How to Choose the Right eCommerce Platform to Sell Office Supplies Online?

Some fast-selling products you can include in your office supplies catalog

• Pens, pencils, highlighters, etc.
• Notebooks, pads, and sticky notes
• Binders
• Markers and whiteboards
• Laser pointers
• Planning and scheduling tools
• Desk blotters
• Organizational tools like files and folders
• Staplers and staples
• Paper
• Printer ink and toner cartridges
• USB flash drives, memory sticks, zip drives, etc.
• Mailing supplies (envelopes, bubble wrap, etc.)
• Pushpins, thumbtacks, and bulldog clamps
• Office furniture
• Computers and electronics

Building an office supplies eCommerce store is a lot simpler than you imagine. There are now eCommerce platforms like VARStreet, designed for office supplies resellers that do most of the work for you.

But you still need to understand what’s on offer and what your site needs to grow a successful office supplies business that evolves with you in the years to come.

What is an eCommerce platform?

To start an office supplies eCommerce store, you first need to understand what an eCommerce platform is, as that’s where your store will be hosted and be the command center for your online business.

An eCommerce platform is a software application that enables businesses to sell products and services online. The software also helps businesses manage and maintain their website, product catalogs, marketing, sales, and other various operations.

Back in the day, eCommerce solutions for businesses were expensive, required an IT team to implement and maintain, and the platforms themselves were clunky and challenging.

With technological advancements and innovations, user-friendly and customer-centric eCommerce platforms that unify a business became popular.

Why selecting the best eCommerce platform is important to your business

Starting an office supplies eCommerce store is more than just simply uploading your office supplies catalog online. It requires some level of strategic thinking and planning for your online business to thrive and generate a year on year increase in revenue.

Choosing the right eCommerce platform is fundamental to your success as it will dictate the following 4 factors:

• Growth: How quickly can your eCommerce business grow?
• Running costs: This includes the cost of your eCommerce platform, designing the store and ongoing development and maintenance.
• Customer experience: How seamless and frictionless will it be for customers to buy from you and interact with your business?
• Objectives: The right eCommerce platform will enable you to deliver a value-added service and holistic solutions required of an office supplies store.

We need to point out that many eCommerce solution providers mainly focus on aesthetics like design, UX branding and content. And while these are important, there is a lot more that goes into running an office supplies store.

Common business processes need to be addressed and integrated with eCommerce to ensure you make a healthy ROI on your eCommerce platform.

Find the Perfect eCommerce Platform to Sell Office Supplies Online

Finding the right eCommerce platform with functionalities necessary to sell office equipment online is the first step in your journey. It’s important to have one that meets the needs of your niche, products and brand.

Let’s look at types of eCommerce platforms available today so you can make an informed decision and choose one that suits your business.

Types of eCommerce platforms

Build your own platforms

This is not really an eCommerce platform per se, it is more of a method where you contract someone externally or employ an IT team to develop a platform for you to sell your products online.

Businesses serving super-niche industries usually opt for this, but this is less common nowadays, as there are myriad eCommerce options available for every industry.

Traditional platforms

Traditional eCommerce platforms work on a licensing model which you purchase and renew annually.

You will still need an IT team and developers to build on top of the existing platform to customize it for your business.

The application can be hosted on-site or on a cloud. Oracle Commerce and IBM Digital Commerce are common examples of traditional platforms.

Open source platforms

Open-source platforms offer their source code freely to everyone who wants to use it.

These platforms are similar to traditional platforms where you follow the same development procedure, the main difference is that you don’t incur an upfront cost in purchasing a license.

They are free to install and highly customizable.

Magento is an example of open-source software where you do not incur an upfront licensing cost but pay for initial and ongoing development, implementation and upgrades to the software.

The cons of using open-source platforms for eCommerce are that you usually need to know advanced coding to maximize the benefits.

Security breaches are also a concern, and users often need to hire IT talent dedicated to maintaining the security.

SaaS platforms

SaaS, or Software as a Service, eCommerce platforms are offered as a subscription service that covers server use, maintenance, security and upgrades.

These platforms are usually built on a single codebase.

Everyone subscribed to the eCommerce SaaS platform experiences the same technology with additional features or plug-ins available at extra costs.

For example, a premium subscription may allow you to remove the SaaS branding, optimize your store for SEO, etc.

eCommerce stores created on SaaS platforms are easy to use and design, scalable and secure as the SaaS provider maintains and manages the platform.

Since these platforms are designed for eCommerce, they have integrations to handle logistics, payments, returns, etc.

eCommerce hosting

eCommerce web hosting determines where your data is stored. It impacts security, costs, ease of scalability and the technical knowledge required, so take the time to understand the pros and cons of your options.

Cloud hosting

Cloud hosting refers to eCommerce sites hosted on cloud. SaaS companies generally offer cloud-based eCommerce solutions.

The SaaS provider manages and maintains the platform, manages uptimes, patches, upgrades and security.

Open source solutions may also offer a cloud solution, but the security maintenance will be the user’s responsibility.

On-premise

On-premise eCommerce sites are hosted on servers owned by the business at their physical location.

There are many costs involved to manage and maintain on-premise solutions as they need space for the server and IT teams to maintain and manage the platform.

Read On-Premise vs Cloud-Hosted- Which Application Suits you the Most? For detailed information on both the hosting solutions.

There are many factors to consider before you choose an eCommerce platform to sell office supplies online.

Two questions you need answers to before you begin comparing eCommerce solutions:

Do I want to grow my business?

We’re guessing the answer to this is yes. And while there is no way to estimate the time it will take, it is better to choose an eCommerce platform that not only supports your business in the initial stages but also enables you to scale as your business grows.

You’d rather have an eCommerce platform that offers you scalability at affordable rates rather than be limited by one that crumbles as your business booms.

What is the top dollar I am willing to spend?

An eCommerce platform is an essential cost for your business. You need to assess your current cash flow and identify how much you are willing to pay. While you do not want to cut corners, you also don’t want to pay for features you do not need.

Weigh the pros and cons of each platform, look for hidden charges, transaction fees, sale percentage, plug-in costs, built-in features and narrow down to the platform that offers you the best features at the lowest price.

14 Factors to Help you Compare eCommerce Platforms

Where do you begin the comparison of the eCommerce platform available in the market? Several moving parts have to work together seamlessly to ensure smooth business operations as well as a phenomenal customer experience.

The performance of your preferred eCommerce platform will determine if the platform performs optimally now and into the future.

1. The provider’s experience and expertise

An eCommerce store selling office supplies needs to have special in-built functionalities to enable customers to configure office and computer equipment or search for compatible ink and toner cartridges, for example.

The eCommerce provider must have adequate knowledge of the office supplies industry, as well as experience and technical skills, to ensure the eCommerce solution is equipped to handle all the requirements of the office supplies reselling business.

2. Support

Round the clock eCommerce support is important as eCommerce is not time-bound like a physical store.

Online shoppers may visit your store anytime, and if there is any issue or downtime, you must be able to contact customer support immediately and resolve the issue to not lose revenue and customers.

You also must be able to contact them through different channels, including email, webchat and by phone.

Your online store will be completely digital, and if you’re new to the eCommerce business, access to a customer support executive who can answer your questions will be a boon.

3. Scalability

Your eCommerce platform must grow as your business grows. The office supplies product catalog is vast.

Will you be able to scale your product catalog effortlessly and add more products? What are the costs to expand your product catalog? How many products can you sell without the platform restricting you?

These are some of the questions you need to ask the eCommerce provider before signing up for their service.

4. SEO-friendliness

When shoppers look for an office supply product similar to what your store is selling, your eCommerce store should show up in their search results.

eCommerce platforms with comprehensive SEO features will enable your eCommerce site to organically rank highly in search engine results.

Important factors to consider when looking for an SEO friendly eCommerce platform include the ability to:

• optimize product pages,
• add a blog,
• use your domain name,
• add metadata,
• allow user ratings and reviews.

5. Mobile-friendliness

Mobile shopping has become the norm, and the global mobile retail revenue is projected to reach $3.56 billion by 2021.

The eCommerce platform you choose must have mobile-friendly and responsive stores for enhanced and streamlined customer experiences, increasing the chances of them making a purchase and becoming a loyal customer.

6. Security

Security of the eCommerce platform is a big concern as you will be accepting payments on your store, and there will be vast amounts of sensitive data passing through.

Ensure that the platform takes security seriously and has all the necessary security protocols and regular audits in place.

The platform MUST offer SSL and PCI to protect your data and your customer sensitive data and WAF security filters to prevent attacks on your eCommerce store.

7. Website performance

Downtimes are disastrous for eCommerce businesses. Not only do you lose potential revenue, but you may lose customers and your brand reputation as well.

Ensure that the eCommerce platform has a strong uptime record, so shoppers never experience downtime, and your website is available at all times.

Speed is another important factor as slow websites are frustrating, and customers today do not have the patience to wait more than 3 seconds for a page to load.

eCommerce platforms need to ensure that your store’s performance is optimal to provide enhanced customer experiences.

8. Traffic capacity

Does the platform meet your current traffic needs? How will it handle traffic as your business grows? What if you have a sudden influx of traffic due to promotional campaigns or Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales?

9. Easy to set up

eCommerce stores should be easy to design and set up. Look for an eCommerce platform that has a variety of pre-designed templates to get you started.

You also want the ability to customize your store, so ensure that the eCommerce platform does not restrict you from changing the look and feel of your store.