E-Commerce Design

The last couple of weeks I have been building an e-commerce website using open source software Magento. The most important factor about Magento is the ability to change absolutely anything in the code to suit your own requirements meaning anything is possible.

The one problem with this is the well-known steep learning curve that comes along with the software where even the simplest of tasks become hours worth of online investigation. The lack of one-to-one support results in the scouring of forums, chat rooms and blog posts until you find your answer, which when people have their own problems to deal with, can mean that help is not top of anyone’s priority.

However, as with any new technologies if you persevere with it you will doubtless reap the rewards. Having come to the end of my first Magento endeavour and having learned some important lessons from the process it is clear to see that this is the way forward. As OS becomes more and more accepted as the standard for Web 2.0 technologies, it’s hard to see anyone reverting back to un-evolving software.

For pretty much any e-commerce web design company setting up a new shop, the inclusion of PayPal is now considered highly important. PayPal was formed in March 2000 and has since achieved hug commercial success, largely attributed to its co-operation with eBay, which bought the firm in 2002. The UK alone is responsible for 20 million accounts. The reason for this substantial growth is largely down to it being the first to get there. By offering skeptical Internet users the opportunity to refrain from entering their credit card details on every site they wish to purchase from, they had provided a simple and safe payment system for anyone to use – and this resulted in a internationally-known, reliable brand.

However PayPal hasn’t been without it’s critics. There’s no doubting people’s disappointment with the charges made to the users when transactions are made, meaning sellers are not receiving the full amount for their sales. Users of PayPal are also the victims of unprecedented levels of phishing which have already cost unknowing users huge amounts of money. PayPal’s support system has also been largely criticized as their customer helpline is often very unresponsive, not to mention the unpredicatble freezing of accounts with no prior warning.

PayPal still seems like the most secure payment method available and I would urge all e-commerce sites to have it as an option alongside standard credit card transactions.

High street stores and supermarkets alike have been diversifying their product ranges for years, it’s all part of traditional commercial growth, and it’s clear that ecommerce web design companies will follow a similar ethos. The prime example, as usual, is Amazon’s diverse selection of products which differ greatly from the bookshop the store first set out to be.

The first and most obvious movement was made towards media and entertainment, which made sense to a degree as there was already a range of audiobooks available from the seller in CD format. Audiobook CDs soon became music CDs, then video, DVD and Videogames seemed to naturally evolve Amazon’s suddenly booming product list.

We are now at a stage where almost anything is possible. Digging spades, excercise bikes, shoes, facewash and food piping bags are among the many examples of how much Amazon has diversified from a bookseller.

So is it always right to diversify? Due to Amazon’s huge brand awareness and limitless resources they have been able to try selling more obscure products, but as a smaller seller you have to be careful. You don’t want to distract the user’s attention from what your main product which is most likely highest source of income. You also don’t want to give the impression that you are ‘less specialist’ than the site says you are. I think most sites can get away with selling related items whilst not diversifying too much from the site’s original product range.

A relatively new feature of product reviews on ecommerce websites is the ability for other users to make comments on a particular review, similar to how blog comments follow a post. Not only does this encourage debates regarding the quality of a product, but it also allows people to show other sides of the arguement. If a product is being slated by someone, a comment is allowed to pick up on a particular statement and possibly correct it.

Certainly on new releases this has become a big thing as you find 100s of people’s reviews are being commented on over a period of time giving shoppers a good overview of the product’s qualities and faults. People have had the right to express whether a review is helpful for a long time which has gone a long way towards validating how legitimate a reviewer’s comments are, but sites such as Amazon and Play have taken the next step in the community-based world of Web 2.0 ecommerce web design.

Reviewers are clearly an important part of the system for sites like Amazon as they have recently set up the ‘Amazon Vine’ program which involves sending high quality reviewers – who were invited to be a part of the program – items for free through the post for them to review. I’m not sure how Amazon choose which items to be given away for free for review, but it seems that Amazon are serious about promoting specific products in this way.

An increasingly popular feature of ecommerce web design is to include videos on the product page to give users and shoppers a more interactive experience. It certainly provides a useful outlet for websites selling DVD’s, videogames and other similar media where trailers and how-to guides provide a more in-depth showcase of what a product can do than any description or photo.

The videos on Amazon, as shown below, have been well integrated into the page by being placed at a good size below the necessary information where they cannot be missed, but do not intrude on the user’s use of the site. It is also important that they do not play automatically when the user visits the page. The last thing they want is Donald LaFontaine’s voice booming out whilst trying to read about a film!

Similarly, albums and singles are now available to listen to on such sites in 30 second clips, which makes you wonder if previews of  different chapters of movies will at some point be available rather than just small clips. I don’t think it needs to go much further than this, but with full movie downloads sure to be available in the future on sits such as Amazon, you’d expect anything is possible.