What Should You Pay Attention to When Selecting an eCommerce Platform?

The first e-commerce initiatives were launched in the early 1990s. These included the first online bookstore and shortly after that, Amazon launched, which is now a fully-fledged online store.

Since then, both technology and customer expectations have evolved significantly. Digital commerce - for a long time, the most important arena for retail - is now crucial to any business-to-business success. Today, every industry invests in digital commerce. This increase in demand has led to an increase in technological capabilities and providers of digital commerce solutions. And that leads to the challenge of selecting the right solution for your business.

For example, a Belgian bookstore, chose to look for a new platform to get more extensive possibilities, which they did not have in their previous e-commerce tool. With the new features, they can expand their product range, integrate efficiently with different channels and improve the search functionality for their brands. The bookstore needed to match both online and offline orders from different brands, linking each product to a unique stock location and integrating the different systems into a seamless omni-channel experience. Faced with constraints with their previous commerce tool, they wanted to migrate to a more flexible and sustainable platform. 

Another example is a distributor in the Netherlands who needed a new e-commerce platform because their current solution was outdated and no longer in line with current or future objectives. The company had to respond to the needs of both B2B and B2C customers for a better online shopping experience, personalized transactions, up-to-date customer insights and product information. 

A Dutch beverage distributor, on the other hand, wanted to retain the existing capabilities when they switched to a new platform. Among other things, all of the distributor's external customers needed to access and use the site by placing their orders through the new platform with their own login and custom product selection visible to them. The distributor wanted a future-proof, flexible and scalable platformwith robust capabilities without limitations within the long-term vision and strategy.

These examples show that it is crucial to go through a detailed and robust selection process. This starts with defining a clear go-to-market strategy, which includes a concrete plan for a company's digital commerce. When it comes to selecting the right partner for an e-commerce project, it is important to assess the internal team and determine what capabilities a company already has. It is just as important to select a flexible platform that is able to meet changing customer requirements and business needs. It must support a wide range of business implications. 

Selecting the right e-commerce platform can indeed be daunting. Virto Commerce has tried to make it easier by demonstrating those five pitfalls and how to avoid them. To help companies develop an effective selection process, we have described these most common pitfalls and how to avoid them in a white paper. This white paper can be downloaded from the Virto Commerce website.

If you want to hear how other companies have been successful in their efforts to boost their digital strategy, read more in Virto Commerce's customer stories.