When a company chooses to get involved in the e-commerce space, one of the very first decisions that will be made is which e-commerce platform the website should be developed on. The e-commerce platform is the backbone of the site; it will guide present and future development of the site, scalability of the online shop, inventory management, customer experience, and much more. As any website is the digital front door to your brand, your e-commerce website is the digital front door to your brand’s shopping experience — and it should make an impression that memorably reflects what your brand stands for. Frequent readers of PositionistView® might be familiar with the role a brand’s position, or meaningful difference from competitors, plays with its corresponding marketing, but for a brand to effectively own a position, the entire company should be guided by the same positioning principles as its marketing initiatives.
With that in mind, just as all factors involved in a company’s decision-making should be guided by the brand’s position, the decision on which e-commerce platform should be used should also be guided by the brand’s position. As an expert e-commerce marketing agency, we know that picking the right platform will make or break whether or not a brand stands for something, and therefore its long-term success.
Our Checklist as an E-Commerce Marketing Agency
When considering the best e-commerce platform for a company, it’s best to go through the list of defining characteristics of both the company and the position that might determine the best platform fit for the business.
- Value Proposition: How should the value of your brand be perceived? This is the fundamental principle of positioning — determining the one thing that sets your brand apart. If your brand stands for customer experience, a platform like Shopify offers a frictionless and simple experience that is accessible to a wide range of audiences. However, a brand that’s positioned towards luxury might lean towards a platform with greater artistic liberties, such as Magento.
- Target Audience: As positioning is centered around crafting the perception of your brand in the eyes of the prospect, the proper prospect has to be defined so as not to weaken your position by attempting to appeal to everyone. This prospect is your target audience, and everything they perceive should roll up to your brand’s position. Likewise, every e-commerce platform has benefits that appeal to certain target audiences over others, so this should be considered before choosing. As an e-commerce marketing agency, we know that every audience is unique in what factors are most likely to lead to a conversion. If your target audience cares for frequent and prevalent content marketing, a platform like WooCommerce serves native blog support.
- Brand Personality: The voice and personality of a brand match directly with the position of the brand. It’s easy to see brand personality in action when looking at our world of marketing. A brand focused on a position of being an innovator should take on the tone of a technical expert compared to its competitors. A web platform helps shape the tone, and the look and feel of a user’s web experience will greatly impact their perception of a brand’s personality. As an example, a platform like Shopify has a sharp, simple, and modern UI that suits an innovative brand well and communicates forward-thinking and accessible brands with ease.
- Sales Volume: Practically, there is no need for a company that only sells a few items digitally to undertake the setup of a larger-scale e-commerce platform. In addition, choosing the inappropriate e-commerce platform for your sales volume could force you into making site design choices that do not fit the position of your brand the best. If your brand typically focuses on just selling a small quantity of items online, a platform like SilverShop, or any other native CMS extension, might work best as an e-commerce extension of your preexisting SilverStripe website. Using these sorts of extensions means avoiding massive overhauls to preexisting web design and focusing on keeping the look and feel of your brand natural to your position.
- Scalability: While some businesses might plan on only ever having a small online store, others might have aspirations to have hundreds or even thousands of SKUs on their e-commerce site. In addition, the potential for more significant customization of the site design and functionality as a whole, rather than relying on the native support provided by each platform. The larger the online store becomes, the more important it becomes to your overall business model, and the more key it will be for your overall branding and positioning efforts. In these cases, a platform like Shopify Plus or Magento might be the best option, with configurability at the code level, apps, and broader theme customization.
- What’s the all-in-one solution? If among the factors listed above, multiple are important to your business, you might be wondering which factor you should weigh more heavily. The good news is that you don’t need to! When looking for an integrated solution, many businesses choose Shopify due to its flexibility in all of these categories and more. As a jack of all trades, Shopify allows for any scale of digital stores while also providing the resources necessary to use either custom programming and stylization or predesigned themes, APIs, and plugins. We value seamless Shopify integrations as an e-commerce marketing agency and have several Shopify developer certifications to ensure your business gets the support it needs.
Positioning: The Best Tool of an E-Commerce Marketing Agency
While there are many different factors to consider when choosing the right e-commerce platform for your business, the decision becomes a lot easier when you consider that your position always comes first. Just as your position defines the way your product or service is perceived by the prospect, it will also define how your web platform suits their various wants and desires ...
Are you still unsure of what the best platform is for your position? Or do you know what you need and want to discover the next steps of developing your new platform? Contact the e-commerce and positioning experts at Innis Maggiore to discover how we can progress your business by crafting the perfect e-commerce experience for your brand.