Now more than ever, shoppers are choosing to bypass the store and make their purchases online. With the steady rise in online shopping, more and more businesses are finding the need for an eCommerce presence on the web. Those who already have online systems are making constant upgrades to keep their shopping carts updated with the latest trends. When considering an eCommerce presence, it is important to observe the latest trends to see what is most effective for selling goods online. Below are a few powerful tools and trends that will help your cart go a long way.

1. Site Search Functionality

For a large online store, the integration of a site search is a must. Today’s online shoppers are all about immediacy. In order for an online store to be successful, the visitor must be able to find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently. It is important to make sure that the site search is near the top of the page and preferably near the main site navigation. Many eCommerce systems allow the visitor to narrow their search down by keyword, product number, or category.

2. Product Slider/Carousel

A popular way to feature multiple products without taking up too much space is a slider or carousel. This not only provides some movement and interactivity to an otherwise static page, but it also gives the site a professional feel. There are many types of sliders available and are fairly easy to integrate and customize.

3. Large Graphics and Typography

While the trend for most modern websites involves a clean user interface, this is not necessarily true for an eCommerce website. The use of large graphics and large text to attract the eye of visitors can be seen on many big name online stores. A clean interface with minimal imagery will be ignored by most shoppers. It appears that big is the way to go with eCommerce design.

4. Streamlined Checkout Process

The speed and ease of adding items to the cart and proceeding to checkout is extremely important and can ultimately make or break a sale. A successful cart should have two main checkout methods – as an account holder or as a guest. To reiterate, modern-day shoppers crave immediacy while on the web. While account creation is valuable to frequent shoppers to archive delivery addresses and record shopping trends, it will typically drive customers away.

These are four of the many considerations to take into account while planning and developing an eCommerce presence. Here at Unleashed, we are constantly researching ways to improve the shopping experience on the eCommerce sites that we build. Click here to learn more about the eCommerce platforms that we utilize.