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10 Features Every E-Commerce Website in Should Have

An e-commerce website should do more than display products. It should help customers quickly find what they need, pay using a familiar method and understand how their order will reach them.

Here are the 10 core features I recommend for an e-commerce website in Kenya.

1. Product Search With Suggestions

Customers should not have to scroll through your entire shop to find one item.

Your search should suggest matching products as someone types. If they misspell a product name, it should still help them find relevant results.

For example, someone searching for “black handbag” should immediately see matching handbags—not a blank search page.

2. Filters That Match Your Products

Do not add filters just because other e-commerce websites have them. Your filters should reflect what you sell.

A clothing store may need:

  • Size
  • Colour
  • Gender
  • Price

An electronics store may need:

  • Brand
  • Storage
  • Screen size
  • Condition
  • Price

A beauty store may need filters for skin type, product type or brand.

The objective is simple: help customers reduce hundreds of products to the few that are relevant to them.

3. Clear Product Pages

A customer cannot hold or inspect your product before ordering, so the product page must answer their main questions.

Each product should have:

  • Clear photos from different angles
  • An understandable description
  • The current price
  • Available sizes, colours or variations
  • Stock availability
  • Delivery information
  • A visible Add to Cart or Buy Now button

Avoid descriptions such as “High-quality product available now.” Explain the size, material, features and exactly what the buyer will receive.

4. A Checkout That Only Asks What Is Necessary

A long checkout can cost you a sale.

Only collect information required to complete that particular order.

If you sell physical products, you may need the customer’s:

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Delivery location
  • Preferred delivery method

If you sell an e-book, course or another digital product, you probably do not need their estate, building name or delivery address.

Your checkout should adapt to what you sell.

5. M-Pesa Payment

For a Kenyan online store, M-Pesa should be properly integrated into the checkout.

The customer should enter their number, receive an STK Push and confirm payment on their phone. The website should then automatically confirm whether the payment was successful.

Avoid asking every customer to send money manually and then WhatsApp a screenshot. That creates more work for the business and makes it harder to match payments with orders.

You can also offer card payments, bank transfers or cash on delivery where they make sense for your business.

6. Delivery Options Based on Location

“Delivery available countrywide” is not enough. Customers want to know how much delivery costs and when their order will arrive.

Your website should allow you to set options such as:

  • Nairobi CBD pickup
  • Boda delivery within Nairobi
  • Delivery to specific estates or zones
  • Parcel delivery to other towns
  • Shop or event pickup
  • Free delivery above a certain order value

The delivery charge should appear before the customer completes the order—not as a surprise afterwards.

7. WhatsApp Order Notifications

Once a customer places an order, they should receive a clear confirmation.

The confirmation can be sent through WhatsApp, SMS or email and should include:

  • Order number
  • Products ordered
  • Total amount
  • Payment status
  • Delivery or pickup method

The business owner should also receive a notification so the order can be processed quickly.

WhatsApp should support your checkout, not replace the entire ordering system. Your website should already have collected the correct product, quantity, customer and payment information.

8. Proper Stock Management

If an item is out of stock, customers should not be able to pay for it.

Your website should:

  • Reduce stock when an order is completed
  • Track stock for individual variations
  • Display when a product is unavailable
  • Notify you when stock is running low

For example, “Black T-shirt — Medium” and “Black T-shirt — Large” should have separate stock quantities.

This prevents you from receiving payment and later telling the customer that their selected item is unavailable.

9. A Mobile-Friendly Shopping Experience

Most of your customers will probably discover your products through Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or WhatsApp and open the website on their phones.

Test the full journey on a real phone:

  • Can customers find the search button?
  • Can they use the filters?
  • Are the product images clear?
  • Can they choose a size or colour?
  • Is the Add to Cart button easy to tap?
  • Can they complete the M-Pesa payment without confusion?

A website that looks good on a laptop but is difficult to use on a phone is not ready to sell.

10. A Simple Store Management System

The person managing the business should not need a developer every time they receive an order or want to change a price.

The store dashboard should allow the business to:

  • Add and edit products
  • Change prices
  • Upload product photos
  • View and process orders
  • Update order statuses
  • Track payments
  • Manage stock
  • Create discount codes
  • Adjust delivery charges

Your e-commerce system should reduce the amount of manual work required to run the business.

Before You Launch Your Online Store

Place a test order using your own phone before sending customers to the website.

Confirm that you can:

  • Find a product
  • Select the correct variation
  • Add it to the cart
  • see the delivery fee
  • Complete an M-Pesa payment
  • Receive an order confirmation
  • View the new order in the store dashboard

If any part of that journey is confusing to you, it will probably also be confusing to your customers.

How Many of These Features Does Your Website Have?

You do not need every feature used by large platforms such as Jumia or Amazon. You need the features that make buying easier for your customers and managing orders easier for your business.

If your current website is missing some of these essentials, you can improve it instead of continuing to lose customers during checkout.

Need help building or improving your e-commerce website? Get in touch and let’s discuss what your business needs.