If your web presence is growing (or needs to grow) you may be considering upgrading your sales presence to an easy to use ecommerce platform. That platform might be based on a third-party hosted web site, your own in-house software, or a combination of the two. But before you jump deeper into ecommerce, consider that “easy to use” can be somewhere in the realm of what Itzhak Perlman, the accomplished violinist once said on a Muppets episode: "Some things that are really easy for you are really hard for me."

The customer comes first.

Naturally, the “easy-to-use” part of the equation has to be weighted towards the customer. What if you end up with a clunky ecommerce platform that is confusing to use, has low security, little if any SEO – that’s techie-talk for search engine optimization, i.e., a way stuff written on the site that attracts people searching for your products – or just looks downright shabby? You don’t have to be a cyber guru to know the answer to that “what-if.”

You need to put your products on line so that your customers can find your goods, feed you orders, and forget all about the doubts and worries that accompany online security and product delivery. You want return visits to your easy-to-use ecommerce platform, but for the right reason: to place a repeat order. Of course, product returns are a normal part of doing business, so your easy-to-use ecommerce platform has to attend to customer complaints, returns, and refunds as well as transforming those headaches into a reputation for great service.

Easy-to-use ecommerce platforms can be “easy for you,” the vendor, too.

On the other hand, an easy-to-use commerce platform need not be so complicated that you have to shut down your business a few days to learn how to use it. It also doesn’t have to be so tightly wrapped that you cannot tailor it to your special needs. Also, wouldn't it be ideal if the software could accommodate your own techie staff's site and application development aspirations?

So the ideal solution is a third-party platform where all the user-interface, flexibility and security problems have been ironed out. Online payment card security is, of course, paramount and your easy-to-use ecommerce platform must be totally secure from those who would do you and your business great harm. That solution would also, as previously discussed, include customization and room for your own developers.

Why do we know so much about this stuff?

AbleCommerce has been the industry leader in developing easy-to-use commerce platform software and support since 1993. If you’re expanding, upgrading or just starting in the ecommerce world, check us out. We have a hosting program and a free trial software package for you that is not only easy to use, but also ready to go.  Contact us and let us know how we can help.