HOW DOES ECOMMERCE WEBSITE WORK?

The invention of faster internet connectivity and powerful online tools has resulted in a new commerce arena – eCommerce. It has become so convenient and easy, that anyone can shop for anything anywhere and anytime, with a wireless device connected to the Internet. And one crucial factor helps this strong-rising trend become an inevitable way of life is the eCommerce Website. So how do these “magical” eCommerce websites work?

What is an eCommerce Website?

eCommerce websites are online portals that facilitate online transactions of goods and services through means of the transfer of information and funds over the Internet. In the early days, e-Commerce was done partially through emails and phone calls. Now, with a single website, anything and everything that a transaction needs, can be executed online.

There are different e-Commerce websites for every field. The most common type is retail selling, but there are many others too, like auction websites, business-to-business services, music portals, consultancy websites, finance management websites, and the like. You can build such websites by hiring dedicated developers or a website design company . 

Even at the earliest stages of development, effective eCommerce websites must be designed to:

• Facilitate Revenue via:
  • Maximizing the aggregate quantity of transactions.
  • Maximizing “average order value.”
• Steering shoppers to the most profitable products and categories.
• Encouraging brand loyalty, repeat customers, audience engagement.
• Streamlining checkout and other critical conversion funnels.

eCommerce websites range from template-driven plug-and-play shopping carts to complex eCommerce websites that cost millions of dollars to develop and maintain.

eCommerce Websites Typically Work Like This

A potential customer navigates to an eCommerce website, whether via search engines, paid advertisements, referral traffic, etc. 

The eCommerce website connects to its database, which contains tons of data about the website’s categories, products, product dimensions and weight, articles and content, images, etc. The website requests this data to dynamically render any requested web pages.  

After browsing the eCommerce website, a potential customer adds a product or service to their virtual shopping cart and decides to check out.

The shopper completes the checkout process and finalizes the transaction.

The shopper’s credit card information is encrypted and sent to a Payment Gateway(Paypal, for example) to handle the credit card processing securely and remotely.

Once the order is complete, and the payment has gone through, the website typically provides an estimated shipping time, a unique transaction number, postal tracking number, etc. Most of these processes are automated and part of a good eCommerce website’s core functionality.

As transactions take place, orders are stored in the website admin and sent to an order fulfillment team. Order fulfillment can be done in-house or by a third-party company/drop shipper. 

Is your eCommerce website good enough?

Mobile-Friendly Website

Mobile shopping accounts for 50% of online transactions.

With a responsive website, content intuitively adapts to whatever device is accessing it to provide the most user-friendly experience.

Walmart increased mobile sales by 98% after optimizing its mobile site. It doesn’t matter if you have millions of product pages or five. Creating a mobile-friendly experience for your shoppers will improve sales and potentially your rankings.

Attractive, Easy-to-Navigate Web Store Design

Attraction equals persuasion. A good-looking online store supports customers throughout each step of the buying journey: from enticing a shopper to visit the webpage to inspiring them to explore the store and its products, to finally charming them into purchasing.

According to Blue Corona, you have 10 seconds to leave an impression on an online visitor and tell them what they’ll get out of your website and company. If you can’t capture their attention within that time span, then more often than not they’ll leave and won’t return.

Making your online store layout intuitive for the visitor is a valuable way to draw their attention to the right places. For instance, organizing your products into logical categories and sub-categories, and making sure those categories are highly visible, will help shoppers quickly find the products that interest them most.

Displaying multiple large, high-quality product images on the home page and individual product pages arouse curiosity and temptation. Incorporating images of the product, both on its own and in use, helps customers better visualize using the product themselves. Showing related products is also helpful in persuading shoppers to purchase. If they’re looking at a product they like, then chances are they’re going to be amenable to looking at more.

Posting clear calls to action throughout your web store is also critical. Don’t make shoppers guess at what they should do — tell them what to do. Have a loyalty program that offers great deals once a customer signs up? Have a new sale that’s going to end soon? Offering an awesome discount? Tell the customer to “click here to sign up for the loyalty program”; to “click here to see the products for sale”; or to “use this code for this discount.”

Speedy Page Loading

Online shoppers want convenience, and they won’t stick around if a page takes forever to load. The online shopping experience should be seamless and easy, especially since 40% of people will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. In fact, a one-second delay in page response can lead to a 7% decrease in conversions.

User-Generated Reviews

Shoppers read reviews. About 95% of them, in fact. And 57% of consumers will only use a business if it has 4 or more stars.

You might think that having negative reviews is a sale killer. The opposite is actually true. Having negative reviews can often be positive. It’s shown that products without negative reviews are seen as censored and, in turn, shoppers will assume the positive reviews are fake.

Depending on website functionality, eCommerce sites can use plugins from the most popular review platforms including Yelp, Foursquare, and Facebook.

Product Details

Online shopping can be a leap of faith. Because a shopper can’t physically pick up and feel the merchandise before they buy like they would in a brick-and-mortar store. In fact, a study found that 62% of shoppers choose brick-and-mortar stores over online options solely because they want to be able to see, touch, and feel the product.

But shoppers still want to familiarize themselves with what your eCommerce platform has to offer. Include informative features on product pages such as high-res photos; in-depth product descriptions; zoom-in and 360-degree rotation capabilities; the ability to view the product in different colors; and product videos. By providing as much product detail and information as possible, you decrease the chance of returned items and increase the likelihood of satisfied customers.

Search and Filter

Some customers know precisely what they’re looking for — which is why it’s important to provide them with a focused shopping approach with searching and filtering functionality. A search bar or box helps customers instantly locate what they need. According to Marketing Charts, the site search box is always used by 35% of visitors to an eCommerce site.

Other features such as search word auto-fill and searching by the most used words support efficient browsing. Moreover, the ability to filter products by different attributes also helps to quickly narrow down products to meet a customer’s desired criteria. And the search bar or box can also be developed so that it is visible even as the customer scrolls down the page.

Pros of eCommerce Websites

Lowers the cost of eCommerce website development

E-commerce Websites decreases the cost, as people can purchase and sell with the help of email or online orders. It lower the gap between the consumers and sellers as they can have a direct link with the customers. There will be no middle man for the business, thus the customers will get the things at a lower cost.

Effective customer service

E-commerce offers up-to-date information about the business and its products to customers with the help of the internet. You can easily answer the customers’ queries quickly and arrange the immediate delivery of goods. Similarly, effective communication and quick delivery of goods leads to total customer satisfaction. In this way, this helps business owners to have a mutual relationship with customers.

Increase in revenue

As the eCommerce business opens 24 x 7, it serves the customers throughout the year. This increase in sales of a business with greater profit. In this way, eCommerce websites help in increasing business revenue.

Increase Brand Awareness

As like e-commerce business can help B2B organizations to get new customers. Therefore, it will be helpful for e-commerce businesses in order to boost their brand awareness in the market. E-Commerce websites have a 24-hour online presence and a large number of people have access to your business.  Due to this reason, you will have an increment in your brand names.

Global reach

The business organization offers access to explore new markets and reach globally at a lower cost. E-commerce attracts customers and business clients from anywhere in the world. This is due to the global reach of the internet. You have to find the probable Global market and can sell your product anywhere in the world.

Cons of eCommerce Websites

The disadvantages of eCommerce websites are few and far between. And if you work with a reputable eCommerce website development company, they are easily mitigated. Disadvantages of eCommerce sites include:

• Customers can’t always see and touch the product in real life before purchasing.
• Potential customers must be somewhat tech-savvy, potentially limiting market reach.
• Less ‘personal’ shopping experiences.
• Potential for fraud, data privacy issues, etc.

Therefore, to enhance the efficiency of an excellent eCommerce website, make a wise choice in selecting a truly able agency. Successfully contributing various e-commerce solutions to many reputable clients, CO-WELL Asia is beyond ready to make your business’s command come into reality. Find out more about us here: https://co-well.vn/en/