Are social media platforms enough to market your product or should a website be created? The experts answer

Despite the spread of online stores for a long time, the outbreak of the “Covid-19” pandemic made them a necessity of life. The significant growth of the e-commerce industry over the past few years has encouraged many investors to launch new startups in this field.

And India's startuptalky website published a report saying that launching a successful e-commerce platform requires creating a secure and easy-to-use website. Certain features ensure success such as customer services, detailed information, reviews section, and various payment options.

Overview of e-commerce sites

Trade and commerce play a huge role in the global economy. Buying and selling has existed almost since the existence of the human race, but today it has taken on a modern character thanks to the development of technology and digitalization that led to the emergence of e-commerce. What is this type of trade based on?

The whole process is done via a website that gives people the ability to buy and sell various goods and services online, without having to navigate.

E-commerce websites enable businesses to receive orders and payments, manage shipments, and provide home delivery.

The most important features of e-commerce sites

The establishment of the startup is based on an idea that contributes to solving a problem and adds value to the community. There is no doubt that the problem of home delivery of goods and services has been solved thanks to some leading platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. But this does not mean that startups cannot enter this market. In order to have a successful e-commerce experience, you need to develop and implement a strategic plan.

The basic and most important strategy is to create an effective website that can help you gain a niche in the market.

Here are some of the important features that you need to add to your e-commerce site:

Accessible Website Design

The most important aspect that any startup should take care of is the website design, which should be simple, uncomplicated and easy to use. The plethora of options may seem interesting and attractive to some users, but it can be complicated to others.

Use on the phone

While developing a website, make sure it's mobile-friendly as well. The design should be suitable for both computer and phone screens, in proportion to the size of the screen displayed on it.

Various payment options

This is the most important feature that ensures the completion of the purchase transaction. Many people may love the platform and fill their carts with your products and services, but when they go through the checkout stage and don't find their preferred payment option they will have to cancel the purchase. Therefore, it is important to include various payment options and add debit and credit card options, Net banking, PayPal, etc. And if appropriate, you can also add an option: buy now and pay on delivery.

Description and shipping information

The startup owner should include another feature on the website including product description and shipping information. It is important to have each product or service described and provide information on the expected shipping date and additional fees (if any). This feature will make your website more reliable and trustworthy.

Filter, sort and search

This feature makes the buying process easy and efficient for customers. This option allows customers to search for products and services without having to browse the entire site. The filtering feature ensures that customer preferences are accurately targeted, while filtering helps determine a criterion for inclusion in the search list. For a structured user experience, it is important to include this feature.

Shopping cart and wish list

This is the most required feature of any e-commerce website, and it allows users to add all their items in one basket. Although many websites forgo adding a wish list feature thinking it is unimportant, it is necessary to think from the user's perspective.

There are times when a customer wants to buy 6 products but his budget is only enough for 4 only. In this case, his wishlist allows him to keep the remaining items for a while and come back later in order to complete his purchase. This feature is vital to ensuring a good user experience.

review section

This feature is useful in many ways, as it will help you get feedback on good products, etc. and learn about customer preferences while helping customers build more trust in your site. And since customers can't actually see the product, they gain confidence with these reviews.

So, be sure to include the user reviews feature on your site.

Customers service

Website owners should provide customer service to answer their questions and inquiries and know the challenges they face when accessing the site, which shows the extent of care to maintain customer satisfaction.

Offers and discounts

It is an important feature to attract more potential customers. Undoubtedly, all users would like to get a discount during the purchase.

And you can add this feature on the home page of the site so that it is the first thing the user sees when he enters your site. You can send certain offers and codes to users through different marketing channels, or add a "code box" feature when a customer is in the process of completing a purchase.

The above points are among the most important features that should be included in an e-commerce website. You have to make sure that the website has a short loading time because the long wait reduces users' interest in the platform.