Running an E-commerce business is not as straight forward as it seems. Statista says that revenue in the eCommerce market is projected to reach a whopping $4.48 trillion in 2023. Meaning, there’s a lot at stake if you don’t choose the right e-commerce platform and you may end up encountering an avalanche of e-commerce challenges.
So, now the question is: Which are the most popular e-commerce solutions and platforms in 2023. And which one of these is right for you to meet your business goals?
What kinds of e-commerce solutions are available?
The goals of business vary, and to opt for an e-commerce platform that is popular just because everyone is using it doesn’t make sense. For some, the goal can be to increase revenue; for some, it could be to improve customer engagement; and for some, it could create a new market.
Thus, here are a few types of e-commerce solutions available for the brands to choose from:
Building the platform in-house
Rather than a platform, it is a method. Building the platform in–house doesn’t mean you will make your platform on your own. You can outsource this service to the experts who know what will suit your business best. But this method is the last resort because various E-commerce platforms are ready to use, and if in case none of them work, an in-house platform can be built.
Traditional platforms
Traditional platforms are the ones you buy upfront by paying their license fees and then working on customizing them. One can renew the subscription annually or half yearly; however, the platform permits. The team of your developer will need to make the changes as and when required and then install it on the server or cloud. A few examples of traditional platforms are Hybris and Oracle.
Open-Source Solutions
Open-Source platforms are the ones where the codes are accessible to anyone, and they can edit them according to their requirements. The difference between traditional platforms and the open-source platform is that these don’t incur the cost upfront but have to be paid later. The payment includes initial developments, upgrading costs, add–on, implementation costs, etc. A few examples of open-source platforms are WooCommerce and Magento.
Cloud-based solutions
Cloud Platforms like Volusion help businesses design, launch, and manage e-commerce websites using custom domains and personalized themes. It comes with a built-in-editor, which allows the organization to add, update, or delete text, images, or other multimedia files across the website. Apart from Volusion, there are other cloud platforms such as Demandware, Salesforce Commerce, etc.
SaaS-based solutions
People often get confused between SaaS and cloud platforms, but both are different. SaaS – Software-as-a-Service E-commerce is a practice of selling products online through partnerships with a SaaS service provider. It is a software company that provides access to software applications over the internet and not on your premises. Most of the products belonging to the category of SaaS, are run via a web browser or are hosted in the cloud. Hence, it is not a plugin and does not sit on your devices.
Factors to consider while choosing the best e-commerce platform:
Depending on your goal, you need to select the right e-commerce platform. However, here are a few general things to check in your checklist to determine it:
Platform Ownership
An E-commerce platform can be self–hosted or on the cloud.
If you choose to host it yourself, you must deal with the installation and the updates yourself. It could result in being extremely expensive. But the upside to this is that it gives you greater control over the online platform and better security too. And the added advantage is that you can view your data anytime you want.
For a cloud-hosted platform, you can get hosting for your website via cloud solutions like Amazon Web Service or Microsoft Azure. It means it is not you who is hosting but the cloud that manages the brand uptime. The costs are lower, and the customer support is better, but you will have less control over the servers. You might not be able to mold the server to your specific needs.
Support and Maintenance
When things have a tendency to go downhill, and indeed they do sometimes, you can see if your vendor is providing you with the necessary support or not. Lots of undesired situations, like software outages, server downtime, or crashes, may occur at any time, which can hinder customers from accessing the site and making purchases. It hurts brand image and causes a loss of revenue.
To cope with such situations faster and make the process of running the store smooth, quick and efficient technical support is required. Before opting for a particular platform, consider raising these questions before its customer service representatives.
SEO Friendliness
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial factor to consider for the store’s success. It takes time for the brand to build organic SEO, but it gets easier if the right e-commerce platform is used. If the product your customers are looking for is visible in search engines, only then will they look for that on your platform.
Hence, your platform should be equipped with SEO features for more people to visit it. You must check what SEO capabilities are included – from simple options like updating metadata (tags, descriptions) and captioning/describing images to more advanced features like adding canonical tags and pagination in product search results.
Responsive Design
With more than half of American shoppers having shopped from a mobile device, the websites cannot afford to create a design that is not responsive. The E-commerce website you wish to complete should be responsive to different devices.
If at all, you choose to have different websites for mobile and desktop, then the ad campaigns, banners, product details, catalogs, etc., need to be designed accordingly. It could be a lot of work and could be costly as it needs maintenance.
Security
Customers will not buy the product from your e-commerce website if they think their information can be hacked. No one wants their data to fall into the wrong hands. No matter what platform you choose and whether you decide to own it or host it on the cloud, make sure it is safe. It should have features like Payment Card Industry, Security Socket Layer, Fraud Prevention, as well as Data Backup.
Cost
Pricing is one of the most significant considerations when choosing the platform. It depends on various factors like design, setup configuration, self-hosted vs. cloud-hosted, custom development, maintenance, etc. As the platforms vary, the prices of the platform vary. For example, Shopify costs from $9 per month to $299 per month. Volusion ranges from $15 to $299 per month. BigCommerce starts at $29.95 and goes up to $249.95 per month.
Multiple Payment Getaway
Users often abandon the cart because they cannot view the suitable payment method. Not everyone uses a credit card or online wallet; hence you need to give the option of cash on delivery too. No matter how advanced or powerful a payment gateway is, it’s almost impossible to offer all features in all countries across the globe and provide equally good support to all of them.
Fewer payment getaway options are one of the reasons for increased cart abandonments. And whatever can be done to reduce it should be done. And the benefit of keeping multiple payment options is that you can expand the audience reach. Also, it helps collect a wide variety of customer data. Since not all getaway contains the same kind of data, all the methods can complement each other.
Conclusion:
Always remember that the best E-commerce Platform for your business is the one that meets up with your goals and not the one that is popular. And to know which e-commerce platform is the best for you, consult with a few e-commerce development companies. Let their expert opinion guide you because e-commerce business is much more than listing your products online.