What Are the Major Components of Enterprise-Class E-Commerce Software?

Did you know that the global market revenue for ecommerce software programs will increase dramatically in the next three years?

Take a look at the forecast from Statista:

It is evident from the forecasts that enterprise-class commerce software solutions are already gaining traction. Should you get in on the bandwagon? Read this article to decide for yourself.

In this post, we’ll take a look at why you need enterprise commerce software and which are the best software solutions available out there.

What Is Enterprise Commerce?

Most enterprise-class commerce businesses like BigCommerce have a slew of services or products that they offer. Typically, they offer them on a global scale while clocking in millions of dollars in revenue.

Such enterprise commerce businesses could be distributors or even manufacturers that operate in multiple locations around the world.

Other common characteristics of enterprise businesses include: building a solid infrastructure via technical and financial sources, deploying management teams, and marketing single or multiple services on a scalable level.

All in all, the core of all enterprise businesses, just like other businesses, is still to get more customers. However, they work towards managing multiple transactions at the same time. Plus, cultivating a global network of customers.

Managing customer relationships is crucial to the overall growth of an enterprise-class business. That’s where enterprise-class ecommerce software can come in handy. It helps you track how your customers are responding to your marketing campaigns.

What Functions Can an Enterprise-Class E-commerce Software Program Carry Out?

An enterprise-level ecommerce software program is designed to handle all the tasks that are necessary to run your business smoothly. Often, it integrates with other apps so that you can do a lot more tracking and management from within a single platform.

The best enterprise-class e-commerce software solutions enable you to carry out the following tasks:

1. Manage inventory

If you run an enterprise, you are likely to have a huge inventory of products. Enterprise-class software programs allow you to catalog and organize all your products so you can check how many of them are in stock.

In fact, if your stock is running low, you’ll automatically get notified so you know that you need to replenish the stock.

2. Track and manage orders

Right from the time a customer starts looking at a product to the time they proceed to checkout, you need to track the order. After all, every fulfilled or unfulfilled order will impact your sales and revenue directly.

With a good enterprise-class ecommerce platform, you can manage all orders, check their status, and make changes when required. In addition to this, some software solutions also allow you to maintain transaction records, customer information, create bills, check payment processing, and check reports.

3. Automate shipping

When you are sending a product across to a different location, you’re likely to levy a shipping charge. With an advanced enterprise-class e-commerce system, you won’t have to worry about calculating shipping more accurately.

Plus, these specialized software programs can automatically print shipping labels and add shipping tax based on your customers’ location.

4. Track marketing efforts

Some enterprise-class ecommerce platforms allow you to track your SEO efforts from within the platform. It can help figure out how well your content is ranking in the SERPs and if you need to re-think your strategy to lower your customer acquisition costs.

5. Improve customer experience

If you want to provide your customers with a great browsing experience, they should be able to find what they are looking for quickly. Many enterprise-level ecommerce software programs offer 100% uptime along with a robust site management system.

How Does an Enterprise-Class E-commerce Software Program Work?

As we discussed in the above section, an enterprise-class commerce program is designed to help you streamline your business. But how do these programs exactly work? Here is a quick primer on how they function:

Step 1: Browsing

A shopper visits your ecommerce store to check out different products that are loaded in your database.

Step 2: Adding items to the shopping cart

Once they have found what they are looking for, your customers will add these items to their shopping cart and provide shipping information.

Step 3: Going to the secure mode

When the customer is finally in the checkout stage, your site will go into a secure mode. On the screen, the customer would be able to see a lock symbol. That’s because you’d be using an SSL certificate for an added layer of security.

Step 4: Adding payment information

Once the customer adds their payment information, your ecommerce software solution sends it to a payment gateway or payment processor.

Step 5: Completing the order

Once the order is complete, all the sensitive payment and contact information is stored with your payment processor. Your ecommerce site doesn’t keep any of it.

Step 6: Depositing the payment

If all the other steps go well, your payment is deposited in your linked merchant account or sent to your bank account.

Right from the moment an order is placed to the time the payment is processed, the ecommerce software program tracks everything. As a result, the whole process becomes hassle-free and convenient for you.

What Are the Advantages of Enterprise Ecommerce Software?

Still on the fence about using an enterprise-level ecommerce solution for your business? Here are some of the advantages you can reap with these advanced programs:

Benefit #1: You can quickly set up your online shop

Most ecommerce software programs include easy-to-use online store builders that come with pre-designed templates. If you're comfortable with drag-and-drop operations, you can put your store elements in place with just a matter of clicks.

You can also add product photographs, descriptions, prices, and more. Overall, you can set up your online shop within minutes.

Benefit #2: You can sell your products globally

With an ecommerce software program, you are not bound by your geography to grow your business. You can easily harness the connectivity of the internet to sell your products and services globally.

Benefit #3: You can always keep your store open

Your business hours don’t have to be limited to your availability. Ecommerce software solutions allow you to automate all your processes, so you can be available for business 24/7.

Benefit #4: You can save money and time

When you’re calculating your expenses, you’ll find that it is cheaper to operate your business with an ecommerce software program than to employ sales staff. It is a quick way to cut down costs and maximize your ROI.

Benefit #5: You can complete online payments easily

E-commerce software platforms are equipped to process online payments. This could be via an external integration or as a built-in feature in the system.

What’s more, you can integrate with specialized order fulfillment systems to provide more shipping and delivery options to your customers.

Benefit #6: You can sell multiple products at once

You can manage your inventory online with an ecommerce software program. From cataloging to tracking what’s in stock, you can do it all in one place. The best part is you can manage all of this for multiple products at once.

With better management, you can expect that your products would be easily discoverable by your customers. This can result in a shorter selling cycle and give you a better ROI.

Benefit #7: You can provide better customer experiences

From better cataloging to quick checkout and smooth payment options — everything in an ecommerce software program is made as simple as possible. As a result, they are likely to have a good shopping experience.

Benefit #8: You can manage your marketing campaigns

Many enterprise-level ecommerce platforms come with powerful SEO tools and marketing features to make sure you can manage your campaigns easily. What’s more, you can check out real-time data from within these platforms and also create special offers to promote your products.

There are a lot more benefits to using an ecommerce software solution but the ones listed above are the main ones. As you can see, using an ecommerce platform designed while keeping the needs of enterprises in mind can give your business a competitive edge.

Which Features Should You Look For in An Enterprise-Level Ecommerce Platform?

If you’ve made up your mind to work with an enterprise-level ecommerce platform, it’s time to shortlist your options. Before you check out the available options in the market, you should note the features that you should compare them on.

Here is what you need to look out for:

1. Website Building Capabilities

If you’re going to build a website from scratch, it’s important to check if the software you are looking for provides pre-designed templates.

At the same time, does it have customization and branding options? Check these features before you commit to any enterprise-level ecommerce software program.

2. Automation Options

Take a look at the automation options that are available within a software program of your choice. Typically, the best ones enable you to automate the shipping process and the computation of taxes.

3. Database System

Enterprise-level software programs provide a central location so that you can easily store your product information, and retrieve it whenever you need it.

Check if your chosen software program enables you to access payment history, browsing data, shipping status, customer data, and other important information.

4. Search Option

Ecommerce platforms allow you to list, categorize, and update new product listings and add their pictures, descriptions, and price lists. If you’ve got a sophisticated ecommerce software program, it will make it easier for shoppers to find the products they are looking for.

5. Marketing Capabilities

You can use ecommerce software programs to improve the branding, marketing, and promotion of your business website. A variety of specialized tools in such software programs can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns, SEO strategies, and reinforce a positive brand image.

6. External Integration

Most ecommerce solutions can integrate with various other apps and third-party platforms so that you can handle multiple tasks at once. From order fulfillment to accounting and email marketing, you can do it from one platform with the right integrations.

7. Reporting Capabilities

Ecommerce software programs can help you analyze and identify key trends that influence purchase behavior and get insights into what your customers want.

You can also check keywords and demographics. If you analyze this information, you’ll be able to optimize your strategies and boost your revenue. Check what kind of reports your chosen enterprise-level commerce platform provides and if you can automate the reporting capabilities.

How to Pick the Best Enterprise-Level Ecommerce Solution For Your Business

Now that we’ve discussed the key features you should look for, let’s dive in deeper. Before you make the final choice, here are some of the things your team should have clarity on.

1. Needs

When you are choosing an ecommerce solution for your enterprise business, chances are that it affects a lot of stakeholders. This could include your marketing team, IT department, customer service team, operations team, and others.

You need to understand what each of their requirements is. Based on that, come up with a list of priorities. You may want to consider if you want a platform with advanced capabilities or something that is simple and easy to learn.

Also, decide on the budget that you’re comfortable spending. Being clear about your needs and business objectives will help you make a better-informed choice.

2. Pain Points

If you already use another system, identify your pain points and understand what exactly you need help with. Is the system too outdated or do you have concerns regarding security compliance? Outline specifically what is and what isn’t working for you.

3. Integrations

Based on the unique needs of your enterprise, are there any specific integrations that you absolutely need?

Maybe you need a platform that allows you to manage your omnichannel campaigns or need specific catalog requirements or specific payment gateways. Any integrations that are crucial to the growth of your business should be outlined here.

4. Future Integrations

While it is absolutely necessary to be clear on what you need at the moment, you shouldn’t stop there.

Additionally, you should also consider where your enterprise company is headed in the future. Based on that, anticipate your future needs and pick a software program that will allow you to grow your business accordingly.

After all, you don’t want to keep shifting between enterprise-level commerce platforms every few years. Consistency is crucial to keep an enterprise thriving.

Which Are the Best Enterprise-Class E-Commerce Solutions Out There?

To help you get a crystal clear idea of the available enterprise-class ecommerce software solutions out there, we are listing the key players in this section.

1. BigCommerce

This scalable enterprise-level ecommerce solution comes with a drag-and-drop interface that is super easy to use. It also has multiple customization options for those who’d like more control over their design. From product inventory management to order fulfillment, you can do it all on this platform.

Key Features

• Ability to customize the checkout process completely
• Ability to create discount coupons
• Access to multiple digital wallets
• Ability to optimize your website for mobile devices
• Provides faceted search option

Pricing Details

BigCommerce has specialized enterprise pricing options. They tailor their plans based on your enterprise requirements.

2. Salesforce Cloud Commerce

This popular enterprise solution is designed to help B2B, as well as B2C ecommerce businesses, grow. This AI-powered platform is secure, agile, and scalable. Using this platform, you can increase your productivity, customer engagement rate, and grow your revenue.

Key Features

• Ability to unify customer data and personalize interactions
• Ability to provide omnichannel shopping and order fulfillment
• Provides the option to automate renewals for subscription services
• Gives the option to add personalized purchase recommendations in real-time

Pricing Details

Please get in touch with their sales team for pricing information.

3. Shopify Plus

This fully-hosted enterprise-level commerce solution is designed so that you can customize all the capabilities and automate your workflows with ease. It comes with flexible Shopify APIs so you can integrate multiple systems with ease.

Key Features

• Ability to leverage AR, 3D, and video on your product pages
• Ability to personalize checkouts with custom codes and product recommendations
• Option to schedule events within the platform
• Ability to manage omnichannel campaigns

Pricing Details

The Shopify Plus Plan, which comes with standard integrations and setups, is priced at $2,000 USD per month. For customized plans, please reach out to their sales team.

Ready to Choose the Best Enterprise-Level Commerce Platform?

When it comes to picking the right enterprise-level commerce platform, your choice should be based on your unique business needs.

Compare the best options in the market for integrations, automation, reporting capabilities, and the other criteria mentioned in this post. Make a smart choice that will help you maximize your ROI and grow your enterprise business quickly.

Do you have any questions about picking the best enterprise-level commerce platforms for your business? Please feel free to mention them in the comments section.