Answers
Nov 03, 2020 - 09:09 AM
Trying to pick the best ecommerce development partner for your fledgling business is a lot like choosing which flavor of ice cream you like best. There’s the plain but traditional vanilla ice cream (akin to small-scale ecommerce partners): sweet, simple, and a flavor that never disappoints.
Then there’s the slightly more rich butterscotch: more complex in taste, filled with bits of caramel and so delicious. A lot like medium-scale ecommerce partners, with additional frills that pack in more punch.
And finally, there’s the full-bodied chocolate fudge ice cream that goes all out to give you an experience you can’t forget. A favorite of the gluttons, it could even pass for brunch and packs in a deep, nutty flavor. This is the large ecommerce development partner that offers superior quality, the best services, and a great customer experience.
With so many ecommerce development services to choose from, how do you choose the one that’s just right for you? The fact is that there are simply too many to choose from, everywhere.
Every time you buy something online, you are watching an eCommerce transaction take place. Before we move on to how you can choose the right partner for your eCommerce business, let’s look at what the hype is all about.
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Lots of money to be made: In the year 2018, over 1.8 billion purchases were made solely online. Since 2017, almost a total of $2.3 trillion worth of online sales were made on ecommerce platforms.
And if this isn’t proof enough, here’s an image that shows how this figure is expected to double by 2021.
Image Source: https://www.shopify.in/
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eCommerce might soon be the showrunner: If the reports by Statista are any indication, then eCommerce is here to stay for the long run. In 2016, the eCommerce industry was projected to grow exponentially, with 58.3% of all internet users worldwide making purchases online.
Statista forecasts that by 2021, the world of eCommerce businesses will see a whopping 2 billion users making online purchases.
The bottom line? eCommerce is the most viable option for growing your business right now. Choosing the right kind of ecommerce development services is key to your business success. Let’s look at the key pointers you need to keep in mind while selecting a partner, without further delay.
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Helping You Set Up Your Website Completely
When you’re running a flourishing business and have so much to take care of, you wouldn’t want to waste precious time and effort into setting up your website. It’s smart then to look for a company that lets you easily set up shop and even takes care of the website design. You’d want a partner that enables you to express your brand voice and what it stands for.
When hiring an ecommerce development company, you should ensure that your business website features a professional look and makes a bold statement as well.
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A Partner That Knows What You Want
If you run a coffee shop, it makes no sense to hire a salesman who’s spent all their life selling clothes or insurance. Likewise, when you are setting up your eCommerce business website, it makes sense first to evaluate what you want and what you should be looking for in the right eCommerce development agency.
Ask yourself questions such as:
I. What kind of platforms do they mainly specialize in? Have they sold products on Amazon, eBay, or Alibaba?
Ii. Does the company have an excellent track record for nurturing and leading sales within your target market audience?
Iii. Can the company help you with your marketing plans, such as conversions, PPC, SEO, and customer acquisition?
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Smooth Integration with eCommerce Systems
The best eCommerce development agencies will offer you smooth integration with top-notch solutions such as CRMs, ERPs, OMSs, and PIMs. Along with these, you can also expect smart search, inventory and management solutions, courier systems, and a whole range of payment options to choose from.
It’s crucial that you work with an eCommerce partner who offers all of these, along with marketplaces, digital marketing tools, as well as the specialized skills that are necessary to integrate all of these seamlessly.
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The Multichannel Experience
Today’s customers are way more advanced than those in the past. With easy access to multiple platforms and mobile Internet, your customers will want to be able to look for your products online, save for later purchases, and even track their orders from their phones. And yes, even if they made those purchases from a computer.
So it pays to choose an eCommerce web development company that can establish your business for an omnichannel experience. Ensure they have all the right credentials and the skills to offer your clients a smooth customer experience across websites, apps, and mobile platforms.
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Beautiful Design
A great eCommerce partner would have a team of highly-skilled graphic designers, design professionals, and eCommerce specialists. A designer who truly understands eCommerce would be able to create a site that’s tailored to your business goals and not just looks great but also practical.
Image Source: https://www.chumbak.com/
Look out for the following pointers in the design team:
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Do they talk about creating a responsive website?
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Does user-centric design drive their projects?
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Do they pay attention to content marketing?
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Robust Support
In all likelihood, your eCommerce site is your baby and a labor of love. So if it fails, the consequences could be dire. You could incur heavy financial losses, lose your customers, and create a wrong impression on your target audience.
What goes big eCommerce companies like Flipkart or Amazon going is the fact that they are all supported by a team of dedicated workers, staff, and management systems that make sure there is round the clock support.
Your eCommerce development partner should, too, guarantee all this, along with providing a set of legal agreements within their terms and conditions.
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Offers Scalability
When you’re launching your very first eCommerce store, you’ll have ambitious dreams of seeing all your hard work come to fruition someday. The sky will truly be the limit for you, and your business will need a reliable team to fall back on.
As you embark on choosing from a range of eCommerce development services, ensure the following:
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Does the partner have the expertise and ambition to scale up your business?
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Are they willing to take a leap of faith along with you?
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What kind of testimonials do their past clients have about them?
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SEO-optimized
When customers set out to look for a specific product, they are very likely to search for it on Google and other search engines. Make sure that you sign up with an eCommerce partner that dedicates itself to making your business discoverable and easy to find.
For this, the partner must offer to build an SEO-optimised site and help drive traffic to your business organically. No matter how small or big your business is, you must be able to use your very own domain name, create a blog, receive excellent customer reviews, and rank high in search engine results.
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Cheap Isn’t Always Good
If you’re new on the eCommerce block, it’s understandable that you’d want to sign up with an agency that offers competitive pricing. While it’s okay to focus on finding the best deal for you, you must remember that not all agencies that provide cheap rates are good.
More often than not, agencies that seem a little expensive can be trustworthy in the long run as they know their value. They attract great talent and pay them hefty salaries, which explains the higher pricing. But this also means that your eCommerce business will be in safe hands.
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Choose a Partner That’s Just Right for Your Business
Often, we tend to overlook our emotions and go on to make decisions that seem logical and practical. No matter what your approach is, you must remember that sometimes it’s good to pay attention to what your gut says about a particular development partner.
Are they a good cultural fit for you? Do you agree with their work ethic, and does it align with yours? Does the partner company have a definite hierarchy of project managers and division of responsibilities?
When you’re about to choose an eCommerce development company, you have to remember that it might as well be your business partner for the next few years. So how you really feel about them is just as important as the other technical factors.
Still not sure about what you should look for in an eCommerce partner? Get in touch with us and get started with your dream of launching the next best eCommerce store.
Nov 04, 2020 - 01:39 AM
Here are a few factors that a business owner or aspiring entrepreneur need to consider when choosing an ecommerce solution or software:
Mobile Commerce: Is the solution optimized for mobile devices? Responsive design, high loading speed, mobile apps are needed to gain the benefits of mobile commerce.
Load optimization: Make sure you ask your ecommerce solutions company about the performance stats. How many products can be uploaded on the platform, concurrent users, etc?
Ease of use: How difficult is it to set up the initial website and scale it? What sort of training is needed to run and manage the website? Does the company provide demos and training to understand the system? Review the user-interface of the preferred ecommerce solution. Will they lock you in to an expensive retainer?
Pricing: There are multiple costs associated in set up of an ecommerce store including subscriptions, third-party APIs, customization, and hosting. Consider all the Total Cost of Ownership before proceeding.
Customization options: Do you want to customize the website design or functionalities to reflect your brand? If so, look for platforms that offer customization.
Hosted or Self-Hosted: Hosted ecommerce solutions such as Shopify or BigCommerce are cost-effective and can be easily deployed. Whereas, self-hosted ecommerce solutions such as Magento or Yo!Kart offers more control and flexibility to scale.
Analytics & Reporting: Does the platform provide you with data on who is visiting your site, how often, and when? Today most platforms sync with Google Analytics to give a holistic view, but the analytics on the platform is essential.
Technical Support: Many startups fail because they don't get the required tech support on time from their technical partners. Read about customer support policies before you select any ecommerce solutions.
Compliance with International standards: Also, make sure the software you are going to choose is compliance with rules and regulations of your target audience region. For example, if you are going to launch your online store in Europe, your store needs to compliant with GDPR standards.
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