Ecommerce design and development has been a mainstream game-changer. It has changed the way we do business today and how customers purchase items. The huge surge in online shopping has forced businesses to shift online and invest more in eCommerce websites.
eCommerce websites can be considered the best investment for business owners. It is a great way to expand your business and reach new customers from all around the world. But, eCommerce websites are not just about selling your products online. There are many things that you need to do in order to make an eCommerce website successful.
The design of your eCommerce website is one of those things. Designing a good looking and fully functional eCommerce website is not easy and requires lots of research, brainstorming, and market analysis.
How does eCommerce improve your business?
- With the help of eCommerce websites, you can open your business 24/7.
- People from all over the world can buy products.
- Saves you time by doing away with the phone calls for booking orders and handling related enquiries.
- An online store has low costs as compared to a physical store. The only cost is for hosting the website and maintenance.
- A wide range of products and services can be compared by using various filters such as price, colour, size, etc.
eCommerce Website Design Tips
Building an eCommerce site from the ground up is a daunting task. But if you go in with a strategy, right tools and platform, you'll be up and running in no time.
Determine your eCommerce business model
Before you jump into eCommerce, it's important to understand the basics of how different types of business models can impact your operation.
The website should be designed keeping in mind 3 things:
- Your Business
- It's Product
- Customers
Understanding these three entities will help you to create a website that is simple, clean and appealing.
eCommerce business models are based on one of two models:
Business to Business (B2B) : Business-to-business, or B2B, is a transaction between two businesses. Typically, manufacturers and raw material providers, wholesalers, retailers, and distributors. Generally, business buyers have more sophisticated and specific needs
Business to Consumer (B2C) : B2C, or Business-to-Consumer, is a business model where a company sells products directly to consumers.
Knowing the difference between the 2 and understanding where your eCommerce business falls will help understand and present your business better.
Know your audience
If you have an audience in mind, that's great!
Before starting any eCommerce business, you need to understand your target customers. They are the ones who will determine the success of your online store.
The visual appearance of an e-commerce website is important in attracting customers. If a website has an unattractive design, it will have a negative impact on visitor retention, which can decrease sales. Most users take less than 30 seconds to decide whether they should stay or leave a website. No one wants to spend their precious free time browsing through cluttered websites with poor colour combinations. They want easy-to-use websites that load quickly and have attractive designs that enhance their shopping experience. A good UI can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by giving users exactly what they are looking for attractively.
Find the right platform for your eCommerce website
If you're looking to start a business and sell products online, choosing the right eCommerce platform is an important decision to make. It has a significant impact on your business in terms of cost, time, features and capabilities.
With quite a few different platforms to choose from, each has its own pros and cons. Therefore, do your research right before you finalise on any one platform.
To make things easier, we've compared three of the most popular options: Shopify, Bigcommerce and WooCommerce.
Also, Umbraco is one of the leading Content Management Systems (CMS) which can be used for developing an eCommerce website. Umbraco is a dynamic CMS which allows you to create eCommerce websites with great looking designs, secure payment gateways and a host of other features which help in making your online business successful.
A strong content strategy
Website content has a direct impact on sales.
A solid content strategy makes it easy for customers to find what they're looking for, and first-time visitors will be more likely to buy. And the more time people spend on your site, the more likely they are to remember you and return. Furthermore, the longer visitors stay engaged with your site, the more likely they are to share it with their friends.
Get your site's SEO right
SEO optimise your website so that it ranks higher in search results for search engines like Google. When people search for a product you sell, you want your website to be at the top of their list.
A recent study revealed that 88% of consumers use the Internet to find a local business. If your eCommerce website isn't using SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques, you're likely missing out on a lot of potential customers.
Determine product category
Selecting the right product categories for your online store is not only of paramount importance for your customers, but it also plays a major role in SEO. Your site's product categories are a major part of its hierarchy and help your customers navigate to the products they want as quickly as possible.
Not only that, but with a properly-organised product catalogue, you can also increase your sales by using it as an opportunity to entice customers to check out other products. In many cases, this is why it's important to use subcategories whenever possible.
Payment gateway on an e-commerce website
A payment gateway is a service that allows merchants to accept credit cards or other forms of payment via websites and mobile apps. These services authorise payments and ensure transactions are secure.
Payment gateways are used in e-commerce to process transactions between merchants and customers securely. The customer's financial information, such as credit card number, bank account number, etc. is not stored on the merchant's website (or mobile app), but rather it is encrypted and sent directly to the payment gateway for processing. The payment gateway then sends the transaction details to the acquiring bank for authorisation.
The payment gateway also acts as a buffer between a merchant's website and its acquiring bank, which provides protection from customer data theft.
Summing Up
Ecommerce is an ever-changing landscape that requires constant attention. If you want to stay ahead of the game, be sure to follow these best practices when designing and developing your eCommerce website.
The key to successful eCommerce is providing the ultimate customer experience. Whether it's through a seamless checkout process, a highly relevant and personalised user experience, or a comprehensive approach to SEO, all of these tips will help you achieve your business goals.
Digiwhiz is excited to help you build your shopping business.
Digiwhiz has extensive experience in designing and developing eCommerce websites using Umbraco and other open source technologies. Our eCommerce design and development projects are always a step ahead of the industry standards. We have a proven track record of providing 100% customer satisfaction to our clients by delivering great quality services.
Our team of expert eCommerce website designers and developers can help you to realise your business goals with your online store. Our cost-effective solutions for eCommerce web development will boost your online sales and help you increase your brand value.
