3 Vital Components of Any Successful E-commerce Platform Today

As the COVID-19 pandemic reshapes our world, more consumers have begun shopping online in greater numbers and frequency. While department stores are expected to decline by over 60%, e-commerce is expected to grow by nearly 20% in 2020.

We are all now forced to use online channels for purchases and to adapt the businesses based on consumer's needs, which are changing rapidly. And with the new demands of today's consumers comes significant pressure on digital platforms to deliver on those expectations. Here are 3 essential components of any successful eCommerce platform today:

Businesses are looking for user-friendly e-commerce platforms, and obviously, no customer wants to browse a website/platform, etc. which takes some extra effort to navigate or takes forever to load a new page. Moreover, an e-commerce platform needs to display all categories of products, accompanied by detailed product descriptions and reviews (if possible).

The peak season is getting close, so it's time to get everything ready: photo products highlights, discounts, deals and offer pages, useful information for products, unique tools & features, web extension, and apps. Keep your customers engaged and allow them to find what they're searching for. Make your navigation system flexible and 'responsive'.

When shopping online, consumers are able to see a lot of information about a product: from sizes to shapes, colors and scents, prices, and reviews. It might sound crazy, but many people nowadays would love to know more details about the impact the product has on the climate, the chemical & carbon footprints, and general sustainability details. There is consumer demand for that and they do want to buy sustainable products. Consumers want to buy sustainable products and e-commerce retailers can help them do so by sharing environmental and social data on their online platforms.

Transparency from companies is key to ensuring consumers know about the work a company is doing to improve (or not improve) on its sustainability efforts. Recently, a prototype of an e-commerce site has been launched, which shows how a company can display information about a product's climate and chemical footprint. COVID-19 crisis time is probably a good opportunity to actually start talking about big issues like climate change via channels people rely for their daily needs. And finally, this might be a solid competitive advantage for your business.

Companies today are looking for a modern e-commerce platform that can provide customers with a more immersive experience. Customers are looking for new ways to engage with the company, e.g. social media, mobile touchpoints, connected devices, and display. As well as they are willing to consume personalized offers and content in general. In order to provide that, as a business, you have to be able to properly process all incoming data, as it directly affects your customer's experience.

One of our recent products helps you to effectively measure the auto-apply coupons feature and track everything from how much users save to the average cart value. You can find out more information on that here: Everything You Need to Know about Our New Coupons Auto-Apply Ecosystem.

As marketers, we tend to underestimate the importance of convenience in buying decisions and behaviors. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced both consumers and business buyers to use online channels for purchases they previously made in other ways. From these experiences, many buyers have learned that it is easier and faster to shop for and buy many types of products online.

When the pandemic abates, some buyers will undoubtedly revert to in-person shopping and buying for some of their purchases, but a higher level of online shopping and buying will likely be a permanent fixture of the next normal.

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