Top Features that make the Best Platform to develop E-commerce Website

With online sales emerging rapidly every year, business owners, as well as customers, are favouring internet services. You can’t always wait for the customers to visit your store, can you? Instead, you must have a solid backend that attracts them by offering unmatched services. But the real dilemma comes when one has to look for and finalize the best platform to develop an e-commerce website for their own business.

There are so many factors that will go through your mind while you try to pick the best service provider. Costing, customer management, reminders, payment gateway, etc. are a few mandatory features. But primarily you must understand whichever platform you select must suit your business type.

It’s a fact that online trends keep changing every now and then. But features like uncomplicated layout, hassle-free customization, cost-effectiveness, and efficient data management are evergreen assets for any platform. An e-commerce store is a medium that helps you reach your target audiences. Selecting the best platform to develop an e-commerce website is a stepping stone for any successful online business.

Considering its importance, here is a list of questions one needs to inquire before opting for any e-commerce service:

1. Does it offer affordable plans that suit your monthly financial budget?

Budget is a very crucial factor that drives your new business. But first, you must plan how much you are willing to spend on different aspects of your business like Technology, marketing, inventory etc. If you wish to take your business slow, there are many free alternatives. But if you want your online business to grow speedily, pick the best platform to develop an e-commerce website so that you can manage your store effortlessly.

A feature-rich e-commerce solution need not cost more. You need to check the features and the requirements of your business.

Everyone wishes to expand their business at some point or the other. In such cases switching to a new e-commerce service provider is not a practical approach. Make sure your solution expert gives the flexibility of expanding or upgrading your store as the business grows. The practice of adding new features or tweaking them as per requirement must also be considered as an option. So, the best platform to develop an e-commerce website will be one that has the features which your business needs and also fits your monthly budget is. This will help you pick the best service package for your e-commerce business.

2. Does it have the right features for your business?

There are features that cater basically to highly advanced requirements. If you want your business to flourish, go for the features that suit your practical needs. The best platform to develop an e-commerce website should provide features like theme customization, social media connectivity, professional look, and inbuilt SEO features. For more advanced features like reminder database, comparison features, abandoned cart report and shipping calculators you can pick a premium service package.

Apart from these major factors, you must also keep in mind that your solution partner should deal with more elaborated and complex features. There are many features which might not seem useful at first, but as your business grows those features become essential. A few of those complex features that the best platform to develop e-commerce website must have are, scalability, B2B, Multi-Seller marketplace, Multi-Store, Multi-Currency, etc.

3. Does it offer a lifetime of customer support or limited period assistance?

You must figure out, how much you value customer support. It is a very significant part of any e-commerce business. It is easy to manage low scale stores that only have a handful of products. The real challenge comes when your business has already made its brand value and heavy traffic starts flowing in.

What if your online store goes down at peak sale? Or, what if the cart is not functioning properly? In such situations, customer support becomes a major necessity. The best platform to develop e-commerce website would be one that has handled such scenarios and can handhold you by supporting your backend to keep the show running for long. Check whether they are ready to assist you in handling such scenarios. List down all your queries and ask your e-commerce provider what level of support they would be offering once your store is up and running.

4. Is your e-commerce service provider ready to take your special requirements?

There are numerous platforms in the market that meet the general needs of any normal business however, very few can qualify as the best platform to develop an e-commerce website. But if you are an entrepreneur with a definite vision, you may have to invest more time researching the exact prerequisites your business needs. Once the requirements are clear you can make your website more professional and specialized by taking help from your e-commerce solution provider. The look and feel of your store hold special value for the customers. You need to study the market and your target audiences to streamline features that will make your brand stand out in the competition.

Apart from the general look and feel, some websites demand special features. For example, an educational platform or an Online Learning Portal needs a different flow altogether, compared to an Apparel Store. Keeping this situation in mind, the best platform to develop an e-commerce website should have the functionality of customizable theme design must be customizable and proper support to explain it.

5. Is it able to handle the kind of traffic you are expecting on monthly basis?

If your business is new you may not worry about this factor for a while. But if your products have already captured a certain marketplace, you need to include the customer traffic rate into consideration. Many e-commerce solution providers have experience in handling limited sales and traffic per month. These services never specify anything about the bandwidth limitation unless you ask them.

So to choose the best platform to develop e-commerce website make sure you discuss this factor with your service provider and get an insight on how the platform is going to manage your customer traffic without crashing. If you wish to go with a premium plan, there is no need to worry about any limits. Generally, a decent E-commerce solution provider has packages for unlimited schemes on monthly basis.

Conclusion

Selecting the right service provider is a herculean task. But if you ask yourself these five major questions before deciding on the best platform to develop e-commerce website, I’m pretty sure you will select the best for your business. The right E-commerce solution with diverse features is exactly what your business wants for better growth prospects.

It is very important that the team responsible for developing your e-commerce platform is capable of understanding your needs and implementing it in your online store. You must be confident about whom to select and if they will be capable of meeting your expectations if not exceeding it. These questions mentioned above will help you find the best platform to develop an e-commerce website for your business.

StoreHippo is a prominent service provider that offers unique and efficient features for a wide variety and models of online businesses. It has a diverse range of services that offer a start to finish solution of any business, regardless of its scale. With an upright technical team providing the best support, StoreHippo believes in customer satisfaction and quality work. With a little coordination form your end, StoreHippo will help you set up a flawless e-commerce solution with best possible features.

If you are sincerely planning to go for the best platform to develop an e-commerce website to launch your online e-commerce business and need assistance, mail us at [email protected] or create a Trial store. StoreHippo will be happy to help!