The website as a digital store

Here are 5 similarities and functional differences between digital and physical stores: 

1. Presentation of goods or services:
   Just like in a physical store, your digital store should also present your goods or services. In a physical store, items are presented on shelves, whereas on a website they are presented in the form of images, videos or descriptions. This way, customers get a better impression of what they can buy from you. 

2. Purchase functionality:
   In a physical store, you buy your goods at the checkout or through self-service scanners. That's functional buying. Therefore, you should also think about how to make your website purchase functional. A digital store should have e-commerce functionality where customers can buy goods or services directly from your website. E-commerce functionality on the website can be created by having digital shopping baskets, payment gateways and delivery or collection options. 

3. Customer support:
   In the physical store, customer support is provided through physical presence and intimacy with the customer. In your digital store, you provide customer support by answering questions and problems by having your website equipped with a live chat, or through pre-answers to questions that customers often ask. 

4. Additional sales:
   Like a physical store, a digital store can also generate additional sales. In physical stores, upselling is most often created by placing selected spot products at the checkout. Similarly, your website can offer additional sales by presenting the customer with additional purchase options after they have placed their first items in the digital shopping basket. In addition, certain spot products can be strategically placed on the website to make them more visible to the customer. 

5. Web analytics:
   In the same way that in a physical store you can ask customers about their shopping experience before they leave the store or through questionnaires, you can also measure the shopping experience through web analytics in your digital store. The digital user experience can be read digitally through visits to your website so you can better understand your customers and improve customer service and marketing efforts. You can use web analytics to understand where customers come from, which pages they visit and how long they spend on your website. 

The digital store has some unique advantages that a physical store doesn't have. If your website meets the same standards as a physical store, the digital store gives you a much greater opportunity to reach a larger customer base globally and improve customer data to improve your offers and customer service.