eCommerce has become an essential trend for successful business in the Vietnamese market. According to a report from Facebook’s SYNC Southeast Asia and consulting firm Bain & Company, Vietnam is expected to be the fastest-growing eCommerce market in Southeast Asia by 2026, with a total eCommerce goods value reaching $56 billion, 4.5 times that of 2021, ranking second in the region.

To harness the advantages of this thriving market, businesses need an eCommerce website system with a full range of functionalities, from basic to advanced. Therefore, planning a step-by-step construction of the functional system is crucial to avoid situations where there are ‘missing essentials’ or ‘unnecessary features’ for the business.

Here are some specialized functionalities that any eCommerce website system for businesses in this lucrative market should have!

Display High-Resolution Images and Videos

Images and videos play a crucial role in allowing customers to evaluate the quality of products, especially high-involvement items like jewellery, watches, gemstones, etc.

Additionally, businesses can incorporate features such as 360-degree views, Augmented Reality (AR), or Virtual Reality (VR) to help customers get a comprehensive and realistic view of the product’s quality on the eCommerce website.

In today’s era where ‘good wood comes with good paint,’ investing in high-quality images or videos enhances the impression of a business’s products in the eyes of consumers and demonstrates the professionalism of the brand. Consequently, businesses can keep customers engaged on the website for longer periods, reduce bounce rates, and boost online sales.

Advanced Product Filtering and Search Functionality

One of the essential features of modern eCommerce systems is the ability to filter and search for products effectively, such as live search or ElasticSearch in Magento.

This feature plays a role in directing customers to the detailed product information they are looking to purchase, enhancing the overall customer experience and shortening the shopping journey.

As a result, businesses can improve customer satisfaction and streamline the purchasing process.

Wishlist

Sometimes, customers may be interested in a particular product but decide to purchase it later, or they might find an intriguing product and want to check detailed information before making a buying decision. In such cases, a wishlist allows customers to store these products for easy retrieval when they are ready to make a purchase decision.

Attractive promotions

Although promotional programs are not unfamiliar to consumers in the eCommerce market, this feature has never gone out of fashion for businesses. According to Google, up to 75% of customers view advertisements before making a purchase, and 84% of customers use information from ads to research product details.

Frequently displaying promotional programs/deals such as flash sales, D-Day promotions, festive season offers, etc., will stimulate customers’ ‘sale hunting’ desires, increase website traffic significantly, and boost sales for businesses.

Up-selling and Cross-selling

After leveraging and analyzing the collected data from customers, an advanced eCommerce website system can provide suggestions for similar or related products, aiming to increase the quantity and value of orders. This, in turn, contributes to the growth of online sales revenue for the business.

Up-selling is a technique aimed at selling a more expensive version of a product that a customer already has or intends to purchase by adding new features or accessories to that product. Meanwhile, Cross-selling is a technique aimed at selling complementary products, items that may be related to the product a customer has purchased or intends to buy.

In addition to suggestions for similar and related products on the homepage, product category page, product detail page, and search results page, Up-selling and Cross-selling are also designed to appear on the checkout page to encourage customers to spend more.

Quick order

The quick order placement feature is an essential function for an eCommerce website. To expedite the shopping process, it’s not enough to have a step-by-step ordering process. Businesses need to design a ‘quick order’ function that allows customers to add products to the checkout page immediately. This will be a significant advantage for businesses to expedite the customer’s ‘order confirmation’ process, thereby generating a surge in online sales.

One-step Checkout

Typically, the default checkout process on an eCommerce website is a step-by-step procedure, meaning that each step is completed automatically only after the customer finishes the previous one until the entire process is completed.

According to a report from Adobe, 88% of customers abandon their purchases simply because the checkout process takes too much time and is complicated. To streamline this cumbersome payment process, the One Step Checkout feature has been introduced. This feature provides essential information to customers in just one step, facilitating faster transactions and creating a smoother payment process.

Various payment methods

Diverse payment methods, including card payments (local cards, VISA, Mastercard), e-wallets (MOMO, Zalopay), payment gateways (OnePay, VNPay, PayPal, Stripe), and Cash on Delivery (COD), will enhance the shopping experience for customers. Additionally, businesses should stay updated on emerging payment trends in the eCommerce market, such as creating their digital wallets, implementing Buy Now – Pay Later options, etc., to build a Loyalty Program and provide more payment choices for customers.

However, to diversify payment methods, businesses should choose open-source eCommerce platforms such as Magento, WooCommerce, and OpenCart to have high integration capabilities and ensure compatibility between payment software and the company’s website.

Product reviews

According to a report from Customer Gauge, 92% of customers will read product reviews from other users before making a purchasing decision. Therefore, the product review feature is always prioritized by businesses to be included in the functionality system from the beginning to enhance the brand’s credibility. 

A website with many positive comments from previous users will attract attention and trust from potential new customers, laying the foundation for revenue growth for the business. In addition, negative reviews will help businesses identify the weaknesses of the product, thereby motivating them to improve product quality and services for the future.

Compatible on multiple devices

In addition to a visually appealing interface and standard UI/UX, the ability to be compatible across multiple devices such as desktops, smartphones, and tablets is a mandatory feature that must be present on the interface of an eCommerce website. This is not only a factor affecting the Omnichannel experience of customers but also a criterion that influences SEO and rankings from Google.

Furthermore, many other features need to be considered for integration into the functional system of the eCommerce website of the business. This will depend on the strategy and business model of each enterprise, as well as the eCommerce platform the business is using. 

With SaaS platforms, businesses will not have many options for features since these systems are pre-built, making it difficult to modify the source code and potentially causing instability if there are automatic edits or additions/removals of features. 

In contrast, with open-source platforms, businesses have the freedom to choose features to build at each stage of brand development, as well as the ability to integrate with third-party utilities more easily than SaaS platforms.

With deep expertise and experience in developing complex eCommerce systems across multiple countries such as Vietnam, Australia, the US, and New Zealand, SECOMM understands the challenges in the process of building and deploying eCommerce functions that businesses are currently facing. 

Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on detailed eCommerce system development solutions!