6 Must-have Features for an eCommerce Website

In this article, we are going to discuss 6 must-have features for an eCommerce website. There are certain features every ecommerce site should have to stay with the competitive. Covid-19 may have dampened the eCommerce sentiment somewhat but it is now bouncing back. Ecommerce sales will exceed $ 4 trillion with eCommerce adding more segments encouraged by the pandemic, such as groceries, education, and services.

Social distancing gives a fillip to online purchases and it is expected that by 2040 about 95% of purchases will be via eCommerce. However, in order to thrive in this competitive segment, your eCommerce platform should have certain features.

Mobile Responsive Site

Now a day, mobile commerce will account for over 72% market share. You will want your website to be responsive and work perfectly on all mobile platforms. The smart way to a fluid mobile website is to engage an eCommerce web Development Company for the job.

The site should work on Windows mobile, iOS, and Android if you want more customers. Search engines favor mobile sites and so do shoppers. Make sure you have a mobile-friendly shopping cart, order placement process, and mobile payments. This is our first eCommerce features for an eCommerce Website.

Superior Images and Product Details

The image and product description are all that buyers have in order to make a buy decision. Therefore:

• Do not “lift” images or scan images of product packaging. Spend money on getting the item photographed from different angled, retouched, and resized. Zoom is must have so that viewers can zoom into a product on mouse hover just like Amazon does.
• The product description is where eCommerce operators fall flat. Even Amazon has skimpy product descriptions forcing buyers to find details elsewhere. Engage a content writer to research and furnish full details of each product.

Order, Inventory, Tracking, Product Comparison

Anything less than perfect in order placement, shopping cart, inventory, and tracking of shipments can lead to customer churn. Big Commerce reports that 46% of online shoppers would like the eCommerce site to show product comparisons and genuine reviews.

• Shopping does not end with order placement and payment. Shipment is just as important. As such it pays to tie up with an excellent logistics company to provide perfect tracking.
• Inventory management is just as important. You cannot display a product for which an order is placed only to find that the item is not in stock. This naturally implies you must have an up to date inventory management system and CMS integrated with your website with some measure of automation. Experts in eCommerce web application developmentare the best people to design a website with inventory control and automatic updates.
• The ordering process is one stage where buyers can simply abandon carts and go elsewhere. 23% of buyers abandon carts simply because of complicated and lengthy processes that involve registration and submission of a lot of details. Consider incorporating features such as Facebook or Google login to make shopping a quick and joyful experience.

Artificial Intelligence and Customer Interactions

Take a leaf out of Amazon’s book. Visitors browsing the site have their activities tracked. Amazon maintains records of buyers. It displays usage history and, importantly, recommends similar products in an effort to upsell or cross-sell.

• Some sites now employ conversational chatbots as the first point of interaction. Buyers always like to know more about a product. A video does help but a conversational chatbot will take things further to the point of purchase. It does require special efforts but the right Ecommerce Web Application Development specialist will endow your eCommerce site with this feature leading to happy customer experiences. Dialing a helpline number, as is proved, is often frustrating whereas intelligent chatbot has an immediacy that appeals to buyers.
• Encourage visitors to interact through a Q&A section and social media integration. Social media is where their positive feedbacks can garner more visitors and buyers. You get to know customer wish lists and you can add more products to your portfolio.
• If social media is one way to engage, then another way to encourage interaction and loyalty is to launch offers, discount coupons, and similar programs on the site and through social media channels. Your Ecommerce Web Development Companymay recommend a suitable strategy. Go a step further and personalize by maintaining a smart CRM.

Speed

People have become impatient. You will want your eCommerce site to load fast. If it takes longer than 5 seconds then visitors will leave and this is where the expertise of the eCommerce website developer comes into play. They will check each page and images as well as refine underlying code to ensure the site loads fast.

• Speed also applies to your response to queries or orders or requests for refunds. This entails website automation to confirm orders, answer queries, and acknowledge refund or replacement requests.
• Likewise, speed is of importance from the placement of the item in the shopping cart to checkout to payment to shipping. Take care of these and you have a happy, returning customer. Make it easy and fast to modify shopping carts, add items or delete items or even cancel an order.

Security

Ecommerce involves payment transactions through banks, cards, or other payment enablers like PayPal. It goes without saying that the more options you offer, the better it is but, at the same time, security is of paramount importance. Pick an eCommerce web Development Company that can integrate the highest levels of encryption and security for data and transactions. 84% of people will not deal with an unsecured website. This is our last eCommerce features for an eCommerce Website.

Is it search engine optimized?

Search for products on Google and you will invariably find that Amazon’s pages show up at the top. SEO is vital for top ranking. Ecommerce web developers may take care of all technical aspects of websites but you also want them to take care of the SEO part too while developing the entire site and individual pages. It gives you an edge and the right developer with SEO capabilities proves to be an asset.

It is easy to launch an eCommerce website using free tools such as Woocommerce and Shopify but you get limited features. If success is important then engage an Ecommerce Web Development Company to go about it systematically, take care of updates, and assure success.

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