One of the greatest benefits of the internet is offering a global platform for businesses to carry out their commercial activities. There are several e-commerce platform available online. The volume of business and transaction traffic of some of these e-commerce platforms have made them very reputable and distinguished them from the rest. However, it is not automatic that all businesses on this platform would succeed as one common pitfall for many businesses is to have a presence on these reputable platforms without giving consideration to the compatibility of these platforms with the capacities of their businesses including management capability, transaction processes and the ability of their businesses to finance the set up cost and cope with the running expenses of such platforms. In the light of this, here are key factors to consider in choosing the appropriate e-commerce platform for your business.
Available Budget:There is an e-commerce platform that fits your budget no matter how small; the thing is many businesses jump on the band wagon of wanting to secure an online presence on the e-commerce platforms of big brands in the IT world; in this ‘hot chase’ they lose the opportunity of getting the same value they are pursuing on other less expensive e-commerce platforms. If you take a look into the offers of many of these established e-commerce platforms, you would find out that the blitz around them is usually their features. What is most important to build a lasting online platform is depth of strategy. Once you have a broad strategy, you can win your audience and expand your market reach even on less expensive e-commerce platforms.
Touchpoints: the points where your business interfaces with your clients and target audience are very critical to the survival of your online platform. The major touch points today for e-commerce platforms are social media channels and your order line.
In-house resource:It is also possible to create customized e-commerce software for your business but you have to be sure you have the core competencies and a rich pool of human capital with the technical expertise to run it. Another option is to outsource this to an organization that has the requisite technical know-how; do also strike a deal with such firm for the training of staff to handle the management and operation of the software.