According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, ecommerce sales increased roughly 15.5 percent between the third quarter of 2016 and the same time period a year later, while total retail sales increased 4.3 percent. The growth of online shopping has been staggering in the past two decades. Little question remains of its legitimacy. Businesses only need to decide how to best take advantage of the digital marketplace.

Your online shopping presence is a valuable piece of your total sales puzzle. Perhaps you’re familiar with the ease and versatility of the WooCommerce plugin on a WordPress website or the robust online store possibilities of the Magento platform, but are you familiar with Lightspeed ecommerce?

You might find yourself in the glorious—though perhaps intimidating—position of choosing which ecommerce platform makes the most sense for you and your business. From Etsy and Social Media Marketplaces to Shopify and BigCommerce to your own custom-built online store, making the right choice can feel overwhelming.

Global ecommerce purchases are expected to reach 653 billion dollars in 2018. You want to build a powerhouse ecommerce presence, but how?

First, you need to do your research, and while you’re at it, be sure that Lightspeed eCom is one of your options.

What is Lightspeed eCom?

Lightspeed offers multiple products, including retail and restaurant point-of-sales (POS) systems, but it’s their ecommerce platform that is revolutionizing the interconnectivity of physical and online stores.

It offer features you would expect from an ecommerce platform, such as inventory management, a customizable check-out experience, integrated shipping, promo and discount possibilities with an easy-to-use backend. Many of its best functions might not look different from what a store could find via WooCommerce or Magento, but the difference is in the organization of its omnichannel system.

What makes Lightspeed different?

Where Magento and WordPress ecommerce extensions like WooCommerce begin online and do not always fully integrate into a physical store POS system, Lightspeed offers seamless integration between your store cash register and your ecommerce shop.

Inventory management can be a challenge when juggling customers in physical and digital stores, but Lightspeed eCom is designed just for retailers in this space. Their streamlined reporting of sales and customer purchase history across all channels make retail management simpler than it ever has been before. The time-consuming reconciling of figures and trends from two different platforms is no longer necessary. With Lightspeed eCom, everything is at your fingertips.

What type of store should choose the Lightspeed ecommerce platform?

If your store’s physical location is your emphasis, but you also want to have a strong presence online, Lightspeed might be your best ecommerce platform choice. If you want to give your customers in-store and online shopping possibilities, but juggling these two spaces feels overwhelming, Lightspeed can’t be ignored.

Of course, the retail industry has never had so many options for a business owner, and the same platform does not work for everyone.

The simplicity of the WordPress platform with a WooCommerce plugin might be the best answer if your web shop has a small number of products or if ecommerce is only one facet of what your business undertakes. WordPress is more complex than some website builder options but is still relatively easy to manage for a general user. It is professional, fully customizable, versatile, scalable, easily integrated with social media and newsletters, and when combined with ecommerce extensions, WordPress can provide an all-inclusive, powerful online store perfect for small to medium-sized merchants.

Magento, on the other hand, might be the right pick for you if your online store is the focus of your business. Magento is a top-level ecommerce application without any limitations, designed to enhance customer conversion and retention through advanced tools, analytics, and offerings. Because it is scalable and can be modified and personalized exactly as a business would like, a mid to large business or a shop ready to take advantage of complex online tools might prefer this platform.

Conclusion

With the right web technology at your fingertips, you as a retailer can accomplish more, sell more, and convert more customers. Whether you choose Lightspeed, WordPress, Magento, or another ecommerce platform, you know that the ecommerce marketplace is only expanding. Maybe it’s time for your business to take the next steps to deliver just what your customers are looking for.

At Midlothian Web Solutions, Lightspeed development is among the many ecommerce services that we offer our clients. Questions? Contact us today.

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