DIY-ing an Ecommerce Website – the Benefits and Limitations
Web Development 8 min read
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Home Blog Web DevelopmentChoosing the Right Ecommerce Platforms for Digital Marketing
Web Development 8 min read
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Web Development 8 min read
Don’t miss a single mark on this list of considerations when choosing the right ecommerce platforms for digital marketing.
The matter of your choice in ecommerce platforms for digital marketing is fundamental to maximizing its benefits.
With the right fit for your business and customer needs, you gain a powerful asset for generating sustainable online growth. Choosing the wrong one, on the other hand, and you find yourself on the losing end in online marketing.
As a long-standing ecommerce development company we’ve seen many cases of the latter. And what we’ve observed is that their common denominator is neglecting to recognize the unique value of each type of ecommerce platform.
With technological advancements happening rapidly, this understanding of how ecommerce platforms for digital marketing become more important than ever. This is especially true for businesses just starting out – how they can get started up easily and scale just as quickly.
Given the importance of your choice of ecommerce platform, we’ve come up with this article to help you make an informed decision.
An ecommerce platform is designed for online stores – small to enterprise – to manage their businesses in a complete software solution. In this platform, companies can run their own website, marketing, operations, and sales – allowing them to run their business and centralize their operations.
The simple difference between an ecommerce website and a marketplace is in ownership and customization.
Ecommerce websites are wholly owned and can be customizable, or not (more on this in the sections that follow). Meanwhile, a marketplace is owned by a bigger proprietor where you operate only as a concessionaire selling on the platform hence, customization is highly limited.
FURTHER READING: Weighing Marketplace vs Your Own Ecommerce for Business
Most of the processes of an ecommerce platform are automated, but starting an ecommerce business requires you to understand each step of this process.
First, you can customize your store systems from available payment options, product management, and customer service. Once set, you can display all your products on the website while placing them under categories, and providing product dimensions, details, and images. Organizing each of your products into the website will streamline the user’s journey.
A potential customer can be led to your product through search engine results, paid advertisements, or organic traffic. The customer can add the product to the digital cart and decide when to checkout and ship the product.
Ecommerce platforms help you streamline the user experience (UX) from product discovery to checkouts via essential features including product catalogs, security, and flexible payment methods.
Ecommerce platforms also have plugins that help you to steer customers to the most profitable products – leading to more sales. You can have a more effective customer service system, have a 24/7 global reach, and build your brand recognition in a more personalized online store.
Without a doubt, you need to understand thoroughly the advantages and disadvantages of ecommerce and all available platforms will set you prepared to start your own. But if you’re really up for the challenge, then:
Having an ecommerce website isn’t as simple as putting your products on shelves and waiting for a sale. Just as launching a brick-and-mortar store, you need strategic planning in building your ecommerce business.
You might be attracted to some ecommerce platforms that offer affordable plans, but it’s not just the budget that you should be considering.
Here are the factors you’ll need to consider and have some research on before committing and choosing an ecommerce platform:
Not all features may apply to your business so choose a platform that works suitably with the highlighted features of the ecommerce platform.
Surely, knowing the cost of hosting an ecommerce store will anticipate your expenditure and estimate your ROI. Some ecommerce platforms offer plans that include a number of features such as web design features, security, functionality and maintenance, and periodically hosting.
The initial development costs aren’t the only ones you should keep in mind. Running an ecommerce site requires maintenance, security, and other feature upgrades which can be costly affairs if you didn’t have proper research before the site launch.
Does the annual fee include the basic features needed for you to start a website, including the domain name and hosting? Some platforms may come with affordable plans but require additional payments for features in the form of extensions.
Not all can be applicable to your online store so listing down the essential ecommerce features would secure the possibility of choosing a platform that’s suitable for you. Include on your list the offsite extensions like payment gateways and analytics tools.
UX must always be the foremost focus of any commerce. Improving your relationship with your customers doesn’t only come with smooth page navigation and captivating web designs.
One way to have interactive customer service is via customer support. A good customer support system can resolve issues quickly through the channels of their choice. The ecommerce platform should anticipate all technical problems and offer the best resolutions for each.
Technological advancements provide more resources like artificial intelligence (AI) in digital marketing that help create better customer service experiences. Some platforms offer AI-powered support systems that automatically facilitate common issues.
How do your customers usually pay? Do they pay by credit card or debit card that links to their bank account, or do they work with redirects and off-site payments? Do international shoppers have a payment option, too?
You should find an ecommerce platform that operates with a number of payment choices. If you want to have a wider global reach, your business should offer payment processing services that operate different currencies, and payment methods.
With any payment gateway that you decide to work on, you should ensure that it’s convenient, secure, and always has more options. More payment options translate to more transactions as it leaves less friction for customers on checkout.
Security is one way to show that you are a trusted brand.
A robust ecommerce security system can identify and fight off most security threats. A cyber breach could harm your ecommerce business’ reputation as customers will become more reluctant to shop at stores that have put their financial and personal information at risk.
With that in mind, here are some key security features you should not miss when choosing an ecommerce platform that has robust security:
Check if the platform has the aforementioned security features, payment card industry (PCI) compliance, and data backups.
Having an SEO strategy in place increases the organic traffic on your website. When a prospective customer uses search engines to acquire information about a product or service, having a higher ranking in search results increases your opportunities to convert them into customers.
Ecommerce SEO considerations include the domain name, meta descriptions, image alt tags, navigation links, page titles, headings, IP addresses, and the like. It also includes your website’s indexability and crawlability — which are all essential for you to rank your website on search engines.
Acquiring data to understand the trends in customer behavior and make data-driven decisions is crucial. With this, working with a good analytics tool is a must in ecommerce.
Most ecommerce platforms integrate their own analytics so you won’t need to sync data and develop new insights and solutions from another analytics platform. If you prefer working with other analytics solutions, you can find extensions on most platforms.
If you’re aiming for a quick online store setup, some ecommerce platforms have pre-made templates to save you more time and financial investments in web development.
Even so, most businesses prefer to customize their own website since they are beneficial in a competitive edge. Most ecommerce providers allow you to custom web design but they cost relatively higher than website themes.
To know more about customization, check out our recent ecommerce design tips article to improve sales and conversion rates.
The number of shoppers using mobile devices is now increasing so having your website into mobile technology will make easier and seamless transactions – avoiding the possibility of abandonment.
In choosing an ecommerce platform, keep in mind that you’re not just looking for swiping functionalities and navigation. Inquire about mobile-only features like card designs, touch ID, click-to-call buttons, and click-to-map buttons.
For a more fluid decision process in finding the best ecommerce platform, here are some questions should you ask yourself and your company:
Now let’s talk about the available ecommerce platforms you can build with. Below you’ll find an overview of how each platform compares to another, provided the criteria we mentioned for consideration.
Criteria | WooCommerce | Shopify | Magento |
---|---|---|---|
Cost of implementation /td> |
USD 450, annually | USD 19 to USD 299, annually | USD 500–6,500, annually |
Features | Unlimited extensions | Built-in Shopify features and integrations with around 2,500 apps | 34 core features including catalog management |
Customer service features | Customer service chatbot available | Online help centers, email, live chat, and phone | Customer accounts and Contact Us forms |
Payment options | PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Amazon Pay | PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, cryptocurrency, Shopify Payments | PayPal, Authorize.Net, CyberSource, WorldPay, and Braintree |
Security | Security services and SSL certificates available | SSL certificates available | Third-party security plug-in |
SEO capabilities | Fully capable | Fully capable | Fully capable |
Data-driven analytics | Built-in | Built-in | Built-in |
Web design personalization | Free and premium templates available | Free and premium templates available | Free and premium templates available |
Mobile-friendly | Yes, with the use of specific plug-ins | Yes | Yes, for specific themes and templates |
WooCommerce is one of the most popular choices among the ecommerce community since it can cater to large- and small-scale businesses. It is an open-source platform that is built on WordPress and lets you customize your site by installing extensions.
Shopify is best for startups, hobbyists, and starter brands since it offers different versions of set pricing that cater to different business needs.
Magento offers two platforms: Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce. Magento Open Source is a self-hosted platform and a free version while Magento Commerce is the premium version and has more in-house features that are best for large-scale enterprises.
The biggest challenge in choosing an ecommerce platform is dealing with the limitations of each. Some platforms may offer cheap plans but have restricted features to work with and may also require additional costs for plugins and extensions, while some platforms with complete features may be costly for your business.
Make sure you weigh in your priorities—may it be features or price, study each platform, and choose which fits your requirements.
Ecommerce platforms are supposed to be streamlining your web development process to generate online traffic, centralize your business operations, and personalize your transactions.
But if you choose a platform that doesn’t let you work in an agile way, you’ll be missing out on sales and making fruitless investments. Ergo, it’s crucial to take note of these things as you choose the right platform for you.
How was your journey in choosing an ecommerce platform? Share it with us through our Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts. We’ll be delighted to hear from you.
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