eCommerce

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10 Essential Features for Future eCommerce Apps

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In the rapidly evolving world of eCommerce, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. To ensure your eCommerce app remains competitive, it’s important to integrate features that not only enhance the user experience but also anticipate future trends. Here are 10 essential features that can set your eCommerce app apart and keep it relevant in the years to come. 

1. Livestream Shopping 

Livestream shopping has revolutionized the online shopping experience. Pioneered by platforms like Instagram and YouTube during the lockdowns, this feature allows brands to showcase their products in real-time to an engaged audience. Users can view products being demonstrated live and purchase directly from the stream, with links pinned to the screen for easy access. This creates an interactive and immersive shopping experience, driving immediate purchases and enhancing customer engagement. 

2. Augmented Reality (AR) Product Try-On 

Augmented Reality (AR) is transforming the way customers interact with products online. By incorporating AR features into your app, users can virtually try on clothing, accessories, or even visualize furniture in their home. This technology reduces the uncertainty of online shopping, allowing customers to see how products will look and fit in real life before making a purchase. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and lower return rates. 

3. Voice Search 

Voice search is becoming increasingly popular, with the rise of smart assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. Integrating voice recognition technology into your eCommerce app allows users to search for products, navigate the app, and make purchases using voice commands. This feature not only enhances accessibility but also offers a hands-free, convenient shopping experience, catering to the growing number of users who prefer voice interaction. 

4. Integration with Smart Home Devices 

As smart home devices become more prevalent, integrating your eCommerce app with them can offer a seamless shopping experience. Allow users to reorder products, check delivery statuses, or even browse new items using voice commands through devices like Alexa or Google Home. This integration keeps your brand top-of-mind and makes it easier for customers to shop without having to pick up their phones. 

5. User-Generated Content 

Building trust in an eCommerce environment is essential, and user-generated content (UGC) is a powerful tool for achieving this. Allow customers to post reviews, ratings, and photos of products they’ve purchased. This not only provides social proof but also engages the community, encouraging more interaction with your brand. Additionally, UGC can be leveraged in marketing campaigns, showcasing real-life customer experiences to attract new buyers. 

6. Multi-Language Support 

In today’s global market, it’s important to cater to a diverse audience. Offering multi-language support in your app can help you reach a broader customer base. Ensure that your app is available in multiple languages and supports various currencies, making it easier for international customers to navigate and shop. This feature demonstrates inclusivity and enhances the user experience for non-English speaking customers. 

7. One-Click Checkout 

One-click checkout is a feature that streamlines the purchasing process, reducing cart abandonment rates. By allowing users to store their payment information securely, they can make purchases with a single click, eliminating the need for repeated data entry. This convenience is especially valuable for mobile shoppers, who often seek quick and easy transactions. 

8. Geolocation-Based Deals 

Leverage geolocation technology to offer users location-specific discounts, promotions, and offers from nearby physical stores. This feature not only personalizes the shopping experience but also drives foot traffic to brick-and-mortar locations. By combining online and offline shopping incentives, you can create a more integrated retail experience for your customers. 

9. Social Media Integration 

Social media plays a significant role in online shopping behavior. Integrating social media into your eCommerce app allows users to share their favorite products with their network, follow trends, and see what their friends are buying. This feature can increase brand visibility and drive organic traffic to your app, as users discover products through their social connections. 

10. Virtual Shopping Assistant 

A virtual shopping assistant can enhance the user experience by providing personalized product recommendations, answering questions, and guiding users through the shopping process. This AI-powered feature can analyze user behavior and preferences to suggest relevant products, making the shopping experience more efficient and enjoyable. By offering 24/7 assistance, you can also improve customer support and reduce the burden on human agents. 

Conclusion 

Incorporating these features into your eCommerce app can help you stay ahead in a competitive market. While these technologies and integrations are crucial, it’s equally important to focus on the basics: usability, security, and performance. A seamless and secure shopping experience is foundational to customer satisfaction and retention. 

As you plan, consider how these features align with your brand’s goals and audience preferences. By staying innovative and customer-focused, your eCommerce app can thrive in the ever-changing digital landscape. 

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Solving Integration challenges in Omni channel ecommerce.

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Post pandemic the shopping focus shifted majorly to the digital market. The commerce businesses have excessively adapted an omnichannel approach due to its contactless shopping and user-friendly experience. 

The need for scaling up to fulfill this demand for customers, omnichannel eCommerce, a commerce strategy focused on leveraging and integrating multiple online and offline channels, has become essential for businesses looking to ensure growth and stay competitive. An omnichannel approach is designed to connect every available touchpoint to give shoppers a seamless end-to-end purchasing experience. 

Having an omni channel deals with its own set of challenges as the stakes are very high. One needs to have a well-designed strategy. This means not only ensuring sales channels and customer communication channels are interconnected, but also that all the systems and back-end logistics are synced and coordinated as well. 

Maintaining the correct flow between logistics, updates and cost is a tedious operation for any business. However here is how you can manage some challenges by integrating to achieve seamless experience: 

While integrating you need to get few things correct: 

  1. Logistics: 
  • If you have an application, a website and a store make sure there is consistent inventory across channels. This builds transparency and increases the relationship between the brand and consumer. 
  • Companies need to maintain accurate volume counts for products that are available both in-store and online. Products displayed online cannibalize online eCommerce transactions and overarching sales. 
  • To tackle inventory and shipping hurdles, integrate an inventory management system with your ecommerce solution for smooth and rapid data processing.  
  1. Lack of technology: 
  • Companies often find they’re missing the right pieces to make it work or that their current tech stack is not modern enough to support the new, complex omnichannel requirements. The right partners can make or break your business and therefore you need to ensure you’re working with those who fit your needs.  
  • Often the existing commerce platform won’t be able to support their new needs or grow and scale with an omnichannel strategy. Many are forced to look at reforming their platform through their eCommerce solution or bringing on additional support. 
  1. Headless ecommerce architecture: 
  • A true headless solution will be built as a network of eCommerce APIs that can be composed into different services and features. 
  • Headless architecture enables companies to build custom digital commerce experiences that are unique to their business and catered to their customers, while also giving them freedom to adjust, update, and maintain back-end business processes. 
  1. Data privacy and Security: 
  • Making transition smooth and ensuring the company isn’t liable for any data handling mishaps, one will need to identify and set up new levels of access and restrictions for various employees, ensure that data is encrypted, software is the latest and updates are regularly scheduled. 
  • Companies will also need to ensure that general industry guidelines for security and data privacy, such as GDPR and CASL, are followed. 
  1. Cost: 
  • Creating an omnichannel experience can be expensive.  
  • New tools need to be adopted; new processes will need to be introduced. Depending on the scale and complexity of the project, the costs and timeline will vary. 

The expansion of tech doesn’t only apply to consumer-used technology. As customer demands shift and new ones arise, as will the specialized tools or solutions used to address them. New vendors will break into the landscape with a wide array of uses. 
It will become more important to keep an eye on not only customer demands, but also your own tech stack. You need to ensure your internal infrastructure will continue to support your changing business requirements. 

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Updates that are a big NO for an ecommerce website! 

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The e-commerce market is at brim with its technologies and updates. Having an ecommerce website demands to be well-versed with the feedback for the technology being used. It is crucial to understand what works and what doesn’t for a particular target audience and hence here is a list of things to take care before you make any huge updates to the website: 

Here are some types of updates that might be considered a big “no” for ecommerce websites without careful consideration and testing: 

  1. SEO Structure Changes: Altering the website’s URL structure, meta tags, or other SEO-related elements without proper redirects can negatively impact search engine rankings and can affect organic traffic. 
  1. Abrupt Changes to Checkout Process: Avoid making abrupt changes to the checkout workflow without proper testing and user feedback. Sudden modifications can lead to cart abandonment and a decline in conversion rates. 
  1. Security Updates Without Testing: While security updates are crucial, applying them without proper testing can result in unforeseen issues. Test security updates in a staging environment to ensure they do not disrupt the website’s functionality. 
  1. Unverified Plugin or Extension Updates: Unverified updates may introduce bugs, security vulnerabilities, or conflicts with other components, verify that the updates are compatible with your ecommerce platform. 
  1. Theme Overhauls: Changing the website theme or design can impact the user interface and user experience. If not done carefully, it might confuse users and affect navigation. 

Removing features that customers rely on can be frustrating and lead them to abandon their carts or shop elsewhere. Before removing any features, be sure to understand why they are being removed and what impact this will have on customers. Additionally, consider notifying users in advance of any planned downtime or changes to manage expectations and minimize potential disruptions. 

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Things that nobody told you about having an In-House IT team! 

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IT services help enhance the online presence, improve efficiency, ensure security, and provide a better overall experience for both the business owners and customers. While having an in-house IT team offers certain advantages, there are also challenges and problems associated with this approach. Here are some common issues that businesses may face when choosing to handle IT services internally rather than outsourcing: 

  1. Costs: 
  • Higher Overheads: Maintaining an in-house IT team can be costly due to salaries, benefits, training, and infrastructure expenses. 
  • Fixed Costs: In-house teams often involve fixed costs, even during periods of reduced IT activity. 
  1. Limited Expertise: 
  • Narrow Skill Set: In-house teams may have a limited skill set, which can be a disadvantage when dealing with specialized technologies or emerging trends. 
  • Lack of Diversity: External IT service providers often have a diverse pool of talent and experiences, whereas in-house teams may be limited in expertise. 
  1. Scalability Challenges: 
  • Resource Allocation: Scaling up or down can be challenging for in-house teams due to the need for hiring, training, and managing resources. 
  • Flexibility: Outsourced teams can be more flexible in adapting to changing business needs. 
  1. Recruitment and Retention: 
  • Talent Shortages: Recruiting skilled IT professionals can be competitive and challenging, especially in regions with a shortage of qualified talent. 
  • Staff Turnover: Retaining experienced IT staff can be difficult, leading to knowledge gaps and disruptions in ongoing projects. 
  1. Technology Advancements: 
  • Continuous Learning: IT is a rapidly evolving field, and in-house teams may struggle to keep up with the latest technologies and trends without ongoing training. 
  • Outdated Practices: Lack of exposure to external projects and industry best practices may lead to outdated approaches.  

6. Project Delays:  

  • Resource Constraints: In-house teams may face resource constraints, leading to delays in project delivery. 
  • Dependency on Key Individuals: Projects may be at risk if they depend heavily on specific individuals who may be unavailable due to leave or departure. 

7. Risk Management: 

  • Security Concerns: Internal teams may have limited expertise in cybersecurity, potentially exposing the organization to higher security risks. 
  • Compliance Challenges: Ensuring compliance with industry regulations and standards may be more complex without specialized external guidance. 

8. Lack of Global Perspective: 

  • Limited Exposure: In-house teams may lack exposure to global perspectives and best practices, which could impact on the company’s competitiveness in the international market. 

9. 24/7 Support and Coverage: 

  • Limited Availability: In-house teams may struggle to provide round-the-clock support and coverage, especially for businesses with global operations. 

10. Focus on Core Business: 

  • Diverted Focus: Managing an in-house IT team can divert management focus away from the core business activities. 

While there are challenges associated with in-house IT services, it’s essential to note that the decision between in-house and outsourcing depends on various factors, including the organization’s size, industry, and specific requirements. Many businesses opt for a hybrid approach, combining in-house expertise with outsourced services to strike a balance between control and flexibility. 

Thus, outsourcing the services will not only play a part in the balance but will increase the scope of ideation in a business. Finding a trustworthy company who understands your process and approach to avoid bottlenecks and bring out innovation keeping in mind statistics! Make sure you pick the right one! 

P.S. Fermion has been taking care of such minute details for the last 13 years!