ECommerce also was known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the activity of buying or selling products online over the internet. ECommerce draws on some of the technologies including Internet marketing, E-fund transfers, E-data exchange etc. The major platforms for ECommerce are an online retailing, online auction and electronic markets.
At present, the current worth of the e-commerce industry is almost 2.3 trillion and by 2020 it is about to double its worth to 4.4 trillion. Before selecting an e-commerce platform, one should analyze the following four things-
Growth- The main question is how quickly your business will be growing? The estimated net worth including the profits, ups and downs, future growth etc, everything comes under this category.
Customer attraction and management- One should plan all those things he will be doing to engage the customers because the interaction of the customers will be directly proportional to the growth of the business.
Running costs- This includes the amount spend for your business, including the current management, maintenance and development cost.
Aim- The right e-commerce business will help you to achieve your desired goal. A perfect e-commerce business is that which successfully delivers the outcomes and those objectives which are set by the individual instead of those which are popular. One should include those things to his business which can help him to get closer to his objectives.
To choose the best ECommerce platform for business in 2019, one should analyze the following terms-
1. Global trends
One should look after those things which are trending currently on a global basis. Almost from 2010 to 2018, ECommerce is gradually increasing its worth day by day. According to studies, in 2012 ECommerce sales was at its peak and topped 1 trillion for the very first time in the history and since then, it is growing on a regular basis due to the increase in the population of people using the internet as well as its popularity and ease.
2. Logistics
Logistics in ECommerce refers to the fulfillment or satisfaction in some context. If someone has to run a business through e-commerce, he/she must find the best possible way to fulfill the orders and deliver products. One can hire an outside company for service fulfillment or can manage their own logistics, depending upon their needs.
3. Impact on market, retailers and supply chain management
ECommerce markets are growing at a faster rate and it is expected that the online market will grow by 56% during 2015–2020. In 2017, the e-commerce retail sales were almost around 2.3 trillion US dollars. One can easily conclude from the above statistics that in the coming time, e-commerce is going to rule the internet world which is going to have a huge impact on the market. Due to the growth in the market, the impact will automatically shift to the retailers and gradually the supply must be huge for such a huge market. And thus the supply chain has to be managed.
The supply chain is affected by e-commerce as e-commerce has the ability to combine all the inter-company and intra-company functions due to which the physical, financial and information flow of the supply chain is affected. With the help of electronic means of solution, companies can differentiate between the different levels of supply chains and the performance gap will be eliminated. The companies can manage operations with customers and suppliers by implementing ERP systems.
Thus, with the help of e-commerce, it is easy for companies to collaborate with each other.
4. Impact on customers
ECommerce made shopping easy for the customers as they can get anything they want by sitting at their home only. Customer’s satisfaction and ease are the most important factors for a successful e-commerce business. One should launch such things which attract customers the most because of the popularity of a product which results in its further popularity.
For better results, one should focus on varied and customized products having a long life cycle. Customers must be provided with a wide range of products and the business should have the ability to satisfy the multiple needs of a consumer.
Before setting an e-commerce business, one should know about the different types of e-commerce platform-
Open source platform- In an open source platform, you don’t have to acquire a direct cost in purchasing a license but you have to pay for initial developments, upgrades, and implementations.
Cloud platform- Cloud platforms are little dull. Some open source platforms jump into a hosting system and call themselves a cloud platform.
Traditional platform- In this type of platform, you have to buy a license fee directly which will be renewed on annual basis. Then the platform will be developed and customized by the developers of your company.
SaaS platform- The e-commerce platforms that are generally built on a single codebase are termed as SaaS platform. This platform also includes a fixed monthly fee which includes upgrade and maintenance.
Build your own- The best type of platform one can ever work on is his self made. This platform is uncommon nowadays but if someone has to achieve his required goal or objective or requirements that no other platform can offer then this is the best option for him.
At last, here is the list of top e-commerce platforms for a successful business in 2019-
➽Yo! kart- YoKart is an award-winning e-commerce platform which is used by more than 500 e-commerce marketplaces. The best thing about YoKart is its customizability. Yo! Kart is a multi-vendor system which is one of the leading solutions for small, medium and large companies
Website: https://www.yo-kart.com/
➽Shopify- Shopify has become one of the biggest e-commerce brands in the past few years. It starts just at 29 dollars per month for opening a basic account. The only bad side of Shopify is that its pricing is based on the stages of your business that is, one part is for starting a new business and the other is for growing it.
Website: https://www.shopify.in/
➽BigCommerce- BigCommerce helps you to create an attractive and easily integrable storefront. It simplifies the process by automatic listings. One can use it as a pure SaaS platform.
Website:https://www.bigcommerce.com/
➽WooCommerce- WooCommerce is an open source e-commerce platform that offers the best choice for small businesses which look for integration with WordPress.
Website: https://woocommerce.com/
➽Magento- Magento helps small companies to transform into big ones by providing a suitable platform for regular growth. It is a self-hosted e-commerce solution.
The woman is shopping online with a tablet pc– stock image
