ecommerce website development

You might be surprised to know that there are more than 20 million eCommerce websites across the globe! Where the US alone accounts for about 9.5 million of them (that’s 36.3% of total eCommerce sites in the world)!

So, if you are willing to develop one, you would want your eCommerce site to differentiate from others, right?

But before you approach any professional eCommerce development company, you will first need to know what is eCommerce web development.

What is eCommerce web development?

Most people know eCommerce as Amazon or eBay or some sort of website or app that refers to buying and selling products and services online. 

While the process of building a backend and frontend of a website that includes product pages, a shopping cart, an order form, and other pages is known as eCommerce website development. 

Why is it important to develop an eCommerce website?

Now that you know what is top eCommerce website development, it’s time to understand why it is important to build one for your business. 

So, here’s why!

Helps in user experience

User experience is the first and foremost face of the website that will eventually help you convert leads and increase your sales. That’s why an exceptional web design is important to make your website perfect, increasing the number of visitors.

Makes or breaks your first impression

As you might know that the website is the brand’s first interaction with a potential customer. So, effective web development can provide your brand with good impressions and they will spend more time on your website.

Can level up your SEO strategies

SEO strategies like page speed, URLs, hyperlinks, and more will impact your eCommerce website design on the search engine’s results page, thus making it important when it comes to the web development process.

Differentiates your website from others

Obviously, you would want your website to stand apart from the competition, right? And this is where web development comes to the rescue. The eCommerce web developers can help you build the latest, newest, and high-quality website which will not only gain more traffic but will dominate the market as well.

Overall, eCommerce web development is a tool that can boost your sales and business success. Along with that, you should also incorporate these features, if you want to engage with your customers.

Aesthetics

1. Responsive design

One of the important yet obvious features is the responsive design of the website, offering a seamless experience across different screen sizes. It is very important to have consistent browsing experiences across all screens, especially mobile because visitors nowadays are switching screens constantly.

2. Easy-to-use navigation

Another must-have feature in your top eCommerce website is easy-to-use navigation where your users can navigate between different product categories and other website sections. 

In order to make the customer spend more time on your simple eCommerce website, an uncomplicated burger menu, ergonomic header, effective CTA buttons, and extensive footer are all you need. 

The information

3. Smart search bar

After designing the look and feel of your eCommerce store, it’s time to add some useful features. Starting with a smart search bar, which will help users who are searching for a particular product and other users who are just there to explore the product range.

To design a smart search bar, here are the things that need to be kept in mind:

a. Visibility

Try and make sure that the search bar is placed in the top left corner as it is the most used placement.

b. A standard design

Use a magnifying glass logo to distinguish a search bar.

c. Autocomplete

Autocomplete feature is a must for a search bar as it helps users to finish their search or use prompts.

4. HD pictures and videos

Adding photos that highlight all your product features not only helps your customer make an informed choice but also helps in reducing returns.

And for that, you need to make sure that the photos you add on the site are well-lit and detailed, thus helping customers make choices around color, variant, or size.

On the other hand, adding videos to your website is a great way of showing your product in the environment it will be used. Although, adding videos will make your eCommerce store differ from others, make sure that it doesn’t add page load times.

5. Add filters

Another thing that is a must-have in your eCommerce site is the filter or sorting option. This will help you to categorize different products and services for your users. 

You can also categorize different products under relevant facets according to customer choices and place the most important ones on top.

In general, there are four categories, you can add sorting or filtration by:

  • Sort by size
  • Sort by color/style
  • Sort by brand and 
  • Sort by price (highest to lowest, lowest to highest, popularity, and newest first)

Also, do remember that you don’t overwhelm your users with several filters.

6. FAQ section

FAQ also known as Frequently Asked Questions is a section that offers crucial information and also provides answers to the most common questions that customers have regarding their products or services. 

You can note down the FAQ questions and answers that you want to add to your eCommerce website. 

7. Reviews and rating section

As the products are online, customers rely heavily on reviews and ratings provided by other customers that have used or bought those products. If you want to be among the top 10 eCommerce websites, do add reviews and rating sections on your website.

Adding a review and rating section will encourage and enable customers to rate their products and services and make sure these reviews and ratings are displayed on the website. 

8. Exchange and return section

Another section to add to your next eCommerce website design is the exchange and return segment. Adding this section to the website or web app will provide an easy way to bring more customers.

To make your customers shop carefree and encourage building purchase confidence, it is important to mention the exchange and return section that can be easily visible on the website. 

You can add this exchange and return option on the website header or footer or in the FAQ section or on the product page or on the checkout page. 

9. Integration of social media

Another thing to include in your eCommerce web application development is the integration of social media. Integrating social media into your eCommerce store will gain trust among customers, thus building a loyal community.

Social media integration adds a layer of legitimacy as it showcases other people who have purchased the product in the past and how they use the product while encouraging new customers to share their views on social media channels.

10. Push notifications

While developing an eCommerce website, it is mandatory to incorporate push notifications as it notifies customers regarding new products, reminding them about the products in the cart, new offers and discounts, product status, and more.

Also, it is easy to integrate the push notifications feature in your eCommerce store, your eCommerce developer can get it done within a few minutes and help you get started immediately.

The purchasing experience

11. Cart and checkout option

It is almost heartbreaking, when a customer keeps adding products to the cart, but doesn’t purchase them, right? 

So, what can be done in such scenarios? Basically, there isn’t a winning formula for this, but you can try these things:

a. Be transparent

Be transparent with your customers and don’t introduce any additional charges that are not known to your customers like overpriced shipping costs, extra taxes, etc.

b. Rapidly fast

Build your eCommerce site with a simple yet intuitive checkout process that relies on minimum information to process orders and complete transactions.

c. Keep a track of everything

Your eCommerce store should be able to store important information like shipping address, mobile number, and credit/debit card details, with the customer’s consent, for a smoother checkout process. 

12. Coupons and vouchers

Who doesn’t love to save some bucks when it comes to shopping? That’s the reason why most eCommerce stores present their customers with some sort of coupon or voucher code at the checkout page.

According to a survey by Creditcards.com, about 85% of Americans use coupons for shopping from top coupon sites like Coupons.com, CouponCabin.com, CouponCause.com, etc. 

Some websites use a special bar at the top or on the footer section that displays special deals, while others use a special popup when the visitors first visit their website.

13. Incorporate item availability filter

Are you thinking of providing your consumers with different options for pickup or delivery methods?

If yes, you are on the right track! Incorporating an item availability bar is a great idea because it gives your customers options to select from their preferred delivery or in-store pickup.

14.Make a mobile app

You might know that most B2B eCommerce websites now come with mobile apps along with websites these days. 

Therefore, having a mobile app for your eCommerce store is a good addition, especially for your shoppers, as they can buy products from any device, anytime, and anywhere.

Apart from that, through mobile apps, you can send pop-up notifications for any latest deals or discounts on a particular category or brand. Also, you can provide your customers the flexibility of buying products online and opting for in-store pickup. 

15. Personal data policy

When you visit any eCommerce website, you might have noticed that it asks you to accept cookies. That is done to collect visitors’ data and based on that data, the developers give personal, convenient website visits.

Your eCommerce site also needs a policy that asks permission from the consumers to collect their data, depending on the location of your eCommerce store and the customer that it serves.

16. Multilingual support

If you are launching your eCommerce store globally, your website should have a multilingual support feature based on customers in a specific region. For that, you can either integrate Google Translate, to translate your website into their regional language.

Another option is to build your website in multiple versions for specific languages.

17. Loyalty program

A loyalty program is one way to increase customer retention, as it will encourage your customers to shop from your eCommerce store again and again. These programs are basically free or paid and give your customers private or special access to their sales.

Many brands offer free reward points for each purchase, like a specific amount off on their next purchase or a freebie. Consumers can then redeem those points to unlock specific products or services online and in-store. 

18. Different payment gateways

Different payment gateways are a must in any best eCommerce website, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, because more and more people are shopping online instead of brick and mortar stores. 

Adding various payment gateways will not only satisfy your customers but will increase your conversion rates, thus boosting sales. In fact, reports suggest that offering various payment options to your eCommerce store can generate up to 71% sales!

Also, having multiple payment gateways has a lot of benefits:

a. Boosts customer satisfaction

Offering multiple payment gateways can gain your customers’ trust by ensuring every payment happens seamlessly.

b. Offers better security

Another advantage of offering multiple payment gateways is that they are backed with high-level security like secure HTTPS connections, strong configurations, and PCI-DSS.

19. Tracks your order status

If you have ever ordered a product online, you might have noticed that you can get a link where you can track your product status. So, incorporating this feature in your eCommerce site will let your customers check their order status which will keep them engaged throughout the order journey.

Moreover, it will also reduce the chances of post-purchase dissonance. The order tracking feature also lets the brand showcase newbies and gain more sales.

20. Chatbot integration

Customer support is a great addition, however not all companies do have a budget for that. In such instances, they can opt for a chatbot feature that addresses customer conversations 24/7.

As these chatbots feature Artificial Intelligence, they are always ready to assist the customers throughout their purchase journey, addressing concerns and minting better returns on their acquisition costs. 

So, if you want to grab the attention of your consumers throughout their shopping journey, give them the best deals through your own coupon codes. 

Wrapping up

Always do remember that you don’t have to think extraordinarily to offer an exceptional shopping experience for your consumers. But, if you want one, Bytes Technolab can help you with that.

Bytes Technolab is a leading web development company that inspires eCommerce websites to enhance their digital presence, customer base, and online sales. They are best known to provide eCommerce web development services that are known to deliver success. 

By Anurag Rathod

Anurag Rathod is an Editor of Appclonescript.com, who is passionate for app-based startup solutions and on-demand business ideas. He believes in spreading tech trends. He is an avid reader and loves thinking out of the box to promote new technologies.