5 Things You Must Implement When You Look to Modernize Your eCommerce
Even before the pandemic hit the world, eCommerce had started to replace the legacy brick and mortar shops as the preferred destination to purchase products. It further got a boost last year when social distancing compelled customers to purchase online. According to Statista’s study, over 2 billion people purchased online, and eCommerce sales crossed above $4.2 trillion worldwide.
Now, customers have become so accustomed to shopping online that the market is poised to reach $6.3 trillion by 2024.
Considering that eCommerce will grow further, companies must modernize their operations to meet the evolving customer needs and rapidly changing trends. From improving their omnichannel capabilities to enhancing the UI and UX of their website, eCommerce companies need to innovate and modernize to thrive in the future. Resistance to change could lead to redundancy and eventually the premature end of the business.
Let’s look at a few ways in which eCommerce companies can modernize their business.
5 Things to Implement to Modernize eCommerce
Move to headless architecture
Companies used a one-stop solution in the early days of eCommerce wherein the backend stored all the information (such as pricing, customer information, etc.). The front end showed all the information that the customer needed. The logistical system would manage the logistical aspects of the business. While this worked well for companies, they started to find this structure rigid, given that developers and designers had to follow specific workflows and restricted their freedom to be creative. Also, as customer demands grew, they found it difficult to update their systems regularly.
The headless architecture separates the backend from the frontend. So, the frontend could be updated independently without any impact on the backend. Developers don’t have to change any codes or configurations to change the frontend. Headless architecture also gives the developers and designers the freedom to use any technology irrespective of the backend platform. This gives them the power to innovate and scale without impacting the customer’s experience.
Build dynamic customer paths
Gone are those days when customers would go to a website, browse for their products, and purchase them. As eCommerce companies add more sales channels, customer journeys have become unique, and shopping has become complex. No two customer journeys are the same. One customer might come across a website through social media ads; another might just click on the link sent by a friend. Hence, companies need to be prepared for dynamic customer paths. They must design the navigation paths and user experiences for different types of customer paths. They also need to ensure consistency and reduce friction across all touchpoints. A dynamic customer path gives the customers the flexibility to shop the way they desire and enables the company to engage with the customer better.
Let’s take Rockport’s example. This multi-brand fashion company is based in the US and Canada. It wanted to provide a unified shopping experience to customers across different geographies. They built a 360-degree experience, improved the customer experience, created virtual showroom pages, and offered personalized views to customers.
Read the full story on how Sapours helped Rockport transform the shopping experience for their customers.
Improve UX and UI
The older versions of eCommerce websites were not very responsive. User experience was also not the topmost priority of eCommerce companies. However, times have changed now. 88% of customers are less likely to return to a website if they have a bad experience. Mobile users are five times more likely to abandon the website if it isn’t optimized for mobile. UX and UI are no longer a good-to-have part of a website. It is integral for the company’s growth and customer retention. Using extensible architecture will enable the eCommerce company to add customized features to the website in a modular manner without changing the codes. Companies must also leverage Progressive Web Applications (PWA) to update the real-time status of the inventory, order, payments and keep their business agile. Speed-to-market, ease of configuration, etc. can accelerate the go-to-market by 40%.
Provide real-time availability updates
Speed is critical in the eCommerce industry. Imagine a product in stock an hour ago going out of stock as soon as the customer adds it to the cart. It would likely disappoint the customer and lead to a bad experience. Hence, companies need to update the availability status of their products on their website on a real-time basis. The content team will have to use a CMS solution that directly fetches real-time information about the product from the cloud. The CMS must help them to quickly edit and update the product page without resulting in unexpected downtime.
Include dynamic pricing
eCommerce is a fast-paced and cost-sensitive industry. The pricing changes are based on competition, market conditions, and supply-demand of the product. The pricing could also change depending upon sales, holiday discounts, seasons, special offers, etc. Hence, the pricing needs to happen in real-time. These changes need to occur based on specific set rules. Modern technology solutions can give the company power to include dynamic pricing and set the right price for a product in response to the various factors such as sales, competition, and supply-demand of the product. Accurate dynamic pricing will enable the company to grow sales and maximize its profits.
Conclusion
With so many players in the eCommerce industry, companies have to keep adapting themselves to meet the customer demands and retain them. The above five changes could be a good starting point for eCommerce companies to begin their modernization journey. It’s also advisable to work with a reliable technology partner who can modernize eCommerce websites.
Sapours has been at the forefront in helping eCommerce companies modernize their business capabilities. From building headless architecture to building dynamic customer paths and offering real-time status on the inventory stocks, we help eCommerce companies deliver a seamless and unified experience to their customers while keeping a close eye on high performance and scalability. We have partnered with technology giants such as SAP, Salesforce, and Magneto to make the modernization dreams a reality.
To know more, contact us.