Ecommerce software with app is one of the type online businesses now because it can provide you a platform for selling goods, products and services online easily. The platform that is used to build your ecommerce website is called an ecommerce software which can help you market goods much easier.
Online customer behavior has been changing for some time. It was not that long ago that the majority of purchases happened over desktop computers and in brick and mortar stores. Modern eCommerce software with app is providing a seamless experience to shoppers regardless of the platform they are using to browse or make purchases. Here is how online merchants can expect customer behavior to change in the future and what they can do today to respond.
Have you ever considered what your business will look like in 2022? Many of us haven’t, but it might be time we do. In 2022 will people still shop online? Will they use cash or smartphones to pay for their goods? Some have predicted that by then all new purchases will be made online and the majority of bricks-and-mortar stores will be either closed or merged into a conglomerate called Walmart. Those predictions sound extreme and unrealistic, right? They probably are. But who knows what will happen with ecommerce in 10 years, maybe it’ll look be more like this.
Trying to hire an ecommerce software service provider in the near future? Want to learn about ecommerce software with app? Or about best ecommerce software? Check out these best ecommerce platform lists. They’ve helped lots of site owners make great decisions at affordable prices.
You Need E-Commerce for Your Small Businesses
Before we talk about what to look for in a e-commerce service, you may be wondering why you need one. As mentioned earlier, many web hosting services now offer e-commerce packages as part of their hosting plans, using built-in tools or integrating with open-source tools. It boils down to just how much extra work you, as a small business owner, want to put in to manage your store from scratch. It’s just another set of hoops through which to jump if you have to set up your own merchant account and payment gateway. Plus, everything is on the web now: If you make your customers place an order and then call you with their credit card information, you are going to lose a lot of sales.
Shopify
Shopify has been around for more than 15 years—with more than two million stores built using the platform—and it’s hard to find a better option for most small businesses looking to get an online store up and running quickly.
Sign up for a credit card-free 14-day trial, and within a few minutes, you can have a first build of your store ready to go. The onboarding wizard walks you through adding your products, customizing the look of your store, connecting your own domain, and getting set up to take those all-important payments.
Even if you’ve never built a website before, you’re unlikely to get lost in Shopify’s intuitive web app. Adding a product, for example, is as simple as clicking Products in the sidebar and then the Add Products button. Fill in the name, price, quantity you have on hand, and any other relevant details, change its status to Active, and it’s straight in your online store and ready to be sold.
While Shopify ticks most boxes right out of the gate, its extensibility and app store are what really make it such a powerful option. Take the theme situation: Shopify has 10 free themes and more than 50 paid themes starting from $140. To browse them, go to Themes, and then, under Theme Library, click Visit Theme Store. Not a bad selection, right?
But because Shopify is so popular, you can also find more than 1,300 themes available on ThemeForest or get a professional designer who is already experienced with the platform to make you a custom one.
It’s the same with almost any feature you could want. If it’s not built in to Shopify, you can find an extension, plug-in, or service that does it in the app store. Just go to apps.shopify.com, find the app you need, and click Add App. Head back to your Shopify dashboard and click Apps in the sidebar to manage all the ones you’ve installed.
It should be no surprise that Shopify integrates with Zapier, so if you want to automatically add new customers to your email marketing list, track orders with a project management tool, or connect Shopify to any of the other apps you use, you can do it easily.
Shopify Price: Free for 14 days; from $29/month and 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for Basic Shopify plan with unlimited products
Square
If you want the option to sell in-person, like at a farmer’s market or craft fair, as well as through your online store, Square is the best choice. Your online and offline orders are all organized under a single dashboard, so there’s no jumping between apps, trying to track down customer details using random spreadsheets, or having to enter things manually after the fact.
Square bought the website builder app Weebly in 2018, so when you set up your store, that’s what’s running under the hood. If you occasionally see a URL direct to weebly.com, it’s nothing to worry about. (Note: we noticed fewer Weebly URLs popping up in the most recent review.)
Square has some of the best onboarding around. When you sign up, you have to fill in a quick questionnaire about your business and its needs. You’ve got the option to set up a single booking page, a full online store, or simple checkout links, depending on what you’re looking for. The default theme will also be tweaked to match the business category you chose.
In terms of storefront customization, Square is a little more limited than some of the other options. Instead of picking a theme that does most of the work, with Square you have to make your own design using the (admittedly excellent) site builder—or you can hire a designer from $99 to do it for you.
From the Square Dashboard, click Online then click Website > Edit Site to get started. In the sidebar on the left, you can select the different page elements, or you can just click on them directly. For more options, click the three little dots. You can change the colors, fonts, and layout of everything individually and, of course, upload your own images. It works well, but it is a bit constrained.
You can create “items,” what Square calls products or services for sale, through both the regular Square Dashboard and the Square Online Dashboard, and they’ll be synced to a common Item Library. This means that you can sell the same products both online and off, or have some things you just list in one location. Just go to Items > Item Library, and click Create an Item.
When you want to make an in-person sale, open up the menu and select Virtual Terminal, which acts just like a digital cash register. If you have a Square credit card reader (available for free), you can swipe your customers’ cards for a 2.6% + $0.10 fee from Square, and their details will automatically upload to your account. Otherwise, you can type in your customers’ credit card information for a 3.5% + $0.15 fee per charge. Online, Square’s charges are similar. On the free plan, you’re charged 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
Square also integrates with Zapier, so you can connect it to thousands of other apps to do things like post your in-person transactions to a Slack channel for the rest of the team to see or record the details using Airtable.
quare Price: Free with 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for unlimited products and a Square branded site; from $12/month billed annually with 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction to use a custom domain and remove ads.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is, unsurprisingly given the name, an enterprise eCommerce solution used by multinational companies like Ben & Jerry’s. BigCommerce Essentials offers a similarly powerful platform for small businesses looking to sell online, at significantly more affordable prices.
With that said, BigCommerce Essentials is still aimed at businesses that are already selling a lot, either in units or dollars (less than $50,000 a year is considered “just starting out” when you sign up). This means that, unlike most other options, as part of the onboarding process, you’re prompted to set up sales taxes and automated shipping; both things that smaller stores that are just getting started can kind of improvise on until they’re up and running properly. If you only sell 10 T-shirts a month, you’re not going to suddenly be on the hook for a multi-thousand dollar tax liability.
Similarly, while BigCommerce integrates with online payment processors like Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, and Amazon, you can also configure your store to take payment by bank transfer, check, or money order.
It’s also super simple to list your products on other marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Facebook, so customers don’t have to buy directly from your store. Just head to Channel Manager in the sidebar and connect the option you want. BigCommerce will automatically import any products you’ve got set up and keep any changes you make up to date across all your channels.
This focus on bigger small business isn’t without its downsides, however. While BigCommerce has 12 free themes built in, the majority of the ones available in the theme marketplace (in the sidebar, click Storefront > Theme Marketplace) cost between $150 and $300. They look great, and the drag-and-drop site builder is powerful enough that you can customize themes as you please, but you need to be in a position to justify the investment.
The $29.95/month Standard tier is capped at $50,000/year in sales, while the $79.95/month Plus tier is capped at $180,000/year. You don’t necessarily need to be shifting that level of inventory for BigCommerce to be the right choice for you, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
BigCommerce also integrates with Zapier, so you can connect it to the other apps in your tech stack to automate tasks like sending all of your customers to your CRM.
EngageBay
EngageBay is a platform that offers customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation tools, a help desk, and live chat, all in one. It’s ideal to help with managing contacts, proposals and deals, sales, and scheduling appointments. You can also use it to build landing pages, forms, and email sequences.
Before, during, and after the sale, you need tools to help you manage your customer service. The help desk and live chat software help you do just that.
It integrates with many popular apps, including:
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- WooCommerce
- DocuSign
- ReCaptcha
- Stripe
- Zapier
- And more…
Users can get the whole stack, or purchase only what they need. They’ve got a free plan for up to 15 users with no credit card required.
- The all-in-one pricing is $14.99/user/month.
- The Marketing tools are priced at $12.99/user/month.
- The CRM & Sales Bay tools are priced at 12.99/user/month.
- The Service Bay, or help desk plan, is free.
You can save 10% by signing up for an annual plan, and 20% with a biennial plan.
ProTexting
ProTexting is a SMS and MMS messaging platform that works in over 200 countries, with all languages supported. All major US carriers are supported, including AT&T, Verizon, TMobile, and U.S. Cellular. The platform operates in compliance with all mobile marketing rules and regulations.
Beyond text and multimedia messaging, Protexting also works with social media messaging. Multiple integrations are available, including:
- Shopify
- Constant Contact
- MailChimp
- Amazon Seller Central
- Zapier
- Custom integrations are available via API access
Pricing starts at $49/month for 1,000 credits and one keyword. If your business exceeds the limits of the Corporate plan at $499/month for 11,000 credits and 8 keywords, you can request a custom plan. There are no contracts or setup fees. Discounts are available for annual plans.
All plans include:
- Free unlimited signups
- Instant access to a text code
- Free unlimited incoming messages
- The option to change your keywords at any time
- MMS
- Unlimited email and phone support
Omnisend
When it’s time to get serious about email marketing for ecommerce, many online sellers will find that generalized email marketing tools won’t work for them. After all, why settle for fewer features when there are email marketing platforms built specifically for ecommerce needs?
This is where Omnisend comes in. Packed with ecommerce-focused workflow and email templates, features that allow you to pull merchandise directly from your online store, and custom discount codes you set up in a matter of clicks, Omnisend offers a platform that responds directly to the specific needs of anyone selling online. From customizable marketing automation templates to a visual drag-and-drop email builder, Omnisend makes email marketing easy for ecommerce merchants.
Omnisend offers a free plan for basic email marketing, and automation comes included with their Standard Plan (starting at $16 per month). They also offer free SMS credits to try out SMS marketing with their Pro Plan ($99 per month). You can test any of their paid plans with a free 14-day trial.
How Much Does It Cost?
It’s difficult to choose an e-commerce platform strictly based on price. Some offer advanced features, but impose restrictions on transaction or monthly data transfers; others limit a plan’s features by price. Most e-commerce tools offer templates (also known as themes), but some may fence off popular ones into their premium packages. That means you must pay more money for an attractive website. A website builder is useful for customizing templates.
Some services may have a low monthly cost, but charge fees for transactions and for add-ons that let you integrate with third-party tools. Depending on your requirements, you can expect to see prices as low as $9.99 and as high as thousands of dollars per month. As always, it pays to read the fine print.
There are two types of transaction fees to keep track of when evaluating e-commerce services: the ones charged by the shopping cart and the ones charged by the payment gateway. You can’t avoid the payment gateway fees; whichever service you select will charge a certain amount per credit card transaction. That’s the fee from Authorize.Net or PayPal, for example.
Conclusion:
When it comes to online shopping, consumers are more demanding than ever before. They expect high quality photos, detailed descriptions and multiple payment options, and they’re not afraid to take their business elsewhere if they’re not satisfied. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as far as ecommerce expectations go. If you do business online, you need an ecommerce platform that can provide the features, functionality and built-in functionality you need to stay ahead of customer expectations.
Ecommerce software with app is the latest craze in ecommerce growth and excitement. However, many people don’t realize that they can use this method to get started with e-commerce. Some of you might be wondering what exactly I mean by ecommerce software with app like Amazon, or what software I recommend to start selling online.