Marketers swear by the productivity and efficiency of e-commerce solutions. So what about online tools for ecommerce website? It depends on your business objectives. In this post, we will talk about E-commerce/E-marketing tools which can be very useful in today’s competitive scenario.
E-commerce has become one of the fastest growing industries in recent years. This means that a lot of people are shopping online and this is only expected to grow over the next few decades. This is great news for those who have invested in building an e-commerce website . But, this additional competition can mean you have to work harder than ever to keep doing well in your market. The best thing you can do for your business is to use the right tools so that you always remain ahead of the pack.
There are various online tools which can help to improve the overall productivity of e-commerce website. There are several categories of tools that relates to e-commerce like ERP and supplies, customer engagement tools, analytics and reporting etc. E-Commerce business is growing at fast pace everyday. The reason is because of the fact that most people are now used to shopping online in their home. The online business model is beneficial for both customers and sellers as it offers a large number of businesses to sell their products and services. And thanks to the advancement in web technology which has lead to the introduction of web development.
E-commerce has changed the way we shop. Gone are the days of going to a brick-and-mortar store only to be bombarded by hours of searching for what you want. Thanks to e-commerce, we are now able to shop from the comforts of our home and get the products delivered right to us. As a result, more and more e-commerce platforms have been built in recent years.
What is an Ecommerce Platform?
An ecommerce platform is a software application that allows online businesses to manage their website, marketing, sales and operations.
Platforms like BigCommerce offer the powerful ecommerce features, while also integrating with common business tools — enabling businesses to centralize their operations and run their business their way.
1. An e-commerce platform
The first and most important tool for a successful e-commerce enterprise is the platform itself. Platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce were designed specifically for e-commerce storefronts. These platforms come preloaded with a slew of tools and services to help you manage your business. Each platform has its own themes and included services. Pick the one that’s right for your business. (Are you looking for a storefront option where your internal team can order branded merchandise (SWAG), official print materials, and more? Mimeo has you covered. We offer corporate-branded storefronts via our Mimeo Marketplace platform.)
2. Digital payment processing systems
You can convert more business by making your products or services purchasable on your website. Thankfully, several third-party payment providers make online transactions trouble-free and easy to manage. PayPal and Stripe are two of the most popular solutions available today. Nearly all e-commerce platforms can integrate these payment solutions into their website infrastructure.
3. Email marketing platforms and print marketing
To let new and existing customers know about products, you can turn to email marketing. This is a great way to get the word out about your brand. MailChimp is an invaluable tool you can use to grow your email list and execute coordinated marketing campaigns. What makes MailChimp so great is its ability to automate many of your marketing tasks. It also helps to track abandoned shopping carts and send customer follow-ups automatically to maximize conversions.
Another effective way to spread the word about your brand is through direct mail. With direct mail, you can break through the constant digital noise and land in your target customers’ hands. Mimeo has been helping clients print and distribute captivating direct mail pieces for over 20 years. Our print solutions include postcards, flyers, brochures, catalogs, newsletters, and SWAG. Learn more about Mimeo’s direct mail printing services here.
4. Advanced analytics and tracking
Once your e-commerce site is up and running, you need to track and analyze all pertinent sales information for your company. Kiss Metrics provides behavioral customer engagement automation that helps you better understand the purchasing habits of your customers. Regardless of whether you’re focused on making more sales or increasing the performance of your website, Kiss Metrics’ website integration helps test valuable data points on your storefront to see what changes you should make to maximize efficiency.
5. Shipping service integrations
All online businesses need to have a solid understanding of how to handle their logistics efforts. Shipping service integrations through companies like Shipping Easy and Ordoro take the heavy lifting out of shipping quotations and label generation for your order fulfillment. Both companies are ideal for e-commerce businesses and can help automate order generation and marketplace fulfillment with high efficiency and minimal lead time.
6. Social media management solutions
Every successful company needs to maintain its social media presence. That being said, keeping social media profiles updated regularly is extremely time-consuming, especially for smaller teams. With the integration of social media management solutions for your e-commerce storefront, you can keep customers engaged while automating the legwork required to do so. HootSuite is one of the gold standards in social media automation, allowing you to access and post all your branded digital content in one easy-to-use platform. This platform is great for helping you organize your content and automate posts based on your editorial needs.
7. Customer relationship management software
Regardless of all the tools and services you use to benefit your e-commerce setup, nothing is more important than your customers’ satisfaction. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools have been around for years now, but Zendesk is by far one of the most popular tools in use today. That’s because out of all the customer service tools available, Zendesk concentrates on creating the best customer experience on your website while tracking those experiences through an extremely intuitive interface. In combination with a dedicated customer support team, using Zendesk can give your company a real competitive edge when compared to other companies’ lack of customer engagement.
Running an e-commerce business can be a great step forward for any small business owner looking to improve sales and brand awareness. With the use of these e-commerce tools and services, you can maximize your results online while ensuring the best overall shopping experience for your customers.
Teachable
Teachable is a platform where you can create your own online courses. It hosts your course for you, so you don’t need a website in order to use it.
Pros
- Teachable is easy to get started with. It has a straightforward dashboard to guide you through the process.
- There’s a generous free plan available, so you can get started without paying anything. This plan lets you have unlimited courses and students, and you can have a discussion forum and basic quizzes too.
- It’s easy to arrange and organize your content in Teachable using the drag and drop interface.
- You can upload your own logo, images, text, colors, and so on to customize how your Teachable sales pages looks.
- Teachable can handle lots of different file types. It does a particularly good job of dealing with videos, which should look great whatever device your student is using.
- There are great analytics that can show you how your students are doing. You can even track individual students’ progress.
- You can communicate with students directly from your Teachable platform.
Cons
- If you want to customize your course homepage using the Power Editor, you’ll need to understand HTML and CSS code.
- Teachable is designed for courses. It’s not really going to work for you if you want to sell something like an ebook or software.
Pricing
Teachable’s free plan doesn’t cost anything. However, you will pay $1 plus 10% for every paid course that you sell. That means that if you have a course costing $200, you’ll pay Teachable $21 on each sale.
The cheapest plan is $29/month. If you’re on this plan, you’ll also be charged an additional 5% on each sale. To avoid paying any commission at all, you’ll need to be on the Professional Plan for $79/month.
Shopify
Shopify is an all in one platform for eCommerce. This means it handles everything for you such as your site hosting, updates, and security. You just pay a single monthly fee.
Pros
- Shopify is really easy to get started with. You don’t need to buy hosting or even a domain name. You just sign up for an account with Shopify and start creating your store.
- You can sell both physical and digital products using Shopify. This could be useful if you might want to offer physical products in the future.
- There are loads of apps available for Shopify. These add functionality to your store. Most of these will cost you money, but some are free integrations with other software that you might be paying for, such as OptinMonster.
- You can pick from lots of different Shopify themes (templates) for your site, or even buy a premium theme from the Shopify themes store.
- There’s 24/7 support available through live chat, phone, email, and Twitter. There’s also lots of documentation, plus video tutorials and support forums.
Cons
- You can’t easily integrate Shopify with WordPress, so it’s not a good option if you want to sell directly from your existing website. For more details, see our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce.
- Shopify has a built-in payment system called Shopify Payments. If you want to use third-party payment gateways, like PayPal or Amazon Payments, Shopify charges an extra 2% fee on these transactions.
Pricing
Shopify costs $29/month for the basic plan. This gives you access to the majority of features that you’re likely to want, apart from reports and gift cards. Those are available on the next tier up, at $79/month.
LucidChart
Lucidchart is an online diagramming platform that you can use to visualize your website’s processes, data, and more. You can create diagrams based on templates or create custom ones. You can also share your documents across operating systems and work on them simultaneously with another member of your team or different teams and view each other’s edits.
If you want to make the most out of your website, you need to know where your users go on your website. With LucidChart, you can create user flow diagrams to curate your user flow and improve your website accordingly.
LucidChart Pricing
Lucidchart offers a free version. Its pricing starts at $7.95 per user per month.
Hellobar
Hellobar is a great tool to increase signups and grow sales. It features five different types of pop-ups to bring your customer’s attention back and offers customization options. If you don’t have time to customize, you can use their design assistant to find the most suitable design for your website.
Cost:
Hellobar Pricing
Hellobar has a free version. Its priced options are separated as monthly and annually. The growth plan is $29, the premium plan is $49, and the elite plan is $99 per month.
Hubspot Marketing Hub
Hubspot is the world’s leading all-in-one business solution that helps small businesses do more with various tools.
Their Marketing Hub is a platform on its own with various features that can help you attract and convert more leads and customers, and grow your business.
With Hubspot Marketing Hub, you can:
Create Popups and Embed forms to acquire leads,
Create CTA Buttons and Images to convert visitors to customers,
Automate and send Personalized Marketing Emails to thousands of contacts with a single click,
Create Landing Pages and Blog Posts without the technical hassle,
Create and manage Automated Workflow to save valuable time in your marketing campaigns.
The best part of Hubspot is that it grows with you.
Using its free plan as a small side-hustle all the way to using its different hubs as a multi-team enterprise, Hubspot is there for you.
Why Use an Ecommerce Platform?
Whether you’re expanding a brick-and-mortar store, looking to find an enterprise-level solution, or even starting a business from scratch, your ecommerce software has a huge impact on the profitability and stability of your business.
The only alternatives to an ecommerce platform are:
- Building one from scratch, which is out of the question for most businesses — and only justifiable for multimillion (or multi billion) dollar companies.
- Using a plugin, which isn’t ideal if you’re looking to build and grow a legitimate business — even a small one.
Conclusion
As we know, e-commerce is a fast growing market. With the emergence of online shopping, customers have become the king. They can easily compare the price and quality online. This advantage gives them great pleasure and makes them enjoy their shopping time. When we are taking e-commerce as an upcoming trend, it is vital that we are aware of the tools which can help us improve our experience and increase revenue
The internet makes it possible to reach millions of people at a low cost. Opening up an online store has never been easier with the availability of cheap and easy to use software. The e-commerce tools industry is highly competitive, with many companies fighting for a share of the market.