Has your eCommerce enterprise outgrown its home online? If you’re like most digital retailers, the last year likely has you questioning which growing pains you can live with and which are deal breakers when it comes to sticking with your current platform.
First of all, stuck is not where any business owner wants to be, especially in a sector forecasted to have both massive growth and competition in the coming years. Secondly, if the daunting thought of migrating is what’s keeping you there, it doesn’t need to be as painful as you might be predicting. This step-by-step planning resource for migration can take away the mystery and empower you to make your move.
Lastly, if you’re considering migrating, you should definitely have a checklist of essential eCommerce solutions that you are unwilling to compromise on in a new platform. Here are 10 that should automatically go to the top of your list.
Content Management Capabilities
If your current eCommerce platform feels like a filing cabinet gone wrong, it’s time to simplify, streamline, and let out a sigh of relief. Any eCommerce platform equipped for what’s coming in the digital world of retail should be ready to do this for you.
For instance, you should be able to easily synchronize product and sales assets across multiple channels with zero obstacles. Anything less will hinder both your agility and your potential to scale. By migrating to a next-gen platform, like ZiftrShop, you can unlock capabilities to maximize and manage content that didn’t even exist for you before, and all through a single high-performing tool.
Ability to Integrate
With the evolving expectations of consumers for a seamless, personalized buying experience, eCommerce enterprises must have the ability to make nuanced decisions about content delivery and access. This requires integrating with as little friction as possible to not only serve your current customer base but also entice and satisfy new potential markets. You shouldn’t have to rely on a one-size-fits-all app marketplace to help you integrate with a variety of tools (CRM, Reviews, Order Management, etc…). Your business is unique, and often you will require a unique integration.
With an API-first platform, like ZiftrShop, you have the power to integrate with anything in your digital application ecosystem to deliver superior end-to-end commerce experiences. This is because APIs allow external systems to ‘talk’ to your platform, enabling you to leverage your data and features wherever needed. With that kind of connectivity, new revenue, partnerships, and innovations are easily within reach.
Automatic Workflows
As your enterprise grows, automation becomes an absolute must. How else can you scale effectively? With a platform that can trigger key action steps on its own, shoppers move effortlessly through the purchasing process and increase sales.
To achieve this, you need a platform that can automate tasks based on customer actions that happen in your store. These powerful workflows create an opportunity to automate complex back end processes, reducing errors, giving more time back to your team, and enhancing the sales experience.
ZiftrShop provides this flexibility by accommodating an infinite number of workflows so you’ll no longer feel the squeeze of frustrating limitations. Best of all, this means putting far fewer resources toward IT development work.
Seamless Checkout
If your current eCommerce platform has you working around a templated checkout flow or any format that cannot be entirely customized to your needs, you don’t have the tools you need to expand (or even maintain) your business—period.
This one is a huge red flag, and it’s also the reason many existing eCommerce companies choose to migrate. They come to understand their current platform cannot keep up with the demands of the constantly and rapidly changing world of online sales.
This includes payment options and payment gateways. Being able to swap out payment vendors to improve rates, and increase accepted payment methods can be a major pain. You need flexibility in the way your cart flow operates, and that includes payments as well.
A checkout flow designed to support and encourage customer engagement is a necessity, and for that, you need a platform ready for continuous change. ZiftrShop was built in exactly that way by responding immediately to customer behavior, and through its headless architecture, providing limitless customization.
Compliance Checklist
If you are doing business online, then there are standard compliance requirements you must be prepared to meet. These include the basics like Payment Card Industry (PCI) and Data Security Standards (DSS).
But depending on your industry, you may need to adhere to additional regulations, such as HIPAA guidelines for those selling healthcare products. Before committing to any new platform, ensure that it can meet your compliance needs now and in the future.
Multi-Everything
The drive to go global is one that has many online retailers trying to ramp up their games. But this is a place where a lagging platform can create huge setbacks.
According to eMarketer, eCommerce sales grew by 16.5% globally in 2020. To keep up, you truly need multi-everything, from comprehensive payment options to a compelling, multinational brand presence.
ZiftrShop, which has multi-site, multi-language and multi-currency support right out of the box, recognizes and meets all of these vital needs. Tested across the globe, its proven capabilities can take businesses anywhere in the world.
Powerful Promotions
When it comes to eCommerce solutions, this may be one that already tops your list. To grow your business, its presence, and sales, targeted promotion capabilities are critical.
Your platform should provide you with promotion and discount code tools ready to launch your retail performance to the next level. Thanks to sophisticated options for pricing, discounts, coupons, and special offers, this is an area where ZiftrShop excels.
Targeted Marketing
On the same note, marketing your promotions is just as important as creating them. To tap into powerful marketing campaigns, ZiftrShop offers rich product pricing, coupons, and discounting features.
Through its ZiftrServices program, businesses can also tap into a full suite of marketing support and potential. Whatever you’re envisioning for your business’ next level, it’s not as far off as you think.
SEO Support
Marketing guru Niel Patel puts it plainly: “If you don’t have a strong SEO strategy in place, you are losing out on brand impressions, clicks, and sales.” And you should not have to implement and evaluate that strategy outside your eCommerce platform.
Any online homebase worth considering for your future growth should be able to drive traffic with built-in SEO support, meta information, independent page titles and URLs, and automatic redirects. Reporting tools and custom report features are also essential for informing your ongoing approach.
Guess which platform offers all of this and more? You nailed it. This is yet another element ZiftrShop’s developers placed at the forefront when building a next-level platform for the future. Can your current platform say the same?
Scalability on Demand
Peaks in website traffic are to be expected with any growing business. But what happens when your current site hits one of those peak moments? Does performance suffer? How many abandoned carts start to rack up?
These are issues that can have a lasting effect on your business and its reputation. An online customer left with a bad taste in their mouth becomes an ambassador for your brand, just not in the way you’d like.
That’s why ZiftrShop is equipped to keep you running regardless of traffic volume. It’s currently being used by some of the nimblest and most scaled businesses out there and has been shown to reduce outages, downtime,and bugs. In fact, ZiftrShop customers have seen a 40% increase in performance after migrating. Isn’t your business ready for that kind of impact?
If you're curious about how a cutting-edge platform, like ZiftrShop, could skyrocket your business now and in the future, let’s talk eCommerce solutions.