Every eCommerce platform has its own set of functions and features. However, you must ensure that your eCommerce platform provides the following capabilities for your business.
1. A comprehensive catalogue
The heart of your inventory is your product catalogue. Examine whether the catalogue is simple to update and navigate. But, more significantly, see if the product catalogue satisfies the needs of your industry. If you are in the fashion or garment industry, for example, your clients will expect to be able to choose the size and colour of a product. Product bundles and cross-linking between product pages are two more examples.
Depending on how common or customised the functionality you desire, part of it may be incorporated into the platform, some of it may come with a theme, and some of it may require the use of an app or plugin.
2. Pricing that is adaptable
You’ll want to use coupons or store-wide discounts to effortlessly run promotions, sales, free shipping deals, or discounts.
You might also wish to offer several pricing tiers, such as wholesale and retail.
Some of this features may be included within the platform, while others, such as wholesale pricing, may require the use of a separate app.
3. Shipping options
Customers’ expectations and your personal needs as a business owner have changed dramatically over the years, as have shipping obligations. Customers want rapid, low-cost, or free shipping, while you, as a business owner, require a simplified, dependable, and efficient fulfilment process. Check that the platform can work with your desired shipping provider and, preferably, automate the process of delivering customer shipment alerts. You should also be able to provide a variety of delivery alternatives, such as express, regular, and free.
4. Analytical tools
Most people think that tracking and analysing your website’s performance indicators is the most boring job in the world. However, being able to measure and monitor your website’s performance indicators is similar to keeping an eye on your automobile dashboard: it informs you if you’re on the correct track, what’s working, and what isn’t. Most eCommerce platforms, such as Shoppify, include built-in analytics tracking. If you haven’t already, or if you want more detailed statistics, you’ll need to be able to sync or integrate data from your eCommerce platform with Google Analytics, so be sure this is possible.
5. Integration with Facebook
You can perform a couple of things by connecting your Facebook business account: To begin, you can track certain actions a website visitor makes on your website, such as visiting on a page, browsing your store’s products, adding items to their shopping basket, and making a purchase. Customers can then see advertising based on their behaviour.
Your products can also be synced to Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. You can utilise a product catalogue for a variety of purposes after creating it, like showing products in a collection advertisement or tagging products on Instagram.
All of this has the potential to raise website traffic and sales significantly.
6. Integration with Google Merchant
Businesses can use Google Merchant to upload and manage product information so that it can be listed in relevant Google Shopping results. It helps to increase traffic to your online store’s products, which can lead to a big rise in traffic and sales.
7. Gathering feedback
The ability to gather client feedback and post it on your website can have a significant impact on your conversion rate. Positive evaluations, according to one study, improve consumer trust by 72 percent, with Millennials trusting user-generated content 50 percent more than any other medium.
8. Calculation of taxes and accounts automatically
If you run a global eCommerce firm, you must adhere to several nations’ tax rules as well as their currency requirements. Noncompliance with tax regulations can result in a high-profile court action.
9. A variety of payment gateways
Multiple payment alternatives, such as PayPal, credit card, and debit card, have been shown to enhance conversion rates. Furthermore, if you plan to expand your eCommerce store worldwide, you’ll want to employ local payment gateways to earn local markets’ trust and custom.
Shopify also has a payment mechanism called Shop Pay, which I really like. When a consumer shops on a Shopify site, they can save their credit card and receive a unique confirmation number through text message for future transactions on any Shopify site, meaning they don’t have to put their credit card in again. This dramatically speeds up the checkout process and reduces barriers to access at the moment of sale, making consumer conversion easier.
Source: ecommerce platforms , online selling platform
