The Key Elements of Developing Your Ecommerce Website
Have you decided to sell online? To state the truth there are tough days ahead of you. The e-commerce market is highly competitive and there are more than 1.3 million online stores that sell everything from books and toys to collectible items. To succeed in this competitive world you need to distinguish yourself from other online stores and this is where the USP of your brand comes in the picture. You along with the e-commerce development company you hire for the project need to work on the USP for your store. So what does it take to build an inspiring e-commerce site? What are the things you need to work on while undertaking an e-commerce website development project? Let’s find out.
Audience & Competition
When you discuss the project with an ecommerce development company you need to fix your goals and prepare a plan to achieve them. Who is your target audience? Do they belong to a certain age group or are identified by common social habits? You need to share these insights with the development company so that they can design and optimize the site to increase its reach and credibility accordingly. Secondly, you must also have an eye on the competition. If you are planning to take on established players in the market you must have a plan in terms of products, pricing, design, and experience that helps in wooing some of their existing customers.
Focus Areas for Ecommerce Website Development
To beat existing competitors and create your niche space in the market you will have to focus on core elements of your store. Here we take a look at things you must focus your time, energy and efforts on –
-
Structure & Navigation –
From handfuls of products to hundreds and thousands, an online store can sell just about anything that can be sold and shipped to a person’s doorstep. The structure of your store plays an important role in the discoverability of products as well as conversion rates. If you have hundreds of products in your store you need to divide them into logical categories. Along with the structure your store should be easy to navigate. Make sure no product is three clicks away from the home page as it can put your SEO score down and reduces the number of views on your product page. Make use of filters such as price, brand, specs, etc. to let users easily find products they are looking for.
-
Design & UI –
Once you have decided upon the structure and navigation in your plan you need to closely work on the design aspect of the site with your ecommerce development company. Use a simple yet elegant design that appeals to your users. Don’t clutter the homepage with too many products as it would only create confusion in the minds of your users. The User Interface must be mobile-friendly as the bulk of your traffic would come from small-screen devices. There should be no compromise on the design, functionality, and information aspect for mobile users.
-
Content –
This is often the most ignored part when it comes to e-commerce website development. Images and generic content provided by the product maker alone won’t help you increase your conversion rate. You need to have detailed content describing the features and specs on every product page. The content should instill confidence about the product in the minds of your target audience. Unique content also helps in improving rankings on the search engines and you can leverage direct traffic on your product landing pages.
When you keep these things in mind you will be able to create an online store that is visually appealing and has all the ingredients to increase your conversion rate. Remember this industry is competitive and you can’t afford to have any loose ends on your online store.
