Shopping is essential in our lives as we need to purchase things to live comfortably. Although the shopping ideas and preferences may differ, the goal to find and purchase the goods we require is the same. From visiting local markets to buying things online, the experience of shopping has come a long way. The Covid19 boosted the already booming online shopping, making it the most preferred method of shopping.

What Is Ecommerce? 

Ecommerce refers to any business that takes place on the internet. Buying and selling goods and services, transferring money and data to complete a transaction, etc. are all part of ecommerce.

Before launching an ecommerce business, it is important to know their types. They are:

• B2B (business to business)

Business to business is when a company markets its product or services to other companies.

• B2C (business to customer)

B2C is the most popular ecommerce method, wherein a business directly trades with the customer. 

• D2C (direct to customer)

D2C is a marketing strategy wherein a business will manufacture, market, sell and ship the product directly to the customer without the use of wholesalers or retailers. The entire process is personalized and less interrupted. 

• C2C (customer to customer)

Consumers selling their goods and products to other consumers eliminate the use of an agent or middlemen. This method of business is growing fast as it emphasizes sustainability and reuse. 

• C2B (consumer to business)

In C2B, the individuals sell their goods and services directly to the business. This could be photography, freelance writing, etc. where the individual writes for the business and sells it back to them, with the aim to help understand and engage with the audience effectively.  

Five Must Have D2C Ecommerce Website Features

With the transforming behavior of the customers, market trends, technology and marketing strategies are changing rapidly. Changing your business to attract customers and increase sales requires constant rethinking. You need advanced features on your ecommerce website development to promptly update sites. Let us look at the five must have D2C ecommerce features:

1. Automated order and inventory management

To work with the minimum errors, we need automated systems. These automated systems help in tackling challenging issues like:

• inventory tracking
• inadequate inventory forecasting
• overstocking and out-of-stock issues
• inability to be seen on numerous channels

To tackle this, your inventory system should be updated with the latest technology and 

bug-free. You need an easy-to-use interface that gives you a quick view of your inventory (i.e. view of your products, orders and stock level) and get insights into the out-of-stock products.

The inventory dashboard should also help you with the status of the order, whether the order is still in progress or has been completed and delivered, prices, ongoing offers, status of the returns and exchanges, etc. This will help improve sales forecasting and raise productivity. Automatically syncing the inventory also makes it simple to manage the inventory across outlets.

2. Personalization

A business that invests in enhancing consumer experience automatically sees a decrease in the cart abandonment rates. Ecommerce personalization helps boost conversion rates significantly and improve customer happiness. Some strategies to motivate your customers are:

• Create personalized homepages with product suggestions, frequently seen items, promotions, etc. based on previous purchases. 
• Consider location and language, by showing items in the local currency or through regional trends and fashions.
• Develop creative advertising campaigns using customer data. This will result in customers returning to your website mainly for a purchase.
• Use email marketing to send automated emails related to product suggestions, orders, current offers, etc. based on past purchase history.

An excellent example of this is Amazon. Its artificial intelligence powered recommendation engine analyzes the customers personal data, purchase history, browsing habits, etc. to understand the customers choices. The engine also provides personalized suggestions like, ‘frequently bought together’ and ‘customers who bought this item also bought’ to attract the customer’s attention.

3. Managing supply chain and order execution

As choosing a shipping partner could be tough, the below must-have features can help in selecting one. The features are:

• Offering next-day delivery or Express delivery
• Worldwide shipping
• Consignment monitoring and management 
• Large global and national distribution warehouse network
• Flexible delivery payment modes
• Return and exchange management
• Deliver light to bulky orders
• Personalized weather-resistant packaging

When you choose an unreliable shipping partner, your delivery is bound to be delayed and cannot be delivered on time. Also, look out for automated logistics processes so that you can automatically import orders, change the order status, customize pricing, etc.

4. Live chat and chatbots

You can communicate with your customers in several ways, but Live chats and Chatbots are the preferred ones. These Live chats and Chatbots help in:

• Automated greetings
• Quick management of customer queries
• Consistent and speedy responses
• They reduce customer’s wait time
• Provide high quality customer support experience
• Handling complex issues
• Offers real-time assistance 

5. Marketing automation

To increase efficiency and give customers a more individualized experience, marketing departments can automate routine processes like email marketing, social network posting and ad campaigns. These processes are enhanced and made simpler by the technology behind ecommerce marketing strategies & automation. By automation you can:

• Boost customer conversion rates by sending notifications via SMS, email, website, mobile app, etc. based on their purchasing behavior
• Increase site traffic, raise your ranking and brand awareness by using SEO tools
• Create landing pages and forms that are appealing and conversion-friendly with a simple drag-and-drop feature
• Trigger automated emails for abandoned carts, order confirmation, delivery, welcoming and congratulating consumers, product recommendations, etc.