E-commerce revenue is projected to reach 5.4 trillion US dollars by 2022 from the calculated 4.28 trillion US dollars that retail sales achieved globally in 2020. Online shopping has become one of the most popular online activities across the globe. Thanks to the convenience and variety that e-commerce allows, businesses are under pressure to provide faster turnaround times, immediate online customer service and a way to provide a personal shopping experience for customers over the internet.
Covid-19 and shopper behavior
The shopping habits of consumers have changed rapidly since 2020, when shoppers and businesses alike were caught off guard by the outbreak of Covid-19. The pandemic had forced a multitude of businesses, large and small alike, to shut their door and reassess their selling strategies. Whilst some businesses were unable to recover from the shock, others flourished by utilising the internet as the perfect pandemic-free platform to safely social distance whilst closely engaging with customers.
E-commerce vs traditional shopping
Whilst traditional shopping offers customers the ability to have a physical interaction with the product before purchasing, it just is not enough to keep up with online trading. Large retailers such as Sears and Kmart have closed over 3500 stores, whilst leaving just over a dozen of their doors. It will not be long before they shut all doors completely.
A study showing the state of retail in 2021 revealed that “U.S. department stores sales have been on a steady decline over the past decade” a trend that can be witnessed globally. Reports have stated that around “15 percent of U.S. malls will either fail or convert to non-retail space by 2024.” This means that business owners will have to convert to a digital platform in order to stay relevant and turn a profit.
There are various E-commerce tools that are available to business owners to help make the transition to digital easier and create a better shopping experience for customers. The apps that are included in this list are curated from independent testing and evaluation performed by, The Ecomm Manager, who serves as an impartial information provider,
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List of 12 top performing aids for Ecommerce
FastSpring - This e-commerce platform is at the top of the list for good reason. The tool provides customers with a complete ecommerce store that provides international web payments, subscription management and billing, branded checkout, and so much more to optimize a customers online shopping experience .
BigCommerce - Targeted towards enterprise brands that utilises the Google (News - Alert) Cloud Platform Aids businesses by allowing users to build in HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Veeqo - Is the ideal partner for businesses that want to utilise both traditional and ecommerce platforms. By optimizing your business with inventory syncing, multi-warehouse routing, purchasing and suppliers.
ShipHero - Is perfect for businesses that would like to interact directly and indirectly with consumers.Focusing primarily on making shipping easier with their warehouse management softwarexible. This multi-channel commerce allows businesses to download new products, as well as update and synchronize pre existing ones.
Hoopla - Helps businesses measure growth and helps businesses keep track of their goal progress and they incorporate the use of leaderboards, broadcast newsflashes and performance metrics.
FreshSales - Focuses on customer relationship management the platform utilises artificial intelligence lead scoring, phone, email, activity capture and a visual platform to view sales.
Marketo (News - Alert) - Places emphasis on providing marketing solutions to business owners with lead management, email marketing, consumer marketing and revenue attribution.
Percolate - Focus on strategy building, planning and production and asset management. The platform was developed with enterprise content marketing in mind to help online businesses deliver a comfortable shopping experience.
Adzooma - Improves the performance of a businesses online advertising account by using machine learning and a feedback portal. Letting ecommerce managers analyze the performance of their marketing strategies.
Market Plan - Helps businesses to keep track of the customers journey from their initial introduction to the brand until the purchasing stage. This tool has the ability to allow businesses to assign tasks, comment, chat with team members and run realistic projections.
StoryChief – Provides a workspace for content marketing by supporting collaboration on interactive articles as well as one-click multi-channel distribution to make the publication of content easier for businesses
Engagebay – Focuses on the marketing and sales aspect of customer relationship management. This e-commerce utilises the inclusion of form and landing pages, deal management, service automation and web analytics.
Final Thoughts
These tools are just a dozen of the countless other ecommerce tools out there today, and as the online shopping industry transforms so too will the needs of any digital business. By adding to an ecommerce toolkit as a business grows, digital store owners will be able to mitigate losses that may occur from falling behind.Other tools to look into are help desk, remote support and call center software and technology. Payment gateway and processing tools along with ecommerce website builder and data visualization tools will also prove helpful in opening up your business to the digital portal.
