E-commerce – An information revolution growing importance in the Business World

Businesses running successfully in this era of “Information Revolution” have understood the importance of an online presence. In order for businesses to grow, earn customer traction, boost their sales, and be available in ways that were not thought of before, e-commerce has come as a God-sent. In today’s competitive world, businesses are able to reach their target audience through e-commerce – even without any physical presence.
Enhancing Customer Experience is another shift that is being seen in the recent years, and as e-commerce is providing all the more convenience to the customers, not having and maintaining an online presence is a grave mistake. Customers enjoy shopping experiences from the comfort of their own homes, or even on the go with the mobile websites. Being able to book tickets online, reserve hotel rooms, getting books, clothes and even toys shipped to their places,  and above all not getting tangled in the strings attached and sweet talk of customer representatives has become the prime choice for many a people!
Figure 1.Strategizing Customer Experience
E-commerce that made an entry as a want for some businesses to be different and gain competitive advantage has grown into more than a necessity for businesses. When competition is just a click away, businesses have too much to lose. This entity requires strategic planning of its own now – it’s not enough to have an e-commerce site available. The sites need to be carefully planned and designed to cater to the customer’s needs and wants. The following are the basic elements that a website has to have:

1. accessible,
2. visible,
3. aesthetically appealing, and
4. easy to use

Figure 2. Making e-commerce a worthwhile experience
To make the e-commerce tool work best, the above mentioned basic elements can be worked on technically and made possible with the following elements:

• Rich Interfaces – rich Internet technologies like HTML 5, Web 2.0, and Flash-enabled web applications built for a variety of devices and software platforms have made websites more and more appealing.
• Semantic Web and Big-Data Solutions – Understanding user patterns, sifting through voluminous data about users to determine relevant and meaningful information, and offering users a very personalized shopping experience online are key factors in differentiating one online retailer from another.
• Accessibility and Adherence to Standards – adhering to standards enable a consistent shopping experience for everyone.
• Security Testing Strategies – these need to be revised as newer vulnerabilities continue to seep in and make websites prone to cyber crimes.
•  Integration of Desktop and Local Clients Across Devices – With the plethora of online options to store user information, it is essential in the case of enterprise e-commerce applications that enable the use of desktop, tablet, and smart consumer mobile devices to work collaboratively.
• Globalization – being language-independent, and allowing promotions, and features around various currency and date and time formats.

Understanding the need of the moment, Ephlux has been creating exceptional websites for businesses, with their expertise in web designing, Content Management Systems, e-commerce solutions and creating responsive websites. The result has always been a blooming business and happier customer experience.