Recognising the importance of having a functional ecommerce website that works is important and choosing the right product for your site is imperative to gaining and retaining the right shoppers.

The trend in ecommerce and online trading is becoming fast apparent in the UK, with even the likes of the building and packaging trades jumping on the bandwagon – not something to be sniffed at then?  Well, the answer is no – listen to the news today about how UK shoppers aren’t spending as much money on the high street anymore – they’re still spending it, and it’s becoming obvious where despite the negatives surrounding the credit crunch.

Bespoke or Basic Ecommerce?
Any website should have a great search feature, itself containing good features like individual product search, filters and even stock recording and administration – so your shopper can find the product they want and you can grow your customer base, as well as maintain records and stocks easily.

Ideally, bespoke ecommerce websites built specifically for your business or sector often work better than basic ecommerce software, but everyone understands budget limitations so seeking the best within your range is important so whilst this decision is yours, try not to make too light of it and ensure it works for your UK business.

Being in the fortunate position of your sector and improving sales, not being static, is difficult right now, but the basics of ecommerce and current trends are an important factor in the success of your website.

And, whilst ecommerce and complex features are all very appealing, they should be considered equally along with the design of your site.  Both hugely important factors in building a successful site that tempts the shoppers in – read our previous article on ecommerce website trends for more info.

The result?  A functional ecommerce website that works for you and your business.

Despite the dreaded ‘C’ word being flailed around the news at the moment, the UK online users are still clicking heavily on those mice – but demands are high and that’s not just the demand for low prices, we apparently want things made simpler so that in a click (or three) users are getting what they want, are confident they are getting value for money, and are happy that they have saved time doing their online shopping.

So demand in all areas is apparently high, where exactly we start pleasing UK users is easy – of course, the cliché ending ‘…if you know how’ is thrown to our minds when we question ourselves on this one!

And so begins the hard work – the shoppers have found your site so what do we have to do next?  The current ecommerce website trend may well change in future, though we can hopefully bring you a little clarification on solving this little problem which is something we think is highly important at the moment – ecommerce website features.

Website Features

So you have a very stylish looking flashy website with all the latest gadgets; it has a bit of ‘flash’ (not too much), it has a search box and it has a very impressive checkout.

Your site is also bright (not too bright) and professional (but not too stick in the mud) and it’s welcoming to the online shopper.

This is all important of course, but no matter how immaculate your site looks and feels, if within a few clicks your potential shopper can’t find what they are looking for despite it being on page x, they will go somewhere else – and probably won’t come back.

Even if you have gained the attention of someone who shops on the high street for a full day, spending oodles, you might as well kiss that person a big farewell if your site doesn’t work.

Be fast, be efficient and be just that one step ahead of the new e-shopper – the current trend is dynamic ecommerce, ‘abrupt’ software which allows your shoppers to click and be lead to what they are looking for – all in double quick time.

You need functional ecommerce and we hit on the current ecommerce website trend in our next article.