Top-drawer e-commerce functionalities or how to compete in the furniture market
The problem of abandoned shopping carts is one of the most common in the e-commerce industry. Numerous online offers distract users, especially if the potential customer is not determined about what product exactly they are looking for. That is why online stores are developing various functionalities that help keep the user on the site, find the right product and quickly make a purchase.
According to statistics, about 70% of users give up on their purchases. For an online store, an abandoned cart is a loss not only of a sale but also of a long-term relationship with the customer. In order to capture the attention of potential consumers, an online store should ensure that the right product is found as easily as possible. While developing a new design for the KupMeble.pl online store, we have introduced several new functionalities. One of them is the rebuilt search engine mechanism. After entering the first few letters of the search inquiry, the system guides the user to a quick selection of a specific category, and also selects the most frequently bought products from the database and presents them to the potential customer. Due to this, the user directly from the search engine can get basic information (e.g. price and appearance) and then go to the product card.
Finding the right product also is easier through furniture arrangements. Providing visualizations on the home page of the online store helps users to imagine how items look like when combined with each other. With such solutions, a potential customer can decide to buy more products to recreate the arrangement by themselves. Tags placed directly on the graphics are more intuitive for users than presenting items in text form next to the visualization. In addition, by clicking on the selected piece of furniture consumers has the option of adding it to favorites, so that they can continue to search for other elements, and the product will be saved on their account.
Furniture is a category of products that often have more than one variable, including color, size, type of wood or metal. In the new KupMeble.pl online store, we have designed a complex product configurator that allows users to select all parameters at once in one pop-up window, which makes it easier for them to select the appropriate attributes. The configurator allows customers to smoothly go through the purchasing process, due to which the probability of order finalization increases. In addition, choosing parameters in a form other than the drop-down menu creates a sense of product personalization.
Acquiring a new customer is much more expensive for companies than maintaining the current one, which is why most online stores use various types of loyalty programs to encourage consumers to buy again. Like other websites, KupMeble.pl also has a functionality that allows users to accumulate points and exchange them for discounts when placing another order. Informing customers about points received in the loyalty program is done automatically through the store management system. Points are not gifted for purchases only. Users are also rewarded for posting reviews, sending a photo of the product in their own arrangement and subscribing to the newsletter.
The solutions used during the development of the KupMeble.pl online store are not typical only for the furniture industry. Similar functionalities can be implemented in every e-store, as they are properly adapted to both the company's industry and the expectations of its potential customers.
