Features That Make Running an Ecommerce Business Easier

There’s been a surge in e-commerce businesses that have started up over the last few years. Even over just the last year there has been a huge transition towards e-commerce thanks in no small part to the coronavirus pandemic. There’s no denying that it’s been tough to keep more in-person business models functioning the way they need to in order to be successful because of the pandemic.

Running a successful e-commerce business is no walk in the park either. There are some features and tools that certainly make it easier though.

Shopify

In order for any e-commerce business to function and live up to its potential, it needs a platform from which to operate. Shopify is a subscription-based platform that allows businesses to set up e-commerce storefronts from which they are then able to sell whatever product or service their business offers.

Shopify boasts multiple tools that businesses can use to customize their storefronts. Site performance is generally quite excellent. They also offer multiple price points for their plans depending on what your business needs.

If you want the best of what Shopify has to offer in regards to features, however, you need to be prepared to pay for it.

While I rarely recommend website solutions where you do not own or have full control of the hosting and underlying structure (such as you would with WordPress) – since any problems with the platform, or if you lost your account, then impact your entire business – Shopify is a solid choice that can be easier to set up for entrepreneurs who are just starting out and need a quick e-commerce setup.

Instagram

If your e-commerce business doesn’t have a social media presence, you are definitely missing out on a valuable resource. Regardless of how you actually feel about your customers, they want to connect with businesses and feel like they matter beyond just the money they’re willing to part with in exchange for what you offer. Relationships are how you build trust.

Considering that 81% of consumers say they need to trust a brand in order to purchase from them, relationships are clearly important.

So what does that have to do with Instagram? Everyone knows Instagram is the place to post pictures. That makes it a great platform for showcasing your products, and you can do so much more than that with it. 

You can also post pictures that help showcase your business’s character and make it seem more human. The more human your business seems, the less it’s going to feel like an unknown entity, making it easier to build trust. You can also have conversations with commenters, further building relationships that you can use to establish trust. It’s also a helpful platform for building up your following. Plus, followers can be an important part of social proof – the more followers you have, the easier it can be for some people to be willing to trust you.

Pinterest

Instagram isn’t the only social media platform worth looking into. Pinterest is another option that can be a great tool for your business.

Think of Pinterest as being a bit like a search engine for photos. These photos can act as links to your website or ecommerce platform, which can be great for driving traffic to your site and increasing your sales.

Think about it – if someone finds you through Pinterest, it’s almost certain to be because they were looking for something that relates to your business. They’re already interested, which makes it that much easier to convert the consumer into a customer. It’s not difficult to get started with Pinterest for business, so what are you waiting for?

MailChimp

Marketing is crucial to the success of any business, e-commerce or otherwise. If you have an ecommerce business, though, it makes the most sense to use digital marketing tools since you’re a digital business. Email marketing is one of the many digital marketing strategies that you can use for your business. It also happens to be fairly cost effective in terms of ROI.

If you’re doing everything by hand, however, it can be incredibly time consuming, especially if you have a lengthy email list. That is woefully impractical. Fortunately, tools like MailChimp make it so you never have to do that. Ever. MailChimp is our favorite brand to recommend because it lets you automate marketing emails so you can get back to more important things.

Jamstack

Do you want your e-commerce business and site to run faster, be easier to scale, and more secure? Really, who doesn’t? If that sounds good to you, you might want to consider using Jamstack. Jamstack is a web development architecture that is based on prebuilt Markup, reusable APIs, and client-side JavaScript. All of these can help your business run more smoothly. For example, Jamstack shopping carts boast numerous features that can help streamline your business. Jamstack is built for developers, so if you have coding experience it can be a solid option.

PayPal

Every e-commerce business has to have a way to collect money from customers. If you want to earn more sales, the easier you can make it for customers to give you their money, the better off you’ll be. That means you need to have a way to sell things on your website.

There are plenty of options out there when it comes to digital payment processing systems, but PayPal is arguably one of the most popular, and our favorite one to use. Customers tend to be pretty familiar with PayPal, and there are plenty of benefits to customers who use it.

Hootsuite

Remember how earlier we mentioned that using social media was a good idea for businesses? It’s especially important for e-commerce businesses who want to build their online presence.

Odds are you won’t be on just one platform though. You’ll probably have at least three or four that you want to build a solid presence on. If you’re busy monitoring and managing your profiles on three or four different social media platforms, that adds up to a whole lot of time that you could be spending on other marketing matters.

Hootsuite makes all of that much easier, and is the platform I first started using to schedule my own social media posts. With Hootsuite you can access and post your content from one platform. This makes it a lot easier to keep everything organized and to automate your posts.

If you want to run your e-commerce business as optimally as possible, you need to have the right tools. There are a ton of different options when it comes to features, services, platforms, and tools that you can use to make it easier to run your business. Take a look at the options available to you that can help with your business needs and make the decision that makes the most sense based on your budget and what a given option offers.

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