Over the last decade, the prevalence of online shopping has increased dramatically. Online sales increased by over 15% last year, which is expected to continue.

If you're starting a business and selling products and services, an e-commerce site is crucial to capitalize on this explosive online sales growth.

With so many options, choosing which eCommerce platform is best for your company may be challenging. Because of this, we've compiled a list of criteria that, when considered, should make it clear which platform is best for your eCommerce company.

What is an eCommerce Platform?

The term "eCommerce platform" refers to a certain kind of software that facilitates online commerce. eCommerce platforms are a prime example of a service cloud hosting has made unnecessary for forward-thinking companies. With a reputable service provider, this also implies better security and more availability, and it's cheaper and simpler to deploy.

The benefits of utilizing an eCommerce platform instead of having something created from inception are undeniable unless presented with particular and atypical requirements. Choosing the best solution can be challenging. There are numerous platforms, some tailored to small enterprises with relatively small product catalogs. Others provide significantly more flexibility but at the expense of increased complexity.

Changing platforms later on requires significant interruption. Therefore, it's crucial to get it right from the start. Although there may be no other choice in some instances, re-platforming is often time-consuming and costly.

Why it's crucial to choose the right e-commerce platform?

An online store's website, marketing, sales, and back-end operations may all be managed more efficiently with the aid of an eCommerce platform.

An agile cloud-based solution provides remarkable experiences for customers, improves operational efficacy, and opens up extraordinary expansion possibilities.

The best part is that there is no need for the admission fee to be prohibitively expensive. Because the top eCommerce systems provide so many chances, you can build the ideal storefront for your company on a relatively tight budget if you use those opportunities. To make a decision that is as slick and well-rounded as possible, bear in mind the following four crucial aspects:

• Growth: Expanding your products and services is essential to see rapid growth.
• Cost: Consider the initial investment required to create your eCommerce platform and the continuous expenses associated with keeping it up and running smoothly.
• Engagement: How can you interact with your consumers using the platform's built-in features?
• Service: Customer service should be a top priority to increase sales, customer satisfaction, and repeat business.

How to choose the best eCommerce platform?

Pricing and Payment

When looking for an e-commerce platform, cost should be your priority. Whether you're a startup or a traditional storefront expanding into the digital realm, having a clear picture of your costs is essential.
Almost all platforms will have a monthly fee.

Depending on the type of platform you get, the costs may vary. You should also think about the platform's related processing costs while making your decision.
Don't sacrifice the things you'll need for a cheaper price. Think about the perks and cons of your choices so you can make an intelligent choice.

Cost of Ownership

When comparing different eCommerce options, cost is often the first factor examined. Whether you're a startup or a traditional retailer taking your operations online, knowing the full cost of each platform is essential.

Almost every service will charge a subscription fee. Every system has its own processing expenses. When making decisions, you should think about both the upfront and recurring expenditures. Don't skip on necessities only to save money. Think carefully about the benefits and drawbacks so that you can save money.

Integrations

Integrations and plugins are other vital aspects to consider when comparing e-commerce systems. You can find everything you need to manage your store on most systems like Shopify. Which plugins you end up installing depends on what features your organization needs. Consider the resources you currently have or will need for your company as you explore the various platforms.

Security

If customers have doubts about the safety of their financial data on your eCommerce site, they will not make purchases there. Whichever platform you choose, ensure it has basic security features like PCI compliance, an SSL certificate, fraud protection, and data backups. Security audits should be performed on the platform to discover vulnerabilities. In this way, adjustments may be made to safeguard consumers better.

You should choose a platform written in an object-oriented language since these systems already have safety measures.

Two-factor authentication is a crucial feature of Magento and Shopify, two of the most widely used e-commerce systems. Security plugins may provide an extra layer of protection to systems that don't natively support multi-factor authentication for private data.

Responsive Web Design

eCommerce shops must recognize mobile consumers, as over half of American eCommerce buyers made purchases on their phones in 2019. Their mobile-friendly website should let such people shop.

eCommerce shops with distinct desktop and mobile sites must handle multiple marketing campaigns, ads, product information, catalogs, etc. It will raise prices and resource use.

A responsive web design automatically changes a site for computers, laptops, mobiles, and tablets, making it a cheaper and better option than a separate desktop and mobile site. Thus, responsive web design gives consumers a wonderful experience on any device.

Choose a system that allows for responsive web development. The e-commerce systems Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify provide various responsive themes and templates for creating multi-level online stores. Shopify also includes in-line HTML and CSS editing. They have complete control over the website's look, down to the individual pixel.

Themes & User Experience (UX)

The quality of a brand's customer experience is predicted to overtake both price and product by 2020. Customers nowadays are interested in more than simply making a purchase; they also want a fun and exciting shopping experience.

Most e-commerce systems will provide various alternative themes when designing your online shop. Both free and paid premium themes are available; the latter need a separate purchase in addition to the membership. A well-designed experience is essential to converting visitors into purchasers. Therefore, spending more to stand out from the competition is worthwhile.

Speed and Scalability

According to Google, "micro-moments" occur whenever a user "turns to a device to act on a need to know, go, do, or buy."

In today's fast-paced market, your platform's responsiveness is crucial to your company's success. It is something that can stay the same as the company expands. One of the most significant e-commerce platforms can adapt to your company's needs.

Looking at poor load times, frozen sites, 404 errors, and other sluggish performance indicators may help you determine where the gaps could be in a platform's performance and scalability. It is essential to analyze typical site performance and learn how many users the platform can support simultaneously during high-traffic periods.

We suggest looking for a scalable, cloud-hosted platform with features and functions that meet your expanding business's demands right now. It's also important to take into account things like sophisticated caching techniques and the capacity to automatically delete material when product descriptions need to be updated. Make sure your users get adequate technical and customer support as well.

Multiple Payment Gateways Support

When it comes to making payments for your products and services, your customers have a great deal of leeway and convenience at their disposal.

Your online shop has to be linked to a trusted and secure eCommerce payment gateway, a specialized processor that transfers money from consumers' bank accounts directly into your own. It may seem obvious, but the truth is that not all online storefronts support the same set of payment processors. Location is crucial. Thus, it's best to adjust the payment system accordingly.

Despite their meteoric rise, e-wallets have yet to become the global primary payment method. Ensure your platform has a large enough range of payment methods to accommodate your most common customers.

Mobile-friendliness

Merchants are increasingly interested in platforms that provide a mobile-ready experience for their online businesses as mobile use for digital communication and transactions continues to rise.

After the epidemic, this is even truer. Now more than ever, people use mobile devices to complete their online grocery, home, and drug store runs. The most effective e-commerce systems will be built in a way that facilitates a simple, streamlined experience for the buyer. A well-designed mobile experience is crucial from start to finish, including design, navigation, layout, and user experience.

The company also has to be able to sell its wares and services via various online mediums like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and so on.

SEO Friendliness

The ideal eCommerce platform will construct its architecture keeping SEO in mind since it is crucial to your shop's success. Building organic SEO takes time, but it may be facilitated by selecting a platform that incorporates best practices and prioritizes keeping up with updates to Google's algorithms.

The SEO capabilities of various shopping cart software vary widely. Look at the available SEO tools, from basic ones like editing metadata (tags, descriptions, and picture captions/descriptions) to more complex ones like adding canonical tags and product search results pagination.

Personalization

Another crucial step in effective product marketing is to get to know your target market. Therefore, customization should be your priority, as the following findings from our study demonstrate.

With the help of machine learning and AI, you can provide your online customers with a unique and memorable shopping experience. The most effective e-commerce systems feature a recommendation engine that displays products to customers in real-time based on factors such as demographics, context, behavior, history and psychographics.

Since it considers a wide variety of data points, the platform can provide consumers with a real-time experience uniquely tailored to their needs.

Technical Support

Customer's ability to access your site and make purchases might need to be improved by unforeseen circumstances such as software failures, server downtimes, or server crashes. These will not only result in a drop in sales but also damage your company's reputation.

You need timely technical help from your eCommerce platform to get out of these traps and have your shop running smoothly again as soon as possible.

Consequently, you must choose a service that will be there for you during your most inconvenient hours. Asking these inquiries of a platform's customer support team is essential before making any final decisions. Do you provide technical help around the clock or just during certain times? Which channels will be used to assist? What are the various tiers of service and the charges associated with each one?

Common Errors When Selecting an E-commerce Platform

Here are the most common mistakes we see people make when choosing an eCommerce platform:

Using a platform that is difficult to expand

If your platform is not easily scalable, it might stunt your company's growth. Some systems' inability to scale is due, in large part, to the fact that they depend only on locally hosted servers or have inadequate network connectivity.

Too many features

Investing in a platform with many more capabilities than you need is related to scalability in this manner. You are receiving a bad return on your investment and paying for unnecessary extras.

Select a system that satisfies your "must-haves" and leaves room for expansion if your needs change, and your company expands. It ensures that your expenditures continue to parallel the expansion of your company.

No objectives

Before settling on eCommerce software, it's essential to define your needs. You'll waste a lot of time if you don't have clear goals in mind before you start looking for an eCommerce platform.

Customizing incorrectly

Many businesses choose a strict platform, attempt to adapt their internal processes, and need to work with that framework. But if you know what you need and want, you should be able to choose a platform that is close to perfect for your company's image and can be tweaked to perfection in other respects.

Final Thoughts

Finding the appropriate best eCommerce platform is essential to your company's effective operation and expansion. If you cannot make the correct choice, you will eventually be forced to migrate to a new eCommerce platform, which can be an ordeal that is not only irritating but also time-consuming, labor-intensive, and financially burdensome for you.

By researching the many characteristics of the platforms at your disposal, you will be able to choose the ideal one for your eCommerce website's requirements the very first time, putting you on the path to being successful in the online retail industry.