It’s easy to get lost trying to feel out the competition. There are tons of tools available at your fingertips, but which ones should you use? A lot of them are all the same, right? Well that couldn’t be further from the truth. You need to take advantage of these valuable resources that can help you crush it and do things like:
The internet has opened up the world to business owners, increasing the size of the global marketplace and allowing them to sell directly to buyers located anywhere in the world. Ecommerce platforms let you take advantage of this global platform and utilize sophisticated transactional payment platforms that don’t even require customers to have a credit card.
Here are some of the best ecommerce business website tools that you can use to streamline your ecommerce website.
1. Wix
Source: Wix.com
If you want to create an ecommerce business website without having to learn an entire programming language, this popular website builder is one of the best ways to go about it.
Wix offers more than 500 designer-made templates to choose from. These are categorically divided to cater to different businesses. Instead of having to learn how to code, you can use Wix’s drag and drop builder to create a beautiful and engaging ecommerce website.
Founded in 2006, Wix has evolved over time. From its inception, however, it was geared to make website creation extremely easy. It now allows you to view and automatically create mobile-friendly versions of your desktop sites too.
For a hassle-free ecommerce business website builder that will help you compete with major players in your niche, Wix is in your corner. However, if it’s not up to your tastes, you should consider Wix alternatives.
2. WooCommerce
Source: WooCommerce
In 2015, both WooThemes and WooCommerce were bought out by Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.
While you can use it to create and build an ecommerce store, WooCommerce isn’t a standalone site builder; it’s actually an open-source plugin for WordPress.
You can choose dedicated WooCommerce hosting to build your store using conventional drag and drop functionality, and then launch it right away.
The best part is that WooCommerce is completely free to use, though you will want to purchase a few add-ons if you want a competitive store.
3. Magento
Source: Magento
It’s hard to beat Magento when it comes to building scalable websites. It’s one of the best ecommerce tools out there.
Magento is free to download because of its open-source design, and can be scaled very easily. It has an excellent backend user interface that gives you a litany of features to choose from. The customization options are endless: you can easily adjust the template or the theme however you wish with minimal hassle. Plus, the community is excellent, and the forums offer plenty of help to first-time website builders.
Magento also supports a series of payment gateway options right out of the box. Thus, as an ecommerce store owner, you can integrate multiple payment solutions with ease, making it one of the best ecommerce tools for growing your store.
You will have to buy hosting separately, however. That limits your support options, unless you choose the enterprise package, which costs a pretty penny.
Research Tools
Without appropriate research into your competition and different niches, how will you create a thorough marketing and selling strategy? Thankfully, there are quite a few tools that you can use for research. Let’s talk about them.
4. Semrush
Source: Semrush
Without a powerful SEO tool, it will be difficult for you to get traffic on your ecommerce store. It doesn’t matter if you are selling something great—no one will buy your product if they don’t know about it!
Founded in 2008, Semrush (formerly SEMRush) is one of the best ecommerce tools that gives you all of the information and data relevant to launching a successful SEO project.
Semrush comes with an array of link building and auditing tools that help you generate more buzz, and to create an effective, traffic-boosting SEO strategy. It gives you a range of traffic analytics and also allows you to cross-compare your ecommerce store with up to 5 competitor websites.
You can choose from three pricing tiers depending on your ecommerce business needs.
5. Ahrefs
Source: Ahrefs
Ahrefs started off as a link building tool, but the company quickly evolved from that being its primary offering. From its range of keyword filters to the massive array of metrics that it can track, Ahrefs is one of the best ecommerce tools for researching keywords and analyzing different keywords.
The Site Explorer allows you to analyze organic traffic and all backlinks to a website. There’s also a Backlink Checker, which creates a comprehensive backlink profile for each of the links leading to your website. You can view backlinks with a higher Domain Authority, or filter them any other way as well.
If you were to invest in a high-quality research tool to comprehensively understand where you stand in an ecommerce niche, Ahrefs is all you need. It’s well worth the cost of entry! Ahrefs is easily one of the best ecommerce SEO tools right now.
6. KWFinder
Source: KWFinder
If you are serious about growing your presence online, you need to invest in a high-quality keyword research tool. For a deep dive into different keywords that lets you make an informed decision about which keywords to target, go with KWFinder.
KWFinder comes with a range of excellent features, like filtering results or analyzing SERPs. It also has an intuitive UI that gives you a bird’s eye view of different variations and their effects. Plus, the dashboard is streamlined for neat data presentation.
It may not offer extensive analyses like Ahrefs does (Ahrefs can also calculate keyword intersect and find virtually every single keyword that your competitors rank for). However, while KWFinder doesn’t give you the big picture like Ahrefs, it still does a pretty fine job of showing you where you stand.
7. Jungle Scout
Source: Jungle Scout
Jungle Scout, launched by a guy named Greg Mercer in 2015, is an ecommerce marketing tool and an extension for Google Chrome. Greg’s aim was to create a tool that would allow sellers on Amazon to achieve greater success in a shorter time period.
The reason Jungle Scout is on this list is because it helps you look for trending products on Amazon, the world’s largest online shopping store. If demand for a product is high there, you will want to focus on selling it.
When it comes to product research, Jungle Scout is an excellent tool. The Niche Hunter is an excellent component of this ecommerce marketing software that allows you to identify profitable niches and then focus on targeting them. It also has an extensive product database and a built-in product tracker. There’s even an extensive supplier database that you can go through to see which supplier is moving more inventory.
It’s one of the best ecommerce tools for people who are launching their business, or those who plan on starting a dropshipping concern.
There’s no trial version, however. You can get a refund if you cancel within the first 14 days.
Business Tools
Without the right ecommerce business tools, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for you to compete with others online. These ecommerce business tools can help you automate mundane tasks and focus on what really matters: growing your company.
Thankfully, we’ve got you covered. Here are the best ecommerce tools that you can use for your business.
8. Rewind
If you use popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce to run your business, there are instances where your business could be vulnerable to data loss.
You could inadvertently delete entire product categories instead of individual items. A theme upgrade or an app update could crash your database; or a disgruntled employee could intentionally delete your entire SKU-line.
Rewind is a tool that captures daily backups of your database and lets you restore deleted files with just a few clicks. This protects your site from hours of potential downtime, and effort in restoring your website.
9. Veeqo
Source: Veeqo
Veeqo is an omnichannel inventory management tool that lets ecommerce business owners manage their orders, ship, and sync inventory from multiple channels.
Veeqo integrates seamlessly with a range of ecommerce platforms and logistics businesses, including Shopify, Rakuten, Magento, WooCommerce, Royal Mail, DHL, and a whole lot more.
If you need an all-in-one platform to keep a strong check on your inventory, you can’t go wrong with Veeqo. The pricing starts from $180 a month per user, so it’s one of the best ecommerce tools for small business owners who are looking to grow their ecommerce presence.
10. Slack
Source: Slack
Slack is a business communication tool that allows employees to communicate with each other through a secure platform. It also integrates well with other apps, including Google Docs. Slack supports video and voice calls, and allows for screen sharing as well.
It is one of the most popular communication tools for ecommerce store owners, keeping teams organized and focused on their objectives.
11. Monday
Source: Monday.com
If you need a project management tool that has a streamlined UI and can be customized according to your needs, Monday is an excellent option. It comes with an array of templates that you can choose from, and it allows you to collaborate with all team members and keep a check on their productivity.
It has a tiered pricing structure. For a team of five, you pay $49 in a month. Teams of up to 20 will cost $200 a month. The pricing increases accordingly.
Monday allows you to create project boards and assign them to different team members. There’s a Kanban board, as well as an excellent Map view you can use to highlight the physical location of your assignees as well.
However, what makes Monday.com one of the best ecommerce tools is the way it integrates with other tools and how efficiently it allows users to automate different e commerce tasks.
Monday integrates really well with other apps like Stripe, Toggl, MailChimp, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Zendesk, and several others.
It can also sync all your dates to your Google Calendar. You really can’t ask for more!
12. Assembla
Source: Assembla
Assembla is a secure platform for project management, collaboration and version control. It offers secure cloud hosting for Git repositories, Perforce, and Subversion, and also offers integrated project management tools like a task view option and separate cards for tracking progress.
Think of it as the ultimate team building software program that does everything that you need and more. The pricing starts for $9.16 per month for a user. If you need a viable program that allows for code tracking and management, Assembla is one of the best ecommerce tools out there.
13. Quickbooks
Source: TradeGecko
Previously known as TradeGecko, Quickbooks Commerce is one of the leading accounting and inventory management tools available. Naturally, it will integrate very well into your ecommerce business.
This is one of the best ecommerce tools that allows you to view your manufacturing, channels, sales, locations, and currencies, letting you manage each and every order through a single platform.
This program also offers detailed reports, insights, forecasts, and other analyses that you can use to determine your business performance and adjust automatically.
Marketing Tools
Marketing tools help you get the word out about what you are selling in the first place. Here are the best ecommerce marketing tools that you can choose from.
14. OmniSend
Source: Omnisend
OmniSend is an email marketing software program that automates your emails and newsletters.
But it doesn’t just stop at emails. The program works equally well with social media marketing, SMS marketing, and various other channels, all of which it brings together on a singular platform.
Omnisend allows you to optimize and track the efficiency of each different marketing campaign. The program also allows you to create engaging lead forms that will help you capture traffic.
Additionally, you can create multiple lead magnets with OmniSend and then track their efficiency over time. It also has a Content Editor and an A/B testing plugin/tool to analyze the content on your website. You can use it to view reports about the success of your marketing campaigns for analysis as well, making it one of the best ecommerce tools for marketing purposes.
15. MailChimp
Source: Google Workspace
In the ecommerce email marketing category, you will be hard-pressed to find a better tool than Mailchimp. Priced on a freemium model, the program has been consistently ranked as one of the best tools out there. It’s an all-inclusive marketing automation platform that is incredibly easy to use as well.
Mailchimp originally started as an email marketing tool, but quickly evolved into a marketing platform that allows you to integrate with other tools, like the HubSpot Marketing Hub and Facebook.
There’s a dedicated Campaigns tab where you can create dedicated campaigns and then track their success. You can set campaign benchmarks and track them using Highrise, Google Analytics, or even your Salesforce accounts.
With 14 layouts and 90 themes to choose from, you have lots of email templates to choose from. There’s also a dedicated HTML editor that you can use to create a custom template for your ecommerce store.
It’s an excellent ecommerce tool that you can use to maximize the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.
16. Campaign Monitor
Source: Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is an ecommerce software for email marketing that is ideal for small to medium ecommerce businesses. It has an array of tools for ecommerce that allows you to automate various marketing processes and also offers lots of flexibility. It’s incredibly easy to use, especially when compared with other ecommerce tools out there.
When you sign up, Campaign Monitor creates a custom URL for your business based on the company’s name. It integrates very well with programs like Salesforce and WordPress.
You can upload contact files or create dedicated contact lists to this ecommerce tool as well. You can then create custom campaigns and track their progress through the program with ease. From templates to designs, you can customize every aspect of your email marketing campaign with this ecommerce tool!
17. Bulk.ly
Source: Bulk.ly
Bulk.ly is all about social media automation. This ecommerce tool integrates seamlessly with Buffer, helping you top up all of your queues with ease, which could save you an hour or so each week. Not only that, but it also allows you to automate the content that you post on social media.
Bulk.ly requires you to create a spreadsheet with all of your content and then categorize it accordingly. Once done, you can upload your content to the ecommerce tool.
You can then set up unique settings for each group, ranging from Recycling to Drip scheduling. This way, the content on your social media platforms will never seem boring.
You can also add UTM parameters and set up old-school RSS feeds (though nobody uses those anymore). If you use Buffer, this is an excellent ecommerce tool to integrate with.
18. Buffer
Source: Buffer
For a complete brand building solution, Buffer is an excellent ecommerce tool. It’s all about social media scheduling and management, giving you unprecedented control over your social media campaigns.
Buffer also has a range of analytics that you can track post-interaction and to get a better idea about the performance of your campaigns. It’s one of the most viable tools for ecommerce marketing on social media platforms.
Compared to other marketing automation tools, Buffer is much more reasonably priced, making it a suitable choice for people who have just launched an ecommerce website. The starter plan is free to use, but focuses on individuals and freelancers. The Pro plan costs $99 per month and allows you to access 25 accounts with 2,000 posts per account.
All of the business plans come with a range of additional features that you don’t get with the Individual plan. With the array of social analytics that it offers, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better social media management tool than this!
Analytics Tools
And finally, we have ecommerce analytics tools. After all, what’s the point of coming up with creative campaigns if you can’t track how well they performed? You need to know what’s working and what isn’t when executing your various campaigns. Here are some of the best analytics tools that you can use on your website.
19. Google Analytics
Source: Google Analytics
According to a study by Econsultancy.com, more than 70 percent of the companies now use Google Analytics to track their online performance, and it’s easy to see why. For one thing, this powerful analytics tool is completely free to use. For another, its fantastic visualization features allow you to easily track your landing pages, your site visitors, and their behavior.
If you aren’t using Microsoft’s PowerBI or IBM Watson Analytics, this is a great alternative. The freemium versions are an excellent choice for most companies, and give you a lot of data to work with.
Enterprise pricing varies, and you will have to contact their team for a quote.
20. Microsoft PowerBI
Source: Microsoft PowerBI
Arguably the most efficient and user-friendly data reporting tool in the world, Microsoft’s PowerBI is on a whole another level when it comes to data analytics.
It marries power analytics with an excellent user-friendly interface that hands you all the details you need about your website’s performance. You can track the performance of landing pages, of different campaigns, and of other pages with relative ease.
There’s a connector for Mailchimp to track the efficacy of your email marketing campaigns. It also integrates seamlessly with Salesforce through a connector.
You can install a web tool and/or a desktop software app, thoughMicrosoft says that most people prefer their desktop tool more than the web version.
21. Mixpanel
Source: Mixpanel
Whether you want to track how your app is doing or how your website is performing, Mixpanel has it all.
You can find out how users engage and interact with your apps, and also see how well people are responding to your ad campaigns.
Mixpanel gives you lots of engagement data on your users, allowing you to track a range of metrics that you can visualize in different ways. It’s really one of the best options for professionals who need streamlined data reporting.
However, some people claim that there are discrepancies in the data. The learning curve is also slightly steep, so you will have to offer proper training to your employees before you deploy it company-wide.
CONCLUSION
Ecommerce tools have come a long way from the days where all you had to do was some keyword research and internet scouting. ‘Revenue’ was just a dirty word to be on high alert of when talking to merchants. Back then, there were no product databases, SEO software, shopping cart optimizers, or social media management platforms. A lot can change in a short period of time. Let’s jump back and look at where it all started.
If you sell online, it’s important to keep researching new trends. That helps you to stay on top of your competition and be the best ecommerce store. But, it’s hard to know where to start. There are so many tools out there; which should you use? While all of them are useful, here are some of the best ones that I go back to most often.