Whether you’re selling an app, digital content, or software, there always comes a time when you need to seriously consider how you are going to monetize your product or service and scale your business.
Subscription? One-time payment? Will my product or service be available around the world? What will the purchase experience be like? How will I collect payments? There are infinite number of questions that are likely running through your head when you start exploring the ecommerce potential of your business.
Investing resources into homegrown tools and accumulating third-party point solutions can only take your business so far. But how do you know when it’s time to invest in a comprehensive ecommerce solution?
To help you out, here are some of the external and internal factors you should consider when deciding if an all-in-one ecommerce solution is right for your business.
The External Factors; The State of the Ecommerce Industry
Consumers are embracing digital commerce.
The line between the real and digital worlds is more and more blurred by the day. Purchasing goods and services online has become the norm for people around the world. In fact, by 2021, over 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online. That’s almost a 30% increase in just five years.
There is a clear opportunity for businesses to capture this growing market. And the key to success comes down to focusing on the customer experiences.
Businesses need to focus on global consumer preferences.
Cross-border ecommerce is on the rise. Forrester estimates that cross-border shopping will make up 20 percent of ecommerce by 2022, with sales reaching $627 billion. Consumers are no longer concerned about the physical location of a business when it comes to making a purchase online. And they have high expectations for their shopping experience.
They key to success in the growing global landscape is to accept global payments, offer localized pricing, currencies, and languages, and maintain global and local compliance with taxes and regulations. The right ecommerce solution will manage localized purchase experiences every time for every customer around the world.
The Internal Factors; Your Business
Increasing costs with DIY or point solutions are creating disjoined ecommerce experiences.
At first glance, it may appear to make sense to invest your internal resources into building a homegrown ecommerce solution. In fact, FastSpring customer, Nelio, explored the homegrown route before deciding on FastSpring’s complete ecommerce platform. However, these internal solutions often take a significant amount of time and resources to maintain. And the focus of your internal teams can be put to use on more important things—like building new products and services to help scale your business.
On the other hand, there is no end to the number of individual point solutions your business can purchase to manage each piece of the ecommerce experience. However, these competing tools will end up costing you more in the long run, and will limit your business’ ability to offer the optimal ecommerce experience consumers have come to expect.
Low conversion rates are limiting your revenue potential.
When it comes to low conversion rates, it’s usually you, not the customer. Are site visitors surprised by unexpected taxes? Are they concerned about the website data and transaction security? Are they frustrated by a limited selection of payment options?
There are so many factors that play a role in low conversion rates on your site. And all-in-one ecommerce solution will empower you with best practices and industry standards that will inspire confidence in your site visitors. If you’re not seeing the sales volume you were hoping for, it may be time to make the switch.
Outdated checkout flows are interfering with scaling your business.
Third party hosted checkout pages, and clunky checkout experiences aren’t going to cut it anymore. Consumers expect a seamless, branded experience throughout the checkout process. If your customers aren’t getting the experience they expect, they will turn to other competitors. And relying on dev resources to make updates to your product pages wastes precious time and money.
Take the time to do an audit of the checkout flow. Heatmaps can help you identify areas where customers are dropping off before making a purchase. Combine that knowledge with a leading ecommerce solution that will help you build modern purchase experiences featuring popup checkouts directly from your product page, the ability to add special discounts, and offer cross-sells and up-sells. All this without the need to rely on dev support!
Are some of the internal and external factors hitting close to home? It may be time to make the switch to an all-in-one ecommerce platform to manage the entire ecommerce experience for your business. Schedule your custom demo today.