Setting the right Foundation for eCommerce – A Complete Guide

The beauty of an eCommerce portal is the complete visibility it provides the buyer and seller for placing orders and transactions. Customers enjoy the power of transparency and businesses are rewarded accordingly based on the personalized updates sent to the customer.

“According to Econsultancy, around a quarter of the customers who shop online have high cart abandonment rates if there is no delivery date provided”.

Businesses enjoy the benefits of using limited capital to begin their online venture. An eCommerce portal provides a professional feel to your business for your customer. This means that the target audience has everything they need to make an informed decision with a smooth customer journey and a clear call to action. It also allows you to operate your business from anywhere in the world. 

However, enticing the customer to make the final decision to purchase the product is not an easy feat to accomplish.According to Baymard, around 70% of the customers add an item to the cart without checking out.

The process of planning and developing a customized eCommerce store may seem frustrating. However, the final perception of your brand will be a rewarding experience for your business.

Essential Elements for an online eCommerce store

Strong attention to detail as a business can help your venture grow  in the long run. Each eCommerce store looks at the challenges they face in selling their product and strategizes their digital marketing campaigns accordingly. Let us look at a few essential elements that you need to consider while creating an eCommerce store. 

1) User-friendly

The ability of your user to easily navigate is important as this plays an essential role in the final sales of the product. Your homepage should look attractive, have different categories and provide clear promotional messages so that customers can make their purchases based on their search intent.

2)  Powerful Branding

Your brand needs to create an impact when your customer hits the landing page. According to Truelist, around 57% of Millennial female customers decide to purchase a product based on the brand’s representation of their values. Your identity as an organization should reflect on your website colours, logo and even the tagline. This helps your customers differentiate your product from the rest of your competitors. 

3) Quality Images and Detailed Descriptions

A customer with an intent to purchase a particular product analyses the benefits and features before making a purchase. They develop a perception of quality based on the visual elements you place on your eCommerce store. Besides having well- photographed pictures of your products, you should add a zoom feature to help users feel comfortable with their purchase decision. You can also consult with a content specialist to write attractive descriptions for your product, and this would also position your business as a specialist in the market.

4)  Website UI/UX Design

This includes your website layout, the navigation, placement of your banners etc. The better your user experience is, the higher the probability that the customer will make a sale. You can now easily create a beautiful website with Posbytz’s eCommerce platform. 

5) Preview of the Best Selling Products

When a customer first enters a physical store, the first question they refer to is the best selling section of the store. The same principle applies to your online store. Online customers tend to have a shorter waiting time and quickly browse through the website to understand the eCommerce store’s products. So, it is important to feature your best selling products on your homepage. 

6) Precise Search Feature and Price Filters

As a customer, it can be frustrating to browse through billions of products. Prospects lose interest in the webpage as it does not answer their question with respect to their pain point or requirement. Adding an authentic search feature and a price filter will help finetune the search results based on customer preferences

7) Quick and Flexible Checkout Process

One of the top reasons for high shopping cart abandonment rates is the complicated checkout process. Providing flexible payment options like UPI, credit or debit card payments and net banking will simplify their buying experience and ensure customer satisfaction. 

Making the check out process fast and straightforward can significantly reduce your shopping cart abandonment rates. 

8) Reviews and Rating

According to Truelist, around 40% of the Millenials make it a point to check the reviews online before purchasing the product.

Reviews make a direct impact on the purchase decision as they strengthen your business’s credibility.You can also provide customer support to build a loyal customer base. After-sales customer support creates a bond with the customer.

Creating a unified commerce experience

Unified commerce is the new future. eCommerce platforms like Posbytz overcome the daily challenges businesses face while serving the customer thanks to the powerful built-in analytics. 

Few other features include-

• Easy management of inventory across multiple locations
• Provision of coupons and discount schemes based on the customer data captures
• Compatible across devices like laptops, mobile phones and tablets.