Website tools to build an amazing E-commerce site
Your website is essential to your brand, your sales, and your overall success. If you are building or developing your E-commerce website, you want to make sure you are utilising the best tools for the job. This not only makes it easier for you to run your day-to-day functions – but it also means better and smarter service for your customers.
So let’s look at some of the best tools to help build, run, and manage an E-commerce website.
Shopify
When it comes to building an E-commerce site, you can’t go wrong with Shopify. Build a simple site yourself by using one of Shopify’s free or premium themes, or go all in with a professional Shopify site designed by a web developer.
Shopify is a cost-effective way to create a reliable and responsive website. As all your data is stored in the cloud, you can access your site from anywhere that there is an electronic device and an internet or data connection.
Fun and funky, slick and sleek, modern and minimalist, Shopify does it all.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a well-known tool used by many websites to get insight about their users. By installing a small piece of code, it allows you to quickly and easily see who is visiting your site and how they are interacting with it. You can break down your audience by various characteristics including age, gender, location, browser and device, to name just a few.
Google Analytics is also excellent at monitoring how well your SEO and keywords are doing as well as tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by breaking traffic down by source. Don’t forget to also check out the Site Speed reports under the Behaviour section to make sure things are running smoothly. A fast site means more conversions and happier customers.
We believe Google Analytics is a must have for your site. It provides you with the information to make tweaks and changes to improve your customer experience based on cold hard data facts.
Vend
Vend is a popular point of sale (POS) software that is currently used by over 20,000 retail businesses worldwide. Vend prides itself on being very accessible and easy to understand while providing you with advanced and intelligent tools to make better quality decisions in your business. It helps you to grow and scale your business and integrates with Xero and Shopify.
Vend can be used from a web-based platform or on iPad, PC or Mac. It syncs and stores in the cloud so you can quickly switch between platforms or devices. It also works offline, which assures you that even if you lose your Internet connection, you won’t lose your POS capability. Vend will automatically sync your sales again once you’ve reconnected. That’s a relief! Finally, Vend also offers their own E-commerce platform called “Vend E-commerce”. Both of our themes Fleur and Kokoa are built for Vend E-commerce and it is a great platform to use if you’re just getting started.
Ant
Ant is all about making the backend of your retail business as slick as possible. This web-based platform helps your stock management by syncing stock levels in real time. It also uses intelligent logistics and order picking rules to select which locations or warehouses your stock should be picked from to fill your online orders.
It is scalable software that you can upgrade easily as your business grows, so you will always have the capacity and resources you need. Ant can also integrate with heaps of other E-commerce tools including Amazon, eBay, Magento, Vend, Shopify and BigCommerce.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a very popular marketing platform designed especially for small businesses. Connecting your online store to MailChimp allows you to build targeted email campaigns and other helpful messages like product follow-ups or back-in-stock alerts.
Mailchimp analyses customer preferences and sales behaviour to target and trigger a series of marketing emails. They also offer a very user-friendly mobile app that enables you to monitor the performance of campaigns, and create new ones, on the go. This software can integrate with WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, Twitter, Facebook, and more!
The experts
While not technically a tool, a graphic designer can make your website look slick and professional with fantastic branding and visual elements.
Once you have a graphic designer to take care of the ‘look’ of your site, you want the expertise of a web designer to ensure your website functions as it should. The prettiest website in the world will repel customers if it does not work well, or is too complicated to use.
About the author:
Angus Allan
Managing Director of Hello Digital
Angus is an experienced and passionate digital entrepreneur who has worked with clients around the world on a wide range of E-commerce and retail projects. Angus is excited about technology, change, and transformation, and has spoken about these topics, and more, at various events, workshops, and classes in New Zealand. As Hello Digital's Managing Director he oversees the day-to-day operations of the company and is the primary point of contact for our consulting clients and international partners.