Do you know which industry suffered the most from the COVID-19 pandemic? You guessed correctly. It’s the fashion business. Clothing manufacturing in Europe fell by 37% in 2020, while sales fell by 43% in comparison to 2019. Doesn’t that seem disastrous?
The pandemic’s impacts did not touch all fashion enterprises equally. You surely understand that I am discussing eCommerce fashion enterprises that have succeeded far better than their online peers. For a long time, people all around the world had to purchase largely online. This propelled the revenue of behemoths like ASOS and Zalando to previously unheard-of heights.
Few, if any, of you can compete with the size of the fashion behemoths described above. That doesn’t change the fact that as a business owner, you confront identical issues. Choosing an eCommerce platform for your fashion business is one of them. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to switch platforms, you should keep the following aspects in mind:
Options for payment
Technical assistance
SEO characteristics
Apps and integrations from third parties
Security Analysis
Whatever your budget or the size of your company, you’ll find a platform for niche players, rising businesses, and large fish.
Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento)
Adobe’s open-source eCommerce platform is home to some of the world’s most recognizable fashion businesses, including Hermes, Christian Louboutin, Fred Perry, and End Clothing. Is it then pointless to develop an online retail store on that platform if you’re a new business? To be completely honest, it can cost you an arm and a leg. To put this in context, Adobe Commerce handles more than $100 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) each year. If you own a small business, Magento Open Source is a more cheap option.
Adobe Commerce is an excellent alternative for individuals who want to personalize their store extensively. The platform provides numerous connectors that allow you to link your store to a variety of marketplaces and social media platforms, including Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Instagram. Adobe Commerce supports numerous languages and currencies, making it simple for fashion shops to interact with customers all around the world. You can utilize a product recommendation tool driven by Adobe’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology to upsell and cross-sell products.
If you want to generate a lot of traffic from organic search, Adobe Commerce has preinstalled SEO tools as well as several SEO extensions and add-ons accessible on their marketplace. You can boost the ranking of individual product pages by adding meta titles and descriptions. All your advantages are paid to you. The charges can vary greatly depending on the pricing tier you select. The Enterprise tier begins at roughly $22,000, but for large enterprises, this can reach even $200,000. If you value personalization, it will lengthen your company’s time to market. Also, bear in mind that Adobe Commerce is a complex platform, so if you don’t know how to code, you’ll need a team of engineers to keep things running smoothly.
commercetools
Commercetools caters to the Ecommerce platform for fashion and lifestyle business, which is one of the company’s primary priorities, along with automotive and transportation, food and groceries, retail, and telecommunications. The firm that originated and coined the term “headless commerce” is a major supporter of the MACH (microservices, API-first, cloud-native, and headless) architecture. These technologies help fashion enterprises adapt to an ever-changing business landscape, making it simple to stay on top of the current trends. Aside from the dynamic front end that allows businesses to be more adaptable, progressive web apps and virtual try-ons enabled by augmented reality (AR) connections can also be used. Companies with a large social media following can also benefit from social commerce integrations. Shoppers can buy things directly on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. This contributes to the engaging customer experience that today’s shoppers need.
According to Brad Soo, Product Manager at Commercetools, in their fashion magazine white paper, “the Commercetools headless approach allows fashion brands to craft a digital identity aligned with their physical brand identity.” The customer journey follows them in the cloud, allowing them to switch, circle back, and make purchases whenever they want. The experience is consistent regardless of channel.” If you’re sold on the idea of headless commerce, you may use a 60-day trial to put it to the test. Given that the price is available upon request, this relatively extended trial duration appears appropriate.
WooCommerce
If you have a WordPress website and want to start an online store, WooCommerce is your best bet. In truth, WooCommerce cannot be used on non-WordPress websites. This open-source platform is the most popular eCommerce platform, with approximately 3.5 million live websites using WooCommerce Checkout. This is due to its connection with WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system, which accounts for 26% of all web traffic.
You can select from 49 website themes and numerous extensions in categories such as shipping, marketing, and payments. Those of you who are strongly invested in SEO will
not be disappointed, either. Yoast SEO is perhaps the most well-known plugin, but many others might help you get the most out of organic search. WooCommerce also includes sophisticated order and inventory management systems, as well as one-click refunds and guest checkouts.
Even though WooCommerce does not provide as many customization possibilities as Adobe Commerce, you can still customize your fashion eCommerce to your specific needs, including customizable storefronts. WooCommerce was characterized in one of our previous posts as “a popular, free WordPress extension that enables a basic eCommerce website.” Paid extensions are available for additional features. It’s billed as a platform for any size business, but it’s best for small retailers with low IT resources, especially since getting developers to utilize WordPress isn’t difficult.”
While having so many extensions to pick from is excellent, the maintenance can become overwhelming if you utilize too many of them. It doesn’t help that you can only obtain help if you submit a support ticket.
Shopify
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This SaaS Ecommerce platform for fashion is used by businesses of all sizes. Small businesses can use the platform’s normal edition, while larger enterprises can opt for Shopify Plus, which bills itself as an “enterprise commerce platform.” Their point of sale (POS) system is noteworthy. It combines the online and offline customer experiences through the use of software and technology. Card readers and other accessories that
will assist retail establishments and pop-up shops in providing an omnichannel retail experience can be ordered.
Shopify offers three different pricing options:
Basic service at $29 per month
Shopify is available for $79 per month.
At $299 per month, advanced
The basic plan is ideal for newly created fashion enterprises taking their initial steps into the world of eCommerce. Growing businesses would likely find greater value in the Shopify plan, while established stores will value the Advanced plan, which includes an advanced report builder and third-party shipping prices displayed at checkout. Shopify Plus, its enterprise platform, starts at $2,000 per month. A variable fee will be charged to higher-volume firms.
Other characteristics will be useful for fashion retailers:
50+ payment gateways in an inventory management system
Third-party programs that can be integrated
A straightforward order management system
Integrations with social media platforms
All of this is complemented by 24-hour technical support via phone, email, and live chat if you require assistance with your fashion business. Because Shopify stores are known for their rapid load speeds, you won’t have to worry about SEO. This leads to fewer individuals leaving your website, which boosts your search engine rankings.
Downsides? The number of themes available is restricted. Your team may also need to master Shopify Liquid, the template language used by Shopify to load dynamic information on online store sites.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce, like Shopify, caters to both small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large organizations. While all of the systems described in this post provide analytics and reporting, BigCommerce is the most powerful Ecommerce platform for fashion. They offer detailed sales reports, conversion rates, and reports tailored to each sales channel. When it comes to sales, you can easily combine your fashion business with other channels, such as Instagram, and track the performance of all your channels in one location.
BigCommerce is available in two flavors: Enterprise and Essential. The latter is available in three different plans: Standard, Plus, and Pro. They cost $29.95, $79.95, and $299.95 per month, respectively. The cost of the enterprise version can be obtained upon request. Even the Standard plan includes features that most fashion entrepreneurs just getting started with their online store will appreciate. This includes the following:
A mobile-friendly website.
Product ratings and feedback.
Phone, chat, and ticket are available 24/7 for technical support.
BigCommerce provides a library of 195 themes for the look and feel of your online business, with many of them accessible in four different styles. They also assist in other ways. Assume you require assistance in running your firm. In that case, you can search for a large collection of articles including basic advice as well as more specialized documentation on how to make the most of the available capabilities.
Conclusion
The eCommerce platform you choose is determined by your business objectives, budget, and technological skills. Assess these variables carefully to make the appropriate selection for your fashion business’ online success. If you also want to develop an E-Commerce platform for fashion like one of these or a Custom E-Commerce platform, then Appic Softwares has a dedicated team of web and app developers, who are pros in their respective fields.
