During the early stages of your business, choosing an e-commerce platform is one of the most important decisions that you will make. Today, with more people than ever before shopping online for the added convenience and choice, small business owners are finding that an e-commerce store is no longer an option, but a necessity. No matter which products you are selling online, getting set up with the right e-commerce platform is fundamental to your success. We’ve listed some of the main things to consider when making this important decision.
Affordability:
Cost is understandably one of the main things to take into consideration when looking for an e-commerce platform. However, it’s important that you don’t make the mistake of simply choosing the cheapest option available. Similar to when you are choosing website hosting, it’s always better to pay more for a great quality service than pay the minimum amount for minimum features and support.
Reputation:
The second thing to consider when choosing an e-commerce platform is their reputation. For example, look for a platform which provides examples and case studies for you to look at, such as Bing Digital Shopify Experts. It’s also a good idea to take a look at third-party review sites to find honest, unbiased reviews from past customers.
Research:
It is especially important for start-up companies to be able to research their target market by working together with more experienced companies. When choosing an e-commerce platform, it’s a good idea to avoid start-ups and new platforms, instead going for ones which have been established for some time and have plenty of experience in the industry. Additionally, you can take advantage of available resources online like checking out Monocle’s post on Excel inventory forecasting or similar ones that may provide you with core insights. Such information may be useful in predicting your sales as well as avoiding pitfalls.
Flexibility:
One of the most important questions to ask when choosing your business’ e-commerce platform is: ‘Will they be able to grow with my business?’. When you choose an e-commerce platform, you’ll need to think about the years ahead and where you expect your business to be in the future. If you’re hoping to grow and expand quite rapidly, you will need to choose an e-commerce solution that can match your pace. The Amazon FBA business approach could make for a great option taking into account the flexibility consideration and if you are interested in starting an Amazon FBA business, then the Helium 10 suite of tools could be just what you need.
Customer Experience:
The overall customer experience is one of the most important factors of your business website including your e-commerce store, blog, and social media pages. When choosing an e-commerce store, it’s important to make sure that it offers a great experience to the end-user, from your store’s design and layout to the page loading time.
Security:
Lastly but perhaps most importantly, when choosing an e-commerce platform, security should be one of your main priorities. When you are selling products online, it’s not only important to make sure that your own financial information is secure, but also the customer data which will be entered on your site. A data breach can have serious consequences for a company, so it’s crucial that you pick an e-commerce solution that takes the matter of customer security very seriously.
Choosing an e-commerce solution for your small business is one of the most important early decisions to make. Taking these main points into careful consideration will help you to make a wise choice.