E-Commerce Website and Application

Most Important Elements of a Rich E-Commerce Website and Application

By Read Dive 4 years ago
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The eCommerce market is growing infinitely. The pandemic has resulted in the increase of online shopping all over the world. According to BigCommerce, the yearly growth for the eCommerce industry is approximately 23%.

According to 99Firms’ Ecommerce Statistics for 2020;

It’s predicted that by 2040 over 95% of all purchases will be via e-commerce.

Factors like customer service, product discovery, returns are enabling retailers to optimize the way people shop. Mobile has become extremely popular with e-commerce customers.

A data from InMobi shows;

62 percent of the customers said they would be browsing and buying gifts from mobile this year. Among these 62 percent people who prefer mobile, 76 percent of the people prefer mobile apps.

The question is – how can brands develop effective mobile application and easy-to-use website and mobile application that drives both short-term and long-term sales?

Factors Necessary for a Seamless Ecommerce Website

Let’s have a look at some of the factors that are fundamentally important for the proper functioning and success of an eCommerce website.

Secure E-commerce Website

It is vital for your audience to feel secure while shopping on your website. They should trust that their data is safe and the payment information they provide is secure when purchasing on the website. Especially building trust with new shoppers is difficult and important. In order to ensure your website is secure, make sure all store policies are mentioned on the website in simple layman terms to avoid jargon and complex legal terminology.

Use a secure server to secure the data of the shoppers. Secure sockets layer (SSL) certificates authenticate the identity of a website and encrypts information that needs to remain safe. Make sure to display the SSL certification badges on the website. Also display a section with product reviews to assure product quality to your audience.

UI Factors to Note

It takes about 50 milliseconds for shoppers to decide whether they like a website or not. That’s the time limit you have to impress them to stick around. There are some vital User Interface Design (UI) elements of an eCommerce website that make the website appealing and engages the customers.

The standard brand guidelines should be followed for the entire website. This ensures that the brand experience is consistent throughout the website building a strong brand-customer relationship. Ensure visual hierarchy by keeping the most important content displayed above the fold.

Avoid over-designing and use high-contrast text and background colors to make the content clear. Use conventional symbols or icons that can be easily identifiable by the customers. Try to avoid pop-up windows as they prove to be a distraction for audiences. People generally dismiss popups and once the popup is closed, that information can’t get anywhere else.

Frictionless Website

Your website should be frictionless, allowing people to move around and easily find what they are looking for. The whole process should be seamless, so they don’t drop off halfway through their shopping experience. Creating a frictionless experience means having a simple yet useful navigation system to enhance the user experience.

Some factors to ensure seamless navigation for an ecommerce website is discussed below.

  • Well-defined Product Categories

The products should be defined properly into categories and subcategories. The top-level navigation should have a set of all the categories that the site offers. The labels should be single words that describe the range of products. You can even ask your customers to text the website UX and give their feedback which can be monumental when finalizing a category navigation design.

  • Product Search

The search allows shoppers to find a product and plays an important role in the overall experience of the website’s success. Make sure that the search bar is omnipresent throughout the website. The search bar should support all kinds of queries, have an auto-complete functionality and also supports filtering and sorting results.

  • Product Filtering

If a user has to find a particular product in the vast pool of products available, it hurdles their expectation of a seamless experience. For an ideal user experience, it is important to have the functionality of product filters. Make sure your site has multiple filter options like size, style, color, type, etc.

  • Quick View Functionality

Through the quick view functionality, the user can find the right product without having to load unnecessary pages. The product details should be displayed in a modal window over the viewed page. Make sure to include a properly placed “Add to Cart” button as well as “Save to Wishlist” button.

Vital Elements for an E-Commerce Mobile Application

Mobile is increasingly becoming the key point of purchase. According to ComScore, mobile commerce is growing at a rate three times that of desktop e-commerce. Mobile has become the preferred digital buying platform for purchasing baby items, apparel, food, pet supplies and much more. By investing in an efficient mobile app, brands can make sure they are capturing these direct sales while also gaining valuable customer insights.

Let’s look at some of the important factors to count for a productive and business-efficient mobile app for ecommerce business.

  • Specific Target Audience

It is important to note that Gen X and older millennials are the target audience for mobile application. According to a survey by InMobi, 71 percent of the people between 36 and 45 would be buying and browsing on mobile.

  • Brand Consistency

Its important to maintain the brand consistency throughout the website and the mobile application. Factors like colors, fonts, style should be consistent in order to build customer loyalty and trust in the brand. Its imperative to retain the familiar look across the entire ecosystem of a website and mobile application.

  • API Integration

To ensure that the app works efficiently, APIs and the app view should be integrated. The view adds ample information about the product. There are essentially two types of information present, static and dynamic. The former one is supposed to stick to the page while the latter is pulled by the API from the server. Product pricing is one such example as these keeps changing and hence are pulled from the server each time for customers. In order to keep the server and the user’s device secure, robust API integration is essential.

  • Maintenance

Once the app is deployed and the customers start using the developed system, there are three types of maintenance activities that occur.

  • Bug fixing – bugs are reported because of some scenarios which are not tested at all.
  • Upgrade – Upgrading the application to newer versions.
  • Enhancement – Adding some new features into the existing website/app.
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