A commercial website should be interactive enough to allow potential customers find information about products or services they need and if possible buy them online.
Some of the features that business might consider having implemented in their websites include the following: Online Catalogue Any business that strives to increase their competitive advantage by opening up to the online marketplace must have a commercial website that features an online version of their catalogue.
It is even easier and by far more economical to detail your online catalogue than the traditional one.
All your products and services must be listed with their process and links to even more detailed information that can help customers to make their buying decisions.
Pictures of the products with links to order them must be clearly visible to potential customers that visit your website.
Include online shopping carts and any other tool that makes shopping on your website more convenient.
Payment System An online catalogue that allows customers to place orders is not functionality complete without a working payment system implemented.
This should make your website accept all the major credit cards and include any other popular online payment methods available.
Customers will have the convenience of choosing the payment option they prefer when placing their orders on your website.
Visa and MasterCard debit or credit cards should be allowed, and so do other popular options like PayPal and Google Checkout.
A well implemented online payment system guarantees shoppers on your website more security and therefore might consider buying more often.
Search Tools Depending on how large your website is and the range of products listed on your online catalogue, you should make it more convenient for customers to find what they need by implementing an effective search tool.
The search tool should use different criteria to locate any piece of information about your products and services.
There should be categories with sub-categories as well as a custom search box where any keyword desired can be searched.
For more advanced e-commerce websites where the catalogue is dynamically linked to your database in the back office, the search tool will help retrieve real time information about availability and enquiries.
Customer Support This is one of the most important features you cannot fail to implement on your commercial website.
Every form of business must have a face of customer and your online store is not an exception.
The feature should be implemented in a manner that supports your overall customer service strategy so as to significantly increase your sales through the website.
Customers should have options of contacting your customer care and support team representatives.
Live chat is one of the most effective features to use in this case because of its high responsiveness to your customers enquiries.