Choosing an e-commerce platform is a huge decision for every organization. Every merchant needs to deliver excellent commerce experiences across an always increasing number of touch points. Your teams will invest time in leveraging capabilities and developing expertise. Your customers will rely on fast speed and easy navigation to fill their carts and checkout. And everything must connect – to social media platforms, CRM tools, promotion engines, product catalogs, and ERP/accounting systems.
A key first step is fully understanding your requirements. This is a cross-functional exercise often led by the IT or Digital teams. Does your business have unique e-commerce features – such as complex subscription or dropship offerings? If so you might require a heavily customizable platform such as Adobe Commerce, Shopify+, or headless e-commerce. Or can you utilize standard, ‘off the shelf’ features that let you take advantage of of easier to implement and support SaaS tools such as Shopify and BigCommerce?
There are many requirements to include in a full evaluation including: Order and Inventory management, Mobile capabilities, Product Catalog and Pricing management, B2B vs B2C needs, ERP integration, Promotions, Subscriptions, Search, SEO, and 3rd Party channels…. But wait there’s many more! 😊 Whew!
In headless e-commerce platforms, the commerce back-end (catalog, shopping cart, promotions engine, etc.) is decoupled from the front-end (website, mobile app, point of sale, etc.). By doing so, sellers can build customize their front end, including their products, prices, and business logic.
In August 2022, Gartner published their Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce with Salesforce, Adobe and commerce tools as leaders:
Forrester’s 2022 analysis has Adobe, Big Commerce, and Kibo Commerce rising to the top:
IDC Marketscape evaluated Headless E-commerce options with commerce tools, Elastipath, and Big Commerce identified as leaders:
A thorough selection process requires managing hundreds of details over many weeks. Contact us to learn more about selecting and implementing the right e-commerce platform. Our vendor-agnostic team has experience in leading a rigorous, data driven decision process.