Key elements in designing e-commerce websites

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Mark Chirnside, CEO of PayU, which is one of South Africa's largest internet payment service providers, has seen a dramatic rise in the number of small to medium businesses that are entering the online retail environment.

"While there is a wide variety of products, templates and services available to entrepreneurs to help them create their own e-commerce website, careful attention must be paid in the planning stage to ensure the fundamentals are in place."

The major cost benefit of online retail over traditional retail is the relatively low barrier to entry in terms of capital expenditure. This saving should be strategically invested during the conceptual phase of developing an e-commerce website by selecting the right service providers and ensuring the long-term viability of the business.

While the look and feel of the website's design is critical in appealing to the intended market, the following three factors are useful guiding principles when considering the architecture of an e-commerce website.

Guiding principles

1. Scalability - the capacity to the scale one's business according to the budget and customer demand is especially important in the early stages of a business' development cycle. Aside from being able to a meet the potential growing volume of online traffic, customer transactions and exposure to risk, the e-commerce platform must be designed to be able to upscale to provide more data rich content as South African internet speeds Africa improve.
   
2. Mobility - Access to the internet via mobile phone over other technology is growing rapidly worldwide and even more so in Africa. Nearly three quarters of the 35% of South Africans who access the internet, use their cellphone to go online and this number is expected to rise. It is at a stage where any new e-commerce platform should be optimised for mobile access, with a view to introducing a mobile app, as budget allows. Another option to consider is responsive web design, which can be a simple and more cost effective way of ensuring one's e-commerce platform can be viewed on all internet-capable devices. In selecting the best route to follow, use research and analysis of one's target market's online habits.
   
3. Integration - Surveys from mature, international e-commerce markets cite the challenge of integrating multiple technologies and touch points into their e-commerce platform as one of their key frustrations. Consumers can engage with multiple touch points to make a purchase and ensuring a consistent, interchangeable experience should be a major focus when developing a e-commerce platform. In addition to being compatible with the different operating systems and other internet capable devices, the e-commerce website should be designed to integrate with back office systems, internet payment service providers, and the traditional retail outlet if one exists.
   

Research conducted by the Digital Media Marketing Association shows that internet penetration has grown from 15% of the population in 2008 to 39% this year. According to the recent MasterCard online shopping survey, the revenue from online retail (excluding airline tickets) has grown from R2.6 billion in 2011 to R3.3 billion in 2012, and looks set to exceed R4.2 billion at the end of 2013.