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Catalog

Product Navigation

Maybe the most significant part of an online store is its navigation system. Users should have the ability to browse among different categories and products quickly through an intuitive navigation system. The categories of the products that are listed on the site should be well organized and give users the ability to swiftly navigate between different product categories.

Searching, Sorting, Filtering

Search
The ability to search an eCommerce website is very important because many online buyers have specific items that they are looking for. The search capabilities enable users to find the desired products quickly from the available catalog. The search should be powered with autocomplete suggestions. Autocomplete suggestions help to narrow down our search, minimize the risk of misspellings, and speed up the entire search process leading to accurate results in less time. It provides accurate and fast suggestions that let the user find a product of their choice instantly. It provides a genuine boost to the conversion rates because people can search and find the exact product they need with minimal effort.

Filters or Faceted Search
A handy set of filters allows you to minimize the distress of decisions and helps shoppers when they search for the right product. It's a great way to provide valuable information about your product in an easy to browse format which makes it easy for the shoppers to browse, filter, and shop based on their specific choices. It presents your catalog in the most relevant way before your shoppers. 

For example, shoppers can filter products by the following options-

1. Style
2. Color
3. Size
4. Price
5. Brand

Sorting
The User should be able to sort the products based on different methods. Some of the methods are-

1. By relevance
2. By Price Low to High
3. By Price High to Low
4. New Arrivals

The better the top products, the greater the site's sales. At the same time, if the products on top of the list do not appeal to users, they will not be willing to see the rest of the products. Product sorting determines what products should be put on top or at the end of the list. Therefore, a default sorting method is necessary for putting the best products on top of the list.

Feature

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Products

The homepage is the most visited place in an eCommerce system. It's the page where the shoppers start looking at the storefront. There should be an option to feature products on homepage. Featured products drive attention to specific items in your store and assist you to reach so many goals.

Featured products can be - 

1. Best selling products
2. Products from different categories to showcase your assortment.
3. New Arrivals
4. Best Deals

Feature Categories

Similar to featuring products there should be an option to feature the categories on the home page. It drives attention to specific categories in your store.

The feature categories can be-

1. Popular Categories
2. Season Specific Categories
3. Categories offering discounts

Cross-Selling

There should be a way to cross-sell products on the eCommerce platform.

Cross-Selling is a sales tactic aimed at generating more sales by suggesting additional, related, or complimentary items to a buyer who's already committed to making a purchase. You "Customer also bought" or "Frequently bought together" products can be seen on almost every eCommerce storefront. It's also about offering a valuable service to shoppers by helping them discover other products they might want or need and providing a positive shopping experience. This is why cross-selling for e-commerce is an effective, profit-increasing tool for every online seller.

Benefits of cross-selling-

1. Larger order size and profits
2. Increased customer value
3. Improved customer experience

Best practices include-

1. Recommend the accessory required for proper operation or use of the product purchased.
2. Bundle related products so the customer doesn't need to look for necessary components or accessories.
3. Offer a discounted price on a bundled product offer to encourage immediate purchase with temporary price savings.

Upselling

There should be a way to upsell products. Implementing product upsell in the eCommerce system increases sales and deepens your relationship with your customers.

Upselling is simply the act of offering your customers a better (more expensive) item when they add a product to their cart or reach the checkout page. Upselling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase a comparable higher-end product than the one in question. Upselling often employs comparison charts to market higher-end products to customers. Showing visitors that other versions or models may better fulfill their needs. So for example, if a customer is buying a laptop and you're using visual prompts on the product page or during checkout to entice her to also purchase a 5-year warranty, that's upselling.

Compare Products

There should be a way to compare products on an eCommerce platform. Many customers want to view products side by side, compare them across multiple data points, and pick the best for their needs.

Category Page

Unless a visitor to your site enters through a specific product page through a search, they will typically come through a product category page first. Every category page should provide whatever information about the products is necessary to entice visitors to click-through to the products themselves.

1. The category page should list all the products in that category in a paginated way. 
2. There should be a list of filters to narrow down the results.
3. There should be different sorting options.
4. There should be subcategories to further narrow down the result if possible.
5. Product information should be concise. The product name, short description, the price, the discounted price, bank offers, rating, and review counts can be included.
6. Users should be able to add products and can check out the product from the category page directly.
7. Users should be able to add products in the wishlist from the category page.
8. Users should be able to add products for comparison.
9. The category page should be well optimized.

Product Detail Page

The product detail page should give complete information about the product and leads toward the checkout. The information should be well structured and should be presented really well to increase the conversion. Information/actions on the product detail page should comprise-

Product Information
This should include product name, description, price, offer price

Product Images
This should include the main image as well as alternate images.  

Product Videos
The practice of including video elements in the digital assets strategy has risen so dramatically that videos have become an essential part of the product detail page.

Variant Selection
Users should be able to select different variants.

Product Ratings and Reviews
All the product reviews with ratings should be listed. The user who purchased the product can only share his review.

Question Answer
All the previously asked questions and answers should be listed. There can also be some predefined questions and answers to make proper clarity to the user. There should be support where users can ask queries around the product.

Delivery and Installation
Option to check if the product can be delivered to his place by entering his pin code and the approximate delivery time. Information about the installation service if provided should be there.

Bank and Exchange offers
All the available bank and exchange offers should be listed.

Cross-Sell and upsell products
Associated cross-sell and upsell products should be listed.

Recommended Products
Recommended products should be there.

Add To Wishlist
Users should be able to add a particular product to the Wishlist.

Add To Cart
Users should be able to add a particular product to the shopping cart.

Buy Now
Users should be able to check out the product directly.

Seller Page

All the products of a particular seller should be accessible to users. Product detail should be similar to the category page.  There should be filters to refine the products list offered by a particular seller.

Tag Cloud

Users should be allowed to add tags for a particular product. Efficient search always increases sales and product tags and improves search by providing additional ways to identify products. The process of tagging products consists of assigning keywords or phrases to products that they are easier to find within your e-commerce.

Special Offers

Users should be able to check the available promotions and discounts offered.

Product Referral / Tell a Friend

Users should be able to recommend the product to their friends. There should be a support to send an email/SMS notification with the product detail page link. There can be referral strategies for an eCommerce system. Referral strategy or incentivizing your current customers helps you encourage your satisfied customers to take action and recommend products to friends who might be looking for similar products.

Shopping List

Shopping Cart & Checkout

Feature Products

Cross-Selling

Upselling

Compare Products

Category Page

Product Detail Page

Seller Page

Tag Cloud

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Conclusion