We are introducing below 5 e-commerce pillars of a contemporary e-commerce strategy that should be on the mind of every business, which is focused on innovation, speed, and scope.
In the digital world, many organizations are now caught up in legacy software that limits them more ways than one. These problems have pushed today’s leaders to focus on developing new e-commerce plans or efficient e-commerce catalog management for their company – no matter how big it may be!
The drawbacks of out-of-dated e-commerce software
If you’re using legacy e-commerce software, you’ll be in a bind with:
- Deadlines
- Feature requests
- Meeting revenue goals
- Customizations, updates, or upgrades
- Integrations with new technologies
- Big data
Traditionally, companies have found it difficult to manage their complicated operations while utilizing online software that could not meet their needs. Monolithic out-of-the-box software platforms were too inflexible to allow for required modifications. While custom software may handle the intricacies, it is too expensive, takes too long to construct and maintain, and is challenging to keep updated.
The costs and drawbacks of continuing on the same path are worrisome:
- Upkeep and replacement fees, as well as the overall price of ownership, are all higher.
- Customer experience issues caused by instability and performance problems
- Inability to adjust the experience as your company’s requirements change
- When integrations are too expensive or time-consuming, there is a lack of end-to-end automation.
- Business units may be siloed within the company, or their e-commerce interactions might be disassociated.
No matter how sophisticated your company is, today’s complex commerce solutions must cater to your unique challenges. To go online, you’ll need flexibility and adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness. You’ll have to minimize risk while still anticipating rising demand.
You’ll need more advanced infrastructure with light IT that allows you to avoid accumulating tech debt. And you’ll require the cloud’s exceptional performance, stability, and quickly scale.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. According to McKinsey’s research, after the Covid-19 epidemic shook the e-commerce world in 2020, 66% of B2B decision-makers felt that self-service was more important to clients than traditional sales interactions—up from 48% before the epidemic.
New 5 e-commerce pillars that can succeed in your business
As B2B firms increase their focus on e-commerce, it’s vital to understand the most important criteria when choosing a current e-commerce platform. For B2B executives, we’ve outlined the 5 e-commerce pillars.
1. Flexibility
Today, the foundation of modern e-commerce is that it is headless. This implies that the front and backend have been split or decoupled.
The development teams may modify the user experience without jeopardizing the back-end code with headless e-commerce platforms. Headless e-commerce pillars also simplify introducing new features or developing capabilities as the company’s requirements change.
2. Scalability
B2B companies are all trying to expand. When it comes to B2B e-commerce, more purchases, traffic, and bandwidth are generally interpreted as growth. This leads us to a recurring problem that many legacy software firms face.
As the company expands, its e-commerce software cannot keep up with the traffic growth. Cloud-native technology, on the other hand, has a quick and simple solution: it simply scales upward as your business grows.
3. Omnichannel
The idea of omnichannel has increased in popularity and is now a viable and essential business plan in recent years. There are bunch of ways to engage with an app; it just depends on your device.
An omnichannel approach means that a company may develop apps that operate in any channel and scale when there are more channels without having to invent new solutions for each channel. It is now possible to execute a solid omnichannel strategy with modern business architectures.
4. Integrations
E-commerce platforms like Sitecore® OrderCloud®, which are API-first, make integration quick and simple. For many B2B businesses, the necessity for interoperability is twofold.
The first consideration is that enterprises have other important business systems critical to their operations. So, selecting a contemporary e-commerce platform that works with those systems and can connect to them is essential for future success.
On the other hand, as a company expands and matures, it may need to upgrade its e-commerce experiences frequently. Adding a chatbot is as simple as connecting your business to modern e-commerce.
5. Customizations
Businesses have sought to utilize commerce suite solutions to aid basic features like online catalogs, shopping carts, and discounts.
Customers today demand highly customized seamless purchase experiences, innovative fulfillment choices, assisted sales alternatives, integrated microservices, PIM solutions, distinct corporate account purchasing options, and many more.
These new requirements prompt businesses to embrace cutting-edge e-commerce technologies like headless ecommerce platforms that can support rapid, low-cost, custom B2B ecommerce apps.
If you’re trapped by a legacy e-commerce pillars, preventing you from growing as an organization, it’s time to make a change.
New-age technology tools include pre-packaged and built sophisticated visualization modes that are simple to use and proactively assist the company in gaining insight into its operations.
It’s only a matter of time before ecommerce delivery software becomes an essential tool for businesses to succeed and endure in this swiftly changing ecommerce landscape.
Source:
(April 30, 2020). 66% of B2B decision-makers felt that self-service was more important to clients than traditional sales interactions. McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-b2b-digital-inflection-point-how-sales-have-changed-during-covid-19
See more»
