Many entrepreneurs intend to start their own e-commerce businesses. There are multiple reasons that e-commerce seems like an appealing path for their entrepreneurial aspirations.
Unfortunately, creating a successful e-commerce company is a lot harder than it seems. The failure rate in this sector is around 80%. This is worse than most other types of businesses.
The good news is that there are plenty of things that e-commerce entrepreneurs can do to maximize their probability of success. One of the most important steps is to make sure that you choose the right e-commerce platform, such as global ecommerce solutions. This can go a long way towards boosting your conversion rates and maintaining a profitable business model.
Choosing the right platform for your e-commerce business
There are a lot of factors that you need to consider when selecting an e-commerce platform to build your website. Some of the most important variables are listed below.
Ease of setting up your online store
There is a lot of work involved when you need to create an e-commerce business. You can’t be unrealistic about your ability to handle the workload. If you don’t remove as many unnecessary time sinks as possible, then you simply won’t have time to get everything done.
The most important thing that you can do is choose an e-commerce platform that is as easy to setup as possible. It should have a very efficient content management system that is able to integrate new modules and plug-ins seamlessly. You also need to make sure that they offer the support to create custom sites, such as websites for millennial users.
It should also have a number of pre-existing landing page templates that align with your conversion goals. You can always hack these landing pages to optimize them better, but you won’t have to put in nearly as much time if you have a platform that comes with landing pages that already closely match your needs.
Internal analytics capabilities
The Pareto principle is very much applicable with e-commerce. You will probably test close to 100 different products before you find a handful that convert well. You will also find that many marketing channels convert much better than others.
In order to properly optimize your campaigns, you will need to carefully monitor your analytics. This means that your e-commerce platform should have an in-built analytics platform. Although other third-party analytics tools like Google Analytics can also be useful, they won’t have the same insights as an internal analytics dashboard with greater proximity to your e-commerce data. You can probably integrate your third-party analytics tools with the e-commerce platforms own analytics for greater customizability.
Option to self-host your online store
You will find a lot of e-commerce experts argue that the benefits of self-hosting are overrated. Even writers from major publications like Big Commerce seem reluctant to wholeheartedly support the idea.
However, the appeal of self-hosted online stores becomes a lot clearer when you understand the drawbacks in detail. The biggest argument against self-hosting is that you will occasionally need to take your site off-line for maintenance, which will be the issue with any platform. However, the difference is that you will need to pay for the maintenance yourself if you’re hosting your own store.
This may be a deterrent when you are starting off. However, as your website grows, the relative costs of periodic maintenance will become tiny relative to your overall revenue. At the same time, the benefits of self-hosting your online store become more evident. You will have a lot more control over the layout and functionality of your store, which becomes more important as you try to differentiate yourself from big-name competitors.
Fast loading times
Your site needs to be able to load quickly if you want to have a profitable e-commerce business model. The average visitor is going to leave your site if it does not load within three seconds. A fast loading website is also a prerequisite for better search engine rankings.
A number of factors can influence the speed of your website. Your platform should give you the flexibility that you need to make sure that it loads more quickly. The interface should generally be slick and hosted on a reliable server. You also want to make sure that it isn’t bogged down with lots of unnecessary website elements.
Choosing the right e-commerce platform is crucial
If you want to be a successful e-commerce store operator, then you need to do everything possible to set yourself up for success. You should invest in the right e-ecommerce platform. This will help immensely.