What is an E-commerce Website?
An e-commerce website is an online platform that digitally connects sellers, buyers, and suppliers to exchange under one roof. It is a digital storefront that facilitates business transactions between buyers and sellers in an online marketplace. An e-commerce website bridges the distance between buyers and sellers by enabling them to offer and access goods and services regardless of their physical location globally.
In addition, an e-commerce storefront allows sellers to sell directly to their customers, thus bypassing costs associated with middlemen. Buyers can select products and services on the ecommerce platform and pay using a secure payment gateway.
Now, let’s examine some of the most important features every e-commerce company should have.
What are the Basic Features of an Ecommerce website?
The basic features of an ecommerce platform include the following:
1. A Clean and Attractive User Homepage
The homepage functions as the landing page for any website. It should immediately captivate the visitor and offer a superb user experience through easy navigation and modern design aesthetics. An ecommerce homepage should have an engaging visual appearance through vibrant use of images and colors that reflect the brand.
The homepage should display the full range of product categories to make it easy for customers to land on trending products and services. It must also take the customer through a tour of the entire website as they scroll downwards.
2. A Striking Homepage Banner
What is a homepage banner? The homepage banner is an inspirational design that quickly catches the customer’s eye and informs them what your brand offers. In other words, it gives a satisfying first impression and woos customers to continue browsing your products and services. It should span the full width of your website with arrows to move your colorful images forward or backward. You should select captivating images associated with chosen themes that provoke users to purchase. You can also include video texture on the homepage banner instead of moving images.
3. Include Prominent Product/Service Categories
What is a product/service category? A product/Service category is a web page highlighting all the products and services on the ecommerce website. The product/service page should have clear product listings, subcategories, filters, prices, and stock availability. Consider this page your table of contents for all the products and services you sell.
You can use drop-down menus to display subcategories under the main product category. It can allow customers to seamlessly navigate to a specific category or subcategory and increase their chances of buying.
4. Integrates an Intuitive Search Bar on the Homepage
A search bar is a shortcut visitors on your website can use to search and quickly navigate to their preferred products or services. The search bar significantly reduces the time spent between a client landing on your website, navigating your products and making purchases.
Most ecommerce users will likely use the search bar box to look for what they want. Recent research indicates that having a search bar can increase customer conversion rates by up to 50%. To enhance customer experience, ensure your search bar can recommend related products and provide an autocomplete feature to quickly prompt direct users to their search results.
5. An Informative About US Page
Why should you have an about us page? The About Us page provides website users with helpful information regarding the organization. Its vision and mission, leadership, goals, and what it does. It’s an opportunity to tell users your story in a nutshell, hence increasing credibility and trust.
Research indicates that 59% of consumers want to buy from a trustworthy brand. Thus, your About Us page should provide engaging content that provokes customers to associate themselves with your brand. It should have a compelling call to action.
6. It has A Clear Contact Us Page
Is it essential to have a Contact Us page on your website? A Contact Us page provides customers a landing page where they can find all your contact details, such as an email form and official phone number. On the Contact Us page, you should list all your contact information, such as your physical location, official email address, number, chat, and social media.
By listing different communication channels, you provide customers multiple ways of reaching out to you according to their most convenient preference. In particular, your Contact Us page should include a captivating call-to-action, inviting them to make inquiries. This increases the possibility of converting mere users into buying clients.
7. The Terms and Conditions Page to Manage Expectations
Are website terms and conditions overrated? The terms and conditions page establishes the relationship between a developer or owner of a website and its end users. It outlines what is permitted, what is prohibited, the terms of service and termination. They provide legal protections to both the business and its online customers.
As such, terms and conditions are legally binding once the online customer visits your website or accepts them. For instance, the terms and conditions may be set to be in force once a user opens and interacts with your website. Always include this page to manage expectations and relationships with your clients.
8. A Privacy Policy to Protect All Parties
Why is having a privacy policy on your website crucial? A privacy policy lays the ground rules for collecting, using, and protecting user data from people interacting with your website. It allows users to stay informed regarding their rights and personal data usage. This way, they can decide whether or not to share their personal data with you. Such transparency improves business credibility and user trust.
According to the Data Protection Act 2019, any organization that collects personal data should be transparent about how it intends to use the data and with whom, limit usage to legitimate purposes, outline data protection measures, and provide instances that warrant third-party disclosures. The privacy policy should also highlight the retention period of such data, handling children’s data, and using cookies and tracking. These provisions aim to regulate the illegitimate use of personal data.
9. A FAQ/Blog Section to Keep Users Glued
What is FAQ?
FAQ stands for frequently asked questions. It is a digital repository that answers the most repeatedly asked questions by visitors on a website. You can use FAQ to provide concise answers about your products, prices, services, refund policy, etc. It can help increase your website’s online visibility through organic search results. It is also cost-effective to answer your customers’ questions and generate new leads.
What is a Blog?
A blog can be a standalone website or a section of a website that one can use to share trending or unique ideas, thoughts, and information. When included in your website, a blog can become an organic magnet for people searching for results related to your industry. It is an engaging way to improve your SEO, establish expertise and authority in your field, and provide regular content.
10. Superb Customer Support Chatbot
An e-commerce customer support chatbot provides a platform for helping customers before, during, and after purchasing from your online store. For instance, you can use it in real-time to answer pre-sale questions, provide information regarding warranties and returns, or resolve issues related to delivery delays.
Superior customer support is crucial in three ways. Firstly, it enhances the customer experience, leaving them delighted and eager to engage with you. Secondly, it can result in higher lead conversion rates because your responses are helpful in the purchasing journey. Finally, it enhances brand loyalty and repeat business.
Website guests are more likely to buy when they feel their concerns are taken seriously and handled professionally. It increases the possibility of satisfied clients providing positive reviews and word-of-mouth referrals. These are invaluable to any e-commerce store.
What are the Advanced Features of an E-commerce Website?
11. An Online Order Management System
What is an online order management system (OMS)? An OMS allows businesses to track orders and shipments in their e-commerce shops, from initial processing to final delivery. It increases efficiency and customer experience throughout the product/service lifecycle. It provides real-time data regarding fluctuations in inventory levels by streamlining real-time order management and inventory in one place.
You may be wondering when I need an order management system. Well, firstly, if you have increased sales volumes and manual order tracking has become cumbersome, it’s time to introduce OMS to your business. Automation can help you save time by speeding up manual processes and enhancing accuracy. Secondly, it reduces human errors and improves accurate reporting. Finally, it enhances the overall customer experience by making the entire process smooth and error-free.
12. A Shopping Cart to Streamline the Purchase Process
Must I include a shopping cart on my website? An e-commerce website shopping cart is instrumental in helping customers accumulate products before finalizing their purchases. Its role is to make an online store efficient, streamline checkout, and increase sales. For instance, customers can temporarily hold several items as they browse other products before they commit to the final purchase. They can remove or add new items, making the entire checkout process smooth. In addition, every e-commerce website should have a user-friendly shopping cart that allows them to navigate among different products, make changes, and view overall cost summaries before checking.
Such enhanced user experience increases customer satisfaction, resulting in massive sales. The resultant efficiency can encourage customers to make larger purchases and provide opportunities for upselling. Even when customers don’t check out, abandoned shopping carts provide crucial data on buying habits and popular products. Thus, you can optimize your product offerings to reflect such changes in purchasing behaviors.
13. Integrated Checkout and Payment Systems
How can you integrate checkout and payment options onto your website? Once customers have filled their shopping cart and intend to purchase, the checkout process should be simple and straightforward to enhance lead conversion. A complicated process can result in numerous abandoned carts, making the online store inefficient. The checkout process should be secure and effortless, and customer privacy should be maintained. For instance, a step-by-step checkout process with indicators at each stage can guide clients during the purchase. Multiple and secure payment options at the end can allow customers to use their preferred payment provider.
As part of enhancing user experience, include a guest checkout option to save clients from the need to create accounts with you. Also, avoid imposing hidden or extra charges during the checkout process. It can frustrate customers and result in abandoned carts. Make your charges and payments transparent. Finally, avoid requesting excessive information from customers. Today, customers take their privacy seriously and sharing unnecessary information can put them off.
14. The use of Analytics and Insights in the E-commerce Website
What are e-commerce analytics?
As you do business on your ecommerce website, you will collect troves of valuable data such as customer purchasing behaviors, inventory fluctuations, fast/slow moving goods, website visitors, website-related errors, etc. However, the only way you can make sense of such data is through ecommerce analytics. Ecommerce analytics involves collecting, analyzing, and interpreting related, unrelated, or interrelated data to facilitate informed decision-making.
Ecommerce analytics can empower you to make data-driven decisions to optimize your pricing, identify trends and make accurate predictions, analyze the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns, and refine your customer experience strategies. Why is this essential for your business? You can use real-time data analytics to gain a competitive edge and quickly adapt to evolving market dynamics by monitoring customer preferences, feedback, and changing trends.
15. Admin Dashboard to Manage Activities on the Website
Every ecommerce website should have administrators with different access controls and privileges, including a super admin and a standard admin.
1. Who is a Super Admin?
A super admin has the highest authority on an ecommerce website. They have access control to all access levels of the website and can assign privileges depending on one’s level of responsibility. Apart from managing user accounts, they can configure website settings, manage multivendor access and activities, process payments, manage products and content, manage website security, and process orders.
2. Who is a Standard Admin?
A standard admin can have access and manage most of what a super admin does but with limited access privileges. They can perform the shop manager role, with privileges to assign access rights to other lower cadre employees.
What are the Professional (Pro) Features of an E-commerce Website?
Some of the pro features of an e-commerce website include:
16. The Inclusion of a Multivendor Marketplace
Can you define what is a multivendor marketplace? A multivendor marketplace provides a platform where multiple vendors can register, list, sell, or buy products. Typically, a multivendor ecommerce website facilitates both B2B and B2C business transactions. In other words, registered and verified vendors can buy and sell to other businesses at wholesale prices and sell to customers at retail prices.
Such a marketplace can allow vendors to create user accounts, list their products, and handle customer orders. It’s also scalable, indicating that it can accommodate growing numbers of vendors. It can also include multiple product categories to accommodate the needs of new entrants.
17. Enabled Multilingual and Multicurrency Functionalities
What does it mean by multilingual and multicurrency integration? Multilingual support encompasses the integration of automated translation to translate website content to the desired client’s local language. In this context, one can integrate tools like Google Translate and ChatGPT. Such tools enable instant translation with almost foolproof accuracy. By contrast, multicurrency support aims to provide real-time automatic currency conversion. It offers customers the convenience of paying in their local or desired currency, making the entire checkout process transparent.
Integrating multilingual and multicurrency capabilities on your website can be a game-changer if you want to establish a credible and trustworthy global presence. Most people are more likely to buy when an online store presents products in their local language and allows them to pay in their local currency. You might miss numerous potential clients visiting your site by sticking to only one language and currency.
18. Integrated APIs to Boost Different Functions
What is an API? An API is an application programming interface that provides the environment to integrate different software applications to share, communicate, and exchange data. APIs are instrumental in helping ecommerce websites integrate different features, such as chatbots, shipping logistics, maps, payment processing options, and inventory monitoring, among others. APIs aim to automate most processes, enhance efficiency, and result in a wow customer experience. When customers land on an ecommerce website, integrated APIs communicate with each other to streamline functionalities.
You may be wondering: What are the most common ecommerce APIs? Firstly, payment APIs provide secure gateways for connecting the website with payment processors to complete transactions. For example, Paypal, Mpesa, and most credit cards provide their APIs. Secondly, social media APIs like Facebook and X enable you to integrate different social media platforms into your website. Other APIs include inventory management, shipping, and external marketplaces, which help to synchronize and automate different processes.
19. Has AI-powered Personalization Engine
What is a personalization engine? A personalization engine refers to digital solutions that analyze customer behavior data to identify trends, patterns, and insights to buttress improved strategy and decision-making. Thus, the business can tailor its shopping experience to match the individual needs of each customer based on their buying behaviors.
Today, AI-powered software solutions make analyzing lots of customer data easy and make recommendations based on each customer’s insights. You can configure the shopping experience to provide personalized messaging and product recommendations to suit distinct customer profiles. This way, the ecommerce platform can convert more leads into buyers, encourage brand loyalty, and improve the shopping experience.
20. Unified Omnichannel Integration for a Holistic Customer Experience
What is unified omnichannel integration? It encompasses integrating multiple technologies and solutions to provide clients with holistic, cohesive, and consistent brand experience across multiple channels. Such channels include online marketplaces, social media, mobile devices, brick-and-mortar stores, and web-based channels. Omnichannel integration provides customers with an individualized and intentional shopping experience regardless of where they shop the product/service offerings.
Omnichannel commerce is more customer-centered and focuses on personalization and convenience during shopping. It illustrates that customers cannot distinguish service-delivery differences whether they make online or offline purchases since they can always expect the same excellent service. In this respect, the business can employ AI-powered personalization solutions to analyze data, create customer profiles, and target customer needs efficiently.
Key Takeaways
With all these features in mind, should you develop an ecommerce website for your business? Yes, you should. As we have seen, we can categorize the features of an ecommerce website depending on your business needs and long-term goals. If you are operating an SME that does not require the automation of many functions, I recommend an e-commerce feature with basic features. However, if you operate a business that serves both vendors and customers simultaneously, I recommend a multivendor ecommerce website with all the basic, advanced, and pro features.
At Wenamax, we pride ourselves on having a professional team of developers and digital marketers ready to elevate your ecommerce business to greater heights.
Is it time for you to get an ecommerce website? Contact us today for a free consultation as we help you chart the way forward.
