The Complete Guide to Selecting the Best eCommerce Platform in 2021

The Digital renaissance has transformed lives.

Technological advancements have accelerated digitization, allowing businesses to explore online retail, spurring the rise of eCommerce. The sector rose steadily and the pandemic further propelled a dramatic growth of the sector. 

Safety concerns and successive lockdowns turned people indoors, making more people discover the convenience of online shopping and the added value of comparison shopping on the internet. 

Evolution in the retail landscape has required an adaptation by the retail industry. Many online businesses which adopted early led the way, weaving success stories, and setting a trend. This in turn has inspired startups and existing offline businesses to fast track their eCommerce transition, seize the eCommerce opportunity, and start selling via online channels.  

Progressive eCommerce trends have raised customer expectations and set the bar for startups. Considerations such as eCommerce features, developing a distinct website, and scalability are imperatives that necessitate eCommerce expertise. Contemporary custom eCommerce development has evolved expeditiously and allows building impressive online stores with a host of eCommerce features. 

In this blog, read about all that you need to consider before building an eCommerce store 

Considerations for building a successful eCommerce store

To understand the requirements of an online store, let us first know all the functions that it performs. 

Functions an online store performs can be broadly categorized as front-end and back end. Front-end features make up for the features necessary for the user to access and browse the website. The user experience or UX of the website is critical in simplifying the buyer’s journey. Navigation, Call To Action buttons, images, product descriptions, and others. Moreover, the user interface UI of the website will give your brand a unique identity. 

Back-end features are behind-the-scenes functionalities necessary for the eCommerce business. Business operations like billing, shipping, inventory management, digital marketing processes, and others are behind the scene business processes that provide essential tools to the business to manage, market, scale, and provide modern features to the buyers that they find on popular eCommerce websites

Front-end and back-end features of the eCommerce website and other critical factors will form the basis of priorities required for building an appropriate eCommerce marketplace. 

Discussed hereunder, are the considerations for startups before starting to sell through an online channel 

Technologies implemented  一  setting a robust foundation

Technologies, web frameworks impart the necessary characteristics to the software. Flexibility, scalability, security, website performance, software development cycle, and domain-specific features hinge on the implementation of appropriate technologies. 

Progression of technologies means eCommerce-specific technologies will result in robust solutions and more importantly make the online business future-ready. 

eCommerce integrations 一 Maximize the online business potential 

The eCommerce ecosystem is in constant flux to offer an enhanced shopping experience to the customer. Services such as multiple payment methods, fast shipping, are taken for granted by the customer. Moreover, eCommerce business can potentially scale prodigiously, requiring digitization of integral business operations like inventory management, account bookkeeping, and others. 

To facilitate these integral eCommerce features and operations, third-party service providers can be partnered with, allowing businesses to own a contemporary online store. Third-party service providers offer APIs that need to be integrated with the eCommerce website by availing of customization services Some important eCommerce integrations are briefly listed below 

• To maximize sales conversions, offering multiple payment options to the buyers subject to their varying priorities is pivotal.
• Fast and efficient shipping, imperative to eCommerce success, can be offered by partnering shipping fulfillment providers.
• Inventory management: Achieve seamless inventory management by automating it via eCommerce integration.
• Business analytics: Analytic tools let businesses ascertain the performance of their marketing strategies with the help of insights acquired with statistical data.
• Finance management: Efficient finance management is quintessential to any business. Automate finance bookkeeping with eCommerce integrations.
• eCommerce operations to upscale business: Features like real-time tax information, web page language translation, and others help a business to scale and expand business reach.

The examples discussed above are some of the many personalizations achieved by custom eCommerce development services used to integrate third-party APIs.

eCommerce website features  一  quintessential consideration for online commerce success

Features offered alongside the online website solution are integral to the shopping experience of the buyer. Some important features are listed below

• Ease of use for the buyer: An intuitive and simplistic interface will aid the buyer’s journey leading to increased sales conversions.
• Accurate search: Search that returns accurate results will enhance user experience, and increase sales opportunities.
• Product catalog management: Convenience of product additions will increase the productivity of store management. Features like a drag and drop CMS
• Website interface design: The look and feel of your website will reflect your brand’s image. A design centered around your brand’s ethos will result in establishing a unique brand identity.
• Security: eCommerce entails financial transactions, making security an imperative and not optional.
• Scalable and customizable: The importance of customizability has already been established in the section preceding this. Not all eCommerce websites are customizable, but it is crucial for flexible business planning. Similarly, scalability allows businesses to be fluid with the start and scale along with the growth of the business.
• Marketing support: Functionalities that facilitate marketing your eCommerce business are key to winning in the online ecosystem. Blogging, adding meta tags to products

M-commerce 一 Integral to modern online commerce

Mobiles are fast becoming the device of choice for accessing eCommerce websites. They augment business reach, maximizing accessibility. Moreover, mobiles enhance the convenience of shopping, facilitating sales conversions. 

With multiple benefits, mobiles are critical to eCommerce business planning, making it essential to prioritize the website’s accessibility on mobiles. This can be achieved by the following 3 ways 

• Mobile apps can be offered, enhancing the brand image of the online business, creating marketing opportunities via push notifications, and also achieving the primary objective of m-commerce.
• Progressive Web Apps or PWAs are lightweight websites that can be installed on mobile phones and function just like standalone apps. PWAs are gaining in popularity and fast becoming an integral part of eCommerce businesses.
• The eCommerce website is developed with a mobile-first approach, making it responsive to all popular screen sizes. If turnkey software is used then software engineered with a mobile-first approach can be prioritized over others.

Website development process 一 Finding the right company to partner with

eCommerce development entails domain expertise. Identifying the precise components of the online websites to suit your business needs and delivering a robust solution requires experience. Following details will be key to developing a quality website 

• A diverse portfolio consisting of clients from multiple industries will result in rich experience and expertise in delivering websites that produce results.
• Implementation of modern technologies and frameworks will give the right foundation to your eCommerce website. 
• A development process that is collaborative, iterative, and involves adequate testing at every stage will deliver robust solutions. Companies that implement Agile methodologies are most likely to meet these requirements.
• Appropriate communication from the company is paramount to getting a product specific to your needs and will keep you abreast of the development process, making it easier to plan your business to precision. 
• MVP or minimum viable product can help you gather data before you launch the complete product. Insights gained can help you modify your business plan if needed. Companies providing an MVP add value to the final product. 

Technical support 一 A Custom eCommerce Development imperative

Efficient technical support is a crucial component of the custom eCommerce development services package. Outsourcing the services means the team developing your website is working out of a separate location than your workspace. 

Moreover, customization services will need support in case of bugs with the modifications.

So, technical support is paramount to removing any roadblocks and ensuring a seamless eCommerce transition.

Conclusion 

Increasing competition in the eCommerce ecosystem and rising buyer expectations have necessitated a well-strategized business plan to win in your online venture.

A measured approach, availing custom eCommerce development services to tailor the website to suit the business model, is paramount to achieve success in online business.

Identifying a website development company with eCommerce expertise and communicating the requirements effectively will set your eCommerce plan in motion.

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