HOME OUR SERVICES OUR WORK BLOG CONTACT The WebSpace Blog Choosing the Right Ecommerce Platform for Your Business… (part 2) This is the 2nd part of a two part series regarding choosing the right ecommerce platform for your business. Read part one here. Mid-sized Companies to Enterprise Level… (contd.) Ecommerce services in this realm are of varying levels of customization, costs, functionality, and features, and can be very complex to navigate without the help of an experienced firm. Numerous consultation sessions usually occur so that the web development firm can accurately project and assemble the required pieces to provide the company with the needed functionality and features. Some of these pieces include payment processors, gateways, web services, and development platform. When it comes to shopping cart systems, the firm may recommend an appropriate 3rd party system, or opt to develop from the ground up a completely custom shopping cart system in order to include special functionality exclusive to the company. Having a custom ecommerce platform built by an independent firm can carry a sizeable initial investment, but the initial costs are typically far less expensive than the ongoing costs of building out and supporting an existing system as the requirements and needs change. Any experienced firm will explain the potential limitations and what expectations can be for future system build-out and support. Many independent developers will not factor in the ability for system expansion and growth along with your business needs. Neglecting this information could ultimately prove costly. Corporate IT Development Staff and Advanced-Infrastructure Level… First tier e-retailers such as Amazon.com and Zappos.com, tend to operate very complex and large-scale ecommerce operations. These companies usually have a dedicated in-house staff of fully trained programmers, IT professionals, content developers, editors, graphics designers, photographers, inventory managers, marketing specialists, social media partners, and order fulfillment systems. Operations of this magnitude effectively cost millions of dollars in expenses each year to operate and maintain. Retail Network and Channel Integration… When considering potential ecommerce solutions for your company, it is important to assess any retail network integration needs if applicable. Your company’s ecommerce platform should have the ability to deeply integrate seamlessly with your existing retailer network, wholesaler or supply channels as well as your company’s product distribution channels. These areas can be highly customized and specific features and overall business processes will vary greatly. Order Fulfillment, Shipping, Distribution Channels… It is important that your company’s ecommerce platform has the ability to integrate with any appropriate shipping and order fulfillment systems. This includes the ability to easily integrate with UPS and FedEx’s specific web services and APIs. Also, your developer should address any additional shipping or distribution allocations needs. If you need help planning and determining which ecommerce solution is right for your company, we’d love to help. contact us here About WebSpace Atlanta’s Ecommerce Approach and Solutions We specialize in building customized ecommerce platforms and solutions tailored exclusively to your company’s specification. We create and integrate highly customized tools that allow you to manage your entire system however and whenever you want. We accomplish this by creating deeply integrated multi-channel solutions that offer critical business components including inventory management and multi-faceted portals and apps that interfaces with many ERP systems, accounting software, inventory management platforms, and CRM platforms. We also provide a complete suite of powerful and robust data mining and analytics tools along with custom reporting features. Permalink Posted: Dec 03 2012 Search RECENT POSTS New Year’s Blog Advice: Brogramming…“Dude, I am totally too faded to deal with this noise”. NYC Dark! Post Apocalypse Holiday Celebration! Choosing the Right Ecommerce Platform for Your Business… (part 2) Choosing the Right Ecommerce Platform for Your Business… (part 1) RECENT COMMENTS ARCHIVES January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 191 Peachtree Street 1.800.401.9322 connect@webspaceatlanta.com WebSpace Atlanta © 2012 Terms of Use Privacy Policy