Picking an Enterprise Ecommerce Solution? Few tips…

How to choose the Best Enterprise Ecommerce Solution

Taking your business online can be a big deal. It may involve critical thinking, strategic planning and a lot of time. Having a website won’t guarantee the instant success of your business in the world of ecommerce, but it’s a long process. It takes a lot of vetting, research and time before you pick one for your business.

Either you can build a website on your own, or you can choose the right turnkey solution for your enterprise. Picking out a turnkey solution might be a preferable option as it will cost you less than the first option. You also will have fewer hassles as your service provider will do all the heavy lifting. You can easily focus where it matters.

If you are also considering a solution, you certainly need to evaluate it before you finalize one among the many.

What do you think is involved in choosing an enterprise ecommerce software?

Selecting a turnkey platform is a deep process. It doesn’t matter if it is for an existing online store or a completely new business. A thorough assessment is critical for most businesses, as is a comprehensive evaluation of known platforms as currently there are a lot present in the market. You should check out their core functionalities, integrations, admin workflows and third-party solutions that fit alongside them.

Sounds like a lot to do?

Still unsure how to filter the right features for your enterprise? Are you worried that you lack technical knowledge and knowhow to use one?

Don’t worry! All you have to do is take care of a few considerations while picking out the right platform for your business. You also need to put a pin on what exactly your business is capable of and what more it needs.

To begin with, Ask yourself the right questions, such as:

Why are you focussing on a new platform?

• To reduce expenses
• Enhance scalability
• Add flexibility to your business.
• To avoid drop vendor lock-in charges, many more.

Do you have the budget for what you want? Switching to a new Ecommerce can cost substantial expenses. To meet them, you have to:

• Have a recurring revenue stream
• Have a nest-egg for future growth
• Do cost-cutting for current operations by finding out redundancies and eliminating them.

What’s wrong with the current ecommerce platform? What are its limitations?

• Take too much time to process high volume orders
• Technically not up to date
• Lack the ability to scale business

What are the new critical features your business needs? Some important ones are:

• System integration support
• Detailed product setup
• Native subscriptions for full integrated functionalities
• Multi-store architecture
• Core marketing and merchandising features
• Multi-seller feature

Are there any key systems integrations required for launch?

• Might require software like ERPs or CRMs
• Might need supplements like WMS, OMS, etc.

What are the future systems integrations that can be employed?

• Tools like ‘point of sale’ applications for offline store, COD
• Marketplace integrations like Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba

Are there any features/functionalities you can overlook? You can’t overlook features like:

• Efficient and well-planned web design
• Media Support
• Guest checkout
• Marketing and Content

If you think you can’t answer these questions yourself, don’t worry about it. It’s not like you have to do everything yourself.

You can see it! The majority of businesses work with an externally hosted enterprise ecommerce software as it is less expensive, and the infrastructural security, maintenance is not your headache. That’s why it’s more efficient to pick an all in one turnkey enterprise solution.

Now when you are clear in finalizing the requirements of your business, you need to focus on the features your online store needs to attract and serve the customers. You can add tons of features to your online business, which can help you to execute strategies effectively.

But, what are those features and factors, which you should consider before choosing an enterprise so? Let’s take a look;

Integrations — Ecommerce integration is the sync between a website and the back-end system (CRM/ERP/API, etc.). Proper integration facilitates the two way flow of information between the two systems. It basically means that data only needs to be entered into the system once and it will get updated in all the databases. User needs to understand how to manage this and which method he should use to integrate them. Integrating your ecommerce software with your ERP system allows you to operate more efficiently as a business in several key ways.

Design & UX — Many of you know that 88% of online consumers don’t return to the same website after they face an unpleasant experience. So as a businessman, you need to be sure to invest a lot of time and effort on user experience with other things. Nevertheless, by carefully comparing ecommerce platforms, one can choose the right platform to ensure a good user experience.

Content management — CMS allows businesses to create their website and its content in a cost-effective way. When it comes to choosing a content management system, you should consider all the possibilities. You need to plan where which kind of content you are going to use. Any decent CMS will give you several general options to cover the most common needs. It also comes with the possibility of including additional modules or plug-ins to extend or modify the CMS behaviour to cover the exceptional specific needs of a store.

Catalogue management & setup — If you take the time, effort, and resources to properly manage your product catalogue, then buyers will be inclined to think that the product is worth it. Ecommerce product catalogue management helps build the foundation of your business. This contains details of current product inventory setup, requirements, etc. They contain details like product types, control of critical data, supervision of inventory across different storefronts, complex pricing logic etc. Consider picking an ecommerce platform, which supports product description, product videos, product photography, social media sharing option, etc.

Promotions — Discounts and promotions can fetch the best sales only if there is some strategic planning. Offering good deals can help you cross-sell, upsell and quickly get rid of your excess inventory. All these measures increase your ticket size and thus make up for the lower profit margin. Planning and implementing a variety of coupon codes can become cumbersome if you have limited options to set the promo codes. This feature can help you retain and gain new buyers. This feature revolves around promotions and discounts. (e.g. rewards points, loyalty programs etc.). You can set up lucrative discounts, promotions and referral programs to reward your consumer’s loyalty.

Payments — By the end of 2019, global e-retail sales will rise by 20.7% to $3.535 trillion as compared to the previous year. Buyers are spending more money on buying goods online, and it’s not just a minor fad. Making multiple payment options available will help your ecommerce store in the long run. Minding the current trends, some payment methods that your online business can use are UPI, eWallet, COD, Card Payments, Net Banking with secure payment gateways, etc.

Marketing — With the right marketing tool, you can have an advantage over your competitors. An excellent online platform combined with a smart marketing strategy, you can grow your brand. These tools take care of marketing requirements such as SEO, tracking/tagging, analytics / BI setup/integration, management of campaign content etc. The increase of online retail and e-commerce make the use of marketing tools essential to businesses as they help attract and retain main customers.

Data imports — Data imports in the form of CSV or PDF can save a lot of time and money. Any good ecommerce platform should have the basic functionality of enabling bulk import/export of details such as product lists, inventory, clients, sellers, etc.

Mobile Ready — Mobile influences over 40% of revenue for leading B2B organizations & is expected to grow to 70% by 2020. Hence, a lot of enterprise businesses these days are inclined towards techs like progressive web apps (PWA) to provide a seamless mobile experience. A progressive web app (or PWA) works just like an app, in terms of functioning offline and sending push notifications etc., but still runs in the browser. PWAs represent a big trend in the domain of online commerce. Anyone building a new website should consider PWAs. Several companies are pushing this side of things and platforms like, StoreHippo has invested heavily in building PWA frameworks and functions.

Customizable — Some online platforms offer new features through their app store for various add-ons, while some offer the addition of features through custom development and integration. However, choosing custom development is essential for better security and customisation. It helps you add new features like B2B applications during custom development. You can add and customise features like-

• Multi-Seller personalisations
• Order Processing
• Pricing
• Tax Rules
• User Roles
• Invoicing and many more

Checkout Process — Major driver behind online shopping’s success is the convenience level of a user. If an online store provides a smooth way to buy products quickly, then the checkout process won’t be tedious. The entire purchase process should be quick and efficient. The checkout process should be appropriately optimized to suit the customer’s experience. Some notable capabilities of custom checkout for your business are-

• Custom checkout flow
• IP based pricing
• Auto Capturing of buyer’s details
• Data Validation and many more

Security — Data breaches harm an ecommerce business’s reputation more than financial consequences. Frequent buyers will avoid shopping at an online store that put their private information at risk. Therefore, you should use the right tools for minimizing the chances of fraud.

Scalability — Scalability is vital when deciding on your ecommerce platform. Generally, a thriving high volume business will need constant upscaling. Your website needs to be able to change and grow to meet demand. Scalability can make a massive difference to your company’s profits and growth potential. Your online platform should be equipped to handle sales of large volume with the same effectiveness that aided to make your business as successful when it was smaller.

There are more features that you can explore if you want something specific to suit your business. Above mentioned features the signature features of any good ecommerce platform that can help your business flourish.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, you can’t just choose any option for your business. You have to do proper research and assess what your business needs to progress. Not only that but be sure to evaluate the platforms you are checking out thoroughly. The right solution for your business can get you out of trouble, but if the answer doesn’t address your problems, it will become a part of it.

Don’t take my word for it. There are a lot of platforms in the market suited to different types of businesses. Look them up and sign up for their trial. You will figure out the key to enhance your business.