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Picking the Right eCommerce Platform for Your Online Business
Running an online business requires seamless integration between its digital and non-digital aspects. While the online store serves as an interface between you and your customers, the real journey begins only when an order is placed. Behind this interface, warehouse operations ensure that the product is delivered undamaged and within the promised timeframe. The right eCommerce platform should blend with both aspects.
Its selection depends on the nature of your industry and business needs. Some businesses require a large product catalog, while others operate with a smaller, curated selection. Some prioritize SEO-driven traffic, while others focus on brand building and direct sales through their website. For certain businesses, mobile users make up the majority of their audience, making mobile responsiveness a key factor.
Therefore, choosing the right platform depends on these unique business requirements.
If we look at real-life examples,
Gymshark built its store on Shopify because, as a D2C brand, it needed an attractive, user-friendly interface without technical hassles. Shopify provided a seamless shopping experience for customers.
Porker & York opted for WooCommerce since they aimed to drive sales through SEO and blog content. As a WordPress-powered platform, WooCommerce was the ideal choice due to its deep integration with content marketing.
Nike, being a globally established brand, required a platform with high levels of customization and flexibility. Magento was their choice as it allowed advanced personalization and scalability, despite needing significant developer involvement.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprises selected BigCommerce because its focus was on B2B sales. The platform provided the flexibility to manage bulk orders, corporate accounts, and backend system integrations, making it the best fit for their business needs.
So, these businesses asked the right questions, understood their needs, and selected an eCommerce platform that met their needs.
If you are also confused about the right platform to choose, here are the questions that you need to ask.
What Kind of Business Do I Have?
eCommerce businesses worldwide fall into two main categories: those selling physical products and those offering digital products.
If you’re dealing with physical products like clothing, electronics, or furniture, you’ll need a dashboard for order tracking and inventory management.
For digital products like eBooks and courses, selective access features are essential to protect your content from digital theft.
If you’re selling globally, choosing a platform with flexible payment integration and compliance with international payment regulations is crucial.
Your business model also affects your platform choice—whether you’re a single seller or building a marketplace for third-party vendors.
Is SEO My Main Channel for Sales?
If SEO is your primary sales channel, you need to ensure that the platform offers enough flexibility with its SEO features.
eCommerce websites often struggle with pages getting deindexed due to technical misconfigurations, so it’s crucial to check whether the platform supports essential SEO elements like URL customization, meta details editing, schema markup integration, fast content rendering, efficient indexing and crawling, and on-page content modifications.
For image optimization, see if the platform supports alt text, lazy loading, and preloading to avoid slowing down page loading speed. You should also evaluate how easily you can add new products and edit existing content.
Many platforms provide SEO plugins that help with meta length checks, keyword optimization, and readability analysis. If you’re using a theme, ensure it loads smoothly without errors. Also, be cautious with JavaScript—excessive use can prevent Google bots from properly indexing your pages.
Does the Platform Comply with Security Guidelines?
As an eCommerce business, you handle a significant amount of customer data. With data breaches on the rise, it’s essential for your website or app to follow standard security guidelines.
Check whether the platform provides SSL certificates and is PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant. Some platforms have built-in PCI compliance, while others require a PCI-compliant hosting provider.
Look for anti-fraud features that help track and detect fraudulent transactions. Some platforms also offer plugins to identify malicious activities on your site.
Ensure you can easily implement cookie policies that comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations. Poorly implemented cookie popups often disrupt the user experience when visitors land on your site.
Lastly, verify whether the platform supports seamless data backups to prevent data loss.
Can the Platform Support Scaling My Business?
When starting your eCommerce business, you may have only a few products and a limited target region. However, as your sales grow and you expand into new markets with a broader product range, the platform should offer the flexibility to scale accordingly.
It should have a user-friendly learning curve.
Evaluate every process with scalability in mind. Will the platform support bulk product additions? Can multiple users access the backend dashboard? Is it possible to create separate subdomains for each target country? Can you track sales and integrate data visualization tools?
Thinking through these aspects before choosing a platform will help you avoid complications later. If you realize down the line that the platform isn’t scalable, you may have to migrate to another one, which can be a complex and time-consuming process.
How Easy Is It to Manage Orders and Inventory?
Check if the platform offers automatic order tracking with the ability to filter order trends based on location. This can provide valuable insights into where your business has growth potential. Additionally, check if the platform supports integration with inventory management systems so you can receive real-time notifications about stock levels.
Reverse logistics is another crucial aspect of an eCommerce business. A platform with built-in return management features can help you efficiently track and manage returned orders, improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
If you are already managing a large-scale business with warehouses and fulfillment centers, ensure that the platform supports seamless integration with your third-party logistics (3PL) provider for smooth inventory and shipping operations.
Lastly, check if the platform allows you to create a custom dashboard where you can track and manage orders from multiple sales channels in one place. This can help streamline operations and improve order fulfillment efficiency.
Does It Support Multiple Marketing Channels?
To grow your eCommerce business, you cannot rely on a single channel. In addition to SEO, you need to run Google and Meta ads, email marketing campaigns, affiliate programs, referral traffic, and partnerships.
The platform should support the integration of all these channels and track orders.
The eCommerce platform you choose should offer features to track every order from each channel. It should also provide an easy way to collect customer reviews. This feature can be either built-in or integrated through review management platforms.
When you target all channels simultaneously, it increases brand visibility, builds customer trust, and helps you achieve better retention rates.
Does the Platform Support Enough Plugins and Extensions?
Plugins and extensions expand the functionality of your eCommerce platform, integrating it with other aspects of your business. All major eCommerce platforms have their own marketplaces where you can find extensions for specific purposes, such as SEO, payment gateways, order management, and more.
The ease of installing plugins or extensions makes them highly attractive to business owners. You can learn about Magento Extensions and Modules here.
Before deciding on an eCommerce platform, go through its library of extensions and plugins to see if it offers multiple options for every use case.
Ending Thoughts
Choosing an eCommerce platform is not as easy a decision as it seems. You need to consider multiple factors, as mentioned above. However, if you feel confused, no matter how much information you collect, you may struggle to make a final choice.
So, it’s essential to first understand exactly what you need and define your business goals. Once you have clarity, selecting the right eCommerce platform with the features you need, while staying within budget becomes much easier.
