E-commerce, also known as electronic commerce or electronic business has been the revelation of twenty first century. It has changed the way people do business. These days, thanks to ecommerce, you are just a few clicks of mouse away from getting what you need and the best part is you don't even need to move from your bed, wash yourself to go to market.
Due to an ever increasing market of ecommerce, people are starting many new ventures online. If you are thinking about getting into the online business and are being buggered by the task of choosing the best e-commerce platform, here we have complied a list of ten questions that you need to ask before choosing the e-commerce platform.
1. How much will it cost?
E-commerce platforms come in many sizes and in many price ranges. While big businesses have high capital and are not restricted by financial constraints, small businesses have limited financial pull. Therefore, it would be wise to calculate the costs. For instance, you will need to pay initial price to set up business. Add transaction fee and hosting fee in that. In addition to that, you may have to pay additional money, if your sales crosses certain estimates.
Moreover, some ecommerce software providers charge you a fixed price monthly. In contrast, some might charge you based upon the percentage system, so if you are thinking of choosing an ecommerce platform, you need to analyze your cost of the services your business requires and compare the potential vendors in the very beginning.
2. Which is the best software delivery model for you?
There are four software delivery models prevalent now. They are open source, software-as-a-service, license/hold, and licensed/on premise model. Each model has its own distinct feature. For example, in an open source model, we can modify the source code and generally costs us less. However, in SAAS model, you don't have that freedom. Hence, the appropriate model should be chosen in order to ensure success.
3. What ecommerce platforms are my competitors using?
If you are a novice in ecommerce business, you may be clueless about which e-commerce platform to choose from among the various platforms available in the market. In that case, you could observe which vendors your contemporaries are using. This would give you an overall idea of what ecommerce services your business actually needs.
Making a list of vendors that your competitors are using gives you an edge to stand out among them. By doing so, you will be guaranteed all the functions that you require and you could avoid all other unnecessary expenses.
4. How long will it take to start?
Some of the ecommerce platforms can be set up easily and go live within several hours. On the contrary, the others could take months. You should have an estimate of how long will it take to set up an ecommerce site and how long you can wait. It will ensure you that your site will be ready when your business is ready.
5. Is it compatible with other software?
As your business grows, ecommerce platform might not be able to handle all the loads. In fact, you might need appstore, integrations, extensions and plugins to be successful at first place, so you should select e-commerce platform which supports appropriate plugins and extensions required for you for several reasons. It lets you run your business smoother. Second of all, it makes all the information centralized.
6. How much growth are you targeting?
To set up a target is an essential component of any business. When you start a business, you have a target in your mind and your business expands daily towards it. Same applies in the ecommerce business. However, some ecommerce platforms might not be able to keep pace with you.
On the long run, it will impede your progress (if you haven't selected your ecommerce platform predicting the growth of your business). Obviously, you could always migrate to other suitable platforms but it will cost you extra money. Therefore, you should select ecommerce platforms with one eye in projected growth.
7. How will your customer pay?
Before choosing the ecommerce platform, you should make sure that your choice of platform has payment methods suitable for you. Today, there are two popular modes of payment such as credit card payment method and third party payment method.
If you prefer credit card payment method, you must have merchant account. In addition to that, you should also ensure the security of personal information of your client. You could always choose third party payment options such as "PayPal", if you don't prefer credit card payment method.
8. How quickly does your page load?
Surprisingly, loading of a web page also has a vital say in your success. According to one of the studies, if Amazon loads just a second later, it will be losing nearly one and half billion dollars. Slow loading of a web page is a big no-no for your business if you want it to be the next 'Amazon'. If you are thinking of choosing an ecommerce platform, you'd better opt for the platform which has faster page loading rate.
9. Does it support mobile shoppers?
In a survey conducted about ecommerce platforms, nearly quarter of the participants pointed out the need for the service on mobile devices. Before you choose an ecommerce platform, you should make sure it supports mobile devices because, as we already know, smartphone is the current trend which isn't going out of date anytime soon.
If you are going online, keep in mind to keep up with the trends and update yourself regularly. Otherwise, you are sure to be left behind in the fast changing world of internet. Remember those good old days, when Nokia phones were reigning the mobile phone market, now they are almost out of the picture because of Nokia's inability to keep up with new trends.
10. Is there a free trial?
Lastly, who doesn't love things that are free? In case of ecommerce, some vendors are occasionally providing you a free run to experience the world of ecommerce. If you are at loss about what platform to choose, ask yourself, "Is there a free trial?" If yes, take the trail to make sure whether the ecommerce platform is suitable for you.