eCommerce App Features for A Rewarding Shopping Experience

Are you looking to create an ecommerce app to help your business grow? In this article, we have covered the essential features that every ecommerce app must have to flourish in this competitive app market. The feature list provided in this article is extensive, and even though it is not compulsory to include every one of them to make your app a success, it gives a good idea about what your business needs.

First, you can consider equipping your ecommerce app with a set of functionalities that make the buyer’s journey smooth, ensure that making purchases is easy, and delivers a great user experience. Every feature you include in your app should be to boost sales, build customer loyalty, and give a competitive advantage to your business. Before we start with the feature list, let’s find out what ecommerce apps are.

What Are eCommerce Apps? 

The term eCommerce app can lead to two different perceptions. One is about using ecommerce as a marketing medium, while the second can be about software programs like eBay. It can be a web app or an ecommerce app, mainly the driving force behind a successful business.

Which Are The Best eCommerce Features To Be Integrated Into eCommerce Apps?

Here is the list of features you must integrate into your ecommerce app: 

1. Easy Signup & Login

Users detest spending a lot of time filling in their information to start using the app. Thus, keeping the access to your app more accessible results in a higher conversion rate and sales volume, making an online store a lot more accessible. An app’s registration process must be simple. Users can use their email address to log in or log in via external accounts, like Google or Facebook, or use individual credentials. 

2. Super Easy Login

This feature allows returning features to log in quickly. Apps can offer login via social media platforms and a simple process to reset/retrieve usernames & passwords if the users forget them.

3. One-Step Registration

A streamlined signup process simplifies the users’ registration process, enabling them to signup/log in to the app via phone number and email with OTP or external accounts like Google or Facebook. Users like it when the registration process is hassle-free, ensuring fewer customers leave midway and increasing sales volume.

4. In-Store Features

Nowadays, users prefer that the app offer them an in-store experience; hence consider integrating things like barcode search, checking stock in a local store, sending alerts when users are within a specific range of the store, and offering local & personalized offers. The in-store shoppers can scan a product to explore more about it, and it gives a unique customer experience to the shoppers. 

5. Payment Modes

In the eCommerce space, people nowadays favor different payment modes and choose one as their convenience. It is no more about just offering debit or credit card options. It is also vital to provide digital payments such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, etc., offering quick payment experiences to users.

6. AI Voice Assistant

Voice Shopping using Artificial Intelligence is a great way to offer users a better consumer experience. Though still in the beginning phase, the ecommerce giants are already experimenting with it. The feature allows customers to navigate the app quickly and lead to successful conversions even when users have usage limitations. 

7. Shopping Cart

It is a crucial feature for online shopping as it facilitates purchasing a product/service. Integrating the shopping cart functionality to your ecommerce app creates a positive user experience and enables customers the flexibility they desire as they make purchases. When the app adapts to suit the users’ preferences and behaviors, it is more likely to flourish. A shopping cart enables users to add products to the cart, and if they do not want to proceed to the checkout immediately, they can quickly return to it. Hence, they do not need to add products to the cart once again to make the final purchase, saving their time. 

8. Use Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is a brilliant way of presenting your product to customers in a real context. The customers get to preview products & experience services in their environment and on their own time before they elect to purchase. With real-life experimental interactions of AR, the customers can preview products and are more likely to choose the right product. There are already brands like Sephora and Ikea using this technology. 

9. Product Gallery

A product page must have a proper product gallery, including quite a few images of the products. While shopping online, customers often miss the shopping experience they get in traditional stores to access products. However, businesses can address this issue by adding several images of the item from different angles, giving them almost the same feeling as traditional stores. Some ecommerce stores are even offering 3D product visualizations, so the product looks genuine. This technology provides captivating visuals showcasing the products impressively and thoroughly.

10. Product Descriptions

When looking to purchase a product, users are interested in more than the product’s images; they want a detailed product description. So, they can decide upon the purchase after checking details like size, type, color, weight, warranty, and material. When they can check the extensive product details, it reduces the risk of client dissatisfaction, product returns, and impulsive purchasing decision.

11. Product Filtering & Sorting

When an online store offers many products, it effectively implements functional sorting & filtering options. It reduces the time a customer needs to take to find a required product, and they can find desired products quickly, without the need to browse all the products. These options increase sales and deliver a positive user experience that builds a sense of brand loyalty in-app users.

12. Membership Options

Offering your customers a membership program immensely boosts customer loyalty. Many online businesses allow their customers VIP memberships and exclusive access to products before the sale. As customers become store members, they get access to promotions earlier than non-members, get special discounts, etc.

13. Secure Payment

The in-app payment option has become a must-have feature for online stores. It provides users with secure payment modes and streamlines completing a purchase and delivering a positive experience. Secure payment functionality allows your customers to make quick and secure payments. Payment gateways offer several payment options, like credit card payment, online transfer, and wallets like Amazon Pay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, etc.

14. Order Summary

Using this feature, your customers can check whether their order includes all the items they are willing to buy. It displays the total amount to be paid and the shipping charges. Hence, the users can view the order summary before making payment, reducing the risk of errors in orders and returns, which can be time-consuming and lead to a negative user experience. 

15. Shipping Options

 This functionality allows app users to choose from available shipping options and displays the charges for each option and the estimated delivery time for each option. When users are allowed to pick from various shipping options, it leads to a positive user experience.

16. Add Company Data And Order An Invoice

When customers are offered the option to enter their company data and get an invoice quickly, it builds brand loyalty and provides a great checkout experience for a specific segment of customers.

17. Online Returns

To make the return process smooth to deliver a great online shopping experience to your customers. Often customers end up receiving the wrong products (wrong size, color, or the products don’t look good on them), and by offering an easy return process and the option to check return status, you allow transparency, which results in customers’ trust in your brand. When users know that the return process is smooth, it eliminates their fear of a bad online shopping experience.

18. Loyalty Points

Many online businesses offer their customers to install an app and use it every time they purchase at the online store. This option allows customers to collect points via a special app, which they can use to circulate promotion codes and discount offers. It motivates them to install and use the app at stores. 

19. Personalized Product Recommendations

This functionality allows users to easily access products that suit their preferences, quickly completing the purchase. Several online stores use the recommendation engine to provide personalized product offers. Personalized content is a brilliant way to expand your reach and increase customer engagement. Everyone likes to feel unique and customized content does just that, as you convey to your customers how special they are, and this leads to increased customer loyalty and enhances the conversion rate.

20. Wishlist

Everyone engaging in online shopping loves the idea of Wishlist, as it allows them to mark their favorite items without adding them to the shopping cart. While browsing the online stores, the users love adding things to Wishlist; hence it is a crucial online feature that enhances the user experience with the app.

21. Item Availability Reminder

Several online stores allow users to be notified of a product they are keen on buying but are not available. The app notifies the customer when the product is back in stock.

22. Check Product Availability In Particular Locations

This feature allows customers to check the availability of an item in a specific location. It is helpful if your online store has physical stores spread across different locations. Hence, the users can check the nearest store and check product availability or get it shipped to their location.

23. A Number Of Products Users Have Seen/Left On The Product List

Most ecommerce stores offer a vast range of products. So it is helpful to integrate this feature as it indicates how many products a specific category contains and the number of products the users have seen and are left with on the list. Usually, these numbers are displayed at the top and bottom of product category pages, like “30/500 items”. The functionality allows customers to check how many products are left to explore. It also lessens the risk of users abandoning midway by showing how far they are, increasing the overall user experience. 

24. Shipping Status

By tracking their shipping status, customers can estimate their order’s arrival date and time. By allowing users to track their products or check their shipping status, you allow transparency and enhance the quality of interaction customers have with your store after they make the purchase.

25. Flash Sales & Discounts

Sales and discounts are great ways to drive customers to your online stores, and in the case of the ecommerce app store, it’s easy to notify customers about upcoming promotions, events, attractive discounts, and sales. It is a sure-shot way to increase store sales and enhance user experience. For this purpose, many brands nowadays use an advanced analytics tool to effectively segment their audience and personalize the notifications so that the right products are delivered to the right customers at the right time, taking the ROI to new scales.

26. Swift Checkout

Today, almost everyone loves to shop online, and users highly appreciate making quick and easy transactions on the app. Hence it is good to optimize the checkout process so that users can accommodate fast transactions. Integrate the apps with biometric payments, single-click checkout, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and securely save the card details to accounts to allow an efficient checkout process.

27. Offline Functionality

This functionality offers an effective way to increase sales and boost customer experience. Offline availability works well for people who may not always have internet access. Even though users can’t make active purchases online, they can easily save items to buy later. 

28. Alerts/Push Notifications

Push Notifications are a way to alert your customers about new products/services, personalized marketing campaigns, flash sales, and discount offers. It is an effective way for your brand to communicate with the customers directly compared to email marketing. 

29. Easy Access To Customer Service 

Online brands need to ensure accessible customer service access. It allows customers to quickly contact the store if any issue arises or they need information about products, payments, or shipping. Businesses can integrate several options into the app to facilitate interactions between customer service and users, like email support, telephone, messaging support, and online chat (the most preferred means of communication in online business.) 

30. Ratings & Reviews

In the case of an online store, what helps to build trust towards your brand is the opinions of other users, and this is why online stores allow users to rate their experience with the store, with the products they purchased, and share their experience in reviews. Users highly value the access to other users’ ratings and reviews as they want to be entirely sure while making a purchase, and this functionality offers them just that.

31. Barcode Scanner

When the app is integrated with barcode scanner functionality, as the customer shops at the physical outlet of an online store, they can quickly scan a barcode to explore more about a product. Barcode Scanning enables users to find the product without the help of a sales representative or without waiting in a queue. They can also check whether that product is available at other physical stores. This functionality works great for online stores with traditional stores/physical stores at various locations.  

32. Integration With An Online Store

This is a great way to enhance the users’ shopping experience with your brand. Many stores allow their customers to switch devices and access products seamlessly like they can set up an account on the desktop store. If desired, they can connect that account to the mobile app, making it a seamless experience. This functionality is a brilliant way to address the customer needs and preferences and deliver a great shopping experience, which builds brand loyalty and leads to more sales.

33. Personalized Content

Personalization can make a big difference in user engagement. A mobile app can use this functionality to deliver customized content to its users, offering a new way to interact with the products and services. Personalized content provides information required by users to complete purchases, learn more about products, get inspired, and more. 

34. Fewer Clicks

Today, the trend is ‘the lesser, the better as everyone has become one click, one tap, and one touch, which comes naturally to mobile apps. Today, ecommerce apps with fewer clicks hold more value than an app with great visuals. So, keep this in mind while creating an ecommerce app. 

35. App Reviews

User reviews are a great marketing tool as it allows the apps to track user experience and make necessary improvements to the app. Also, when users give great reviews to your brand, it ultimately leads to more downloads and sales.

36. Advanced Search Capability

An e-commerce app usually has an extensive catalog. With an advanced search feature integrated into the app, users can use precise filters to find what they want. They can easily navigate your app and easily find the right products. It can enhance the app’s search capabilities via barcode, image, and voice search.

37. WaitList

This functionality allows users to add and save products on the waitlist so they can buy them shortly. The users can save items to buy later and compare the items before making the actual purchase. The waitlist feature goes well with offline functionality, as then the users can save products in the waitlist when offline and purchase them when they are online.

38. Progress Bar

Progress Bar functionality allows users to anticipate the number of steps to be taken before making the purchase. It is a great way to keep the users calm during their experience with the app.

39. Custom Branding

A custom branding logo with specific colors and visual coordination makes the app look appealing and offers an aesthetic look. 

40. Social Media Integration

This feature allows app users to easily register and share the purchased products’ details. Not just that, but users can also share coupon codes/ promotional campaigns on their social media and post any achievements unlocked on the app, hence creating brand awareness and generating more sales.

41. Google Analytics

Measure the app’s full potential by integrating this functionality. Google Analytics allows finding which products are selling more, how users interact with the app and knowing more about user behavior. It will enable us to plan out strategies for user acquisition. 

42. Synchronization

It can be pretty exhausting for the developers to match the app with the brand’s website, and here synchronization helps greatly, saving a lot of time and effort. The synchronization feature makes automatic changes in the app on the website, preventing the developers from doing the same work twice. 

As we have discovered the many features to be integrated into an ecommerce app, let’s explore and revenue and usage statistics of ecommerce apps.

What Are The App Revenue And Usage Statistics Of The eCommerce Apps?

Since the dawn of the ecommerce industry, people have preferred to shop online as they find it much more convenient than the physical retail stores. Today ecommerce apps have become a lifestyle choice for the tech-saving people, and mainly after the pandemic, it has become more like a necessity than a luxury. The increased usage of smart devices has led to a boom in the ecommerce industry. Today these apps are everywhere as businesses are fully leveraging the shopping habits of modern-day consumers. 

As per the statistics, there are 3.2 billion smartphone users worldwide, which gives a considerable market share and immense potential for eCommerce apps. Mobile traffic significantly increased from 0.7 percent to 52.2 percent from 2009 to 2018. Apps. Figures state that around 93 percent of millennials used their mobile phones to compare online deals in 2018, and this then this number has grown exponentially. It is pretty fascinating to find that mobile users worldwide have spent 18 billion hours on the ecommerce apps in the same year itself. Hence, it goes beyond imagination what is attainable when putting the smartphone and ecommerce apps together. 

Even though some apps in the ecommerce stores don’t flourish, many are performing outstandingly. And ultimately, it is about the unmatchable experience an app can deliver to the customers.

Most Common Applications Of eCommerce

These are the sectors that can use ecommerce functionality to make their operations effective:

1. Retail & Wholesale

There are several ecommerce apps in the retail sector, and these are B2C apps selling products & services via online stores. These online stores are created using virtual shopping carts and electronic catalogs. Mobile commerce, also known as m-commerce, is a subset of retail ecommerce where customers make purchases using their mobile devices via the retailer’s mobile-optimized site. The payment mode used here is digital payments and credit/debit card payments, among other payment modes.

2. Online Booking

This sector uses ecommerce to facilitate booking hotels, airline tickets, holidays, travel insurance, and more. The booking & reservations are made via an internet booking engine, and it is used by aviation, hotel industry, and tour operations. 

3. Online Publishing

This sector can use ecommerce to digitally publish magazines, books, and catalogs and create digital libraries. 

4. Online Advertising

Digital Advertising integrates ecommerce functionality to deliver promotional material to the consumers. It involves a publisher and an advertiser. Here the advertiser provides advertisements, and the publisher integrates the advertisements into online content. Many times creative agencies create the ad and help in its placement. There can be several types of ads, like social media ads, search engine marketing, pop-up ads, retargeting, banner ads, and more.

5. Auctions

Online actions, integrated with ecommerce technologies, are a great way to bring various people together from different geographical locations and allow trading items at negotiated prices. It will enable more and more people to take part in the auctions. Another auction example can be bidding for seats on an airline website – like those in front with more leg space or windows, seats generally get sold at a premium amount, depending on how much a flyer is willing to pay.

6. Online Marketing

It mainly involves collecting consumer data about their needs, preferences, buying patterns, behaviors, etc. Brands can offer users personalized and enhanced shopping experiences by leveraging the data. It helps in marketing activities like negotiating, fixing prices, improving product features, and building stronger customer relationships.

7. Manufacturing

This sector uses ecommerce in a manner where a few enterprises form a group and create an electronic exchange and facilitate purchasing and selling of goods, exchanging market information, back-office information such as inventory control, and more. Hence, it allows a smooth flow of raw materials & finished products among the member companies and other businesses. 

8. Finance

Even banks & financial institutions use ecommerce, as it enables customers to check their account balances, pay insurance premiums, pay bills via internet banking, transfer money to other accounts they hold, and do a lot more. It allows the individuals to trade in online stocks and get information regarding the stocks to trade in from websites displaying charts, news, analyst ratings, and performance reports.   

How Can We Help You? 

At EmizenTech, we are a reliable and reputable eCommerce app developer that has years of experience creating eCommerce apps and has successfully delivered thousands of ecommerce apps. If you are looking to establish your online presence with an eCommerce app, you are right, as we offer extraordinary ecommerce development services to help you attain your business goals.