Question 1

What are E-commerce Platforms?

Accepted Answer

E-commerce platforms are end-to-end solutions that cover most aspects of an online business. While there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of products that provide features for online sales, not all of them are e-commerce platforms. The basic e-commerce tools are usually known as shopping cart software and their functions are limited to creating the online store, adding products, and embedding the shopping cart on a website. 
 What Types of E-commerce Platforms Exist? 
 B2C e-commerce platforms 
 Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce platform is the most common and focuses exclusively on selling to consumers. B2C e-commerce is open to anyone who wants to purchase online. There may be geographical limitations regarding shipping or currencies, but theoretically, any consumer with a valid credit card can use this type of software to buy online. 
 B2B e-commerce platforms 
 Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform allows companies to sell online to other companies.  
 B2C vs. B2B e-commerce platforms 
 There are a few essential differences between B2C and B2B e-commerce: 
 
Invoicing is used for B2B while for B2C, consumers only need receipts or payment confirmation
Account-specific pricing ensures business customers can benefit from special pricing when purchasing online
Catalogs can be customized for corporate customers

Product configuration and quotes are used for custom products or to personalize standard items for each corporate customer

Multistore management allows businesses to consolidate purchases from various physical and online stores
Integration with contract management, finance, ERP, or retail management systems is essential for B2B
 
 Besides physical products, companies can also use online stores to sell services and software. While traditional e-commerce software can, in theory, be used to sell both products and services, it is preferable to use a platform dedicated to services. These service-based platforms provide features such as: 
 
Subscription plans to define what service or software is being offered on a regular basis
Subscription billing to invoice and track payments for the products and services delivered using a subscription model
Subscription analytics to monitor the efficiency of plans, packages, or promotions

Question 2

What are the Common Features of E-commerce Platforms?

Accepted Answer

E-commerce platforms features for merchandising and marketing 
 E-commerce personalization: Personalization features help companies customize their online content and messaging to better target users and influence their purchasing behavior. It can be used to provide recommendations and to deliver messages at critical stages of the buying process. For instance, when users try to close a webpage, they will get a popup window that is meant to convince them to stay on the page. 
 E-merchandising: This combines product marketing and merchandising to provide potential buyers with information and purchase flows that make it easier for them to buy online. E-merchandising can also improve the buyer experience, which translates into consumer loyalty. 
 Product catalog (or catalog management): This feature helps display products by category in a way that’s easier to navigate than scrolling or searching through lists of hundreds or thousands of products. Most basic e-commerce tools do not provide this type of functionality because it is not critical for small companies. Medium and large businesses that sell a high number of products and services can significantly benefit from using catalog management software by creating custom catalogs for various consumer segments and sometimes even for individual B2B customers. 
 E-commerce platforms features for order processing 
 Shopping cart: The most basic feature but also the most critical, shopping carts are the interface between the company and its customers. The first thing that customers will use to buy online is a shopping cart, and they usually do not care how it works and what’s needed to keep it safe. The essential characteristic of shopping cart software is ease of use. Buyers want the ability to perform transactions fast, so the user interface of a shopping cart needs to be extremely easy to use. 
 Product management: Product management is essential for companies using e-commerce platforms since they usually sell many types of products. A complex offering of products and services means that a lot of product data needs to be managed and maintained to ensure that the online store accurately represents what the company sells. Product information is also important to track sales and revenues by product, a mix of items, packages, or product types. 
 Check out: This functionality is critical to finalize the online transaction and place an order. If consumers and customers are having a hard time during check out, they may abandon the purchase and not try again. 
 Online payments: This feature ensures that the buyer pays for the products and services purchased and the company receives the payment. The accuracy of payments is vital to avoid adjustments and payment gateways should provide sales tax functionality for multiple countries and regions. 
 Additional features of e-commerce platforms 
 The following features are not usually included in a typical e-commerce platform but can be very beneficial to companies that need advanced functionality: 
 
Standard themes and online store personalization allow companies to customize their online sales portals

Payment gateway or out-of-the-box integrations with payment providers eliminate the need for companies to need to work with third-party providers for payments

Fraud protection may include SSL certificates and other security measures to protect the company and its customers

Multichannel sales allow companies to sell on other channels than their websites, such as social media or email

Global, multicountry, multilanguage, and multicurrency features are critical for companies that sell products in different countries
Product information management (PIM) allows companies to manage and keep all the details about their products up to date, such as description, price, and characteristics (size, color, weight)

Marketing functionality such as A/B testing and SEO help companies promote their online stores so that consumers can find their products or services

Web content management helps companies convince potential consumers to buy their products and services

Shipping is an essential feature for online sales and e-commerce platforms allow users to choose how and when the products will be shipped

Customer service is critical for aftersales to address issues, avoid returns, and keep customers happy

Many e-commerce platforms will also offer the following features: 
 
Product search and filtering capabilities
Reporting/analytics capabilities
Omnichannel capabilities
Storefront design capabilities
Product visualization capabilities
Order management capabilities
Multi-site management capabilities
Test-to-product migration capabilities
Shopping cart abandonment capabilities
Product review capabilities
 
 Platform functionality refers to the technical characteristics of the software.

E-commerce platforms need to integrate with other software such as inventory management or shipping, which can be done using APIs. APIs can be customized by users to integrate with most cloud solutions, making it easier to transfer product data or sales information between solutions.

The customization and personalization of the software make it easier to use and increases adoption. Configuring screens and dashboards eliminates unnecessary clutter and helps users quickly access information. 
Access rights and user roles define who does what in the system and which features employees can use to do their jobs effectively. It is also important to manage access for external users, such as suppliers or drop shipping partners, who should only use particular modules of the e-commerce platform.
Security features protect against unauthorized access to private data such as the consumers’ personal details or credit card information. User access should also be limited to business data. For example, a user in charge of shipping should have access to orders and inventory but should not access payment information.

Overview of the most common features of e-commerce platforms

Question 3

What are the Benefits of E-commerce Platforms?

Accepted Answer

The main objectives that e-commerce platforms can help companies achieve are to: 
 Manage online stores: Online stores and all related data such as product details and availability, pricing and discounts, customer addresses, and payment information. 
 Attract buyers: Attract buyers and convince them to purchase the products and services sold by the company. 
 Address post-purchase issues: Including returns, shipping or payment errors, and discrepancies between what consumers expected and what they received 
 Track online sales: Track sales by volume and value, as well as missed opportunities such as abandoned carts 
 Compliance: Comply with regulations for data security and avoid data breaches and cyberattacks or online fraud 
 Another significant benefit of using e-commerce software is that it generates a lot of data that is used by other systems such as CRM software, accounting software, ERP systems, and supply chain and logistics suites. For instance, detailed information on sales and returns can be used to determine the profitability of the company, how to improve inventory levels, or which customers are the most profitable and which ones are not generating significant revenue. 
 Using all this information, companies can adjust their strategy to adapt to changing customer preferences and focus on markets and segments that are more likely to generate important revenues and sustainable profits. 
 Traditionally, businesses sell products and services to two separate categories of customers: businesses and consumers. These two types of customers can be covered by companies that sell to both, usually known as business-to-many (B2M). 
 A recent approach to attract more customers involves partnerships between businesses to expand their market presence, or business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C). By using this approach, companies can promote each other and cross-sell products and services to reach new market segments.

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