Custom eCommerce Platform: Why Should Enterprises opt It?

If you are planning to invest in eCommerce, then luck has favoured you as the latest trends show that the eCommerce platform is flourishing at its peak. You can confirm it by looking at the following stats:

• The E-commerce platforms of Canada & America saw a 129%rise in the Q2 of 2020.
• Amazon recorded a net sale of $55.44 Billion in the second quarter of 2020.
• The worldwide eCommerce sales are expected to share 22% of all the retail sales for the period of 2015 to 2023.

So, if you are running a business, it’s the best time to start your services online via a customized eCommerce platform. You may wonder as to why opt for a customized platform when you can avail readymade solutions!

While you may find the readymade eCommerce solutions tempting owing to rapid development and less cost, they often lack the striking features that come with the development of a custom eCommerce platform.

Even similar businesses tend to differ in numerous ways. So how can a readymade solution help everyone out there? As it has got developed for a generic audience, its functionalities are limited to a greater extent. 

In contrast, a custom eCommerce platform gets developed considering the target audience, critical features, business model (B2B/B2C), popular payment options, etc. that enhances the success of your project. There are several benefits of going for customization for your digital platform.

Let’s look at the Top 12 Benefits of Custom eCommerce Platform

1.     Easy Optimization of Sales Funnel

It is common for online shoppers to land on an eCommerce platform then start looking for products and drop it exactly moments before finalizing the order. Stats say less than 10% of customers place an order while the remaining tend to leave the portal due to unoptimized sales funnel.

The sales funnel are the multiple stages, namely awareness, interest, decision, payment etc. the user goes through while placing an order. Users tend to leave due to numerous reasons, mainly speed, content, etc.

A custom eCommerce platform helps to analyze the stages of the sales funnel. Optimization becomes easy once we gain insights into what's bothering the users on the platform! Its optimization is crucial for boosting the performance and encouraging sales of the platform. 

1.     The best option for selling Customized Products

If you are dealing with products that require customization, then custom eCommerce platforms are the best way for you to handle clients. It is because the readymade solutions fail to offer customization features to the final products and services.

For example, A business that deals in cakes need multiple inputs from the users related to weight, shape, taste, delivery timings, etc. You cannot afford missing details if you want to build a loyal customer base to your business.

1.     Search Engine Optimization

The users tend to search the products and services online and visit the eCommerce platforms that appear on the search engine result pages (SERPs). So, getting your product or service a high-rank among the SERPs play a significant role in gaining traffic for the website.

A well-customized eCommerce portal offers convenient optimization of titles, product descriptions, metadata, etc. to ensure heavy traffic on the product landing pages. Non-product pages like the F.A.Q section, help section, etc. also need optimization to generate traffic from multiple kinds of search operations.

1.     Better UI & UX

U.I. and UX play an essential role in the success of any online portal. According to top web development stats 2020, nearly 59% of users prefer to indulge with elegant content. Surprisingly 48% judge’s credibility of the website based on its design only.

The ultimate U.I. and UX are highly dependent on the target audience and the business model, which can get best addressed with customized development of the website or app.

The search engine also high-ranks the eCommerce portals that come with greater flexibility and neat UX for the customers.

1.     Mobile Commerce

Online surfing from mobile devices accounts for greater than 50% of the total web traffic around the world. Online shopping from mobile devices is an everyday activity for customers. So, your eCommerce platform must be mobile-friendly to reach a wider audience.

A mobile-friendly website itself requires various aspects that must be taken care of. The design must be responsive, auto-scaling features must be present to suit multiple screen sizes, optimum speed to grab the user’s attention before it expires etc.

All such aspects are best addressed in the customized development of the software. Increasing the mobile-friendliness is equivalent to enhancing the user-friendliness of your eCommerce platform. 

1.     Better Customer Service

The customer service in eCommerce is not limited to selling and on-time delivery of products. Easy tracking of order, the quick generation of the invoice, queries section, openly expressing reviews/ratings, etc. are imperative to convince a customer to rely on the platform for future needs too.

A customized platform can best address all such concerns for your project to offer the best customer service to the clients. Any issues with these factors will ultimately tarnish the overall experience of the user producing a negative impact on your website.

1.     Multiple options of Secured-Payment

New visitors will leave your platform moments before making the payment for the product or service when they won’t find their preferred option of payment. The rise of online theft has made it a common practice among the youth.

With customized development, your platform can offer multiple options for payment. Offering multiple renowned options of secured payment increases the confidence of your customers which enhances the credibility of your business. 

Boosting the conversion rate, it directly increases the ROI (return on investment) of your digital platform.

1.     Greater Speed and Scalability

Stiff competition and varying peak hours have made speed and scalability a crucial factor for the website performance. More than two seconds for any page to load and 47% of users start tapping on your competitor’s portal.

A customized platform relies on a content delivery network that automatically ensures quick loading of the product image and videos, reducing the page load time. The development team can also discard the superfluous features to reduce the weight of the page.

Ecommerce platforms often experience peak hours during which the software must receive I.T. for proper functioning. Your app can be hosted to Cloud to enhance its scalability. The development team can also integrate APIs or microservices to ensure smooth functioning of the software during the peak hours of sales.

1.     Higher Security

Readymade solutions are more prone to attack from hackers as compared to customized eCommerce solutions. Any breach of customers' personal information can lead to a significant setback for your business. 

Web developers can secure your website by moving your website to HTTPS, which prevents online fraudulent activities. SSL certifications are also reliable for improving the security of your app.

1.   APIs Integration

Various tools and APIs are necessary for easy maintenance of your platform. For example, if you deal with international clients, you can rely on multicurrency APIs. It offers the current money-exchange conversion rate to the customers at the time of payment.

By using customer-centric tools and APIs, an app can be tailored to suit the target audience, enhancing the UX of the platform. Payment gateway APIs helps with the management of late and rejected payments.

1.   Business Centric Offers

You want to develop and offer multiple coupons as part of a sale but also want to put several caps over them to avoid any loss to the business! Developing such offers and vouchers are possible with customized eCommerce development.

In contrast, a premade solution fails to develop such offer coupons. For example, a business that deals in clothing may want to sell-away stock of particular brands but doesn’t want it for all the products. 

In such a scenario, the management team cannot organize a universal offer and must rely on a particular brand offer.

1.   Easy Management of the Platform

The development company is responsible for offering an easy to access and use admin panel for your employees. Any issues arising in the platform gets addressed according to the maintenance policy signed between you and the software development company.

So, the maintenance of the app becomes relatively much easier for your firm. Moreover, an easy to access admin panel ensures easy uploading of stocks, offer, product details etc. 

Final Words

Businesses looking forward to investing in eCommerce platforms should opt for customized development. It may be a bit costlier for the firms, but it pays off in the long run with its numerous benefits.

A minor drawback that comes with customized development is that it takes a significantly higher time for fresh development than investing in premade solutions. However, eCommerce development companies in India are famous for completing successful projects at less cost and time owing to their cheap human resource.

Overall, you can conveniently go for a customized eCommerce platform for your business. In this blog, I have mentioned all the prime benefits that come with choosing customization of your digital store. 

I hope it proves resourceful to the readers.