also sees good sales through LED/LCD television sets, home theaters, refrigerators, gaming consoles, among many others.

Fashion & Apparels

Another hot category is that of clothing and fashion. With most of all major cosmetic and apparel brands like L'Oreal, Davidoff, Olay, Wrangler, Burberry, United Colors of Benetton, Adidas and countless others, offering their latest range of products at wonderfully reduced prices, it comes as little surprise that this category is always in demand.

Travel & Booking

Nobody wants to miss a chance to travel to exotic locations, both within India and abroad. And if such travel and hotel bookings are available for lesser prices than usual, who would not be tempted to plan a vacation immediately? That is precisely why big travel companies like MakeMyTrip, Yatra, GoIbibo, Travel Guru, etc. introduce exciting deals on bookings during GOSF, luring in travelers who rush to book their reservations at cheaper rates.

Apart from these three, there are several other categories like books, jewellery, home decor, health and beauty, dining and restaurants, etc. that come with attractive discount offers that help shoppers save a good sum of money during the three days of GOSF.

What to Expect From GOSF 2014?

In an unprecedented move, this year, Google has already started creating buzz about GOSF through a Pre-Party, a 14 days long contest from November 25th to December 10th, the day of commencement of GOSF 2014. During this unique contest, 14 shortlisted brands will offer deals and discounts and hold contests on their products, for one full day each. The lucky winners of these contests will stand a chance to shop for free from the respective brands for a limited period of time. Add to that, this year, GOSF will also have a special segment called the "299 corner," which will include costly, branded products for just Rs.299.

Apart from these new and special features, GOSF 2014 will give amazing discount offers and deals to customers for more number of online and offline retailers than ever before. So if you have been stashing up money to splurge on your favourite products and brands in one go, GOSF 2014 is just the right event for you. You can indulge in three days of non-stop, money-saving shopping experience between 10th-12th December and get all your desired goods at shockingly low rates!

Every online business is always on the lookout for ways in which they can improve the performance their ecommerce website. Your website is in fact a virtual sales person of your business, and this is the reason why it becomes all the more important that all the essential things are appropriately imbibed in your website. This way the visitor to your site will get the best user-experience and will thereby help you to get better business and goodwill.

A lot goes in to the development of an ecommerce website design. we bring you some very crucial tips which will help you improve the performance of your ecommerce website. Basically the tips cover three major areas of your website, namely:

1. Products and Services

2. Grievance Redressal

3. Connecting with Visitors

Products and Services

Imagine going to a shop and not being able to see the things you are looking for properly. Or even worse, the salesperson is not giving you the details of a particular product and other options to choose from. We are sure you will not visit that shop again as you did not get what you were looking for and rather wasted your time there.

Well the same rule applies to your ecommerce website too. Thus to begin with, you need to make use of the right images of your products and services which are photographed from the right angle and can be easily zoomed to give the user a better understanding of the product.

Along with this it is important that you give a detailed description of your products and services along with its cost as well as 'offers/ discounts/combo offers' if any.

One of the best ways to keep the visitors hooked to your website and convert them into customers is by using call to action buttons.

Apart from this it is very important that your ecommerce website design is easy to navigate and has a responsive search function.

Grievance Redressal

Many ecommerce websites have amazing web design, amazing pictures of products and services, as well as detailed description of products - but fail to cater to customer grievance redressal mechanism. Make it a point that your website has a dedicated section where the visitors and customers can share their grievances, queries and suggestions with ease.

Along with this you can list out toll free numbers, customer support email ID, live chat support etc. so that customers and visitors can easily connect to you.

Connecting with Visitors

You should always strive to build a website which 'connects' with the visitors. One of the best ways to do this is by making the buying/ purchasing process easier for them. There are many e-commerce websites which make it mandatory for shoppers to sign-up with them before completing their shopping process. This repels the visitors. Thus you should always give the buyers freedom to shop without the need to register with your website. You should always give them the option to shop as guest customers.

Even if you want them to sign-up, then we recommend that you make the whole sign-up process simple and brief. Apart from this based on the nature of your products and services, you can choose at least two social media platforms through which you can connect with your customers.

These are some of the most effective ways with which you can improve the performance of your ecommerce website.