6 Must-Haves for Every E-Commerce Business

When you want to be everything to everyone, you end up confusing your customers. This stems from a lack of focus, direction, and overall brand identity. This is why choosing a solution with features that are tailored to your needs is important. It should enhance what you already do and help you do it even better. Everyone has different priorities for various business situations. An e-Commerce solution should be an extension of your business; you shouldn’t subject yourself to something cookie cutter when your business is unique. Your e-Commerce solution should have features that help you emphasize your values and what makes your business special, be it your unique brand and design, efficiency in delivery and service, or your awesome product lines and expertise. This blog post will help you make sense of the many features and benefits offered in e-Commerce solutions today. Whatever your business priorities are in e-Commerce, here’s what you need to look for in an ERP (Dynamics NAV Business Central) integrated e-commerce solution. 

1. You have a product-heavy business.

There are several details that you need to manage in NAV and have displayed properly online. This means not only great product page templates but accurate product detail representation at all times. For your e-Commerce solution, look for live status updates for the product price, availability, location, and other relevant information you may want to display for your customers. This allows your business to move swiftly and accurately. This is especially useful when the sales volume gets high. Your customers will also look for easy order processes and a shopping cart that is easy to manage. Nav-to-Net™ has all that and more while being seamlessly integrated with Dynamics Business Central NAV so all the information customers can see and manage online is up to date.

2. You have a distinct brand and voice. 

When you have a unique brand, seek to express your brand creatively, or are a subject matter expert, content management is important as part of your e-Commerce strategy. In your webshop, there are so many places and opportunities to express your brand. Look for web content management from within NAV Business Central to save time and maximize productivity. Another way to convey your brand easily throughout your webshop is with stylesheets built to your exact specifications, saving time and effort when the design is tricky to get exactly right.

Responsive design also needs to be part of your e-Commerce solution so your website can adapt to every platform so you have a consistent look and feel throughout. Being responsive also sets you apart – attractive and easy to use mobile sites make you look technically sophisticated and current.

3. Speed and convenience are crucial to you.

Perhaps you sell technology products and services and this is an extension of the efficiency you value and offer. These factors can also be a differentiator between you and your competitors when you aim to deliver faster and better. This starts with your customers needing to find things and buy them quickly. Effective search functions, quick order options, and one step checkout are features that will be the most useful. Features like price and availability alerts keep your customers in the loop. Further, enhance shopping processes with Configurator or custom product lists that help personalize the experience.

Integration to NAV/BC means no lag. Exclusive to Nav-to-Net™ is Always Take Orders™ approach which means you will never have a missed order due to any (temporary) disconnect with ERP. This allows you to act with absolute confidence in your webshop.

   4. You have frequent sales and marketing campaigns.

Due to the nature of your business, you may have several sales and promotion opportunities throughout the year. Your e-Commerce solution should allow you to move quickly with new strategies with the ability to multi-task.  Look for coupon management in NAV so you can create many different kinds that can enhance your e-Commerce. Look for reports and analytics in NAV / BC. The data from the website should automatically go into NAV so business users can create reports at any time. You will be able to monitor your business and customer activity all in NAV Business Central to make business strategy decisions accordingly.

Your e-Commerce solution should also have easy ways to upsell and cross-sell. Product search ranking can help move products efficiently, especially older or overstock items, increasing their visibility.

You will also need features that allow you to connect with your customers in order to run your marketing and sales campaigns. Submission forms managed in NAV collect all the information you need.

   5. You require an effective organization. 

No matter what you sell, proper organization is crucial to the success of your e-Commerce business. This is especially true if there are an extremely varied product catalog and segmented customer base. You need a solution that supports unlimited categories and multiple catalogs to target customers as well as organize an extensive product list.

Organization also refers to business processes and overall workflow. A solution integrated into your existing NAV Business Central ERP means no clunky workarounds and connectors. When organization is efficiently taken care of, you can focus on customer relationship management. This can mean anything from B2B account management or the volume of sales in B2C.

     6. You sell customized products and services.

Sometimes a product configurator will fit your business model better than a traditional webshop. You’re looking for ways to streamline sales and guide customers to better buying decisions. An integrated product configurator added to your website will allow customers to pick and choose options, features, and items suited to their exact preferences and needs. This is flexible and adaptable to many industries.

So yes, you do want an e-Commerce that does everything, but when there are just so many features, it can be hard to narrow it down to how it suits you specifically.

For more information, watch 4 min demo or visit our resource library. If there is anything we can answer for you, please let us know!