How to Choose the Right eCommerce Platform

What is an eCommerce Platform?

The process of eCommerce involves buying and selling of goods and services online and an eCommerce website manages cataloged products. So, if one is referring to an eCommerce platform then it implies the content management system (CMS) and commerce engine website that includes the complete range of products and registers every purchase, and at the same time monitors the relationship of the user/customer with the retailer. Whether it is a B2B or a B2C transaction or about selling tangible goods, or extending services remotely- an eCommerce platform can be used to manage it all.

As a business owner, you can use eCommerce websites to operate their marketing functions, manage their websites, and build their brand online. Some of the most popular eCommerce platforms used by top businesses across the world:

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• Magneto
• BigCommerce

Significance of Selecting the Right eCommerce Platform

With so many eCommerce platforms available in the industry, it may take time to choose. Choosing the wrong forum will not only be a waste of investment but also force you to switch to a better platform or lose your precious customers. Choose a venue that aligns with your business expectations, needs, and goals.

Here are some of the reasons why selecting the right eCommerce platform is essential:

Customer Experience

Want to attract more customers while retaining your existing customers? Well, invest in an eCommerce platform that delivers unparalleled customer experience. But why is customer experience so important?

• Positive customer experience will give you an edge over your competitors.
• As more e-commerce brands compete for sales and public attention, a great customer experience makes your brand the talk of the town.
• Improves your commercial and marketing actions.
• Boosts customer loyalty and reduces customer churn rate.

Scalability

All business owners expect to grow their business over time. The right eCommerce platform will come with scalability features for business growth. Your chosen eCommerce platform should not charge unreasonable fees to meet your increased business functionality and needs.

Customization

Do you need help to differentiate your brand from your competitors? This is where customization comes in. Choose an eCommerce platform that allows you to customize the look, feel, and features of your store. This will result in effective branding and make your brand a preferred choice for customers.

SEO

If your brand doesn’t appear within the first few search results as customers search for products and services online, then the brand will certainly lack visibility and conversion. Hence, you must back up your chosen eCommerce platform with useful and relevant SEO features to have your business up and running and brand gain booming popularity.

Different eCommerce platforms are available at different prices. It would help to compare the prices and functionality other outlets offer before choosing. Also, check if the additional features and integrations that you may need in the future are available within your budget or not.

Factors to Consider when Choosing the Best eCommerce Platform

Different eCommerce platforms come with additional features, functionalities, and integrations, which makes it essential to narrow down to the ideal one for your business.

Here are some factors to consider when choosing the best eCommerce platform for your business:

Features and Functionality

Your eCommerce platform should have the following features if you want to differentiate and grow your brand:

• Mobile responsiveness
• Security
• Speed to upgrade and implement changes to your site
• Customization
• Integration with management systems
• Great customer experience
• Analytics
• Secure payment gateway

If you have a limited budget, opt for an eCommerce platform with more built-in features, functionalities, and templates. However, if you want to create brand value and drive more traffic, opt for a platform that allows customization and integration.

Ease of Use

You may spend hundreds of dollars on great features and functionality, but if your website is not easily navigable by the customers, they will switch to another brand. Ensure that all products, services, and information are easy to access by your visitors. Add a search bar that is easy to locate and allows customers to navigate your website easily.

Scalability

Over time, as your business gets more visibility and demand, you face scalability issues. This is why it is essential to choose an e-commerce platform that enables you to scale your business as your customer base grows.

Ensure that your eCommerce platform can handle the following:

• Load balancing
• High-order volume
• Host multiple stores
• High speed
• Peak traffic

Costs

Depending on your chosen platform, you may incur high upgrade and maintenance costs. You may choose an eCommerce platform owing to its low upfront store but end up paying more in the future for integrations, plugins, and extensions.

The cost to develop an eCommerce website may include the following fees:

• Web hosting fees
• Payment processing fees
• Security costs
• Bug fixes
• Integrations
• Extension
• Plugins, etc
• Developer fees

Security

All online store owners, irrespective of how big or small, know the importance of security. Customers will only prefer to buy products from your website if it looks secure. As a brand owner, you need to ensure that the financial information of your customers is protected from data thieves and hackers.

Whenever you choose a platform, you need to make sure that it comes with essential security features such as:

• Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance
• Data backups
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate
• Fraud prevention, etc

Also, the platform must conduct security audits to keep potential security issues at bay. Shopify and Magento are the best eCommerce CMS choices for minimizing website vulnerability and improving security.

Support and Community

All brand owners will agree that support and community are some of the most critical aspects of your online store. Unexpected situations such as server crashes, software outages, and server downtime may happen, which prevents customers from visiting your website or purchasing from it.

This will affect your business in primarily two ways:

• Loss of revenue and visitors
• Negative brand image

To restore your online store fast, you need to have an eCommerce platform that offers prompt support. Ensure that 24*7 support is available and check the associated costs.

SEO and Marketing

An excellent online store will only mean something if your target customers can find it. Make sure you choose an eCommerce platform that allows you to do the following:

• Add metadata and optimize it for SEO
• Optimize subheadings (HTML tags) and headings
• Write product descriptions
• Add external and internal links
• Optimize product images
• Add product pages
• Optimize homepage search structure, etc

Also, it should integrate marketing efforts such as affiliate marketing, email marketing, influencer marketing, etc. When your brand has a robust and engaging social media presence, your ratings and search results will also improve. The right eCommerce platform will optimize your online store for SEO and integrate digital marketing efforts to boost your reach and conversions quickly.

With an SEO-optimized store, your brand will be able to grow and may retain customers from your competitors.

Integrations

Do you know what makes an eCommerce platform ideal for your business? The compatibility of the chosen platform with your existing plugins and setup. You must check if your preferred platform can be integrated with the accounting, POS, and shipping systems of your business. This is important because some integrations may be different from your chosen venue.

Conclusion

Each eCommerce platform offers an extensive range of features and functionalities. You can choose one depending on your specific business goals and needs. Most new-age brands check for factors like ease of use, pricing, customer support, integration, and analytics. To scale in the future, you must also look for characteristics like integrations, customization, and scalability.

Some platforms may offer limitless customization features, a thriving community, and excellent flexibility, but these may be available for additional costs. While other platforms may lack features kike mobile friendliness, email hosting, optimal scalability, etc. This is where a website development company comes in. They will choose the ideal eCommerce platform for your business and ensure it is scalable and affordable in the long run.

As the best e-commerce development company in India, we develop websites using an ideal eCommerce platform for optimum functioning and conversions. Contact us to strengthen your eCommerce journey today.