Any retailer setting up an ecommerce store or considering replatforming their current offering, knows the choices in ecommerce shopping software are endless. The landscape is wide, with numerous vendors offering ecommerce software packages.
The big-ticket retailer often finds their ecommerce shopping software choices to be even more complex. This is because their needs are inherently different. They go beyond setting up a basic online shop, to require more sophisticated merchandising capabilities and fulfillment, and an ability to understand their unique business models. Performing an ecommerce software comparison seems an impossible task.
So where do you start in your decision making process? Here are two initial points to consider:
1. Start by evaluating your current ecommerce shopping software or the retail systems you use to run your business. Many big-ticket retailers find their systems are not ecommerce ready, and that they may pose a barrier to going online. Make sure the ecommerce software packages you are considering are able to seamlessly integrate with your current systems. At its best, your online ecommerce solution should be able to extract the data found in your current systems, augment for e-commerce, then return completed ecommerce transactions to you that are indistinguishable from orders placed in your stores.
2. Make your ecommerce store an extension of your bricks and mortar store, not an island in itself. Look for an ecommerce software package that treats your SKUs, prices and your product information exactly like store orders from a fulfillment and service perspective. This is a fundamental difference between ecommerce shopping software for mass merchants, and that which is geared towards big-ticket retailers. The result is less work, higher customer satisfaction and a reduced need to develop separate staff or procedures for online sales. E-commerce becomes another store, seamlessly integrated with your strategy, operations and reporting.
Finding an ecommerce service provider that meets these inital criteria is the first step in setting up your ecommerce store and capitalizing on the advantages of e-commerce.
The big-ticket retailer often finds their ecommerce shopping software choices to be even more complex. This is because their needs are inherently different. They go beyond setting up a basic online shop, to require more sophisticated merchandising capabilities and fulfillment, and an ability to understand their unique business models. Performing an ecommerce software comparison seems an impossible task.
So where do you start in your decision making process? Here are two initial points to consider:
1. Start by evaluating your current ecommerce shopping software or the retail systems you use to run your business. Many big-ticket retailers find their systems are not ecommerce ready, and that they may pose a barrier to going online. Make sure the ecommerce software packages you are considering are able to seamlessly integrate with your current systems. At its best, your online ecommerce solution should be able to extract the data found in your current systems, augment for e-commerce, then return completed ecommerce transactions to you that are indistinguishable from orders placed in your stores.
2. Make your ecommerce store an extension of your bricks and mortar store, not an island in itself. Look for an ecommerce software package that treats your SKUs, prices and your product information exactly like store orders from a fulfillment and service perspective. This is a fundamental difference between ecommerce shopping software for mass merchants, and that which is geared towards big-ticket retailers. The result is less work, higher customer satisfaction and a reduced need to develop separate staff or procedures for online sales. E-commerce becomes another store, seamlessly integrated with your strategy, operations and reporting.
Finding an ecommerce service provider that meets these inital criteria is the first step in setting up your ecommerce store and capitalizing on the advantages of e-commerce.
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