An Interactive Guide to Choosing an E-commerce PlatformBusiness needs - not feature sets - drive selection of e-commerce solutions.

ZeroLag Communications, Inc. / 15260 Ventura Blvd. Suite #730 / Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 / 1-877-ZERO-LAG / www.ZeroLag.com

The limitation of this approach is that the feature set of major e-commerce platforms is so comprehensive that only the most superfi-cial aspects of each platform is discussed in these articles, providing an inadequate basis for making such an important decision.

While comparison guides can be useful tools for creating awareness of the range of available options which exist, such guides fail to take into account the best perspective for making a critical decision for your business: a detailed understanding of your functional, business, and stakeholder requirements.

Even when buying something as simple as a car, you wouldn’t line up brochures for all the 4-door sedans on the market and choose one based on specifications like wheelbase, cubic feet of trunk space, and horsepower. Instead, you’d start with an analysis of your family’s transportation needs and preferences, and then seek out vehicles which appeared to satisfy all or most of your criteria.

Once you narrowed down dozens of possible choices to a manageable consideration set of two or three options, you would then begin a detailed analysis of the pros and cons of each candidate. Throughout this process, you’d remain keenly aware that a perfect solution doesn’t exist. The final choice will invariably represent a compromise - a balance between what you need and want, the desires of other stakeholders like your spouse and children, and your financial objectives.

The process of choosing an e-commerce platform for your business should be no different.

Understanding functional requirementsThe functional requirements of your business are the primary driver in the selection of an e-commerce platform. Functional requirements for software and IT systems are commonly expressed in a series of “shall” statements like, “the e-commerce platform shall support transactions conducted in multiple currencies.”

Developing a comprehensive list of functional requirements before selecting an e-commerce platform is critical. Failure to do so can lead to unpleasant consequences, like discovering that the platform for which you’ve signed a licensing contract does not provide out-of-the-box support for an important aspect of your business process.

According to Forrester Research, 43% of merchants surveyed said their e-commerce platform has a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) than they originally anticipated. In many cases, these unexpected expenses are incurred due to custom development, licensing of add-on modules, and other steps necessary to adapt the e-commerce platform to the functional requirements of the merchant.

If you search online for information about selecting an e-commerce platform, you’ll mostly find various articles which discuss the pros and cons of different e-commerce platforms, many of which attempt to compare the features and benefits of each platform.

Functional Requirements Business Requirements Stakeholder Requirements TAKE QUESTIONNAIRE

According to Forrester Research, 43% of merchants surveyed

said their e-commerce platform has a higher total cost

of ownership (TCO) than they originally anticipated.

An Interactive Guide to Choosing an E-commerce Platform

ZeroLag Communications, Inc. / 15260 Ventura Blvd. Suite #730 / Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 / 1-877-ZERO-LAG / www.ZeroLag.com

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Understanding business requirements

Your business requirements explain why your company is undertaking the project – the eventual adoption of an e-commerce platform – and what will be accomplished as a result.

Documenting your business requirements helps make sure that everyone on the team is on the same page. Incomplete or inaccurate business requirements definition often leads to disagreements about whether or not the project was successful. If you ever hear negative feedback like, “but I thought the new system was supposed to take care of (insert problem here),” it’s a pretty good indication that your business requirements needed more work.

It’s not uncommon to discover business deficiencies during the process of documenting business requirements. It is usually necessary to resolve these shortcomings before implementing an e-commerce platform. Otherwise the new platform will merely replicate and further institutionalize the flaws, rather than solving them.

Understanding stakeholder requirementsStakeholder requirements describe how users will interact with the system. For an e-commerce platform, the needs of external users – customers, and perhaps vendors – must be considered alongside the needs of internal users – the staff members who will maintain the system.

Use cases, scenarios, user stories, and other anecdotal information can be used to help develop stakeholder requirements and ensure that the needs of users are fully understood. Failure to properly define stakeholder requirements can result in either the lack of important functionality in the final implementation, or devoting unnecessary expense to creating functions and features which are unwanted by users and go unused.

According to the oft-cited CHAOS report by Standish Research Group, lack of user input is one of the factors cited most often as contributing to unsuccessful IT project outcomes.

Requirements definition prevents scope creep

Definitions of functional, business, and stakeholder requirements help prevent the dreaded scope creep disease. There’s no such thing as the perfect e-commerce platform. The requirements documenta-tion informs the selection of the platform and the tradeoffs it entails. Consciously deciding what the e-commerce platform will not do is as important as defining what it must do. Otherwise, as unexpected limitations are encountered during implementation, pressure will mount to expand the scope of the project.

Selecting your e-commerce platformEvery business is different, which is why selecting an e-commerce platform is a highly individualized process. But all businesses share certain types of challenges. Analyzing these challenges can quickly narrow down your e-commerce platform consideration set to a few serious contenders.

We haven’t developed this interactive guide to provide the final answer on which e-commerce platform is right for your business. Instead, it will help you start asking the right questions about your needs, and provide you with an early indication as to what type of e-commerce solution is right for you.

But I thought the new “System” was supposed to take care of

(Insert problem here)?

GO TO THE GUIDE

According to the CHAOS report by Standish Research Group,

lack of user input is one of the factors most often cited as contributing to unsuccessful IT project outcomes.

An Interactive Guide to Choosing an E-commerce Platform

ZeroLag Communications, Inc. / 15260 Ventura Blvd. Suite #730 / Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 / 1-877-ZERO-LAG / www.ZeroLag.com

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Do you sell physical products, digital download products, or both?

Physical only Digital only Both

How many different products (SKUs) do you offer?

<1,0001,000-5,000 5,000-25,00025,000+

In your busiest month, how many unique visitors do you get?

<5,0005,000 - 10,00010,000 - 50,00050,000 - 500,000 500,000+

Do you need to run multiple stores that share the same product information? Examples: separate stores with retail and wholesale pricing, or two stores with different names, logos, and domain names, but the same product catalog.

YesNo

On your busiest day, how many orders do you get?

<5050 - 100100 - 500500 - 10001000 - 50005000-1000010000 - 5000050000+

Func

tiona

l Req

uire

men

ts

Do you sell primarily to consumers, or business, or about 50/50?

Consumers BusinessesAbout 50/50

Do you have brick and mortar locations?

YesNo

Do you fulfill orders yourself, utilize a third party, or both?

Self-fulfillOutsourceBoth

What is the average tranaction value per order?

<$50$50 - $100$100 - 500$500 -$1000$1000 - 5000 $5000+

Do you need to run complex sales reports? Example: orders by day/week/year, by product, or by location.

YesNo

Busi

ness

Req

uire

men

ts

How many internal users need to access the system simultaneously? Examples: processing orders, updating product information, running reports.

<3 3 to 55 to 1010+

Does your marketing strategy call for advanced segmentation of customers while on your site? Examples: offering first-time customers incentives to complete their orders, giving frequent customers free shipping, or delivering targeted marketing messages based on RFM criteria.

YesNo

Do you need to integrate with other third-party systems? Examples: enterprise resource planning (ERP), inventory/warehouse management, accounting.

YesNo

Do you need to integrate to a point of sale (POS) system? Examples: AmberPOS, LightSpeed, ShopKeep

YesNo

Do you need to integrate to a customer relationship management (CRM) system? Examples: Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM

YesNo

Stak

ehol

der

Requ

irem

ents

TOTAL POINTS:

How to use the guide:

For every question, select the answer which best describes your business. Your total, which appears at the end of the guide, will be calculated in real time for you to compare it to the chart on page 6.

INTERPRET YOUR RESULTS

ZeroLag Communications, Inc. / 15260 Ventura Blvd. Suite #730 / Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 / 1-877-ZERO-LAG / www.ZeroLag.com

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Less than 50 pointsLight e-commerce platform requirementsYour e-commerce requirements can probably be served by an entry-level e-commerce system. Possible options include a hosted software as a service (SaaS) platform, or an e-commerce plugin for the popular WordPress content management system (CMS).

50 – 150 pointsModerate e-commerce platform requirementsThe e-commerce requirements of your business are similar to many small- to medium-sized businesses for which e-commerce is an important business strategy. Your requirements dictate the selection of a robust e-commerce platform that can not only meet your current needs, but provide a foundation for future growth.

250+ pointsDemanding e-commerce platform requirementsYour business has e-commerce platform requirements that are similar to many large businesses and enterprises. Only a flexible, scalable, and highly reliable e-commerce platform will meet your needs. Your platform must support advanced marketing methods and sophisticated technology in order to help you remain competitive.

150 – 250 PointsAdvanced e-commerce platform requirementsE-commerce is likely your core business strategy, and you have advanced e-commerce platform requirements. Your online store is mission-critical, and it’s essential to choose a solution which provides maximum performance and reliability, to ensure your store is accessible and responsive to your customers during periods of peak shopping activity.

Interpreting your results

Magento Community Edition with dedicated hosting

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Magento Community Edition with shared hosting

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SaaS MagentoGo

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CMS WordPress CMS with e-commerce plug-in

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An Interactive Guide to Choosing an E-commerce Platform

ZeroLag Communications, Inc. / 15260 Ventura Blvd. Suite #730 / Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 / 1-877-ZERO-LAG / www.ZeroLag.com

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