Table of Contents
Introduction
The type of Ecommerce development support options you need may vary depending on what stage your organization is at in the evolution of the business. Before we jump into the choices you have for ecommerce development support, we recommend that you identify what stage your business is in so that you can make a more informed decision. This ultimately saves you and ecommerce website developers a ton of time (and, of course, money).
If you feel that your business has more specific needs, reach out to our team of ecommerce website developers to see how we can set up an ecommerce site that works best for you.
Next week we’ll be covering how to select the best ecommerce platforms for selling services, so make sure to check back for valuable insights from our team!
What Business Profile fits you?
EXISTENCE – SURVIVAL STAGES:
Are you a scrappy business with just a couple of people in need of a roadmap to success? Keep reading below for detailed accounts of easy-to-understand, real-world experiences with ecommerce platforms for business that can work within your budget. With enough guidance from our ecommerce website developers, you can decide which eCommerce development support option will produce the most successful outcomes for your organization.
SUCCESS – TAKE OFF STAGES:
Has your organization outgrown your current ecommerce solution after reaching new milestones of success? Are you beginning to see deficiencies in your setup and need to shop for new ecommerce platforms for business options? Defer to the previous paragraph’s statement.
The eCommerce development support content below will refresh the challenges of where you were, provide the value necessary to move forward with your next ecommerce platform, possible API Integrations, and the vendors that will lay in hand in obtaining a successful outcome.
RESOURCE MATURITY STAGE:
You know you are. Your business has been around the block, you delegate resources to various roles within the organization but perhaps the organization needs a kick in the ass to shake things up.
Reading the ecommerce development support options available to you below will reinvigorate you and your staff for adapting to new business opportunities, revenue channels, and simplify ways of optimizing the tech in your organization that may not have been around before.
Let’s begin your journey by refreshing your foundational knowledge and get those creative juices flowing as you start thinking about developing an ecommerce integrations road map for the future.
What ecommerce platforms for business are best for starting off?
I am a big advocate of getting your site up immediately if you are a business selling to consumers (B2C) or a business selling to another business (B2B). That means first getting your site up on a CMS platform like Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, or Framer but you may want to think twice before proceeding with WordPress.
The cost of hosting your site on WordPress may be cheaper, but the development and overall maintenance of the site will be more expensive. Most people go to an ecommerce development support team requesting that they build a site without having any clue or content.
There are several alternative CMS platforms to WordPress that will allow you to play with design and content on your own time rather than wasting developer’s time. Your staff and their budget will be plowed through content development rabbit holes that can be avoided had you invested a bit more time prepping the site and understanding who you are as a business and what do your business wants to be in the future.
For Network Antics, it is pretty clear what our core services are with a slight scroll through the main page of our website, but lots of introspection plus bad decision making was required to clearly define what we are in a coherent way that will make people want to navigate, click, and possibly convert to a prospect by responding to a call to action or request for service.
WordPress CMS
Most of us learn through having a visual understanding of what we are discussing. It probably helps to understand that the site you are reading this blog post on was created on WordPress. Out of all the ecommerce platforms for business, approximately 45% of the websites hosted on the internet run on WordPress, even incredibly popular sites such as nytimes.com.
Examples of WordPress sites:
– https://www.citytrailerinc.com
Network Antics contains an Avada theme that we settled on that captures the look and feel we were searching for but also accommodated WooCommerce built into the theme. Themes features are important to note. You don’t want to select a theme that you later regret because the theme does not include some scalable site features.
One glance and you can tell that the look and feel of one WordPress site can be an entirely different experience from another. I mention our client City Trailer because they incorporated Shopify ecommerce into selling parts on their website.
It is just worth noting that you can have any ecommerce platform you want in any CMS platform. It then becomes a mix and match game of what works best for you. I do know Shopify has an open API that allows you to sync product inventory whereas that is a limitation for Squarespace or Wix. If these are solutions that sound interesting to you, our team of ecommerce website developers are ready to discuss how we can create the perfect ecommerce solution for you.
Squarespace CMS
Below is my friend’s site who started his business approximately the same time as me. Out of the many ecommerce platforms for business, he chose Squarespace for unknown reasons. As part of his sales strategy, he prefers to have client consultations first (as do we), but we offer our clients the option to purchase on the spot, while he does not. Perhaps that is a strategic move not to reveal pricing, or it’s on the to-do list.
– www.Strongmadesimple.com – Squarespace site B2C
Wix CMS
My dog groomer’s site has plenty of products being advertised for purchase on their site, but does the Wix ecommerce component actually sell their product well? What is the friction, and is that product actually in stock or can it be dropped ship to the customer’s location? These may be important questions for you to consider when choosing from the various ecommerce platforms for business.
– Boutique para mascotas | Barrio Perro | Jalisco – Wix site B2C
– https://www.tribudistritoyoga.com/ – Wix site B2C
Wix also thought ahead by creating cookie cutting app templates.
– Need to look at Yoga Schedules? Download Fit by Wix
– Need to check in guests? Download Guest Check-in by Wix
While the ecosystem is already built-in with the likes of Wix and Squarespace, you also may be severely limited by the app and site flexibility. Que WordPress…
WordPress Themes & eCommerce
It is worth noting that most WordPress sites are built with a “theme” that you may have bought many moons ago and forgot the theme’s very existence, i.e., who developed the theme and where you purchased it from. As discussed earlier, it’s important to pick the right popular, flexible, and updated theme over time to meet the organization’s future ambitions.
Avada | Website Builder For WordPress & WooCommerce Preview – ThemeForest – WordPress Theme
The above theme was found from a simple Google query. Avada is one of the most popular WordPress theme developers out there. The point of the theme is Avada creates the look and feel of your website based on hundreds of theme options. This saves a micro or small business tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars developing a site from scratch.
Scaling your site for ecommerce
Here is where things get messy and expensive. Many of you are going to choose WooCommerce or Shopify as your two default options of ecommerce platforms for business. I am not saying these are the best options out there for your specific scenario, but they are certainly a couple of the most popular if you are using WordPress. Others may have some very basic built-in ecommerce from an all-in-one CMS like Squarespace.
Outlining your ecommerce goals from the get-go will go a long way in avoiding hundreds of hours in lost time and a lot financial heartache that even ecommerce website developers couldn’t save you from.
A WordPress Theme with Built-in WooCommerce
Now if you recall, the NA site is built on WordPress, but if you jump on the Way-Back-When Machine you will see that the WordPress site theme was a bit different:
– Managed IT services | IT Consultants – Network Antics (archive.org)
We don’t necessarily hate the older Avada theme, but the theme died out and simply did not incorporate WooCommerce into the theme.
Avada | Website Builder For WordPress & WooCommerce Preview – ThemeForest – WordPress Theme
Yes, I am reintroducing the Avada link from the simple Google query I performed earlier in this post. You do not need to poke around too much in the theme to notice that it has WooCommerce built in. Incorporating ecommerce into this theme saves a mountain of time for ecommerce website developers. However, is WooCommerce the right ecommerce for you?
Why choose built-in WooCommerce and Call to Action WordPress Themes
Your WordPress theme must feature/integrate Woo or an alternative stellar eCommerce solution. Simple eCommerce touches on your website will be an aesthetic nightmare for ecommerce website developers to integrate later if you are missing the ecommerce component from the theme.
For example, the intent of most of our posts is for you to gain some value and maybe just maybe compel you to contact us. The ribbon at the top of this blog is a simple but difficult feature to add later with a theme that does not have ecommerce in mind.
The e-commerce products page is flawed
Another amazing feature of the updated integrated theme is that you can build out a products page in minutes instead of ecommerce website developers having to create new development code made from scratch over the course of several days.
Service Offerings – Network Antics
I am serious. The link above was all a part of the new Avada theme that incorporated an ecommerce services page. It was a very seamless page built out specifically for products or selling services from your ecommerce website. The flaw is when you look at the site on a phone and realize that it looks clunky for selling services. Selling services should have a clean look – another consideration for choosing between ecommerce platforms for business
In our next post, we dive deep into selling services on an ecommerce platform. Be sure to check back so you don’t miss out on valuable insights that could greatly help your business market and sell your stack. Got an urgent question? Need specialized assistance? Reach out to our team of developers and we’ll be happy to assist!
Bonus Resources for Small Businesses
- The Best Invoicing Platform & Sales Proposal Software -This article reviews some of the options for choosing the best invoicing & proposal platform out there.
- Essential Help Articles for ACT! IT Support -Tired of being on the phone with ACT! IT support again and again? Get all the answers you need with our compilation of ACT! resource articles.
- Why You Need API Integration for Your Business -Discover what businesses are doing to cut revenue losses and streamline workplace efficiency with API integration setup.
- Choosing the Best CRM Software for a Small Startup – Looking for the best CRM software for a small startup? Discover why CRMs are so important for businesses and our review of some of the popular CRMs out there.
- How to Engage Prospects and Existing Clientele – How to get the most out of your CRM
- Automate That Quote – Learn how to save time and energy by automating your quotes
Find the Best eCommerce Development Support Options for Your Business with 6 Real World Examples Summary
They say honesty is the best policy, and the same is true when considering where you’re at in your business journey and what your goals are for the future of your business. Taking the time to really think about these things will ultimately save you a lot of time, money, and energy when communicating your needs to an ecommerce website developer.
Next week, we’ll be discussing what makes an ecommerce platform good for selling services and how to select the best one for your business. Stay tuned!
Network Antics has worked with businesses at every stage of their journey, helping companies of all sizes to create and then optimize their websites and platforms. If you found this article helpful and would like to know more about what our ecommerce website developers can do for you, contact us today!