Ecommerce can provide a convenient way for customers to purchase products or services directly from your current business website. The benefits of integrated e-commerce can also help to increase sales and revenues by making it easier for customers to buy from your website. Integrating an e-commerce shopping cart into your current website help with order processing, inventory management, accounting, e-mail marketing, and other eCommerce activities.
The term "shopping cart" refers to a cart used for holding merchandise (physical or digital) when shopping.
Adding e-commerce to an existing website can be done by integrating an online store into the website. This can be done by adding a shopping cart to the website, which will allow the website to sell products or services. This will make it easier for customers to buy things from the online store because the two websites will work together. For example, your current website can convert and help customer to purchase your services online.
A shopping cart enables the customer to shop on your site. A potential customer selects the "Buy Now" button and the product is automatically placed in their shopping cart. Customers can view the list of products they’ve chosen, add or remove products from it, continue shopping, change quantities, etc.
After your customers have finished adding products to the cart, they can finalise their purchase. The shopping cart software makes it easy for customers to pay for their products securely. The transaction can take place on your website or the customer can be redirected to a secure payment gateway. After the purchase is made, the customer returns to your website where their order details are displayed. The store administrator is notified and can start to prepare the order for shipping.
Integrating the selling of goods or services involves the process of integrating a compatible eCommerce platform with your existing website or setting it up as a sub-domain. This can include integrating with the same platform. For example, if you have a WordPress website, you could integrate Woocommerce with your existing website. Ecommerce integration can make it easier to manage a business by providing a single platform for managing all aspects of your current business. It can also make it easier to sell online by providing a seamless experience for customers. In the case where your existing website is built on vanilla HTML, you would probably need a 3rd party system for a shopping cart integration.
Yes, you can add a shopping cart to an existing website. You will need to use a platform that allows you to create an online store, such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce. Once you have set up your store, you can add products and start selling online.
And what are the biggest and most obvious benefits that businesses can get from learning how to integrate an e-commerce website?
How to Add eCommerce to Your Website if the platform you are currently on does not have an integration?
If you use WordPress, you can integrate WooCommerce, a shopping plugin. With Joomla, you can add an extension like Virtuemart or HikaShop. If you have a basic website builder like Wix or Weebly, you can use their built-in shopping features. Another way is to just put hyperlinks on your existing website and link it with a platform like Shopify, which provides everything you need to create an online store. With this method, your existing website runs on its own and doesn't connect to a shopping cart that works with your existing website.
No matter which method you choose, make sure it meets your business needs. An e-commerce website should be easy to use, have a secure payment gateway, and offer a variety of shipping options. It should also be mobile-friendly and offer customer support.
The Benefits of Including Ecommerce on Your Website
eCommerce integration offers many benefits for businesses that sell online. By being fully integrated with your eCommerce platform and back-end systems, you can automate many of the manual data entry tasks associated with online sales. This can save you time and money and free up resources to focus on other areas of your business. In addition, real-time integration ensures that your online marketplaces are always up-to-date with the latest information from your ERP system. This can help improve customer satisfaction and reduce the risk of errors. Finally, integration offers a number of other benefits, such as the ability to track inventory levels in real-time, connect to multiple online marketplaces, and more.
One of the biggest problems with eCommerce integration is that there are so many platforms and solutions. It might be hard to choose the e-commerce system that will best meet the needs of your business. Integration of APIs is another difficulty. Customer experience needs to be an easy and seamless process. For orders to be handled in real-time, your website must be integrated with one of the many eCommerce platforms' own APIs. Your website's platform needs to be compatible.
And finally, when it comes to integration, internet marketplaces pose a special problem such as multi vendors' shopfronts that also take orders.
Step 1: Select marketplace platform
Choosing the right platform is important for your business. It can help you make sure that you are able to reach your audience and make more money. There are many platforms on the market, but some of them are better than others. Here is a list of some of the best e-commerce platforms:
Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento or WooCommerce
Step 2: Select the Payment Gateway
Choosing a payment gateway is one of the most critical decisions you will make in your business. Some payment gateways have higher fees. However, choosing a gateway with lower fees may be the wrong decision and can lead to low conversion and abandoned shopping carts. The main criteria are how easy the buying process is for your users. This needs to be fast and easy. A well-known and popular payment gateway would be a better choice.
Step 3: Choose a South African Shipping Provider
Shipping is a very important part of any business, and it can be difficult to find the right provider for your needs. It is important to take into account the size and weight of your products, as well as the distance that they will need to travel.
There are many options available when it comes to choosing a shipping provider. Some providers will offer flat-rate shipping while others may offer discounted rates based on volume. You should also consider whether or not you want insurance coverage for your shipments, how long you want them to take, and whether or not you need international shipping.
Step 4: Determine the Inventory Management System
Choosing the right inventory management system for your business is not an easy task. There are many different types of inventory management systems available on the market, and it depends on your business needs and which one you should choose.
Inventory management systems are designed to help businesses manage their inventories and keep track of all the transactions that happen with each product. It is important to choose a system that can meet your specific needs as well as be affordable for you.
Step 5: Connect to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Marketing Automation Tool
A CRM is a software application that stores information about your company's customers, their contact details, and the interactions you have with them. It generally manages customer relationships through email marketing, phone calls, and other communications.
Marketing Automation Tools are used to manage marketing efforts by automating certain tasks like email campaigns or social media posts. They can be used to automate the process of sending emails to potential customers based on their activity on a company website or social media accounts.
There might not be a shopping cart that works with the platform your website is running on right now. If this is the case, you might need to integrate via an API or make a subdomain where the shopping cart has a link to your website.
The drawback is that, because the shopping cart operates on a different platform, it might not appear professional.
In some cases, it would be better to rebuild your website to incorporate CMS (Content Management System)
This can call for technical expertise or coding experience.
For additional information about monetizing your current website, get in touch with us.
