With over 75% of American shopping online regularly, it’s safe to say that a high-quality eCommerce platform is essential for virtually every business. Whether you sell products directly to consumers or you are B2B, selling online can often make up a significant portion of your company’s revenues. Both businesses and individual consumers want the shopping experience to be quick, convenient, and most importantly, affordable.
Both new and established businesses alike can benefit from a streamlined online shopping experience for their customers. At the end of the day, tactics that grow your customer base and increase your revenues are where your business should focus its energy, and there’s no better tactic than developing a robust eCommerce presence. Your customers want the convenience of shopping online, so it’s important to do everything you can to make their online experience exceptional.
Here are X features that customers are looking for in an online store.
1. Simple and Easy to Use
First and foremost, customers want the online shopping experience to be easy. If someone comes across your web page or online store and doesn’t like what they see, they’ll leave in around 10 seconds on average. That’s not a lot of time to grab their attention, let alone convert them into a paying customer. One of the most effective ways to get users to stay on your store’s page is to make the online buying experience simple and enjoyable.
Create multiple categories, add a search function to your store, and enable filters and sorting based on various factors and criteria. If users aren’t able to quickly find what they need, they’re going to go somewhere else to buy it. Online consumers value convenience, so you may want to consider enabling a “fast checkout” option or an option that doesn’t require your customers to register an account.
It can be difficult to balance having the right information available on the page and creating a streamlined, simple experience. Too often we see businesses that bog down the online shopping experience with too many steps in the purchase process, too much irrelevant information on the page, or lack of options when it comes to products and payment types.
2. A Wide Range of Selection
Selection is key, especially if you’re in B2B sales. While it’s possible to have too many different items to choose from to be able to maintain the inventory, lack of selection drives potential customers to your competition. When considering B2B sales, a streamlined punchout catalog is the perfect way to ensure that you have the right selection for each of your clients.
Rather than having a storefront that’s the same for all of your customers, a punchout catalog allows you to customize inventory, pricing, and so much more for each individual client. By having complete control over your eCommerce platform and what’s available for each individual customer, you’re creating a personalized, streamlined shopping experience.
3. Various Payment Options
Flexible payment options give you the opportunity to bring in more customers to your online store. Whether it’s on the consumer side and allowing debit card payments, credit card payments, a pay service such as Venmo, or even Bitcoin, or on the B2B side where you may allow invoicing, having a variety of payment options gives your customers a flexible shopping experience.
Using invoicing for B2B sales can scale your small B2B vendor business by attracting large multinational corporations. Most businesses prefer invoicing rather than upfront payments, so being flexible with payment options may help your growth in the long-run.
4. High-Quality Photos
Photos are essential not only for a great consumer experience, but also for converting passive shoppers into active buyers. You need high-quality photos of your products to display in your eCommerce store. One of the obvious drawbacks of shopping online is the lack of interaction between the customer and the product. With high-quality photos, videos, and even online demos, you’re creating that engagement without the need for a physical store location.
Multiple forms of media allow you to highlight your products, and while it may take additional time to create a video or high-quality copy for your product description, it’s more than worth the effort when your customers feel confident in what they’re buying.
Punchout Catalogs GT
These are just a few of the top features that your prospective and existing customers are looking for in an online shopping experience. As a business, you need to update your eCommerce store regularly by keeping your inventory up to date, uploading high-quality photos, and ensuring that your store is easy to navigate and use. If you’re not consistently monitoring your eCommerce store, you may be losing out on valuable customers.
At Punchout Catalogs GT, we believe in providing streamlined B2B eCommerce solutions through high-end punchout catalog software. By integrating with your existing eCommerce platform, we help you create a personalized shopping experience with all of your clients.
Using these strategies and consistently updating your business’ eCommerce experience, you can succeed in today’s competitive marketplace.
Melissa Stanley is a veteran tech writer and editor who has worked in several eCommerce companies so far. She has been covering technology online for over five years. She is Client Service Manager of PCGT – PunchOut Catalogs.
