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What is eCommerce? The terms, tips, and tools you need to know
DynamicWeb
Learn what terms, tips and tools you should know for your eCommerce store.
In 2020, retail eCommerce sales worldwide amounted to $4.28 trillion. In 2022, e-retail revenues are projected to grow to $5.4 trillion. For many businesses, eCommerce is a way to reach new customer segments, maintain customer loyalty, boost sales and revenue, increase efficiency, and fine-tune product and inventory management. Recent growth in digital channels has been significant, and continued growth is anticipated. By 2040, 95% of all purchases will occur through eCommerce.
eCommerce management is a service that encapsulates all the tasks needed for successful online businesses such as payment processing, inventory management, marketing, order fulfillment, order shipment, customer service, and more. Each of these tasks can involve complex processes and can be a full-time job on its own. To reduce eCommerce complexity, eCommerce suites can provide an integrated platform to streamline processes and simplify operations so that the business owner can focus on innovation, profitability, and growth.
Aspects of eCommerce That Create Real Value
There are many aspects of eCommerce including website design, product management, inventory oversight, sales, profit margins, order quality, selling costs, customer relationships, administration costs, and more. eCommerce involves building out the digital shop and managing the products. All these factors need to be easy to use, error-proof, elegant, and consistent with best-practice standard UX designs.
eCommerce expands the opportunities for B2B, B2C, and B2A growth. Online shopping allows stores to be accessible at any time and from anywhere, without increasing time-based labor or overhead costs. Smart features enable automated email campaigns, promotions, abandoned shopping cart reminders, and sophisticated searches.
Through 24/7 self-service, the need for sales representatives decreases. Customers can access quotes in real-time, order history, re-ordering, invoices, RMA, address books, and more. Sales representatives can focus on high-value client relationships and leave the basic order negotiations to the programmed algorithms.
Furthermore, administrative costs can be decreased with an adept eCommerce management system. Integrated Product Information Management (PIM) solutions provide a single-source of truth, allowing proprietors to manage data on one platform and publish it through many platforms and media. Multiple languages, currencies, payments, VAT/sales tax, and shipping methods can be coordinated. The many aspects of eCommerce management far surpass the basic capabilities of online shopping carts. In fact, many customers appreciate extensive self-service and personalized shopping experiences. Today, customers expect layered, dynamic shopping experiences that can only be achieved through exceptional eCommerce management solutions.
Related whitepaper: Why your eCommerce needs more than a shopping cart
Tips to Improve Your eCommerce Business
There are many ways to improve eCommerce management. From the business owner to the potential customer, everyone deserves a seamless and reliable eCommerce experience. The entire digital sales strategy needs to be given careful attention. Integrating PIM, Digital Marketing, Content Management Systems (CMS), user-friendly design, and back-end compatibility with systems like enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) are important ways to ensure eCommerce management is as successful as possible.
PIM generates details about products and website navigation experiences. This information is critical for maximizing marketing opportunities and closing sales. To optimize PIM, it needs to be integrated with both eCommerce and the content management system (CMS) so that content creation can be automated, and the copy is available in the cloud anytime and anywhere. Digital marketing is particularly useful because there are copious amounts of data that can shape insights about customers and online patterns of behavior. This all ties into ERP and CRM. Customers need to have customized experiences and marketing teams need to be organized, efficient, and effective.
Furthermore, integrating CMS with eCommerce can allow for these personalized digital eCommerce experiences. Integrating CMS also allows for search engine optimizations (SEO) and A/B testing. Of utmost importance is the usability of an eCommerce suite. Any improvements in management must attend to the proprietor’s experience of building the digital store. The best way to do so is through no-code/low code design tools that are easy to use and lead to elegant, compelling product pages. To support all the functionality, eCommerce sites must be integrated with systems such as ERP and CRM that are responsible for completing and processing the orders.
How an eCommerce Suite Benefits Your Business
Many eCommerce platforms offer some of the strategies that can improve eCommerce for businesses and customers. There are excellent companies that can skillfully handle individual aspects of eCommerce like marketing, ordering, web design, sales, etc. However, when eCommerce management is split between multiple companies, shops and countries, the proprietor is saddled with the immense responsibility of coordinating work between all the disparate teams. In this fractalized arrangement, things are easily overlooked, and incompatibilities easily arise. Implementing an all-in-one eCommerce suite is the easiest, most affordable, and most effective way to improve every aspect of a business’s digital experience.
Dynamicweb eases the complexities involved in managing eCommerce sites. Today, customers expect digital purchasing options, and globally accessible digital purchasing options are ideal. Through valuable customer insights, precise inventory monitoring, and impressive sales channel expansion, Dynamicweb supports digital marketplaces worldwide..
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If you are curious to see the Dynamicweb eCommerce suite solution in action, you can try it yourself for free.