eCommerce platforms are bringing revolution to the era of business. With loads dependency on an eCommerce platform, of course, everyone wants to reap their benefits.
Not only expecting good from eCommerce platforms would do, but picking the right platform also has a greater impact. Little do we realize the cost of considering smaller things but it is better to start making smart decisions that take everything into consideration.
The choice of the right eCommerce platform either in Singapore or in India depends on variables. The era is not at all confused about the possible benefits of owning an e-commerce platform.
Here are a few benefits of ecommerce platform to be added to your brain bank:
- E-commerce platforms’ reach is far and wide. Think of those surfing customers who want to have a look at your products in the middle of the night. Having such platforms that are well organized, bring ease to this process.
- Interested in catering to more than one interest of the public? Want to sell you art and baked stuff simultaneously? Get an online selling platform to your aid and enjoy the amazing benefits of catering multiple products simultaneously.
- Business can never be free from transactions and money transfers. As much as you desire to be independent, you also desire to have a helping hand in such monetary affairs! Let the online portal take care of all such needs of yours.
- The world is growing at a fast pace. The Internet has been making the world seem smaller than ever. Why not join the revolution and be the person whose creativity and products can bring a smile to the generation?
- It’s an easy, fast, effective, and trending method to showcase what products you got!
Do you still find these less convincing? Have a look! It’s high time, you decide ahead and get an online store for your business. To make sure you decide right and things go well with you, let us brings some facts on the table.
No doubt, eCommerce platforms help reach a wider audience in comparison to the conventional brick and mortar shops. Apart from their uniqueness in catering to the diverse needs, they are unique in their diverse nature as well.
Few of the diverse nature of online shops or e-commerce platforms in Singapore are:
Open-source e-commerce platforms
Open-source e-commerce platforms are the ones that need to be downloaded, installed and configured on our own. It can be installed on the server owned by you. Their nature to be used freely without any monthly support is a cherry on the cake’s top.
But they present the need to be installed, set up, and maintained by those who have technical knowledge.
With most known ones like Woocommerce and WordPress, the plenty of plugins and themes make it easy for non-developers to add designs and functionality to the website.
Since these open-source platforms do not have premium support, you need to turn to technical geeks to help you maintain them.
Free online marketplace platforms
Use this option if you want to start selling on a website that provides you features completely free. List your products on the platforms like Facebook and Carousell without the demand of any processing fees.
Almost anyone can start listing products for selling. This ease along with no processing fees is a sure push to use this platform. This also helps, if you want to use your payment methods like cash and funds transfer without charging any transaction fee.
But in spite of its free logic, here are few things to be careful about like poor logistics with no one to manage the stock, no way to target the right customers, and the high competition, as any product can be listed by anybody.
Website builders with an eCommerce function
These kinds keep in mind, not all e-commerce sellers are professional and IT-trained developers. They’re easy to drag and drop features make it easy for anyone to design and create their online selling platform for example Bigcommerce.
Using these websites to sell products online helps in keeping maintenance costs low, but these would not suit the needs and demands of a seller with a high range of inventory.
These do not support SEO, as a custom-created website would, and thus are not very robust in boosting your sales to enhance your profit sheet. Are you a professional seller? We would suggest you try something else.
Commission-based marketplace platforms
Singapore’s e-commerce market is highly favorable for such kinds of platforms. They charge an amount or commission on each sale made. You do not get a whole website but a storefront on their website.
This is very popular in the Singapore online market, as it is free to sign up. Plus no monthly charges make it easy for people to start using it even with minimum investment plans.
Amazon and Shopee come under this category. Apart from the various benefits mentioned above; this kind does have some constraints. Some of such constraints are, such stores are seller-focused, faces technical and design limitations, the website cannot be customized and the competitive products are displayed right on your page all the time!
This makes brand building difficult and also you cannot sell out of Singapore!
SaaS eCommerce platforms
Pay a monthly fee and utilize their platform. You don’t need to install any server. Shopify is the best examples of SaaS eCommerce.
SaaS or Software as a Service is a mode where you don’t have to install any platform on your website. Rather you pick your monthly payment plan, pay the amount and use their platform to sell your stuff.
Like for Shopify, you got to choose from three plans:
- Basic: $29
- Shopify: $79
- Advanced Shopify: $299
Amidst all these eCommerce platforms mentioned above, how to choose the right one for your eCommerce platform?
Before digging into that, let us focus on the variables that govern your choice of picking the right online selling platform in Singapore.
- The kind of products you wish to sell. It is a physical product or an e-product?
- Is there a need to provide customer service with your products?
- The kind of website you are looking for. Do you need a website with a catalogue that requires no logout function?
- The price range of your products.
- How important is your business’ scalability for you?
- Possibility of a developer to help you with setting up your store and timely maintenance.
- How much time can you invest in setting up your website?
- The best possibility to find your target customers
- How much technical support do you need to set up the store?
- The kind of marketing channels to drive traffic to your website.
With few things mentioned above, what else comes to your thinking tray, when you juggle in your thoughts about eCommerce platforms?
Here is a guideline to choose the Right Ecommerce Platform to Sell Your Products in Singapore:
Know yours at the moment goal
Knowing your momentary goal with your online outlet is a preliminary step. We need to know how things need to be taken ahead of and how much are we expecting at this initial stage.
If we simply want to hit and try things, starting with free eCommerce platforms would be good. But if we have an established business set up and are looking for growth, then going for a customized online eCommerce would be great!
Carefully work out your budget
Working on the budget does not mean we need not invest much in our online outlet. This means we keep a sure and safe way to channelize our resources.
This also means since we know our momentary goal, we would be in a comfortable situation to decide, how far we can go ahead with our planning. And what features should be there as we start our online outlet?
Take the right advice
After you have all the kinds of eCommerce platforms on your list and know what your momentary goals are, you will be able to make the right choice.
We understand it is not easy to start with things in the initial stage. Having an experienced guide by your side can bring the right insight into the matter.
Our team with years of experience in staging eCommerce platforms in Singapore can help you make a sound and business-fit decision.
Invest and be ready to sweat and soar!
Deciding on a platform and getting it listed with your products is not enough. The store needs regular maintenance and updates to make it work smoothly.
Just in case you already decided on your first eCommerce platform, it would be wise to plan for your complete needs of maintenance and SEO.
This will help you keep soaring amidst the high competition that the Singapore e-commerce market provides. With all help that one can get with opening an e-commerce store online, you also need to trust your guts. Opening online stores and sweating for business is not only dependent on skills. But a lot more depends on the tendency to be uncomfortable and keep taking risks.