Is your company ready to offer an online shopping experience for its customers? Before you begin the arduous but worthwhile journey to create an eCommerce site, make sure you’ve got your trip planned, your preparations made and the right platform and partner on board.
Pack your (business) case
The most important step in the eCommerce journey is to build a strong business case that outlines the goals, benefits and overall return on investment (ROI) for your company. It should include both short- and long-term goals, and include projections such as increases in customer usage and conversion rates, as well as predicted cost savings.
The business case should also lay out how it will affect and benefit your employees in departments like procurement, sales and customer service. Point out how adding an eCommerce site won’t eliminate roles but, rather, will most likely add roles, change existing roles and help bring added efficiency to your business groups.
Don’t forget to include the impact an eCommercesite will have on your customers. In addition to providing them the convenience of shopping for and purchasing your products at any time of the day, you’ll also be giving them the most current and accurate pricing and product information within an easy-to-navigate site. Having a comprehensive eCommerce site is another opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to your customers.
Once you’ve presented your business case to gain company buy-in and approval, you can then use it to prioritize what you do first and to measure the effectiveness of your decisions.
Perform system checks
You can’t start your eCommerce journey until you’ve made those all-important system checks – back office system checks, that is. It’s critical that your eCommerce platform integrates properly with your other systems so they run as one well-oiled machine. If you have existing ERP, PIM, CRM or order/inventory management systems, you need to make sure the new eCommerce platform can interact and assimilate well with its counterparts.
In addition to back office system checks, it’s important to make a checklist of the different functionality and offerings you want your eCommerce site to provide your customers. The user experience is a critical part of any successful eCommerce site, so make sure you’ve got your customers’ best interests in mind when you decide how you want your site to operate and engage with your customers.
If you’re not familiar with all the different options and features available in B2B eCommerce sites, spend some time on other industry sites. Check out their different search tools, navigation panes, filtering options, and even shopping cart processes, and note what you like and don’t like about them. It’s also a good idea to get your customers’ input by finding out what they’re looking for in an eCommerce site. B2B customers are a bit different than B2C customers, so don’t assume they’re going to want the same user experience they get with Amazon.
Choose the right road trip partner
Once you know what your eCommerce needs and requirements are, then you can begin searching for the right platform and partner to be a part of your journey. There are a lot of eCommerce platforms available – from out-of-the-box systems to fully customized sites – so be sure you find one that best suits your business and user needs.
When interviewing eCommerce companies, find out what their offerings are when it comes to a PIM, the user experience and order management capabilities. In addition to seeing their references and portfolio, be sure to experience each company’s product demos first hand to see how functional and user-friendly their system is to use.
If a company offers a good eCommerce product, find out what kind of implementation plan and customer support they provide. For an eCommerce site to launch successfully, a clear implementation plan, detailed timeline and appropriate support must be included that meets both parties’ expectations.
The journey to create an eCommerce site may be a long one, but if you plan and prepare accordingly, the less bumps you’ll encounter in the road. So take the wheel and enjoy the ride!