Sometimes you can have too many options.
Merchants in the market for a new e-commerce platform can avoid feeling overwhelmed by all the options and functionality on the market by staying focused on their specific needs, says Eli Fisher, director of business development for Unbeatable Sale, No. 249 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500. Unbeatable Sale sells 3.8 million products online across 27 e-commerce sites as well as eBay.com and Amazon.com. The retailer has grown its revenue roughly 20% each year since its launch, according to Fisher. Its web sales reached an estimated $116.5 million in 2016, according to Internet Retailer’s Top500Guide.com.
“Pick the most important things to your business and narrow that list to five things or less,” Fisher says.
Shmaya Krinsky, chief technical officer for Renegade Furniture Group, agrees. Krinsky suggests retailers nail down a list of requirements. “Decide what a minimum buyable product would include,” he says. He says retailers may also want to consider breaking their rollouts into phases. “You don’t need a million things done to launch,” he says. “Look at the long term.”
Renegade, which sells online at ColemanFurniture.com, is No. 481 in the Top 500. It says its web sales total between $44 million and $55 million and grew between 30% and 35% year over year last year. Krinsky also suggests retailers document specifically what they’re trying to achieve and to document what a successful e-commerce site launch will look like.
Meanwhile, Fisher wishes Unbeatable Sale would have taken more time to get customer feedback while designing a new e-commerce site it recently launched using software-as-a-service vendor WebJaguar.
While Unbeatable Sale conducted some focus groups, Fisher says it could have done more to gather customer feedback. For example, some customers continue to struggle to find items. While that could be a product of offering such a wide array of goods, he says it’s always good to get constructive criticism while designing rather than after the fact.
Fisher also encourages retailers to get the all-in cost of any platform they are considering.
Retailers would be wise to ask about potential hidden extras, such as customer service or credit card processing fees, he adds. They should also get a clear understanding of how site issues are handled. For example, many vendors set up a priority queue for customers. So, if a client’s shopping cart begins to lag, the retailer can ensure the vendor will attend to that issue before it addresses a more minor issue, such as a glitch in a product recommendations engine.
When checking references, Krinsky suggests retailers ask specific questions. “Ask how the communication was,” he says. “Ask how much employee turnover there was during the project and if it was completed on time.”
He also cautions that retailers need to be ready to work and dedicate time to a new site as well.
“Even with the perfect partner, you won’t have a successful implementation if your team isn’t there. Dedicate someone on your side to be in charge of the project and to be a project owner,” he says.
Lastly he advises not to overthink. “Keep it simple,” Krinsky says. “To sell online all you really need are a few components. When you have a basic e-commerce site it’s a lot cheaper and easier to maintain. Today’s e-commerce site offerings are much farther ahead of other parts of the online shopping process such as order management, inventory management and fulfillment.”
Online retailers sometimes think too small and short term when choosing a new e-commerce platform provider, says Satish Kanwar, vice president of product for e-commerce platform provider Shopify. “If you only think about what your immediate needs are then you may make the wrong choice in choosing a platform that doesn’t suit you five years down the road.” Look for a platform with options that range from the most basic of needs to an enterprise-level service so that as your business grows, you can easily transition to a more suitable plan, Kanwar says.
Other questions he suggests merchants ask include if they can get customer support whenever and however they need it, 24 hours a day.
Another thing to check for is if a platform offers other ways for consumers to shop with merchants beyond selling direct via an e-commerce site, Kanwar says. “While you may initially think you want to set up only an online store, your customers want to buy on Instagram, in-person and when they’re scrolling on Facebook,” he says. “Make sure you can be everywhere they are.” It’s also smart to choose a vendor looking to future shopping technologies, such as augmented reality, that may pick up in consumer adoption, he says.
Retailers also may want to investigate a potential platform’s app marketplace. “Pick a platform with a large ecosystem of apps that lets you pick and choose the features you need to be successful, while having your core requirements covered,” he says.
For more information on the top e-commerce platforms and data on platform providers to Top 500 e-retailers , see our all-new 2018 Guide to E-Commerce Platforms Report.
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