7 Innovative & Effective Features That Will Make Your E-Commerce Store Stand out

Everyone is shopping online these days. From kids’ games to apparels and from laptops to mobile phones, people are shopping for most products online. Online shopping is being seen as one of the easiest and most convenient ways to shop for products, with shoppers choosing to shop online rather than making their way to a brick and mortar store to buy products.

This is the reason why we are seeing more and more online retailers opening stores today; eCommerce has become big business, but it has also become intensely competitive.

The question is – how can you ensure people buy from your eCommerce store and not choose to make their purchase from a competitor’s store?

The best way to ensure that your eCommerce store gets noticed from the vast sea of online stores is to offer an incredible shopping experience to your customers. There are many effective and innovative features that can help eCommerce sites deliver a great user experience.

Here are 7 of them:

1. Virtual Try-On

Shoppers prefer trying the product before purchasing it to see whether it looks good on them or fits them correctly. One of the many limitations with shopping online is the inability to try on the product before purchasing it. This is one of the main reasons shoppers prefer brick-and-mortar stores to eCommerce stores, while buying apparel.

But some eCommerce stores have begun offering ‘virtual try-on’ to get around this issue and deliver a better online shopping experience to their users. This feature helps overcome one of the biggest online shopping limitations for shoppers, which is trying a product before purchasing it. The virtual try-on program allows shoppers to try the product (clothes or any accessories such as eye glasses) on photos of different models or upload their own photos to virtually wear the product.

This is a ‘must offer’ feature that can help your eCommerce store stand out from the crowd.

BonLook, for example, is a well-designed site that raises the user-experience bar by offering the virtual try-on feature. Apart from uploading a photo, it offers an option of using a webcam which allows visitors to try-on glasses and get 180 degree views of how these glasses look on their face.

2. Product for Rent

There are certain items that aren’t used regularly, for e.g. camping gear. These are items that one uses once or twice a year or perhaps seasonally and they are then stored somewhere safe for the rest of the time.

Rather than buying such items, wouldn’t it be better to rent them?

E-commerce stores should provide such items for rent to users, which once used can be returned back. This feature will be much appreciated by users as it will help them save a lot of money.

Lending Luxury, a members-only website, offers the inexpensive alternative of renting to women who don’t want to pay the full retail price for a dress they will only wear once or twice, or to fashionistas who just want to change their look often. It has thus transformed the online retail industry by making designer dress rentals a convenient and accessible experience for millions of women.

Gift Registry

Special occasions like buying a new house, getting married or expecting a baby requires a celebration, and with celebrations come lovely gifts from friends and family. A recipient compiles a list of items they wish to receive and hands it out to their friends and family. A registry helps prevent gift givers from duplicating gifts.

E-commerce stores should implement a ‘gift registry’ feature on their site to attract customers’ networks. A customer can upload a wish list on the eCommerce site; this list includes products available on the site, and friends and family can pick products from this list and buy them on the site itself.

This feature will lend credibility to your brand and also improve sales.

Amazon, an eCommerce giant makes it easy for friends and family of its customers to choose the perfect gifts for them by setting up gift registries. An email with a link to the registry is sent to friends and family. The site also helps users send ‘Thank You’ cards once gifts have been purchased. Amazon offers an innovative feature called ‘Universal Registry’ that allows customers to add items to their registry from any website.

Share on Social Media

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are an almost ubiquitous part of people’s lives. The social networking boom is in full swing with more and more people actively joining these sites every year. E-commerce stores should leverage these social channels to increase revenues and boost sales.

Featuring social proof prominently on your website is essential, but it’s equally important to make it easy for your customers who already love your products to share their likes with others. Online retailers should incorporate social sharing buttons on product pages allowing shoppers to post and share product ‘likes’ with friends and family.

Eventbrite, an online ticketing service, is making excellent use of this feature. When visitors book tickets to upcoming concerts or conferences using Eventbrite, the website prompts them to share their purchases via social media. Customers can also find out through Facebook which of their friends are attending these concerts.

Live Feed

Social proofing is a smart marketing tactic in both online and offline retail. When shoppers are in a situation where they are unsure of the product they should buy from the various available options, eCommerce stores should provide them with a cue by reflecting others choices.

Book Depostitory.com, the UK’s largest online bookseller, captures all activity taking place on site. It has a great live feed on Google Maps which shows people around the world placing orders for books. It allows visitors to share the page with their social networks on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Gifting Cards

Gift cards are one of the most popular gifts given, especially around the holiday season like Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Brands should offer the option of gift cards on their websites to increase brand visibility and build customer loyalty.

According to reports (see here) :

§  In the US, 41% of consumers tried a retail store, restaurant or hotel for the first time because they received a gift card for that business.

§  72% of consumers tried a business for the first time because they received a gift card returned to that business.

§  70% of consumers spend more than the value of the card.

These stats prove that gift cards can be an effective way to increase online sales, acquire new customers and encourage return visits.

Walmart, for instance, offers an amazing gifting option which allows customers to send any item available on the site with a gift-wrap and a personalized message to friends or family.

Customer Photos

All eCommerce retailers are aware of the fact that visuals greatly impact shopping behavior. This is the reason why we find high quality product photos on all reputed eCommerce sites. But you can take it a step further by crowdsourcing pictures on Instagram. When visitors see images of other regular people using your product, they are more likely to buy.

West Elm, for instance uses a service called Olapic, to curate a customer gallery. The best part about their galleries is that they integrate a link to the product into the customer’s description of the picture. After clicking on a photo, you can quickly ‘shop the look.

The above mentioned sites offer some unique and novel features that ultimately help them increase their revenues. You can get inspired from these features and come up with innovative ideas for your eCommerce site to ensure it stands out from the crowd.
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The Logistics of E-Commerce Delivery

What differentiates the good from the great is the attention to the basic elements; the specifics; the nitty-gritties that give a bigger product the finer definition. Be it the carvings that decorate the stone walls of our great temples or the intricate calligraphy that adorn the mosques, it is true that “God is in the details”. Not just right for architecture or design, this theory holds good across fields. Even when it comes to e-commerce, the main factor that makes or breaks a company is its efficiency in getting the finer aspects right. In a world that is exceedingly networked, anybody can start up their online marketplace. Setting up the logistics behind it is what proves to be a bigger hiccup.

Growth of E-Commerce

Worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales are expected to plummet by 20.1% this year to reach $1.500 trillion. (Source: eMarketer.com)E-commerce in Asia specifically is increasing steadily, thanks to China and India expanding e-commerce facilities by the day. Internet penetration with service providers giving plans at lower costs, Smartphone usage, demographics, regulations and rules, industrial real estate facilities and most importantly, logistics, are some of the key factors that directly impact the growth of e-commerce.

While a burgeoning growth in internet and technology gives everyone an equal playing field, it is solely the logistics of delivery that prove to be the deciding factor in the growth, success, competence and dynamism of any e-commerce venture. Research indicates that when a company’s supply chain management functions well, consumers are sure to prefer that business over any other.

Retail Logistics Over the Years

The last 40 years have seen a paradigm shift in the way delivery systems work across the globe. From the time in the 70s when retail stores were directly sourcing their goods from suppliers or wholesalers, to centralized store deliveries in the 80s, global sourcing and import centres in the 90s to e-commerce and e-fulfilment distribution networks in the new millennium, retail logistics have evolved and how!

Image Source: worldmart.in

E-tailers toggle between options of employing courier companies, specialist third-party logistics provider to handling the logistics in-house. At the end of the day, whichever means they use to get to their end, all that matters to the company are a few key points that need to be executed – efficient and accurate delivery, cost-effective service and a cutting edge enterprise resource planning software or ERP that organizes product planning, cost and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales, inventory management, shipping and payment. If an e-tailer is into cross-border trade, this entire process needs to be implemented by the logistics agent with greater exactness, now that international laws and regulations come into play.

The entire function of procurement, storage, invoicing and delivery are determined by four factors – speed (so the delivery is ‘on time, every time’), accuracy (so people get what they ordered for), scalability (so growth is met competitively) and surge (the traffic Vs fulfilment graph). The greater transparency with which this entire supply chain management is setup, the more an e-tailer wins the faith and favour of the customer. Research by Endicia suggests that shoppers value delivery time, facilities like free shipping etc over anything else, when it comes to shopping online.

Reverse Logistics

Due to loss, damage or incorrect delivery, e-commerce players also need to establish a reverse logistics unit that helps with product returns. A good returns process coupled with an efficient Customer service team will go a long way into rebuilding the trust of the customer who feels denied with a wrongful or damaged delivery.

One other thing to do is to establish proper preventive measures to avoid loss or damage. Accurate labelling, using tracking facilities, employing quality materials for packing, insuring parcels, providing package cushioning and appropriate packing, travel and delivery services would go a long way in saving plenty of money, time and energy spent in returning a broken good.

Current Trends in Retail Logistics
Successful e-commerce thrives by embracing new logistics models and utilizing distribution properties. With plenty of innovation and refinement, there are better facilities available today in terms of logistics. Mega e-fulfilment centres stocked up with merchandise that operate 24 X 7 have even made same-day delivery, a possibility. Items are now picked from exclusive parcel hubs, categorized at sortation centres and sent to parcel delivery centres to ensure that the right packages reach at the right time.

With competition increasing by the hour, more and more local depots for rapid order fulfilment will become a possibility. A research by JLL indicates that the evolution in the offing is for multi-channel retailers to move to omni-channel, which ensures that “all the channels (store, web or mobile) are managed in an integrated way to give the customers a seamless experience, however they choose to shop and from whatever location.

The Way Ahead

All the talk of advancement apart, as per a recent research by Webgistix, the trick of the trade seems to be the usual – get the basics right in order to have a competitive edge and not lose out on the customer base!

And once that sets in and a company is looking towards expansion, there is the next round of factors to tackle. E-commerce related warehousing has been concentrated mostly in Tier 1 cities in most countries and unexplored markets could be a great place to stretch business into. With better management, an encouraging tax structure and more facilities to establish distribution networks, these facilities can spread uniformly and take development even to the villages. Many developing nations still have miles to go before ecommerce becomes a common way of life.

“Feet-on-the-ground knowledge, particularly of supply chain, properties, real estate transactions and cross-border commerce opportunities, is vital”, says the JLL research when describing what will set one e-tailer from the other. Carbon neutral shipping, sustainable packaging, etc are other interventions that impact the environment the least, ensuring socially responsible commerce.

With cross border trade assuming a larger role, significant changes need to be made to ensure a good distribution network, especially in emerging markets. The global retail landscape has never been more receptive to innovation and growth. The escalating numbers of e-tailers will be a reason to delight over only if backed by successful logistics fulfillment. This is a $231 billion industry. The race is long and hard and the only way to stand out is to reach high. And a good logistics team will do just that – deliver you safe and sound, right to the very top!

Dos and Don’ts for Online Stores for GOSF 2014; What the Industry has to Say

Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF) is experiencing a consecutive rise in takers every year, due to an increase in online shoppers in the country. It has started to get recognition as the day when all the e-commerce companies together give heavy discounts.

10th to 12th December 2014 will be the third for GOSF, and the online players should have a better planning than last two years to avoid the mistakes being committed in past, and disappointing the consumers in return.

Following the trends of GOSF of last two years and other mega sale festivals hosted by companies like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal etc it has been observed that, though these festivals were customer centric, their output did not result in all the customers being satisfied. Consumer dissatisfaction was seen in form of criticism over all social media websites like Facebook, Twitter etc.

Also Read: Flipkart’s Big Billion V/s Snapdeal’s Routine Offer: Customer De-Acquisition?

From the website crashes to auto order cancellations, the list of reasons these festivals give to users for being upset are several. The Indian e-commerce industry has been maturing for over a decade now and it is high time for the online businesses to buckle up and stop repeated blunders.

Checklist for Online Retailers

There are few points (learning from the past)  that retailers should keep in mind before the upcoming mega sale of 2014, so as to not lose out on their customers, since the cost of customer acquisition is already high enough.

§  Deploy Enough Servers

Let alone the online stores, last year GOSF’s official website itself went down for several hours. When the retailers are already anticipating a heavy traffic, they should also prepare themselves for the same. For Flipkart it has become a routine affair to crash, sometimes it is at time of mobile launches, some times it is for flash sales, and most recently it was on the Big Billion Day Sale. The founders accepted that they had scaled up the servers but were still under prepared. While on one hand website going down is a good sign of a heavy footfall, but it’s an even worse indicator or turning away the incoming customers. The traffic is expected to increase by 4 folds than what last year’s GOSF had, a better preparation technology wise will help the site to function better and smooth in case of rush hours.

§  Know and Manage your Inventory Well

It has been in observed in the past that the article is still shown listed on the website, even when it has run out of stock, and the user is sometimes notified about the unavailability after the payment has been processed. The critical-ity of this point can’t be emphasized enough. If you are running an online retail business, whether you use in-house technology or use an inventory management software, there should never be a discrepancy in what you show and what you really have.

§  Clear the Backlogs and Plan Logistics in Advance :

Online shopping portals should clear any pending orders i.e. deliver the items ordered before the commencement of the Big sale festival. Supply Chain needs to be solid. During Flipkart’s Big Billion Day Sale, several sellers were left out because they had orders already in the pipeline, leading to dissatisfaction among them. The same should we informed well in advance not on the day of the sale. Also, all the logistics partners should be given an approximation of the volumes they should be expecting.

Another thing that should have transparency on the front-end is the logistics capability for every product. As pointed out by Rahul S Dogar, Director, Holisol “Limit sales to pincodes where delivery capacities have been created”.  And also, to build special customer service teams to keep a track of orders. ”The delivery companies were still struggling with clearing-up the orders for Diwali until recently.” he added.

§  Maintain the Festival’s Credibility

It has been the complaint of many users that the discounts given on sales festival days are almost same as any other day. And also at times the prices on sales days are higher than non-sales days, such a practice is a kill joy for anyone. As, Ravitej Yadalam, CEO and Founder, Pennyful suggests that online websites should provide genuine deals as compared to the prices of items on regular days. The pricing should be fair and over-marketing should be avoided

§  Engage in Social Listening

Social networks, particularly Twitter, are the real channels where the consumers voice their joys and concerns. Listening closely to what they are talking about your brand, your competition, your industry, what they want can go long way especially during high traffic times. Addressing the issues as soon as they are brought up publicly, even a response that it’s being looked into will prevent the user from shunning your store completely and save you from undue bad publicity.

What  is the Industry Saying

Bipinpreet Singh, Founder and CEO, Mobikwik

A company should be true to its customers, in terms of pricing, when participating in GOSF. Users these days are well aware about the product they want to purchase so transparency should be maintained. A bad marketing strategy can and will backfire in the present scenario, so a proper understanding of the target audience should be the prime focus while creating any campaign. Also, to gain more traction out of GOSF, companies should build and engage in conversations about GOSF on Social Media.

Sanjay Sethi, Co-founder and CEO, Shopclues

Technology is the backbone of any e-commerce business. When planning our GOSF initiatives, tech-readiness is our prime concern – and that implies capacity building for the surge in traffic and for seamlessly scaling up to manage the volume of business transactions. We are tweaking and tuning all our tech infrastructure in preparation for GOSF. Given the response we got during Diwali this year and the enthusiasm among shoppers, we expect over 120% increase in traffic and 180-200% increase in sales over GOSF 2013

Ravitej Yadalam, Founder and CEO, Pennyful

GOSF is indeed a very exciting time for the Indian ecommerce Industry. GOSF was conceived by Google in 2012, we are certain that over the last two years, retailers have learnt a few best practices they need to keep in check for this year’s GOSF. Based from their earlier experiences, retailers should leverage GOSF to reach and acquire new customers. As seen in the case of the last two years, GOSF 2014 will witness a lot of shoppers who are transacting online for the first time. Each of the 450+ partners of GOSF need to see themselves as a representative of the entire e-commerce industry.

Shankar Nath, Senior Vice President, Paytm

GOSF is an excellent platform for the e-commerce ecosystem in India. A key focus area of this festival is to  acquire first time transacting users, and thus it expands the online market. If you are a serious player in mobile commerce and e-commerce, this is an initiative you just cannot miss. We are expecting significant incremental growth during this festival.

Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder of CashKaro

Google’s third edition of GOSF is expected to be bigger and better than the last two years. In some of the recent shopping festivals, consumers have been disappointed with the quality of deals so I’d say let’s ensure good value is being offered. Mantra should be to under-promise and over-deliver. Also,retailers should be prepared to handle huge volumes which are bound to come as many first time shoppers are also expected during GOSF. This includes building capacity to handle higher site traffic, more orders, ensuring availability of products, planned logistics and more customer support teams. During the 3 day GOSF period, we are expecting a 400% increase in traffic on CashKaro.com and 300% increase in revenues

 Vikash Khetan, Founder and CEO, CouponzGuru

We started a specially designed website gosf.couponzguru.com for the purpose of this sale. Extensive preparations have been made to not only bring the best offers in real time to users, but also to ensure that their website is able to handle the onrush of 5 times their normal traffic. We have set up deals with a large number of 450 and counting vendors, who will be participating in the online festival. At CouponzGuru, we expect to attract 3 lakh visitors in the 3 days of the festival.

Rahul Dogar, Director, Holisol Logistics

In our opinion there are a few things retailers should look at. Firstly, study the capacities of their logistics networks – whether inhouse or outsourced – and plan sales accordingly. Don’t leave it to luck or chance but plan well. For this to happen, marketing/sales/merchandising/logistics functions needs to work together to make it successful. Also, Look at the alternate to airline haul – the capacities on air are limited and usually creates huge bottlenecks during such high peal sales. It is advisable to look at alternate rail and road hauls which are able to meet same delivery timelines as airline haul.

Marketplace companies are increasingly building the tendency to pass the buck to sellers, sellers need to be engaged and educated of all these issues as well.

Sudhanshu Kapoor, Founder and CEO, PayOOM

Most of our publishers have created special landing pages/Micro sites for GOSF and have a number of special marketing plans in the box for promoting same. We are expecting at least 3X of traffic and at least 2X of sales during GOSF. We have seen a similar trend during PayOOM affiliate week, which we did in the last week of November, where most of our advertising partners have shared special coupons/offers promotions.

Rohit Chadda, MD and Co-Founder, Foodpanda

GOSF is one of the largest online event of its kind in the e-commerce space. We are specially targeting the virgins in the online shopping space and believe food is the best first time experience to get yourself introduced to the online shipping experience.  We are expecting 50-60% spike in Sales during the event but more importantly we are excited about the proposition of converting non-shoppers into first-time shoppers during the event. 

The industry is expecting a four fold times higher turnover of customers than last year. High on plans, strategies and expectations this GOSF is being eagerly awaited by the Online industry and the customers as well. Will it be better or even worse than earlier, we’ll find out in one week.

F-Commerce: 10 Tips For A Successful Facebook Store

F-Commerce is a word you will hear more of over the next few months as Facebook commerce or online stores embedded within Facebook become popular and widespread.

F-Commerce will become another online channel for businesses to sell products and services with all the marketing power that Facebook provides.

Facebook’s ecosystem evolution is naturally extending to online shopping where you can buy your favorite brands products and services while using Facebook. As outlined in a previous article F-Commerce: Is Facebook The New Shop of the Future? the revolution has commenced whether you have noticed it or not.

noty99 Facebook Shop is integrated into it’s Facebook fan page using worldmart’s web store which keeps you within the Facebook environment right up until checkout where you are then taken offsite to noty99's shopping cart system, breaking the Facebook experience.

Why Set up a Shop In Facebook?

Well here are the compelling facts and figures if you haven’t already heard them before

·         600 million users

·         Average of 130 friends each to share your latest shopping experiences especially how much you have saved

·         14 minutes per day on-site (the average total time on Facebook now exceeds Google)

·         40% of people use social networking sites when shopping online

·         68% of fans visit retailer pages to keep up to date with sales and promotions

·         Fans are 41% more likely to recommend a product

·         For some businesses 20% of sales are through their Facebook store

·         Cart values are 7-10% higher via Facebook

·         The number of transactions in Facebook stores is increasing 10% per month

If you have all these advantages then it is only natural that F-Commerce is set to transform retail.

So what would a great F-Commerce store application(s) require to make it a success?

10  Tips For A Successful Facebook Store

1.       Choose a shop application that is easy to set-up and you can customize your Facebook shop store

2.       Tell your customers where to find your store and how it works

3.       Import your email into your promotions app

4.       Actively promote your products, promotions and discounts using email, Twitter and Facebook

5.       Use great high definition photos and images

6.       Use your wall like it’s your shop window

7.       Reward your fans with exclusive discounts and promotions

8.       You stay within the Facebook ecosystem from  product browsing to checkout

9.       You can measure with inbuilt analytics and tools but also be able to add Google analytics and Facebook Insights to your toolkit analytics tools.

10.    You don’t have to be computer programmer so you can make your own changes quickly and efficiently to your design and F-Commerce landing page

These will all be available with a new Facebook Fan Page Toolkit soon to be announced that will provide 3 Facebook apps that allow you to set up and run your Facebook store without having to know programming or computer coding.

Fanpage App:

·         Design and set up your Fanpage Facebook store front window without being a programmer or designer

Promotion App:

·         Promote your store by allowing importing of emails and integrating Twitter and Facebook messaging to take full advantage of Facebook and social media’s marketing leverage.

Faceshop Commerce App:

·         Setup your store with products and images with many features and functions including inbuilt analytics, which will assist you in making changes to your marketing tactics so that you can improve your stores performance

Here is a sample screen shot of live store.

Is that something that might excite you?

I will keep you posted with this total “Facebook Fanpage Toolkit”  which is already launched for you to set up your own Faceshop Commerce store on Facebook.

This will be game changer for small to medium businesses that want to set up a shop online but thought it was too hard.

What do you think? Could you use this for your business?

Click here to make your own Facebook Store