In today’s times, having an e-commerce website is essential for your e-commerce strategy. Businesses these days prefer having an online website instead of a brick-and-mortar store. While there are multiple options available online, many sellers choose between selling on a marketplace and building their own website. If you are wondering about how to develop an e-commerce website, below are 6 essential things that you should keep in mind.

1) Open source or SaaS:

As you dive into developing an e-commerce website, you’ll have to take an important decision which will be choosing the right platform for your e-commerce website - Open source or SaaS? Depending on your current and potential future needs, as well as your budget and other factors, you can decide on which platform you want to opt for. While an Open Source based platform allows full control over your website, a SaaS-based platform is easier to use and cheaper.

2) Responsive design:

With mobile users growing more and more each day, e-commerce sites can’t afford to ignore this group. It is incredibly important to optimize your site for mobile users, from simple site navigation to checkout and payments, make sure you keep mobile users in mind. Focusing on providing the best customer experience is crucial for an e-commerce website.

Also Read - SINGLE PAGE VS MULTI PAGE WEBSITE | DETAILED COMPARISON WITH PROS & CONS

3) Sitewide search option:

Having a sitewide search option enables users to search for exactly what they are looking for, without having to browse the entire website. This functionality should be available and easy to use. Faceted search is another way to help users for an easy navigation through the website. This allows users to narrow their search by department, price range, size, manufacturer etc., giving users more power over their browsing experience on your site.

4) Security is important:

While it is important for any website to have the best security, it is even more important for an e-commerce website to be secure. Your customers trust that their information will be secure, which is why all e-commerce websites need to have SSL to encrypt sensitive information like credit card details and payment information. Apart from that, e-commerce websites also have personal details like address, email ID and phone number - which customers expect will remain safe and secure. Security is also required to meet PCI compliance for businesses which accept credit card payments.

5) Optimize site performance:

According to statistics, 1 in every 4 users will abandon a website if it takes more than 4 seconds to load, and 46% of users don’t even revisit poorly performing websites. This tells us that optimizing your site’s performance is an important factor for user satisfaction. You’ll want to make sure that your site is optimized well so as to not lose customers due to slow load-time. Using compressed images also reduces loading time.

6) Review section:

Reviews are important for any e-commerce site as they help to build trust among the audience, act as social proof and have known to boost conversions. It also reduces chances of product returns and gives the customer more insights about the product.

There are many more aspects to consider, keeping these factors in mind when developing an e-commerce website will help you provide the best user experience to your website visitors. However, if you need assistance with developing your own e-commerce website, feel free to reach out to us on business@sociomark.in or DM us on our socials!

Author : Ayaz Nashir (Web Developer)

Reviewed By : Heta Baandal , Managing Director - Sociomark