E-Commerce Platform Requirements

Hi All,

The ecommerce platform consists of the software used to manage the look and feel of the site, inventory, payment processes, and so on. The platform selection is a critical driver of the hosting choice, so there is a lot to consider. This list offers a foundation for platform requirements, although additional concerns unique to the business will undoubtedly be uncovered during the selection process.

• PRODUCT MERCHANDISING: Controlling how products and information are displayed, and how discounts are presented to the customer and processed in a payment system; presenting product customization requirements; displaying global product content.

• DATA COMPATIBILITY: Parsing of multiple data points simultaneously for a split-second redirect to dynamic pages or to deliver custom content, allowing incompatible data types or data stored in silos to “talk” to each other, not hindering customer experience initiatives.

• PAYMENT SYSTEM: Supporting trials with opt-in/opt-out capability, physical product purchasing, access management for SaaS products, support for global payments, shopping cart compatibility.

• CHANNEL MANAGEMENT: Features to differentiate customer segments, serve dynamic content based on customer profile, price list management to offer alternative pricing to selected customers, global compliance management.

• MOBILE FUNCTIONALITY: Creating high-impact mobile interfaces across smartphones and tablets, real-time processing, mobile shopping cart optimization.

• MARKETING: Tools for customer contact testing, multivariate testing capabilities, acquisition/retention marketing (PPC campaigns, SEO, email list management), support for affiliate programs.

• CUSTOMER CONTACTS: Ability to customize and send transactional emails for account creation, order-related contacts, localized content, new product versions.

• HOSTING MANAGEMENT: Access to scalable, dedicated bare-metal components; implementing cloud expandability for bursting; building in redundancy for disaster recovery.

HOSTING SELECTION

Every company has unique business and IT requirements, and there are many solutions that may be a good fit. Sometimes, the best configuration for a business includes more than one option. When evaluating hosting options, it’s important to consider whether potential integration and deployment issues are aligned with the organization’s IT resources and experience. There’s a huge difference between a general cloud provider that only offers raw infrastructure—leaving organizations to figure out how to deploy and connect the ecommerce platform—and hosting specialists that can provide expertise around unique workloads. Choosing a hosting partner with specialized experience in ecommerce platforms and infrastructure helps the organization sort out the complexities to architect an optimal solution.

Options include:

• CLOUD: Choose a public cloud for low cost or a private cloud for workloads subject to stringent security or compliance mandates.

• ON-PREMISES: This option delivers ultimate control—as well as all the headaches that accompany being responsible for the entire ecommerce infrastructure.

• HYBRID: In a hybrid cloud environment, a retailer can move certain workloads, like email or content delivery, to the cloud while maintaining control over other critical systems best run on dedicated or on-premises equipment.

Courtesy: http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/whitepaper/ecommerce-re-platforming-basics

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