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How To Choose The Best E-Commerce Platform For Your Business: 4 Primary Things to Consider

With so many options available, choosing the best e-commerce platform that suits your needs can be overwhelming. Read on to find out the four primary things you need to consider when choosing the ideal platform for your unique needs.

Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace, BigCommerce, Magento, Navelle, Swell, Strapi, and so on, and so forth.

The list goes on and on, giving you a major headache even before you kick off your e-commerce business. But we got you.

This article can be an antidote of some sort as we’re giving you the four main things you need to consider when choosing the best e-commerce platform for your business — both in high-level and more granular scenarios. Read on!

On a high level…

Starting an e-commerce business is an exciting journey, but don’t get too caught up in the excitement. Pay attention to these four high-level key points when you’re choosing the best e-commerce platform for your business:

  1. Costs
  2. Growth
  3. Tech
  4. Services

Breaking down each point to help you choose the best e-commerce platform

Let’s see what each key point entails and what exactly you need to consider on a granular level.

1. Costs

Beyond setup fees and monthly or yearly platform subscriptions, you might also want to take into account these running costs:

  • Hosting — For WordPress (and WooCommerce) we usually recommend WPEngine or Flywheel
  • Domain name
  • Bandwidth
  • Transaction fees
  • Add-on subscriptions — including plugins, extensions, and apps

Other than comparing costs between platforms, don’t forget to compare them to your budget and revenue projections as well. This way, you can forecast how much profit you expect to gain each month and when you will start getting a positive return on investment (ROI).

2. Growth

As your business expands, you’ll want to be able to add new products, features, and integrations to your e-commerce store. Therefore, it’s important to choose a platform that is scalable and flexible enough to accommodate your growth, through features as follows:

  1. Scalable, robust inventory management capabilities — So you can track stock levels, manage product variations, and generate reports.
  2. Customizable themes — Allowing you to create responsive UI and delightful UX for both customers and staff.
  3. Ability to create personalization — Stand out in the crowd by providing a unique customer experience.
  4. SEO-friendly — Because without SEO, people can’t find your e-commerce business on search engines.

3. Tech

The technology behind the platform is also crucial. If you want to provide your customers with a seamless online shopping experience, you may want to choose an e-commerce platform that:

  • Can integrate with other solutions or SaaS
  • Has built-in tools or support plugins for various purposes — add to cart, checkout, payment gateway, shipping, customer service, and more
  • Improves your customer engagement — with features such as email marketing, customer reviews, and others
  • Can optimize for mobile
  • Maintains your business’ cybersecurity
  • Is PCI compliant

4. Services

The level of support and services offered by the platform is also a crucial consideration point.

How does the team behind the platform engage with you as their client? Do they respond to your queries quickly, give you personalized content, and offer a referral or loyalty program?

Other than that, a reliable platform will also provide resources that can help you succeed such as training and education, and a support team that makes you feel comfortable and confident working with.

In conclusion, which platform is best for e-commerce business?

Cliché as it seems, you need to compare your budget, business goals, current team members and resources, and timeline before picking the best e-commerce platform for your business.

For a small business with limited resources, Shopify or Squarespace might be a better choice. On the other hand, you might want to use WooCommerce on WordPress if you have an experienced team of developers. These platforms usually offer a free trial so you can utilize it before committing yourself.

And if you need in-depth guidance, help, and support in choosing the best e-commerce platform and scaling up your business, book a free intro call below and consult with our team.

Talk to you soon!

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