Essentials for Ecommerce Website Development

While e-commerce is projected to account for more than $6.5 trillion in sales by 2023, getting to stand out in this domain is getting tougher every passing day due to the dense competition.

Simply put, to become successful with your e-commerce business, you need to have a robust website. Now there is a number of factors that go into creating a perfect Ecommerce site including a solid backend and a stellar-looking UX, and in this read, we’re going to walk you through the rundown of Ecommerce website essentials that you need to look out for.

Let’s begin.

Essentials For A Successful Ecommerce Website

1. Responsive design

Considering the fact that more than 50% of the global internet traffic comes from mobile devices, there’s no surprise that you need to have a website that looks stellar on both desktop and smartphone screens.

In context with eCommerce alone, more than 60% of the people buy from mobile-friendly sites. You can quickly judge the importance of mobile-friendly sites from the stats.

To make your website mobile-friendly, you need to use the responsive eCommerce web design so that it can adjust itself based on the device your audience will use.

2. Easier Navigation

Navigation is an integral aspect of an eCommerce website. If your website fails to provide that to the consumers, there’s a high chance that they’ll bounce off it and ever higher chances are of them to make no purchase.

Moreover, if a user leaves your website due to uncomfortable navigation, they’re very less likely to ever click on your website again – which is a disaster in long term.

What you need to do here is to make sure that you have clear menus for different product categories so that the users can navigate through them seamlessly. Moreover, a great practice is to locate your bestselling products on the homepage of your website.

Also, you need to allow the users to sort the products using filters such as Style, Color, and Pricing, etc.

3. Top-Notch Security

If the users do not trust your website, you are unlikely to make any sales. This is especially applicable with Ecommerce websites where users input their personal information such as Email and credit card numbers.

Therefore, having a robust security system for your Ecommerce website is integral.

To achieve that, you need to create secure passwords and update them regularly. Moreover, it’s essential to purchase an SSL certificate, as it would cast out the essence of security to the audience and they’ll feel more comfortable making a purchase from your website.

4. Try To Provide More Value To the Users

The biggest problem regarding an eCommerce store for the consumers is that they can’t feel, smell, or touch your products. While there’s no way to reverse that but the AR integration could allow your prospects to test certain products digitally. This can act as great compensation.

You can offer value to your customers by offering certain perks such as discount vouchers, free shipping, and gifts. This would keep your customers hooked with your store. Moreover, it is a great practice when it comes to retaining your customers. It is also worth noting that a great pricing strategy significantly contributes to customer value and retention.

5. Stay On Top Of Website Maintenance

Note that for eCommerce websites, even minor bugs and issues may cause disasters in long term. Therefore, it is essential to stay on top of your maintenance game in order to provide a smooth and seamless shopping experience to the consumers.

Another direct benefit from maintenance comes around the overall performance and speed optimization of your website. Note that nobody likes a website with slow loading speeds.

A quick tip here for Ecommerce side holders is to put your website into maintenance mode while you work on it because it helps you avoid ‘Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance. Check Back in a Minute’ and display a timeframe on when your site will go live again.

6. Have Several Payment Options

The way you accept payment also determines how innovative and valuable you’re as a store holder. This is the same for eCommerce websites – the more payment options you offer, the better.

People like to pay directly from their finance apps instead of swiping cards. Therefore, in addition to the major credit cards, you must also offer digital payment gateways like Apple Pay, PayPal, etc.

A great practice here is to display icons of the payment options that you accept on your website so the users may know what they can use to make transactions.

7. Social Proofs Like Reviews And Ratings

Trust towards the product quality is yet another concern why people feel uncomfortable shopping online. To get around this issue, you need to display social proofs like reviews and ratings in order to back up your claims of the product.

Moreover, if you successfully earn the trust of your audience, they’re more likely going to refer you to their friends and on their social platforms.

8. Set An Option For Order Collection

While this is something you don’t often see on eCommerce platforms, order collection is an option that provides huge utility to some users.

There are hundreds of people that are often not at home and cannot receive their orders at their workplace. Having an order collection feature is quite useful to these people and ultimately it adds tons of value to your store.

In simpler words, you’ll turn these random customers into your regular and loyal customers. Moreover, they’ll act as a free referral for your business.

Additional Advice

While the tips mentioned above will significantly assist you in creating a robust eCommerce website, here are some tips that you can consider for further betterment.

1. Avoid using longer videos on the homepage
2. Avoid using access content on the homepage
3. Try using bigger images for your product listings
4. Use display buttons for product variations

Wrap Up

Ecommerce business is not an additional option anymore. In fact, it is a protocol for every brand to have an online store where they can trade their products through digital means.

Therefore, if you haven’t considered making an E-commerce store yet, do it now or you’ll miss out on tons of revenue on the table.

Author Bio:

Frank Borg has a flair for strategic innovation and tech-driven transformation. He leads the Content Marketing Team at Wppals. He thrives on exploring and sharing information about the transformative impact of technologies and strategic innovation on SMBs, startups, and enterprise-grade organizations.