For a strong online presence and smooth customer experience, consider an omnichannel ecommerce platform. Businesses are increasingly turning to these platforms instead of traditional ecommerce to effortlessly connect offline and online stores.
As we explore omnichannel ecommerce platforms, we focus on enhancing the customer experience across various channels. An omnichannel ecommerce solution ensures consistency, personalization, and engagement in every interaction. This article will highlight the best 7 omnichannel ecommerce platforms to drive growth and efficient business operations.
What Is Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform?
Omnichannel ecommerce platform means it’s essential to highlight its interconnected capabilities. It goes beyond merely enabling sales across various channels. By adopting an omnichannel ecommerce system, businesses can maintain consistent branding, and enhance customer experience. Whether customers shop online from a mobile device, or laptop, visit a physical store or engage through social media, their experience should remain consistent and fluid across the entire network.
Difference Between Omnichannel and Multi-channel
One commonality between both channels is the availability of multiple interaction options for consumers, including websites, apps, social media, and physical stores. This has increased convenience, allowing customers to purchase through the channel most suitable for their location and timing. Consequently, product availability has improved. Additionally, customer support teams have become more attentive to consumer concerns, enhancing overall customer satisfaction while reaching a wider audience.
The difference lies in the integrability of the various channels for delivering a consistent and convenient experience that maximizes time efficiency for the consumer. This has been made possible by unified inventory management, integrated customer data, cross-channel communication, and integrated logistics across all channels, where there is coordination and seamless operational efficiency undertaken to foster maximum customer credibility.
APIs make this possible by connecting these systems and enabling streamlined operations at each stage of order fulfillment. Its significance is strongly tied to extensive integrability, ensuring fragmented customer experience is prevented to a greater extent, decoupled systems are not adopted, cost efficiency is maintained, and others.
7 Best Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform to Build Your Online Store
- Webnexs
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- Magento
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud
- WooCommerce
- Oracle Commerce
1. Webnexs
Webnexs is a leading omnichannel ecommerce platform known for its robust features and seamless integration capabilities. It offers businesses a comprehensive solution to create and manage their online stores while providing a unified shopping experience across multiple channels.
Why Webnexs is Best as an Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Advanced integration features for smooth data synchronization
- Customizable storefronts to match branding and messaging across channels
- Comprehensive support for omnichannel marketing efforts and promotional activities
- Scalable solutions to meet the evolving needs of expanding businesses
- Dedicated customer support to assist with implementation and ongoing support
2. Shopify
Shopify is a renowned omnichannel ecommerce platform trusted by businesses worldwide. It offers a user-friendly interface, extensive features, and seamless integration with various sales channels, making it an ideal choice for creating unified shopping experiences.
Why Shopify is Best as an Omnichannel Ecommerce Solutions
- User-friendly interface and straightforward setup process, ideal for newcomers
- Wide range of customizable themes and templates to create unique storefronts
- Compatibility with a wide range of third-party apps and plugins for enhanced functionality
- Secure payment processing with Shopify Payments and support for multiple payment gateways
- Advanced analytics and reporting tools to track sales and performance metrics
3. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a top omnichannel ecommerce platform that enables businesses to efficiently build and manage their online stores. With robust features and seamless integration capabilities, BigCommerce empowers businesses to deliver unified shopping experiences across multiple channels.
Why BigCommerce is Best as an Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Flexible and scalable platform to accommodate businesses of all sizes
- Comprehensive set of features for managing inventory, orders, and customer data
- Integration with popular marketplaces and social media platforms for expanded reach
- Advanced marketing tools and analytics to drive sales and growth
- Responsive customer support and resources to assist with implementation and optimization
4. Magento
Magento is a powerful open-source omnichannel ecommerce platform trusted by businesses worldwide. It offers a highly customizable solution for creating and managing online stores, with robust features and flexibility to support complex business requirements.
Why Magento is Best as an Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Offers extensive customization options to tailor the platform to meet specific business requirements
- Scalability to handle large product catalogs and high transaction volumes
- Supports integration with various third-party extensions and plugins to boost functionality
- Advanced marketing tools for creating personalized shopping experiences
- Community support and resources for ongoing development and optimization
5. Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a comprehensive omnichannel ecommerce platform designed to help businesses create personalized shopping experiences across all channels. With powerful features and seamless integration with Salesforce’s suite of CRM tools, Commerce Cloud empowers businesses to drive growth and customer satisfaction.
Why Salesforce Commerce Cloud is Best as an Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Integration with Salesforce CRM for unified customer data and insights
- Personalization features for delivering targeted marketing campaigns and promotions
- Scalability to support businesses of all sizes and industries
- Offers sophisticated analytics and reporting tools to track performance and refine business strategies
- Global reach with support for multiple languages, currencies, and regions
6. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a popular plugin for WordPress that transforms websites into fully functional ecommerce stores. With its flexibility, customization options, and seamless integration with WordPress, WooCommerce is an excellent choice for businesses looking to create omnichannel experiences.
Why WooCommerce is Best as an Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Seamless integration with WordPress websites for easy management
- Extensive plugin library for adding additional functionality and features
- Customizable design options to match branding across channels
- Guarantees secure payment transactions and offers compatibility with various payment gateways
- Designed to scale, accommodating businesses of any size and from diverse industries
7. Oracle Commerce
Oracle Commerce is a comprehensive omnichannel ecommerce platform designed to help businesses deliver seamless shopping experiences across all channels. With its robust features, scalability, and integration capabilities, Oracle Commerce empowers businesses to drive growth and customer satisfaction.
Why Oracle Commerce is Best as an Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Advanced integration capabilities for seamless synchronization of data across channels
- Personalization features for delivering targeted marketing campaigns and promotions
- Scalability to support businesses of all sizes and industries
- Built-in analytics and reporting tools for tracking performance and optimizing strategies
- Global reach with support for multiple languages, currencies, and regions
Why Every Ecommerce Business Needs An Omnichannel Platform
- Better Shopping Experience: Makes shopping easier by offering a seamless experience across different places. Customers can shop, buy, and return items through their favorite place, whether it’s a website, phone app, social media, or store. This makes customers happier and helps businesses keep them coming back.
- Improved Inventory Control: Keep track of inventory in real-time, preventing selling out or having too much stock. This helps businesses manage orders better and always have products available. With accurate inventory data, businesses can decide when to restock, buy more, or change what they sell.
- Using Data for Insights: Gathers data from different places, helping businesses understand what customers like and how they shop. Businesses can use this information to make better marketing decisions, suggest products, and plan sales. It also helps them manage inventory better by stocking what customers want and avoiding extra stock.
Read More: What is Headless Commerce: Definition and Key Features Explained
Top 5 Benefits Of Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Integrate Brand Image: Creating a consistent brand identity and tone across all channels is crucial. Customizing your approach to each channel helps build a cohesive marketing campaign, fostering stronger connections with customers and customized communication.
- Improved Customer Experience: Enhancing the shopping journey for buyers across different channels increases their satisfaction and loyalty. This can ultimately turn them into advocates for your brand.
- Centralized Data: Instead of having separate data sources, consolidating data from various touchpoints provides valuable insights. By combining data from different platforms, you gain a deeper understanding of your customers and boost sales.
- Comprehensive Analytics: Monitoring consumer interactions across channels yields credible insights into their journey and preferences. These analytics inform better advertising strategies and increase brand visibility.
- Personalized Messaging: Integrating consumer data allows for more personalized communications. Tailoring your content to individual interests boosts engagement and conversion rates.
- Effective Lead Nurturing: Engaging customers throughout the buying process helps guide them toward a purchase. Leveraging available data helps convert website visitors into paying customers.
3 Major Challenges Of Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
- Expensive: Finding the right omnichannel platform can be costly for businesses. While some free options exist, they often offer limited features. Premium services can be pricey and may not be affordable for all businesses.
- Mobile Challenges: Many store owners worry about smartphones affecting their sales. A common issue is “showrooming,” where shoppers examine products in-store but then look online for lower prices. Using QR codes in-store can help direct customers to your website instead of elsewhere.
- Internal Changes: Implementing an omnichannel approach requires restructuring within your organization. Typically, businesses have separate teams for traditional and online marketing. Aligning these departments may require significant organizational changes.
Core Elements Of Omnichannel E-Commerce Platform
These omnichannel technologies have entirely changed the dynamics of the operational aspects of the industry and the way day-to-day processes are carried out. By integrating various systems, a seamless shopping experience is delivered to customers. They have also optimized workflows and the dissemination of information.
1. Integrated Technology Systems
It is an array of interconnected technological stacks that are developed to deliver a unified shopping experience across all channels. This uniformity ensures a seamless operational flow which hugely benefits the end users. Consistency and cohesion are maintained throughout the shopping experience across all platforms.
Components:
- Customer Relationship Management
A platform to manage, organize, store, and manipulate consumer data across all touchpoints. This software performs tracking of customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history.
- Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
It handles back-end processes, including inventory management, order processing, and financial reporting. Inventory levels and order statuses are synchronized across online and offline channels as a result of integration with e-commerce platforms.
- Point of Sale Systems
Used in physical stores to process transactions. A modern POS system integrated with other channels can update inventory in real time, manage in-store promotions, and synchronize with online sales data.
- E-commerce Platforms
It is a virtual storefront that facilitates online shopping and transactions. Integration with allied systems ensures consistency and uniformity from order placement to order fulfillment.
Benefits:
- Automation of processes and data synchronization reduces errors, completes tasks in a time-efficient manner, and enhances operational efficiency.
- A uniform experience is delivered to the customer, making their purchase convenient and time-efficient.
2. Unified Data Management
Data is collected from various sources and centralized to form a cohesive system. This approach ensures data accessibility across all channels and achieves data integrity through a unifying system.
Components
- Centralized Database
Data is stored in a single repository, which maintains a centralized location to ensure data accuracy and provide a single source of truth.
- Data Integration Tools
It performs data collection functions from disparate sources and organizes them into a unified format. These tools are responsible for maintaining data integration and synchronization.
- Analytics and Reporting
The stored data is analyzed to make informed decisions and optimize the omnichannel strategy. It provides insights into customer behavior and segmentation, sales performance, and more, all of which can be utilized to enhance operational efficiency.
Benefits:
- Unified data helps in delivering a uniform and consistent customer experience across various channels.
- Data integrity and accuracy are maintained, allowing for informed decisions in areas such as forecasting, inventory management, consumer trends, and marketing strategies.
3. Consistent Branding
All the channels and touchpoints reflect the brand elements. This helps in building brand recognition and creates a repetition effect.
Component:
- Brand Identity
Brand color, logo, tone, tagline, and others need to reflect uniformly across all the channels. This enhances brand recognition and makes it easy for the target audience to connect with the brand creating a sense of familiarity.
Benefits:
- The customer base would increase and also help in the retention of existing customers.
- Strong branding works as a differentiation strategy in a competitive market with many players.
Technological Advancement in Omnichannel Ecommerce Platform
1. Centralized and Unified Platform
Multiple touchpoints, including the website, app, social media, retail outlets, and others, depending on the technology deployed and the strategies devised for the business, together form a comprehensive system, forging a cohesive solution for seamless operation. This consolidated structure allows for a uniform and consistent experience for customers across various touch points.
Handling of data becomes facilitated as data discrepancies can be eliminated to a greater extent as there is only one source of data repository. This eventually leads to informed decision-making that accurately reflects reality. In other words, all elements become congruent, allowing operations to function efficiently and deliver a convenient experience to end users.
2. API Interoperability
APIs facilitate communication between software platforms and third-party services by enabling data sharing and triggering actions to execute instructions. They become particularly useful when different applications use various protocols and formats for communication. To ensure that these differing formats do not hinder interaction, APIs incorporate interoperability features. This allows diverse systems to work together seamlessly, connecting external services or platforms to enhance overall functionality.
6 types of E-commerce APIs
1. Product
Procure access to product details that encompass product, descriptions, images, pricing, inventory levels, and additional functionalities that include product categories, tags, metadata, reviews, and others. All these facilitate the automation of product management that is crucial for the operation of the E-commerce website.
2. Order Management
Organizes and manages the lifecycle of order delivery, from order receipt to tracking, fulfillment, and status updates. This centralized control enables seamless integration with other allied systems such as payment gateways, shipping providers, inventory systems, CRMs, and more.
3. Payment Gateway
It facilitates online payments by integrating the e-commerce platform with payment processors, which secures transactional processes. Additionally, it handles transactions, refunds, and payment verification, and supports various payment methods.
4. Customer Management
User profiles, personal data, order history, and preferences are all managed. The system organizes this analytical data to personalize the shopping experience by creating, updating, and retrieving customer information.
5. Shipping and Logistics
Integrates with freight operators to provide real-time information on shipping rates, generate labels, track shipments, and offer delivery options. Additionally, it integrates with the order management system to streamline the fulfillment process.
6. Analytics and Reporting
Enables procurement of access to data related to sales, consumer behavior, conversion metrics, traffic sources, website performance, and others. This aids in the generation of reports, tracking KPIs, analyzing trends, detecting anomalies, and others.
3. Social Commerce
Shoppable posts are one of the tools employed to generate leads, allowing users to shop while engaging without leaving the platform, all at the click of a button. This enables them to shop directly from their social media feed, increasing efficiency by streamlining the online shopping process. Additionally, there is a feature called Social Listening, which analyzes textual conversations of users to gain deeper insights into user preferences, feedback, and trends. This analysis can aid in projecting growth and guiding future developments to enhance revenue.
4. Voice Commerce
Using devices like Alexa and similar assistants, online shopping can be performed using only voice commands. The system responds to input by generating content that matches server information and quickly processes it to deliver the output instantly. From product discovery and transaction processing to order tracking, all components of a purchase are entirely operated by voice commands, offering a seamless voice commerce experience.
5. Blockchain Technology
It is an online ledger that transparently records transactions. Biased processing of transactions cannot occur, as the processes are secured and information is tracked reliably. A notable feature distinguishing this technology is its immutability, ensuring that data is tamper-proof.
Key Systems and Technologies for Operating an Omnichannel E-commerce Platform
Operating an omnichannel e-commerce platform requires a wide array of systems and technologies to ensure that functions are efficiently optimized and that a seamless shopping experience is delivered. These systems create a comprehensive ecosystem, where each component depends on the others to deliver the final output. Each system has its own flagship software vendor and they can be leveraged for optimum functioning of the system.
1. Content Management Systems (CMS)
It primarily manages product information and website content. These systems facilitate a seamless and intuitive shopping experience, ensuring that users can navigate the site effortlessly. Essentially, they craft a platform that drives traffic through a visually appealing and user-centric interface.
Industry-leading software vendors
1. WordPress
Currently, it powers 40% of all live websites hosted. This widespread adoption is driven by its open-source platform, which allows its source code to be accessed and modified by users for further enhancements. Its flexibility in adapting to the requirements of various types of websites has contributed to its large market share. Additionally, its extensive plugin archive supports ongoing websites by accommodating various modifications as needed to address the dynamic demands of the market.
2. Drupal
It is distinguished by its scalability and is structured to handle high loads, made possible by well-designed load-balancing techniques. As a result, it offers robust traffic handling performance, demonstrating its responsiveness and efficiency. Moreover, it supports advanced content structuring for increased content management efficiency.
3. Joomla
Its success is primarily attributed to its USP which is flexibility and ease of use. This degree of versatility has given it an edge over its competitors and has enhanced visibility in the market. It does not demand for sophisticated knowledge but limited technical knowledge is sufficient. The extensivity it offers can be utilized to its maximum to manage and organize content effectively and efficiently.
4. Kentico
It is a unique system that provides an all-in-one solution by combining CMS operations with digital marketing functionalities. As a result, the complexities associated with managing multiple systems and technologies are drastically reduced, saving time through streamlined operations.
5. Contentful
It is a cloud-based CMS that offers a robust content infrastructure to create, manage, and distribute where the front-end is decoupled from the back-end system for increased flexibility. It adopts a headless technology for optimized performance of omnichannel content delivery which ensures uniform and consistent experience across various digital interfaces. This is ideal for evolving content requirements.
2. Customer Relationship Management
It is a system that enables communication with potential and existing customers by managing all processes from customer interaction to integration for unified data access. Its direct effect on sales growth is evident as it explicitly reflects the brand personality. The scope is not limited to sales but also extends to customer retention operations. Optimization of all these processes will aid in increasing customer satisfaction, which signals a positive reason to continue using the system.
Industry-leading software vendors
1. Salesforce
One of the widely used cloud-based CRM worldwide, known for its comprehensive feature set comprising various tools for various touchpoints to enable seamless customer rapport. Every customer-centric operation is carefully curated by integrating functionalities into a unified platform for facilitating the management of customer relationships and business processes.
2. Microsoft Dynamics 365
One of the distinguishing features is the capability to customize solutions based on user requirements, all within a single, integrated system. Their exclusive suite of applications enables integration with the other components in the ecosystem seamlessly which enhances functionalities on a wholesome basis to derive the most optimum performance from the software platform.
3. HubSpot CRM
This cloud-based platform can be availed of the free version which saves a lot of upfront costs, after getting accustomed to the platform, scaling up can be easily done to facilitate further growth. It stands out with its user-appealing and navigable interface, automation of repetitive tasks, and advanced analytics, all of which give it an edge over other vendors, all of which facilitate streamlining of workflows. Budding firms can leverage this platform and scale up to the requirements arising in the future, as this is a future-proof platform, upscaling and descaling can be seamlessly integrated into other systems.
4. Zoho CRM
It offers a comprehensive suite of tools unified together to facilitate managing sales, marketing, customer interactions, and support activities. It can be coupled with other Zoho applications for a seamless flow of work and data sharing for informed decision-making. Affordability makes this unique in the industry among its top-tier competitors.
5. Pipeline CRM
The software has been narrowed down to focus on sales where all components from lead management, sales funnel visibility, automation of tasks, and various others. One of the exclusive stand-out features is the visual pipeline management, which enables one to view the sales process offering a comprehensive visibility to track and modify operations with utmost clarity to improvise on the sales functions to ensure optimum performance.
3. Cloud Computing
It utilizes the internet to share resources such as storage, databases, processing power, and networking, all of which require no physical data centers and servers to host the services. This mode of obtaining services has immense benefits to offer in terms of flexibility, scalability, cost-efficiency, and faster deployment of services.
Industry-leading software vendors
1. AWS
The Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) stands out for cloud storage, offering scalability for businesses of all sizes. It is well-regarded for its durability, alongside advanced capabilities for data processing and transformation.
2. Microsoft Azure
Azure’s cloud object storage provides a powerful mix of scalability, flexibility, enhanced data protection, data lake optimization, and comprehensive data management tools, catering to the evolving requirements of businesses.
3. Google Cloud
With features such as fast data transfer, flexible object storage management with detailed reporting, customizable data security, and more, Google Cloud is an ideal platform for streamlined data management.
4. IBM Cloud
IBM Cloud excels with features like accelerated data transfer, immutable data retention, automatic safeguards against accidental data deletion, and other advanced functionalities, ensuring secure and reliable data management.
5. Oracle Cloud
Oracle Cloud offers versatile storage options, seamless accessibility, and automatic scalability for fluctuating workloads, along with other capabilities, making it a flexible and efficient solution for managing data.
4. Payment Gateways
It facilitates online payment which includes handling payment details, and transferring payment from the user’s account to the merchant’s account all while ensuring data and money is handled with utmost security to enable a smooth experience. The optimum vendor is selected after critically examining various aspects of compatibility such as APIs, software versions, and others, which may cause functionality problems interfering with the seamless operation of the e-commerce platform.
Industry-leading software vendors
1. Stripe
It is distinguished by its wide option of payment methods, extensive range of customization options it offers, and advanced fraud prevention tools. These dynamic features make it a versatile option to consider.
2. PayPal
Being the widely used payment gateway, it is known for its ease of integration across various e-commerce platforms, websites, and applications. It also adopts stringent security measures to ensure absolute protection of data.
3. Square
It primarily caters to multiple transaction requirements and one of its notable features is integrated point-of-sale systems for optimizing seamless transaction processes which makes management of sales and inventory straightforward.
4. Authorize.Net
Its robust security features enable secure transactions while also protecting sensitive customer details. They have proven to be a reliable payment partner over the years with a dynamic customer support team that has enabled them to build credibility in the market.
5. Braintree
It offers a comprehensive payment processing solution, supporting various payment methods from plastic money to digital wallets. This versatility allows it to scale up to cater to a wide variety of customers requiring payment gateways.
5 Major Misconceptions About Omnichannel E-commerce
- People often believe that omnichannel simply means having a presence across various channels, including brick-and-mortar stores, online storefronts, and social media. However, omnichannel is about more than just existing on multiple platforms. It involves ensuring that these channels are well connected to deliver a consistent and seamless experience, thereby enhancing user convenience and ensuring time efficiency.
- The cost associated with establishing an omnichannel e-commerce platform is often presumed to be high. While integrating various systems involves additional costs, the long-term benefits make the investment worthwhile despite the initial setup expenses.
- The general notion that omnichannel e-commerce is suitable only for enterprise-level businesses is misleading. Businesses of any size can adopt this strategy by initiating and optimizing data synchronization.
- This is not a set-up and halt strategy, instead, it requires ongoing management and optimization of the system to ensure seamless user experience across all channels.
- Strategy need not be implemented in one go; instead, a modular approach can be incorporated. This increases flexibility in practically executing the strategy as and when required to meet business specifications.
How To Choose The Right Ecommerce Platform To Create A Successful Omnichannel Strategy
- Understand Your Needs
- Figure out what channels you want to use and what features you need. Think about if you want automation, customization, and room for growth. This helps narrow down your options.
- Check Features and Compatibility
- Look for platforms with useful features like automated bidding, inventory management, and good reporting. Make sure it works well with the channels you’re using.
- Think About Cost and Growth
- Check the prices and see if they match your budget. Ensure the platform can expand alongside the growth of your business.
- Consider Support and Training
- See what kind of help and training the platform offers. It’s important to have good support and resources to learn how to use it.
- Try it Out
- Before you commit, test the platform with a free trial or demo. This lets you see if it works well for your business.
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Conclusion
Choosing an omnichannel commerce platform is a big decision that can impact your business in many ways. It affects how smoothly your operations run, how satisfied your customers are, and how well you can compete with others. Keep your long-term goals, focus on customer experience, and growth potential in mind as you make this choice. The future of commerce is all about being able to sell across multiple channels, and with the right platform, like Webnexs, your business can thrive. It helps you adapt to changes and innovate to meet new challenges head-on.
