Have I got the right website platform?

We are often asked “what is the best website platform?”, but it is never that straightforward.  It is always down to where you are and where you want to be. Our best advice is always to start with some basics:

1. What is your strategic direction for eCommerce?

The best thing you can do is take stock of where you think you are on your journey strategically and set you eCommerce operation in that context. Key considerations here are:

• Are you starting out or do you think you have a lot of growth to come? A replatform of your site may not be necessary at this point in time.
• What sort of scale of revenue do you believe you can achieve? Multiply potential sessions by conversion and Average Order Value (AOV) to give a rough revenue estimate.
• How fundamental is eCommerce to your business? Is it just another channel or the key to an Omni-Channel future?

2. Are you fishing in the right pond?

A common mistake is to choose from a set of website platforms that you have a vague knowledge of and/or people have mentioned to you.  This way of generating a consideration set often results in an Apples v Pears comparison eg Shopify v Hybris.  There is a simple quadrant analysis that should set you on the right track here.

3. Can you prove or articulate your need to change?

Crucially, have you got a founded or quantified frustration with your platform or is it just a general feeling/weariness with your existing one? All change needs justification. Are there known failures with hosting or site outage? Are customers complaining about locating products? Do you lose too many customers in the checkout?

If you can give yourself a clear justification for change, knowing how it fits your strategy, then you can go fishing in the right pond for a platform to help you grow.

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