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Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms that you can use to create your online store. It is an all-in-one solution when it comes to eCommerce businesses. Shopify offers drag-and-drop store builder, ready website themes, and hundreds of app integrations to add different functionalities to your site.
Site123 is a simple and easy-to-use website-building platform that you can use to create any kind of website. It comes with an intuitive website builder to make the process easier for users. You will also get access to a large collection of ready website templates. Site123 is good for eCommerce websites as well as offers a number of custom eCommerce features.
Shift4Shop, formerly known as 3dcart, is among the best eCommerce website builders that offer an end-to-end solution when it comes to starting and managing an eCommerce business. It offers you a large collection of website templates, handles payments, manages products, manages to shipping, and a lot more.
Weebly is one of the leading website builder platforms that is good for all different types of websites be it a blog or an eCommerce site. It is backed by Square, one of the popular eCommerce payment solutions. Weebly comes with an easy website builder, ready themes, marketing tools and amazing eCommerce features to help you start and grow your site.
Wix is a popular website-building platform used by over 200 million users. It offers a completely free version with limited features and affordable pricing plans. It is a completely hosted solution to create an SEO-friendly site. You can use Wix to create your blog, your eCommerce store, and your service business site. It offers you a simple website builder and hundreds of ready website templates to get started quickly.
Electronic commerce or eCommerce, in simple terms, refers to all the online activities which involve buying and selling of services or products.
You are basically engaging in eCommerce when you buy a piece of clothing from an online shop. The same holds true even when you purchase your flight tickets online.
With the world going digital, the eCommerce market is blooming. According to reports, the valuation of the eCommerce market will be close to $16,215.6 billion by 2027. Increased internet penetration and affordable smartphones contribute to the eCommerce market’s growth.
The eCommerce market’s success is such that it can tempt anyone to open an online store.
Starting an eCommerce business is, of course, exciting. You get the opportunity to squeeze your creative juice out by deciding on a business name, creating logos, and building a website.
However, if you plan to open an online store, you must consider many additional factors. The most important of all the critical factors is the right eCommerce platform.
This brings us to the question of what an eCommerce platform is and how it can help you.
The eCommerce platform is a software application that allows you to run an online store. An eCommerce platform helps you to manage the business:
You can lay a strong foundation for your online store with the right eCommerce platform.
There are plenty of eCommerce platforms in the market. However, all these platforms come with a different set of features, benefits, and prices. The right eCommerce platform depends upon your business requirements.
That being said, eCommerce platforms have a few must-have features which are crucial to start and growing your business. Let us now look at these must-have features you should consider while choosing an eCommerce platform.
Your online store will engage your customers in online transactions. Furthermore, when running a business, you must deal with plenty of sensitive data, including customer details.
It is a known fact that cyber crimes are on the rise. Therefore, security is the most crucial feature that you should look for in an eCommerce platform.
While choosing an eCommerce platform, look for security features like:
With the right security, you can protect both your business and the customers.
Anyone running a business can tell you that the customer is the king. Therefore, the eCommerce platform should ensure a smooth user experience.
Factors that determine a smooth user experience for eCommerce platforms are:
The user interface also plays a crucial role in enhancing the user experience. Elements of user factors that you should consider are color, visual hierarchy, typography, and interface style.
SEO plays a key role in organically growing the customers and conversion rate and building the business’s overall brand. According to reports, 37% of the traffic to eCommerce stores comes from search engines.
A few of the SEO features that you need to consider in the eCommerce platform are:
The user can manually engage in improving the SEO of the website. However, in aspects like the loading speed of the pages, the core features of the eCommerce platforms come into play.
Responsive web designs are essential, considering the fact that customers use both their laptops and smartphone to visit the website.
Even though most eCommerce platforms offer responsive website design, it is a good idea to check for it specifically.
It is because, with automated responsive website design, you can save a lot of time in creating multiple website designs to suit different screen sizes.
For running an online store, you will obviously need a payment gateway through which you can collect payments from customers for their orders. However, having a simple payment gateway is not enough!
The customers should have multiple payment options. It will give them the option to choose their preferred mode of payment.
Additional aspects that you need to check to ensure the smooth functioning of the financial aspect of the eCommerce store are:
Furthermore, an auto-invoicing feature in the eCommerce platform can prove handy in managing orders.
Your eCommerce store will hopefully grow in size as time passes. With such an optimistic vision, it becomes essential to ensure that the eCommerce platform has the potential to support the growth of your business.
You can get a fair idea about the eCommerce platform’s scalability by looking at its subscription plans and the features it supports.
Sometimes, even a fully-packed eCommerce platform needs additional support to meet all the online store requirements. In such a scenario, integrations come into play.
Different integrations that you might need in the eCommerce website include but are not limited to:
Choosing eCommerce platforms that support a wide array of integration is a must. It will help you in the future to avoid a sticky situation where you might need an added feature for your online store.
When you are opening an online store, you are basically dealing with business. Also, we all know that business involves numbers.
Therefore, keeping an eye on the critical eCommerce metrics and KPIs is essential. eCommerce platforms that support a built-in analytics system make it easier for users to monitor these numbers.
Thankfully, most of the eCommerce platforms support an analytic feature. However, it is vital to consider the depth of analytical features the eCommerce platforms provide.
Additional features which are good to have on eCommerce platforms are website personalization, Google Merchant integration, a customer review system, inventory management, and a user-friendly dashboard.
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