Ecommerce is very simply explained as the buying and selling of products or services over the internet. With the increasing use of the internet and in a time when a large share of consumers are part of the generation that needs to be always online on electronic devices, it has become essential for many companies to explore the possibility of doing business online. If you are still not convinced that your business needs an online store, read this article on the 10 reasons why a company should venture into ecommerce.

If you've already made the decision to create an ecommerce site for your business but do not know which platform best suits your needs, know what factors to consider when choosing.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Nowadays, the importance of a good SEO process for any website is undeniable, as this may depend on the positioning of your page in search engine results and, therefore, the ability of potential customers to find your website by searching Search engines (Google, for ex).

However, if much of the traffic from online stores is a result of previous research, it is important to make sure that the software you choose is equipped with the necessary resources so that your online store is SEO friendly and, consequently, Potential customers find their products.

Responsiveness

With the significant increase in the use of smartphones and tablets, it is essential that a website has a responsive design, allowing potential customers to easily search and access page information regardless of the device they use. The same goes for e-commerce platforms: by allowing page visitors to shop online - offering them a much more enjoyable experience because the site design fits the device used - is increasing the chances of closing deals because Is increasing the audience (number of people to whom the message arrives).

It's also important to note that Google's search engine penalizes sites that are not mobile friendly. Thus, it is of utmost importance to assess whether the software you are considering choosing for your ecommerce store offers or supports responsive layouts.

Forms of payment

You should also consider the payment methods supported by ecommerce software. Some platforms have pre-paid forms of payment that you can activate for online stores, but in other cases you may need to add new payment methods. You should review available resources to make sure your customers can make payments securely, quickly, and effectively. Some of the most common payment methods in ecommerce are Paypal, Unicre Credit Cards, Payments by ATM, bank transfer, among others.

Shipping Methods

What methods of product shipping do you intend to have in your store? Should you charge shipping? How should you calculate and present the amount payable to the customer? All of these questions should be posed by you when choosing an ecommerce platform because some may be more restrictive than others in the options they offer to customers.

For example, not all platforms support price simulators provided by APIs, which can be very important in cases where a particular product requires an additional fee. In addition, it is important to make sure that the store allows you to configure weight and volume attributes for each product

Products

Not all platforms have the same product management and filtering capabilities. Depending on the type of product that your company sells, it may or may not interest you to have the products sorted by name, price, quantity in stock, being able to have images with certain sizes, among other important criteria. Some softwares also allow you to define related products, top sales, and cross-sell, and store each customer's purchase history in the store. These are just a few of the features you should evaluate when choosing software for your online store.

The list of factors to take into account at the time of decision does not stop growing considering the constant technological advances and the increasing and changing demands of the consumer.

According to the website BuiltWith.com, at the moment these are the most widely used sites globally for the development of ecommerce platforms.

• Magento

• Shopify

• WooCommerce

• BigCommerce

• osCommerce

• Wix

• Weebly

• SquareSpace

• Volusion

• PrestaShop

These days, the various software for ecommerce have improved considerably, while the demands of online shopping are increasing. From sales platforms to SEO tools, with software tailored to your business needs and professionals to help you in the process, it is becoming easier to have an online store.