The pandemic has massively transformed the current online shopping scenario all across the globe. A recent survey by similarweb.com reveals that there has been an acceleration in the shift toward online shopping by approximately 5 years. This suggests that this is the best time for eCommerce businesses to focus on enhancing and improving the features of eCommerce sites.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of the commerce features of a website, we first need to understand what an eCommerce business is. And how does it work?

 

What is eCommerce?

Simply put, eCommerce is electronic commerce – buying and selling of goods and services that happen over an electronic medium (primarily the internet) fall under the umbrella of eCommerce.

The eCommerce business model is self-explanatory, instead of featuring the products in a physical store set-up, a business puts its products or services over the website for selling on the internet.

There’s a sudden surge of eCommerce businesses across the globe. But why? Because setting up an eCommerce business is extremely easy and convenient. Plus, it isn’t cost-heavy, unlike physical stores.

Since the internet space is too wide, the opportunities for an eCommerce business are ever-increasing. They have better visibility, hence immensely better sales.

Nevertheless, with the increasing presence of eCommerce businesses on the internet, the market competition has also increased by many folds.

To gain an upper hand, you must be aware of the features of eCommerce!

That brings us to the question – How are the eCommerce store features different from physical store features?

Before we begin, let’s see if you can identify which of the following is an eCommerce feature.

  1. Products and services are displayed and advertised electronically.
  2. There’s complete transparency among competitors’ information and tactics.
  3. Involves a two-way communication channel between the users and the business.

Well, don’t be surprised if we tell you that all these are the features of eCommerce.

But these are not all! We have jotted down a list of the top eCommerce features for you apart from the three mentioned above. Before that let’s understand what benefits these features offer to your eCommerce business.

 

What are the Benefits of eCommerce?

Recommendations and customisation

One of the most exciting eCommerce features is its ability to cater to each customer’s needs. With advanced technology and a plethora of data about the customer’s browsing history, shopping behaviour, and interests, businesses can recommend personalised products and services that suit the needs of the customers.

This is not possible at any physical store or outlet!

 

Content and information-driven

The features of eCommerce are not bound to fulfil the businesses’ needs, rather, they are heavily consumer-centric. A customer can access all the content – product images, descriptions, videos, and reviews before a purchase.

That means businesses need to be mindful of what they put up on their website and provide only the right information. We’ll discuss this further in the later section of the article.

 

Reach a massive number of people quickly

Undeniably, one of the best eCommerce features is its ability to reach out to a vast customer base across borders seamlessly. Since the internet has no boundaries, so does your business online.

Now that we know how impactful an eCommerce business can be, it’s time to focus on your online store, i.e., essentially your eCommerce website.

It’s a fact that the most essential element for any business growth is – the customers. Identifying what the customers are actually looking for and serving their needs is the key to your business growth.

But this can become an extremely daunting task! Don’t worry, we’ve also listed down the best eCommerce website features that are the MUST-HAVEs for your business.

Keep reading till the end to know more about some cool new features for eCommerce websites to help you stand out among all your competitors!

Let’s quickly start off with the main eCommerce website features that you can’t miss out on.

 

 

What are the main features of an eCommerce website?

Ensure a Good User Experience

No matter how many best website practices you follow, it’s the user experience that makes or breaks the deal for your customers. A good UX is perhaps one of the best features of an eCommerce website.

Your customers should be able to navigate through the website with ease and find everything they are looking for smoothly. To do so, you must follow the steps given below:

  • Work on creating a simplified, smart homepage with concise and accurate information.
  • Focus on creating high-quality product landing pages.
  • Always add a search bar for quick findings.
  • Clearly list out your category pages in the navigation bar.
  • Create a responsive website.

 

Make your Website Mobile-friendly

Did you know that mobile eCommerce sales account for 72.9 percent of the market share? This means that more of your potential customers are coming from your mobile devices.

Ensuring proper mobile optimization should be an integral part of your website development if you wish to monetize or scale your business online.

 

Optimise the Footer of your Website

One of the most ignored eCommerce site features is the footer navigation. Your website footer is as important as your website header. Users immediately rush to a site footer to check out the contact details, resources, and other credible information, not found anywhere else on your website.

You must leverage this attribute of the customers! Consider listing out your top-selling products in the footer. It is also one of the most essential SEO features because it helps search crawlers in discovering your webpage.

 

Publish Product Videos along with the Product Images on the Product Pages

According to an eCommerce survey, 58% of consumers will trust a brand that features product videos. Adding product videos not only increases your conversion rate but also enhances your brand value.

 

User-friendly Check-Out Process

A high cart abandonment rate can be extremely damaging to any retail eCommerce business. You can decimate your abandoned cart rate with an easy-to-use checkout.

Adding multiple payment options like e-wallets, credit cards, net banking, and cash on delivery is a good way to prevent the loss of business from an interested buyer.

Pro-tip: Only ask for the crucial details at the checkout page – like billing address, card details, and shipping options – anything more than that can irritate the customers.

 

Product Sort and Filter Options

Categorising your products helps your customers to navigate easily and find what they need. Filters allow users to filter out the products based on certain criteria like colour, size, gender, type, etc.

Sorting allows them to give a view of products based on their requirements in ascending or descending order of attributes, such as price, relevance, delivery time, etc.

 

Include FAQs for Products

Adding FAQs for products is one of the top eCommerce features used by smart brands. Customers whose queries aren’t resolved quickly are most likely to leave the website and go to another one. This is the last thing you would want!

Incorporating user-generated content by including frequently asked questions by the customers about the products is a good way to increase your sales significantly.

 

Set up a 24×7 Customer Support

Excellent customer service is the backbone of any eCommerce store. It is one of the most important eCommerce features that can’t be ignored. Setting up a chatbot or attaching plugins like Zendesk on your site provides your customers with a helpful and accessible source of information.

 

Put the Order Tracking in place

The biggest concern after purchasing any customer is the delivery time. Make sure that your eCommerce store has proper order tracking in place to avoid any refunds, or complaints and increase repeat purchases.

Pro-tip: Use a tech-enabled gateway for hassle-free order delivery and tracking for your eCommerce business like NimbusPost which comes with a real-time package tracking feature to uplift your customer experience.

 

Add an Elaborated Return Policy

Offer a generous return policy and add it to the product page. This automatically increases consumer confidence in your product. You’ll be astonished to know that adding it right next to your add-to-cart button tremendously increases the purchase number as it leaves a positive impact on the customers’ minds.

 

 

Final Conclusion

The best features for an eCommerce website can never be an exhaustive list. The world of the internet and eCommerce is changing with every passing day, so the best features list is not limited to the ones we mentioned above.

Rather, these are the must-haves that your eCommerce website can’t miss out on! The features primarily depend on the type of business and business model you have.

One thing that is constant in the eCommerce business, no matter what product or service you sell – is packaging and delivery. If you want to know more about flawless eCommerce logistics services, consider signing up here.

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