Choosing an eCommerce platform is perhaps the most important decision to start your digital transformation. Although brands might be drawn by cheaper solutions that meet their needs, other things must be taken into consideration before making a final decision. It might be easier to change hosting services, migrating a site is less straightforward for both brands and customers. However, the following considerations must be taken into consideration.

Budget

Building and hosting an eCommerce site can range in price. Prices are quite competitive in today’s market but what do these packages actually offer? Is the package actually cost-efficient? Does the brand get a bang for its buck? Moreover, paying a higher cost does not guarantee a good user experience. However, selecting the cheaper option has its limits. Some businesses might have to customize the platform or search for add-on capabilities from a 3rd party.

Moreover, adding the fees from different 3rd party providers can make the integration project more expensive. Hence, before choosing an eCommerce host, brands must have decided on the budget for different aspects. This includes web design, programming and functionality, security, monthly hosting, maintenance, licensing and custom app creation. Brands must consider the cost of these services from other providers and the potential impact on the overall budget. Other brands can consider all-in-one eCommerce hosts and select a premium package that includes all of these features and stays within budget.

Target audience

Social media advertising is important in today’s world to grab the attention of a large engaged audience. This means the marketing capabilities of an eCommerce platform are amongst the first things brands scrutinize. Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the rest, brands have billions of potential customers to target. May eCommerce platforms offers its user built-in integrations with Facebook and Instagram. Brands use this to target marketing efforts directly to users. The social media companies for their part have embraced eCommerce in different ways. Facebook Shop and Instagram now allows brands to sell directly to users without them having to leave their chosen social media platform.

Scalability

It is important to consider how a brand can scale their eCommerce store as they are expanding. When brands select an eCommerce host they can familiarize themselves with the technology as they scale up. Key questions must be asked. For example, how much traffic do they expect on the site? Some brands might not need an eCommerce platform host with high-traffic capabilities. On the other hand, brands with a growth strategy, need eCommerce technology that can scale rapidly. Will the chosen eCommerce technology handle the traffic demands now and in the future? What happens if they run a promotion or campaign which goes viral? 

eCommerce hosting infrastructure must be adaptable enough to handle traffic surges without the risk of crashing the website. However, in the last decade, cloud hosting is among the best options as it better keeps up with traffic. Cloud hosting supports hosting requirements with close to unlimited growth capabilities.

Customer service

In conclusion, brands must consider the most customer facing aspect of an eCommerce store. Today, this is customer service capabilities. This has a large impact on brand loyalty and cart abandonment. Customers need to know that they can get a hold of a real-life person to help you with potential problems they have on the site. Previously, this was limited to  phone support or  email, but now we have chatbot and other eCommerce innovations that have improved the process. However, some eCommerce platforms outsource customer service capabilities which makes it harder to contact them and get help when needed.