An Ecommerce Platform’s Most Significant Features

Payment options in your country are integrated.

First and foremost, you must be able to take payments from clients in order to sell goods online. And, in order to take payments, your store must connect to a payment gateway, which is essentially an unique processor that securely transfers monies from clients’ bank accounts to yours.

Not all payment gateways work with all e-commerce platforms. One of the most typical reasons that store owners exclude perfectly viable solutions from their short lists is that they simply will not operate in their country. This can happen because demand for certain payment choices is minimal, or because the platform and gateway are unable to communicate due to technological limitations.

Before deciding on a platform, make sure that your preferred payment gateway is supported, either directly or through an extension or add-on. If it isn’t, you can hire someone to create an add-on for you, but this can be quite expensive and may not even work.

This may not matter if you haven’t yet picked a payment gateway, but you should make sure that the store will accept your country’s currency (or currencies, if you plan on accepting several). This is often irreversible, so do your research before making a decision.

Various design options

You may have a hazy vision of how you want your store to look. Perhaps you want a clean, straightforward, and neutral storefront. Perhaps you want a store with plenty of vivid colours and large photographs to highlight the intricate intricacies of your complicated products. Can the platforms you’re considering help you realise your vision?

Many eCommerce platforms have free or paid themes that can be used to effortlessly change the look and feel of your store. It could be as simple as pressing a button in the administrative settings, or it could require you to submit a file to your server. Some platforms have a limited number of themes, while others have dozens.

You can also search the web for themes created and made available by community members or independent designers for the platforms you’re considering. You might have a greater chance of finding a theme you like if the platform you’re considering has a huge, flourishing community that makes free or low-cost themes available than if the platform has a limited community or has even locked down theme creation.

Site safety is important.

Terms like “PCI compliance” and “SSL certificates” are likely to make your head spin as a new store owner. However, these are subjects with which you should become acquainted. The security of your shop and the data it holds for customers is critical, and the platform you choose will have a significant impact on this.

The PCI Security Standards are a collection of 12 security guidelines that all websites that take and store credit card information must follow. As a business owner, you can be confident that the majority of your transactions will be completed through your platform and a secure payment gateway, and that they will adhere to the standards. However, it’s still a good idea to familiarise yourself with the standards so you can rest assured that your platform won’t put you or your clients at risk of an audit.

SSL certificates are short data files that allow a browser to execute sensitive transactions, such as online purchases, in a safe manner. If you choose a hosted alternative, your platform will most likely provide you a certificate. If the platform you’re considering doesn’t come with an SSL certificate, you can buy one with extra functionality.

Many platforms provide additional security features and packages, such as fraud protection and DDoS attack monitoring. It’s up to you whether or not you require these extra features, but bear in mind that when your store increases in size and popularity, you might find them useful. Of course, you can always add functionality later via software or external service providers, but this may be more expensive than simply choosing a platform that has them by default.

Pages, content, and forms can be easily developed.

Obviously, the goal of an eCommerce store is to sell things. However, don’t get taken in purely by platforms that offer gorgeous product pages and little else – this can lead to a disappointing experience that hurts your ability to acquire new clients in the long term.

The ability of an online store to rank highly in searches is influenced in part by the amount of unique and useful information accessible. While this does not necessitate the creation and maintenance of a blog or the launch of a content marketing campaign, Google looks for stores with keyword-rich copywriting that assists customers in finding what they are looking for. As a result, your platform should make it simple to develop and publish this content on new or existing pages.

Support and documentation are available online.

If you have a problem that you can’t address, you should contact your developer or agency… assuming you have one. But what if you’re all alone? Is it possible that they’re on vacation? Or are you unable to wait for a response?

It’s not a bad idea to see what kind of support documentation is available for the platforms you’re considering. Look for how-tos, FAQs, extensive instructions, and video walkthroughs among the available resources. Look through their support forums or Q&A sections, if they have them, to check how promptly and completely they’ve responded to questions.

If you’re still stuck, you’ll probably need to seek help. To address and resolve concerns, many eCommerce organisations provide a combination of phone, chat, email, and ticket help. Examine the various assistance choices available and how much they will cost (if anything)

Source: ecommerce platforms , online selling platform