Ecommerce Done Right
Imagine going online looking for a gift for your 5-year-old niece and stumbling upon this site.
Everything from the uninspired logo to antiquated file-folder graphics and clunky bitfonts is off-putting. Although now back in business, eToys.com was one of the most epic ecommerce failures of the dot-com boom. If there’s one thing designers have learned from similar sites, like MVP.com and Pets.com, is that even with a bundle of seed money and celebrity endorsements, without some basic, intuitive functionality; solid design; and strong branding, your site will never survive today’s cut-throat ecommerce market. Here are four functions customers will expect from your ecommerce site.
1. Easy to Follow Design
Consumers will not put their trust into a poorly designed online store. While some big companies may have the resources to build a highly optimised website incorporating the most current, study-supported functionality (responsive web design, for example), for a fraction of the cost, small businesses can maximise exposure by utilising platforms like Amazon’s epic ecommerce software, both of which provide professionally designed ecommerce templates and offer access to existing, proven backend infrastructure.
One such example isStash Tea, which uses Amazon webstore software.
2. Shopping Cart
A shopping cart give customers a physical place to see what products are on their “to buy” list. It also allows them to edit and remove any of their items. Not knowing what you’ve committed to buying until checkout can make for a frustrating shopping experience.
Creative, a technology company that manufactures multimedia devices and accessories, has a shopping cart that gives customers an option to remove items – an advantage for anyone who has ever accidentally clicked “buy” and had to start their shopping experience from scratch. This page also indicates the shopper’s savings and clearly outlines shipping details. A shortcut to the checkout process is always a bonus since one reason consumers abandon a shopping cart is a lengthy checkout process.
3. Contact Information
As early as 2002, market analysts knew that another top reason for shopping cart abandonment was due to insufficient contact information. Beantown Bedding, has a useful contact link with a phone number and email address. Consider yourself warned about listing a 0845 telephone number. These geographically anonymous extensions are commonly used by scammers and shady online pharmacies.
4. Search Bar
Ecommerce shoppers want easy to navigate sites, which includes a search bar. This allows customers to easily and quickly find products. Make sure your search bar is featured prominently at the top of the page, like Oka-b‘s site.
Online shoppers are not necessarily loyal customers, and will leave your site if it’s frustrating to navigate or they can’t find what they want, so make sure your site is inherently easy to navigate and looks repetable.
