Choosing the Right eCommerce Platform - Top 4 Considerations

People used to be somewhat reluctant about ordering things online, but this has all changed! In fact, online shopping is now popular with over 50% of Internet users, on a global level, which makes eCommerce an extremely lucrative idea for a wide variety of businesses, regardless of their size, type and niche. Choosing the perfect eCommerce platform for your business, however, takes some time, research and dedication – there isn’t a single one that is the absolute best. What’s best for you is decuded by a variety of factors.

Security

Online stores have existed for quite some time now – it is not a technology that went through an innovative boom a couple of years ago; yet, it was only recently that it became so popular. Why? Well, people used to be reluctant – the thought of handing someone money virtually and waiting for a product to arrive with no physical guarantee was unsettling enough, let alone the fact that an online buyer has to give out their credit or debit card information. Well, security and data protection are easily the vital parts of any eCommerce business. Every entrepreneur who specializes in eCommerce (partly or otherwise) should ensure that their platform is in full compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

Mobile users

Unlike ordering online from PCs, mobile users seem to have quickly gotten accustomed to making online purchases from their smartphones. Consider the fact that there are now officially more searches on smartphones than on desktop computers and you’ve got your reason to have a fast, user-friendly, easy-to-navigate, completely mobile-compatible website. Always keep in mind that mobile users are even more affected by slow performance than standard desktop users. Your eCommerce platform has to be completely mobile-compatible.

Reliability and availability

If there’s one thing to know about the modern Internet user, it’s that they’re impatient. Not that long ago, we had to wait a couple of seconds for a simple image to appear on our PC with a dial-up connection, and nowadays, we get frustrated when we need to hit F5 in order to refresh a page! We all do this, and it’s perfectly normal, quite honestly – we might’ve been spoiled, but that’s just how it is. The same goes for your customer: if your website goes down, an online shopper will rather go spend their money on your competitor’s (smoothly running) website, than wait for your page to become available again, even if this only means a couple of minutes’ wait. Knowing how much traffic your eCommerce platform can take is key to solving this potential issue – load test your site thoroughly and frequently, taking note of how much traffic you tend to receive vs. how much traffic your platform can handle. Always be on a lookout for eCommerce platforms that offer optimal performance and general flexibility.

Features

The list of features that eCommerce platforms offer in total is huge; the list of features that a single eCommerce platform offers is always limited. Think about what you want your retail website to look like – do you need video content on it? Do you want to be able to embed posts from social media? What if you could integrate your eCommerce platform with a Point of Sale device, which is awesome for a physical store location? Simply make a list of all the main features these platforms may or may not offer and find those that fit you the best.

Choosing the perfect eCommerce platform is a matter of multiple factors, such as security, mobile users, reliability and features. Ultimately, knowing what you’re looking for in an eCommerce platform is more than half the job.