E-commerce is growing at a rapid rate, seeing more and more people every day choosing to shop online rather than on the high street or in the supermarket. There are a huge number of sites out there that you can purchase goods from, but only a few of them will be successful. One crucial feature that websites need to achieve success is a good design. Here are five core elements you should ensure your site has.
1. An effective search tool
One of the biggest advantages of shopping online is that if you want to buy a specific item, you can find it immediately. Having a good search facility on the site is very important and can provide many benefits. Results should come up quickly and users must have the option to filter them in a number of ways to narrow down their searches. Businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors by having a unique search system.
2. Product pages focused on users
The biggest obstacle with online shopping is the fact that consumers can’t touch and examine products closely. The way to overcome this is to have excellent quality images or even 3D views that let people take a close look at each product. You also need to provide as much information as you can about sizing, colours, materials and other things that customers want to know. This will help people to feel confident about their purchase.
3. Navigation architecture
The navigation structure of E-Commerce sites should allow visitors to browse easily without encountering difficulties. Everything should be organised and arranged so it is easy to browse, view items, add them to basket, continue browsing or advance to the checkout and pay. The homepage should be clear and appealing, without bombarding visitors with links and categories. They can find these through parent categories or the search tool.
4. An easy checkout process
When customers decide to make a purchase, you should make this as simple as possible so they can be done quickly. Having to input all kinds of information during the checkout process takes time and can get very annoying. People should be able to enter essential details about shipping and billing and be finished. You should also make signing up optional, rather than insisting people register or create an account before purchasing; if you insist on this, you may lose customers who only want to purchase one or two items rather than open an account.
5. Mobile usability
Mobile e-commerce is one of the biggest growth areas in the retail sector. Sites need to be accessible for browsers on all kind of devices and offer the same great experience across the board. If your site is not mobile friendly you could be losing customers at an alarming rate.