A consumer chooses a business, browses the shelves and products, picks up items to inspect, weighs pricing, chooses a product, and then proceeds to the cash register to make a purchase. The following features must be present on your website in order for it to be e-commerce-ready if you wish to sell your goods online:

• You need to provide plenty of content and product descriptions like sizes, dimensions, colors, and comparisons with other similar products. It must allow the customer to choose a product, get a clear price and shipping cost on the product, complete the transaction, and get an order number and/or invoice confirmation via email. Allow your customer to choose a shipping method.
• You must tell the customer if the item is in stock or delivered to order. Ideally, you should have email contact or live help if the customer has a question. Most importantly, you must respond immediately! If you want to provide your own live chat and help desk services on your website, specialized software is available for purchase.
• Be sure your customer service links are large and clearly marked so your clients do not have to dig around to find information.
• Provide an “about us” section or a section about your policies. If you have privacy statements and customer satisfaction policies, your customers will feel better about shopping in your store.
• You probably want to have customer quotes and references on the storefront page, as well, to let your prospective client know that others are happy with your service.
• Provide an FAQ with information about your return-back policies, guarantees, shipping prices, and insurance charges, if any.
• If you are so inclined, you can offer a print catalog if the customer prefers to order one from your storefront and shop in the privacy of their homes.
• Do not annoy your customers by presenting products that are marked as “sold” or pages that say “under construction” or “coming soon”.
• Do add new content frequently, so your returning customers will not be bored by seeing the same products they saw four months ago.
• If your site has got a date tag or has current references, be careful to change these references frequently so you don’t give the perception that nobody is attending or reading your site.