We only need to look at how our shopping habits have evolved over the last few years to learn why consumers often choose an online retail experience over the traditional High Street store. There is no longer an excuse for local businesses to have a lackluster e-commerce presence.

Welcome to the Amazon era, where almost any item can be delivered to our front door or even office within a few hours. A rise in customer expectation levels means that British consumers seem have fallen out of love with queuing or waiting for anything. So why are so many not meeting their customers’ expectations?

Unfortunately, many UK businesses are failing to capitalise on the technology available to them. Functionality, reliability, and speed are the new currency, but this can be a challenging concept to grasp if the idea of implementing yet another technology solution fills you with dread.

Thankfully, there are a large number of digital e-commerce tools, platforms, and services that make it easy to get up and running very quickly. In fact, anybody can have an online trading presence serving an international audience with minimal fuss. But the most effective e-commerce strategy is an efficient website design.

Costly or overcomplicated designs that deliver style over substance are of little use to the average consumer. By contrast, top of their wish list is a seamless and smooth experience for the user across a plethora of devices from browsing to checkout.