The E-commerce sector has been growing rapidly and changing the shopping experience through digital platforms. The globalization of the eCommerce industry and the pandemic has refined the shopping experience for all. Studies have revealed that there was over $5.21 trillion eCommerce sales at the end of 2021 and it will reach $6.91 trillion by 2024. According to Nasdaq, 95% of all purchases will take place online through eCommerce. So we can say that the eCommerce industry has a lot of market potential.
Any eCommerce website should consider having a set of rich features and functionalities that will enhance its audience’s shopping experience. Without the presence of a physical store, you as a business owner need to replicate an equivalent shopping experience for the audience. For this, you need good and rich features integrated into your website. Let’s now have a peek at what those important features are that you need to include.
10 Must-Have Features In Your E-Commerce Store
An eCommerce website cannot replicate the experience of a physical store. But it can definitely make the customers’ experience engaging and wholesome with these listed prominent features. These features are vital to establishing your online business in the digital sphere and encouraging more sales. They all act as a comprehensive tool together to influence the customer’s shopping experience and prompt a purchase decision sooner.
Search Bar
The first and foremost feature a customer needs when they visit your eCommerce store is to look at their desired product/service. The search is an essential feature in this regard as it helps the visitors to check the availability of their desired product/service in a quick bit. This saves a lot of time and effort for the audience and makes the purchasing decision easy.
You cannot ever ignore the search bar in your eCommerce website as it can affect your traffic and increase your bounce rate. This is so because most of the audience is not patient enough to browse through the entire listing. All they want is that the website gives the best results or narrows down their searches. Adding this feature also improves the quality of your website and makes the search more feasible.
Wishlist
Isn’t it nice that you can put down all the products that you want to purchase in one place? Having the wishlist feature helps out all the visitors as well as customers to save the products to the wishlist so that they can buy them instantly in the future. On the other hand, having the wishlist feature helps the customers to figure out which they want to further buy among the list of choices. It is one of the most prominent and effective features that you should definitely consider having your eCommerce website.
Add To Shopping Cart
A shopping cart is one of the crucial features that every eCommerce website owner should not omit. It is essential for every eCommerce store to avail of this feature by asking for their eCommerce website development services as it is the most significant feature to make a purchase. Any visitor or customer can add the products to the cart by clicking on ‘Add To Bag’ instantly. The cart will display the listed items and also add additional products whenever they need. All these products can be bought together from the shopping cart with a few simple steps. Additionally, this feature is relevant as it is observed that most of the customers first add the product in the shopping cart and then purchase it.
Multiple Payment Options
After the shopping cart experience, when it comes to making a purchase decision, this feature is necessary for all eCommerce websites. As your eCommerce store is bound to have a lot of transactions, having multiple payment options is necessary. Additionally, it is also essential to establish your website with integrated payment options.
There are various modes of payment that the customer can choose from and as a quality eCommerce website, you should help your customer avail any option they choose. The payment options can be credit cards, debit cards, UPI, internet banking, cash on delivery, electronic wallets, and so on. Integrate the payment options to the audience’s requirements and you can even provide an option of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ if you want.
Remember that if your payment options are limited, there is a high probability you might lose customers. Even so, your card abandonment rate may also increase. As a result, your visitors will not convert into your customers.
Integration With Social Media
Online shopping is not only limited to any particular platform or channel. Customers nowadays visit eCommerce stores via multiple channels like social media platforms, blog mentions, online stores, etc. Therefore, adding this functionality will only enhance your e-store online shopping experience and presence. With multi-channel selling, your online business will have access to a greater audience. Moreover, you will have more selling opportunities and enhanced brand awareness.
Abandoned Cart Recovery
This eCommerce feature is a very interesting feature to keep the customer engaged and prompt a purchase decision. The abandoned cart recovery revolves around the idea to bring back the customers who have stacked their carts but have not yet made a purchase. The benefit of having this feature included in your eCommerce store will send out a notification regarding the shopping cart as a reminder. This will act as a reminder to the customer for those incomplete purchases. Additionally, these features contribute to an increase in your conversion rate.
Sale Reports & Data Analysis
For any eCommerce store, sales analysis is an integral part of gathering all the data and information about your online business and its various aspects. For example, different shopping trends, inventory, orders in transit, customer purchasing details, the total number of visitors, inflow of traffic, cart abandonment rates, time spent on your store, orders placed, sales, and other data-driven decision-making avenues. The sales analysis and data reports help online businesses to learn and improve their services through this data collection.
CRM & Customer Support
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a vital aspect of maintaining a smooth flow of communication between the customer or any online business or organization. CRM is the best strategy forward for any business to interact with its audience as well as collect data and information about their needs, expectations, or suggestions. A well-organized and managed CRM system helps store owners and retailers build credible and trustworthy relationships with customers.
CRM also includes fast and seamless customer support and assistance if any customer faces any difficulties or issues with the product. The process of sorting the problem and aiding them is also an important requirement for an eCommerce website that should not be ignored.
Review Section
A review section is very important for every eCommerce website offering their audience to share their experience with the products. Adding a review section in general and for each product/service you provide, will establish your brand in the digital realm. The feedback from the audience will also enhance further sales. Furthermore, reviews and ratings of the products will increase your brand awareness and prompt more customers to engage.
Push Notification & Alerts
Push notifications act as an immediate reminder to the audience to engage them further. Such notifications and alerts are precise, short and to the point yet with an underlying subtlety. They alert usually when any visitor or customer has abandoned their shopping cart and has not visited since. Sometimes such alerts are sent when products have not been added to the cart from the wishlist. Alerts go out to notify for upcoming season sales, flash sales, new stock, discounts, and offers. All these notifications and alerts help the shopper as a gentle reminder to shop and engage with the eCommerce website.
Conclusion-
The online marketplace is a hugely competitive arena that needs constant attention and upgrades. To make your eCommerce website stand out, you need the best features to establish your brand. Implement all the above-mentioned features in your online business store to enjoy the best results. This will keep the audience engaged and encourage them to make a purchase decision. Any eCommerce website development service provider will make you a plan of action that will be suited for your business type. All these features act as tools to drive more sales and improve the customer experience.