You might be thinking about the utility of Content Management Systems for an ecommerce store or confused whether you need one or not.
In every industry, there are so many myths and facts; similar is the case of ecommerce.
Many people say that ecommerce sites are nothing more than catalogs made for retail and wholesale shops. Well, it was like that a few years ago, but the same isn’t right for now.
It’s a myth that ecommerce sites are just catalogs, and they don’t have a lot of information. On the contrary side, online stores have a lot more information than any of the static websites. There are loads of product categories, sub-categories, and hierarchical distribution of products and detailed information that you can not manage without a promising Content Management System(CMS).
Before buying any product, people now prefer to explore information about that product. With the changing trend, knowledge can make sales and not just the entity you are marketing. As soon as you step in the latest digital marketing learnings, you will start listening statements like ‘Content is the King’, ‘It is the story that sales and not the product,’ ‘Content marketing can do wonders to your business,’ and so on. According to CMI’s research report, 57% of organizations increased their budget for content marketing in 2019, and 52% of them are leveraging CMS’s power to strategize their marketing efforts.
So, whether you own an ecommerce store or a mobile app, you will need a robust CMS with all necessary modules.
How to select the best CMS for my ecommerce store?
Before you dive into the detailed comparison of CMSs for your online store, think about your end goal & business model.
CMS vs. Ecommerce platform
The first thing to decide is whether you need a CMS or an ecommerce platform. Content Management Systems (CMS) is designed to manage your site’s content, informational blog posts, and flow of the content throughout your site. It’s not provided with sales capabilities; however, it can be upgraded with basic commerce functionalities with plugins’ help. For example, WordPress is one of the robust CMS platforms, and the WooCommerce plugin helps you convert your CMS based informational website to an ecommerce store.
On the other hand, ecommerce platforms are online shopping carts meant to host, design, and manage online stores. They are provided with all the core and advanced functionalities for ecommerce businesses. Some of these ecommerce platforms are easy to use for designing, customizing, and managing the backend, while others may need professionals’ help. If you want to manage everything on your own, you can count on DIY ecommerce platforms like Builderfly, which has integrated CMS to feed your need for content management along with ecommerce store management.
If you are one of those merchants selling limited products and niche specific products, ecommerce plugins with a CMS can be good for you. Those of you selling products only with content marketing need to have the best of CMSs and ecommerce platforms. In such a case, the professional assistance will be required to integrate any of the powerful CMS with the ecommerce platform of your choice.
Functional capabilities
Let us remind you again that CMS platforms are content-oriented and they have limited commerce features. The more functionalities you like to add to your ecommerce store, the more will be the plugins you need to check. You need to check the plugins’ compatibility with your selection of themes and the latest updated version of CMS.
Here come the actual efforts you need to put whenever you count on features you want for your store. When you are counting on plugins, you won’t get everything the same with every CMS, that’s why we recommend you to make the list of the basic functionalities. Here’s a list of must-have features for your ecommerce business:
- Administrative features
- Hassle-free design editor
- SEO functionalities
- Social media integration
- Ease to add a personal touch
- Email marketing integration
- Reviews & comment plugins
- Split testing options
- Access to Sales Analytics
- Security assurance
Flexibility & Scalability
Compare CMS platforms based on the architecture of the system. Check for previous versions and frequency of updates to understand how flexible they are to adapt to changes. A decade ago, people were fine with reading the textual content, but now interactive media has taken control. Images, short videos, and infographics are gaining more attention. The CMS that you deploy for your ecommerce store must be fed with this knowledge in advance to make you with industry changes and customer psychology.
You need to be a bit futuristic while deciding on CMS. You are building a business, and it is not like a YouTube video that can go viral overnight. You will be making marketing strategies, tweaking them timely, testing, and implementing to get the best results in the upcoming years. You can’t keep changing the CMS/ ecommerce platform now and then. Think about the next milestone after your e-tail store’s success and check whether the platform you choose is capable of managing that way. You prefer to go ahead with a single store or want to have multiple ecommerce stores. The flexible and scalable options for your online store reduce your headache and help you steadfastly attain your goals.
Compare all the Content Management Systems in your list based on these factors. It is better to have a word with your business’s marketing lead in choosing the right CMS platform for your online store.
How Can I Decide Best CMS For My M-commerce Mobile App?
The CMS that you choose for your mobile app must be:
Hybrid CMS
In contrast to the traditional content management systems, hybrid CMS is both design-oriented and API driven. In building the Omnichannel presence of brands, decoupled CMS plays a crucial role. It takes less time in development and is a pocket-friendly option when compared with headless CMS.
Compatible with microservice architecture
When compatible with microservice architecture, content management systems deploy cloud technology to connect different sections of your mobile app. It lets you easily connect with your team members and assign responsibilities in the meantime to handle & manage the development of your app. It is more flexible and scalable.
Framework & Device agnostic
The mobile app of your ecommerce business might be based on React Native for now, but you may decide to move to any other framework in the future. In the same way, you probably plan to launch an Android app for now, but gradually you will discover you have an equal count of iPhone users. This will raise the demand for the iOS app, and if your CMS is not compatible, you have to start all over again.
This won’t be a case if you choose Framework and device-agnostic CMS to manage your m-commerce app’s content.
Smart content flow
The content flow must be fed well in the mobile app, and wherever necessary, it should promote content reuse options. In comparison to that of your site, the mobile apps must have precise content, and to attain the same goal, the content flow in the CMS must be well set. The cycle starts with content sourcing, creation, review, approval, and delivery on the front-end. When fed with the content reusing options, the content creators don’t have to create everything from scratch, thus saves time to create more workable content marketing strategies for your business.
Scalable
Like your ecommerce website, m-commerce apps are also dynamic. As per the change in customer’s interaction pattern, demographics, and demand of the market, timely, you have to make small yet numerous changes. The CMS that you choose to manage the content and its flow for your mobile app must be designed to keep scalability in mind. The monolithic CMSs are critical towards scalability I options as compared to cloud-based SaaS platforms.
Bring your CMS in sync
You want a dedicated CMS for your ecommerce store as well as for your mobile app. This will add a double task for you to manage the two of your business assets. Explore the CMS that can keep your ecommerce store and mobile app in sync and minimize your work of managing multiple resources distinctly.
Builderfly-Design & Build your ecommerce store and mobile app single-handedly
When you are planning to give wings to your dream business, Builderfly is ready to support you in your ideas. Builderfly is a cloud-based ecommerce platform that gives you access to online store builder as well as a native ecommerce app builder. With the help of our intuitive design editors, you can design, customize, launch, and manage your ecommerce store and mobile app on your own. To add a personal touch to your business, register now, and take the first step in creating your dream store.
