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Benefits of a Customized eCommerce Platform

Updated March 12, 2024 | 8 min read
Key Takeaways
  • A customizable commerce platform allows your business to tailor the platform to its needs to create a more unique user experience.
  • Non-customizable platforms are easier to start out with but don't offer the versatility and customizable options that customizable platforms do.
  • Customizable commerce platforms make it easy to scale your business with custom eCommerce software that adapts and grows with you.
  • A customizable platform for your eCommerce business and online store will enable you to optimize business processes, have seamless integrations, and develop greater functionality.

Why Get a Customizable Platform?

Custom eCommerce software can integrate with a content management system

A customizable platform offers several benefits that an off-the-shelf eCommerce platform doesn't. Some reasons why you might choose a platform include:f

  1. Customization allows you to tailor the platform to your business's specific needs and goals. For example, you can customize the layout and design of the platform to match your brand, or add specific features that are important to your business.
  2. A platform allows your business to scale and grow as needed, as the platform can be modified to meet new demands and requirements.
  3. Customization can help your business stand out from competitors by offering a unique and personalized shopping experience to customers.
  4. Custom eCommerce development can offer more flexibility and control over the user experience, as you can choose exactly which features and functions to include.

Overall, the best eCommerce platform can help your business better meet the needs of your customers and achieve your goals more effectively.

Non-Customizable vs. Customizable eCommerce

What Is a Non-Customizable Platform?

A non-customizable platform is sometimes referred to as an "off-the-shelf" or "turnkey" platform. These platforms are pre-built and come with a set of predetermined features and functions. They are typically easier to set up and use than platforms that require custom development, but they don't offer as much flexibility or the ability to tailor the platform to a business's specific needs.

Examples of Non-Customizable Platforms

Some examples of non-customizable platforms include Shopify, BigCommerce, and Wix. These platforms offer a range of features and templates that businesses can choose from but do not allow for the same level of customization as a customizable platform.

Why Is Non-Customizability an Issue?

Limited customization options become a problem as the business grows—since the platform isn't adaptable, the business ends up outgrowing the platform, needing more functionality than the platform can provide, and sacrificing efficiency and certain functionality to bend the business workflows to the limited capability of the platform.

Which Type of eCommerce Platform Is Best?

Looking for the best eCommerce features for your online store? Overall, the choice between a customizable and non-customizable platform will depend on the specific needs and goals of a business. Non-customizable eCommerce platforms may be a good choice for small businesses or those just starting out, while larger or more established businesses may benefit from the added flexibility and customization offered by a customizable platform.

However, even startups can benefit more from a customizable online commerce platform because it means you're planning for the future—with a customizable eCommerce platform right from the start, you won't have to worry about switching your systems over and re-training employees on a new platform later. 

Improve Conversions with Customized Features

Custom eCommerce development with payment gateways.

With a custom eCommerce solution, you can optimize elements of your eCommerce store to create a better user experience. This will improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and conversions. Let's explore all the ways a customized eCommerce platform can improve conversions.

Optimized Product Listings

Some of the many elements you can optimize are the categorization, display, relevance, and information accuracy of product listings. When these are optimized, it's a lot easier for clients to find what they're looking for on your eCommerce site. You can optimize the categorization, display, and accuracy of products and related information by:

  • Adding tags and filters to products and categories, so that when a user searches for something, the right items come up in the search results.
  • Standardizing product listings, so that product information has the necessary specifications to make it easy for users to compare items.
  • Integrating your business systems, such as your back-end ERP with your front-end online store, so that data (e.g., inventory data) is automatically updated in real time.

Unique Design

It's important that your online store reflects the brand design of your company. Your website is often the first place where people get an impression of your business; so it's vital that your brand design, values, and credibility be transferred to the eCommerce site. Web design plays a significant role in how users perceive and interact with the site.

With a customizable platform, you can modify the design to your needs and specifications to ensure you convey the right message with your branding and design, as well as help users navigate easily around the site. More specifically, a platform can help optimize website design in several ways:

  • Customization means you can choose the layout, theme, and overall appearance of your website, ensuring it aligns with your brand and meets your specific design needs (whether you need web design for startups or you're redesigning a site that's been around for years.
  • Customizable eCommerce platforms often come with a range of design templates and tools that you can use to create a professional and visually appealing website.
  • With a customizable platform, you can add or remove specific design elements as needed, such as graphics, banners, or color schemes, to better meet the needs of your customers.
  • If you're working with an experienced development team like Clarity Ventures, they can help you implement different design features and help you choose the best path for your business and industry.

Advanced Features Like Live Chat

A custom eCommerce platform will also enable you to add more advanced eCommerce features to your online store, which can be key for conversions.

For example, with a customizable platform, you can add a live chat feature, which provides customers with a way to get immediate assistance and support. A live chat feature can also be a great tool for allowing site visitors to learn more about your company and offerings, which may help potentiate leads.

Testing & Analytics

A customizable allows your business to A/B test different elements of the website, such as calls to action and product pages, to see which versions are the most effective at converting visitors into customers.

Clarity's customizable platform does all of the above and offers reporting and analytics tools to help you determine what's working and what's not, so you can continue down the path of success.

Process Improvement and Business Automation

eCommerce businesses often have unique processes that must be completed in certain ways. In these cases, a generic platform won't be adaptable enough to accommodate these workflows.

It may be the case that a customer needs to be vetted before they can buy an item, or a customer’s credit card needs to be checked before they make a large purchase.

With a customizable eCommerce platform, you can tailor these processes to be quick and easy with your specific workflows. It becomes a simple matter to go through approvals and other activities specific to your business.

Moreover, a customizable online platform can optimize processes such as:

  1. Inventory management: By allowing businesses to track and manage their inventory levels in real time, a customizable platform can help ensure that products are available when customers want to purchase them and prevent overstocking or understocking.
  2. Order processing: A customizable platform can streamline the order processing process by automating tasks such as order confirmation, payment processing, and shipping label generation.
  3. Customer service: A customizable platform can provide features such as live chat and FAQ pages to help businesses quickly and effectively resolve customer inquiries and issues.
  4. Marketing and advertising: A customizable platform can offer tools such as email marketing and social media integration to help businesses reach and engage with their target audience.
  5. Analytics and reporting: A customizable platform can provide detailed analytics and reporting tools to help businesses track their performance and make data-driven decisions.

By optimizing these processes, a customizable platform can help businesses increase efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and drive sales growth.

Part of that optimization process involves automating certain tasks, such as inventory tracking, creating sales promotions and campaigns, and providing support for customers. These automations allow businesses to streamline processes and maximize efficiency while saving time and money.

Integrate Your Line of Business Applications

Your business may also need eCommerce integrations between your business systems and eCommerce platform. A customizable platform allows for a seamless integration solution with all your line-of-business applications to provide accurate, updated data.

Integration Benefits with Customized eCommerce

  • Automated customer-specific pricing
  • Automated fulfillment processes
  • Real-time inventory counts online
  • Sales insights for customer purchasing behavior reported to your CRM
  • Bulk data import
  • Up-to-date information across all channels and devices
  • Automatic backups
  • Additional features and capabilities

Clarity’s customizable platform and integration solution are made to optimize these features in way that’s specific to your business.

Cater SEO to Your Business

Often, basic marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) features from off-the-shelf eCommerce platforms aren’t enough to increase traffic and leads to the extent an eCommerce store needs. 

On the other hand, a customizable platform provides you with search-engine-friendly functionality. This includes unlimited product meta tags, category-specific landing pages, and built-in XML sitemap generation for products and categories.

These custom eCommerce solutions for SEO will drive traffic to your storefront. Then the added features, smooth transitions, and professional design of your high-performing website will make customers want to stay and come back for more.

Customizing the Checkout Process

ECommerce websites with custom eCommerce development

With a customizable online platform, you can modify the checkout process so that it fits your customers and business model.

For example, you’ll have access to things like customer-specific pricing, purchase order processing, ACH transaction transfers, payment processing, contract purchasing, and approvals for purchase limits.

With the ability to change the checkout process to fit your business’s requirements, you can effectively upsell, cross-sell, have renewals and subscriptions, and more.

Learn More About Clarity's eCommerce Platform

Customer Service After the Transaction

You can customize your eCommerce platform so it doesn't just handle selling your products and services, but also helps your customers after their purchase.

Customers can easily track their orders, view quotes and invoices, and contact customer service or the seller with any questions. Making it easy to resolve issues goes a long way to increasing customer satisfaction, especially when they may already be unhappy from the setback.

Self-service is a crucial aspect of this, and this is where customized eCommerce really shines. Customers usually like to resolve things on their own if they can, and then possibly with a bot before needing to interact with a person. Thus, having those resources and interfaces available is vital to keeping customers happy. If they can easily and quickly solve their issue or review past orders, etc., they are much more likely to come back. If they find the process confusing or frustrating, though, or they can't get their questions answered within a certain timeframe, they may not be as inclined to make another purchase on your website.

In conclusion, a platform helps to create a user-friendly experience, which can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. By enabling customers to make purchases easily, quickly, and securely through the platform, businesses can build trust with their customers.

With features such as personalized product recommendations and tailored marketing campaigns, businesses are able to create relationships with their customers that would otherwise be difficult to achieve without an eCommerce platform.

Additionally, customizable platforms can provide tools to help businesses track customer data, such as purchase history and email preferences, so that they can continuously refine their services and provide a better experience for their customers. Ultimately, these features help build customer loyalty over time by providing a positive shopping experience.

Get a Platform Made Just for You

We’ve spent nearly 20 years optimizing every aspect of our custom eCommerce platform so that it’s truly customizable. Our team is highly skilled at customizing the platform to fit our clients’ needs.

Web development.

FAQ

 

ECommerce customization is the process of customizing an web store to meet the needs of the business’ customers. This includes various aspects such as design, functionality, customer experience, and payment options.

A customized commerce platform allows businesses to make their stores stand out from the competition by providing unique features that make it easier for customers to find what they need and make purchases quickly. By customizing eCommerce stores, businesses can increase customer loyalty, satisfaction, and ultimately revenue.

A custom eCommerce solution can help to provide a better understanding of customer behavior so that businesses can refine their marketing strategies and better serve their customer base. This is especially true if you are integrating other business tools such as a content management system (CMS).

 

Made-to-order eCommerce is a type of eCommerce store that allows customers to customize products before making an order. It gives customers the ability to personalize the items they are purchasing from a range of options such as size, color, texture, and so on.

By utilizing custom solutions, an online business can provide customers with a unique and memorable shopping experience that leads to increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. It also enables businesses to capture more data about their customers' preferences and tastes, allowing them to cater their marketing strategies to those who need a custom solution.

 

Customization in ERP is the process of an online business tailoring an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to match a business’s specific needs. This involves modifying the ERP software—and sometimes custom development—to ensure that it supports the processes and operations of the business and incorporates additional features to extend its functionality.

This customization can range from minor changes (such as aligning user interfaces or adding fields) to more complex modifications (such as integrating with a  customized commerce platform.) Customization in ERP helps businesses create a system tailored to their exact needs and allows a business owner to control and manage their data more effectively.

 

Though they can used with the same business model, customization and personalization are two approaches to providing a customized solution and experience for customers of an online business.

Customization involves modifying or adapting an existing product or service to suit the customer's specific needs, while personalization is the process of creating a unique experience tailored to individual preferences. Customization usually involves changes in appearance, functionality, or features based on the customer’s requirements.

Personalization can involve presenting content such as ads, recommendations, and messages that are tailored to each individual user. Both customization and personalization help businesses improve customer satisfaction and increase revenue.

A custom eCommerce solution can occur at many levels and stages. The entire platform may be tailored to create a custom eCommerce platform, or the online site may be the focus in order to create a custom eCommerce website. Both of these will require tailored software development.

 

Customization on an eCommerce website refers to the process of changing the appearance, features, look and feel, or functionality of a website. This can involve anything from changing small visual elements such as background images or fonts, to altering page layouts and adding new features.

Custom eCommerce websites helps owners make the site the best it can be, be more engaging for their visitors, and improve user experience. Custom eCommerce development also allows them to create unique experiences for each individual visitor and maximize conversions. Having their own store online can help avoid transaction fees on marketplaces when they are selling online.

 

Clarity eCommerce Framework is Clarity's eCommerce platform solution that provides a wide range of features and tools to help a business create a customizable, secure, and reliable eCommerce website for a store.

The framework allows developers to create a custom eCommerce website—along with eCommerce web development—to meet their specific needs by adding extra features, changing existing feature sets, or making design tweaks. The best eCommerce platform also provides users with access to powerful analytics tools so they can track visitor data and monitor performance over time.

Still have questions? Chat with us on the bottom right corner of your screen #NotARobot

Author
 
Autumn Spriggle is a Content Writer at Clarity Ventures with experience in research and content design. She stays up to date with the latest trends in the eCommerce and software development industries so she can write content to help people like you realize the full potential for their business.

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