10 point Checklist to Choose the Best Ecommerce Platform in India (2020)

The initial decisions you make as an entrepreneur decides the fate of your business. At a very stage, you might be brainstorming about -

• What name to choose for your online venture
• What niche to consider
• Where to host the store
• Which is the Best ecommerce platform in India 

At times it’s also tricky to judge whether or not your chosen option can offer scalability, functionality and an edge of technology - all at the same time while providing affordability. 

This blog will troubleshoot these queries and look at some of the most important Features that an online platform should be equipped with. This 10 point checklist will help you evaluate the options you have at hand along with common business goals. 

10 point checklist to choose the best ecommerce platform in India in 2020

 1. Scope of growth

It’s impossible to predict early on, the kind of fire-fighting you will do for your online store in the long run. So why not keep in mind a clear way forward? This will help you choose a solution that is equipped with features to support hundreds of SKUs, store endless customer names or send triggered emails based on customer purchase behaviours? 

StoreHippo online platform gives you maximum room to grow with its unique features and functionalities. Being the best ecommerce platform in India, it not only allows you to switch your business model depending upon your growing needs but also provides necessary tools to help you make the most out of your growth with; 

• Dynamism of landing pages and product pages
• Addition of multiple search queries, product catalogs, merchant listings, etc. 
• Bulk uploads of products, description and videos for better conversion
• Turn-key features to extend to Global markets
• Improved site performance with secured and fast content

2. Customisation is the key 

The majority of ecommerce software claim to be equipped with the right features but hardly provide the flexibility to customise the business flow as per your requirements. Since most business needs are unique to their niche, a general option that might work for an online furniture store might not work for your jewelry business. 

StoreHippo offers you several features to tweak your business entities as your company grows in size and volume. Using the ecommerce software’s custom options you can;

• Target and re-target customers on the basis of their purchase history
• Provide custom quotes to individual sellers
• Generate forms, create invoice templates and price comparisons 
• Create dynamic filters basis pricing, range, customer location,etc. 
• Tweak your marketing strategies across multiple channels

3. Easy-to-use functionality

Most often, the very word technology stirs doubts amongst e-entrepreneurs and is misunderstood as a solution that needs an additional team of developers or tech skills to manage it. 

This is not the case with the best ecommerce platform in India!  Having an edge of Technology means being able to use the features easily. With StoreHippo, you do not need any additional tech knowledge to operate its tools. Most of them are self-explanatory, automated and provide ready solutions in just a few clicks such as;

• Drag and drop features to customise website theme
• An in-built blogging engine to upload blogs and categorise them 
• A powerful discount engine to create offers and deals
• One-click options for changing languages, currencies, pricing
• Easy-to-send notifications through emails, SMSes and push notifications
• Auto-upgrades with no additional plug-ins or tech intervention
• Next-gen technology stack to make your business future-ready. 

4. The mobile-first solution should be a priority

An online business that is not mobile responsive stands no chance in the e-commerce battleground. 

Your online solution should have the Mobile-first approach and should be able to offer easy navigation and convenient browsing even on the smallest of screens. Unlike most options in the market, StoreHippo considered this primary need in the early stages of development. The ecommerce software has also leaped ahead by;

• Pioneering Progressive Web Apps that provide a native-app like experience
• Android and iOS apps without additional coding or cost
• Offering an ease of browsing in low or no connectivity zones
• Use of technology that builds lighter and faster sites 

Gone are the days when the mobile-first feature was the new trend in online commerce. With a drastic consumer shift from desktop to smartphones, most online solutions must be inherently mobile-responsive and equipped with PWAs with android and iOS versions at zero cost and no additional coding. 

5. A two-in-one solution for B2B and B2C needs

With the help of the best ecommerce platform in India, a lot of entrepreneurs opt for a business enterprise but also keep a storefront to cater to retail customers too.

Like for instance, you might be supplying dental instruments online and supply bulk orders in a multi-speciality hospital. However, at the same time, you might even sell to an individual clinic with a minimum order quantity. To be able to do so you need to customise your pricing, invoices, etc. and create customer-specific flow.

StoreHippo ensures it gives you the freedom to have your choice of business structure by single-handedly supporting your B2C and B2B needs.. You can easily create a niche business, a marketplace selling different commodities or run multiple storefronts for different customer segments at the same time. The vast features of this ecommerce software allow;

• Easy migration from your existing version without security breaches
• Create multiple store portals 
• Setup custom B2B portal for different business needs
• Offer custom quotes and price options to different customer groups
• Have a single admin dashboard to run both ventures at the same time

6. Check for designs that matter

A simple and sleek design with a neutral colour theme or something more bright  for your online store! In any case, the store builder should be able to fulfil your vision through its theme library and offer you the most amazing design options. 

StoreHippo ecommerce software comes with a rich theme library that not only provides you a hundred different mobile-responsive designs but is also very easy to use, create and modify the way you want to. 

Easy customisation ensures you just have to drag and drop the choices you want. You can also conveniently switch between the Themes or mix and match them. The software’s developer-friendly features ensure you come up with dynamic and beautiful pages without any coding. 

7. Secured transaction through a secured website 

Your site’s security and customer data is incredibly important. Hence you might want to choose the best ecommerce platform in India that is PCI compliant and SSL certified.

Also, you need to ensure that customers avail secured payment transactions through all the Payment gateways integrated with your online platform

StoreHippo offers your business security perks with zero additional cost that ensures complete fraud protection and monitoring for DDoS attacks. With add ons such as compulsory login feature and single admin logins it provides a safe and secure business environment. Moreover, it is integrated with more than 30 highly-reliable PCI DSS compliant payment gateways that ensure that customers’ financial information is protected as well as secured and smooth payments go hand in hand. 

8. Seamless integration for a smooth business flow

You must have heard that the best ecommerce platform in India should be able to offer easy integration. This is important considering the endless process flows you have within your business daily. It’s also crucial that these additional tools for marketing, shipping, payments, etc. work efficiently and support your core business. 

With an online store, you might probably need a good marketing strategy to drive traffic to your storefront. You might also need a good CRM to constantly engage your customers and interact with them on a personal level. The ecommerce software you choose might also need to integrate with shipping partners for a well-efficient supply chain function. 

StoreHippo allows easy integrations with several tools to manage your business efficiently. While integrating with different payment gateways, it also offers a flawless CRM to help you create a solid marketing plan. 

In addition to this, it also helps you with your shipping needs through its shipping aggregator, ShipKaro. This best ecommerce platform in India makes sure to look-see into your shipping needs with automated processes, multiple partners, bargained rates and more

9. Inherent features for a future-proof business

As an ecommerce entrepreneur, you need to consider your products and inventory, manage accounting and backends and at the same time take care of marketing and sales. 

Innumerable options pose a challenge to business owners, leaving them confused as to what is the best ecommerce platform in India. 

To simplify the decision-making process, how about asking yourself as to what is the purpose of an online platform? 

• To Build your online store
• Manage it’s day to day processes 
• Incorporate expansions
• Achieve customer satisfaction
• Produce better ROI in the long run

StoreHippo is a robust and feature-rich software that has out-of-box features to support all the above-mentioned needs. Along with the most basic features, it also offers some unique functionalities at zero additional cost. 

The ecommerce software provides tools for auto-sync, simplified order processes and product management along with analytics and performance can be an added advantage to manage huge volume during peak traffic. 

10. Expansion at a global level

The store builder you choose should help you take the big leap and go global by providing; 

• Multi-language features including one-tap translations
• Multi-currency features with global payment gateways
• Global CDN for site speed and secure traffic 

As the best e-commerce platform in India, StoreHippo offers you global e-commerce solutions to help you deal with your customers in a native way. By offering your value to the customers in their local language and accepting payments in their currencies, you not only win your customers’ satisfaction but also beat the competition. 

Conclusion

The software you choose is a crucial business decision that will affect your ability to stick to your business goals in the long run. Hence, it’s always better to make a sound decision. 

If you want to skip the research and start building yourself a well-functioning website, StoreHippo is a powerful SaaS ecommerce software that can support every type of business model. Moreover, it incorporates all the tools and features you need to provide your customers with an ideal shopping experience and run your business smoothly. 

We invite you to try our 14-day trial-store and introduce you to our feature-rich software to help you understand why it’s the right choice to build your e-business. You can also reach out to us …. for further questions and queries.