What Are the 10 Factors to Consider When Building an Ecommerce Website?

An e-commerce website development company can develop effective business websites. Read about 10 factors to include in an e-commerce site.

A great website can set your e-commerce business apart from the competition and help you reach the targeted audience. It helps you to build brand awareness, offer exemplary customer service to your clients, and provide them with useful information about the products that you are offering, as well as increase your customer base. All these advantages will help to increase your sales and gain more profits in less time. According to Nasdaq estimates, by 2040, 95% of purchases will be done through ecommerce stores. So, businesses should invest in ecommerce website development to develop an engaging website that helps the target audience know more about their products and services, and build brand awareness. 

A good website for your ecommerce company has many SEO benefits and utilizes marketing strategies that make it stand out from other websites. However, setting up an ecommerce website can be complicated. There are some fundamental elements of a good ecommerce site that you should consider first which can help you set up a functional and manageable website for your enterprise. The following are ten factors to consider when building an e-commerce website.

1. The website design should match your products: The design of your website should match and blend with the products and services that you are offering. The images, color schemes, fonts and layout should suit your products. For example, if you are running a restaurant, then the images should be a beautifully set dinner table with exquisite dinner cutlery or appetizing dishes, a glass of champagne etc. Just by the look of your website, the visitors should be able to guess the products and the services that you provide.  
2. Showcase your products and their description: The objective of developing a website is to let the users know about the products that you are selling or your services. Make sure to have a good layout that can accentuate your products. Make sure the description of the product is clearly visible and easy to find because if the users are unable to find the description of your product then they may bounce off your website. Similarly, ensure that each product description displayed on the website is accurate. Having a detailed description of your products or services is essential because unlike going to a physical store and touching and feeling the product, users have to learn about your product from the description that you have provided. So, you do not want to give any wrong information about your products and end up losing the customer.  
3. Mention shipping rates: Many e-commerce sites offer their products at discounted rates, but they include huge shipping rates at the time of checkout. This often leads the customers to leave their carts, which means losing the customer. So, make sure that you either charge a low shipping rate or provide free shipping so that your customers will have a good shopping experience. 
4. Provide guest checkout: For many ecommerce business websites, signing up and creating an account is mandatory before making any purchase. Creating an account will help businesses track their customer’s buying behavior. But many customers prefer less communication and want a hassle-free checkout process. Therefore, provide guest checkout so that there aren’t a number of forms that have to be filled up. This will also help boost conversion rate. 
5. Make the checkout process easy: Just like guest checkout, the checkout process for registered customers should be easy so that customers can easily make the purchase. The easier the checkout process, the higher the motivation for your customers to make more purchases from your site. So, make sure that there are not many forms to fill or any other barriers that hinder a smooth checkout process. 
6. Use search feature: The website should have search feature or autocomplete feature to find any product easily. It makes the website more functional. If you have a wide range of products like Amazon, then use faceted search which helps users to narrow down the search results and find the items that they need. 
7. Ensure security of the website: Security is a vital element for any ecommerce website because the payments are done online. Your customers expect their online information to remain safe and secure when they shop from your website. Installing an SSL certificate can be an important step towards winning their credibility. Besides, SSL also helps you comply with the PCI DSS (The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) requirements essential for businesses accepting payments through credit cards.
8. Good page loading speed is important: Page loading speed is an important aspect of a website. A website typically takes 1 to 3 seconds to load. But some websites may take more than 3 seconds to load and this leads to higher bounce rates. So, if you want you visitors to stay on your site, then having a quick-loading website is important. To load faster, you need to have a hosting plan with ample processing power and RAM, storage, and bandwidth to support your site even when traffic rises or your site becomes heavier through the addition of new pages/images/videos.   
9. Integrate your social media accounts:  Incorporating your social media platforms is an excellent technique to let your customers know about the product line, discounts, and new offers. It is also a method to gain reviews from your customers after any purchase. Social media can go a long way in streamlining your branding efforts.  
10. Mobile-friendly website: Today, we all know that most of the traffic comes from mobiles. According to Statista, by 2022, mobile data traffic is expected to reach 77.5 exabytes per month worldwide at a compound annual growth rate of 46 percent. Considering that more people use mobile devices each year, it's reasonable to invest in responsive design, like adaptable typography and image size, and mobile-specific features such as hidden menus. The mobile site should be optimized down to the product descriptions.

All the above-mentioned factors should be considered if you want to develop a good e-commerce website. A quality e-commerce website can help you sell your products and services to people all over the world, and it also helps you to communicate your brand message. Reach out to a reliable e commerce website development company that can help develop an effective website that makes your online presence known to the targeted audience. A well-developed website will attract more potential customers, and achieve more conversions, sales and profit.