If you are already using a digital agency to help you with your online marketing, then it may seem logical to use the same agency for your e-commerce needs, especially if they offer website design and development services. However, there are a number of advantages to using a specialist e-commerce agency that you may want consider before your project gets underway.
1.Technical Knowledge
E-commerce is complex and there is a lot of specialized knowledge required in order to set up an e-commerce site. This is especially true when deploying your e-commerce site on Magento. An e-commerce agency will implement Magento technical best-practices that only come from experience working with the platform. E-commerce agencies not only have the knowledge to create a professional, sleek-looking site which will both attract and engage potential customers, but they will also be experts at making sure that your sites performs at the highest levels and includes your specific business requirements.
2. Converting Visitors to Customers
A digital agency may be able to attract visitors to your site, but it’s another thing entirely to be able to turn these visitors into paying customers. An e-commerce agency will have the experience that comes with developing a large number of websites and will be able to ensure that the user experience supports conversions. This means they will be able to effectively direct your visitors to make a purchase. They can also advise you on branding and marketing strategies and what type of content your site requires to target and engage within your client demographic.
3. Data and Image Management
When you’re selling products online, there is a huge amount of data related to these products, as well as various images of all the goods you’re selling. This product catalog will need to be managed effectively, and this is something that an e-commerce agency will be able to help you with. After all, they know the best ways to store and manage this data and the associated images.  A digital marketing agency may not have the same level of experience with this.
4. System Integration
In order for your e-commerce project to run smoothly, you want all purchases and transactions that take place online to be integrated with your existing business systems. Integrating systems is complex and requires engineering skills, tools and processes that most digital agencies don’t have. An e-commerce agency will be able to manage the integration design, development and certification processes that are critical to making sure that the integration works effectively, and help you to make sure that data flows from your e-Commerce site to your ERP and fulfillment systems.
5. E-commerce Security
While digital agencies will be able to advise you about the systems that you can put in place to keep your website as a whole secure, e-commerce sites processes transactions and require additional security measures. You will need to think about how you can protect not only payment data, but also the personal details of your customers. An e-commerce agency will have best-practices and a wealth of information to share with you about how you can keep your e-Commerce protected and to implement security best practices
6. Technical support
Getting your e-commerce site launched is step #1, but maintaining and managing a high-performance transactional site requires on ongoing technical support, something which will be vital should there be any glitches that you need to be rectified quickly. An e-Commerce agency has the tools, methodologies and expertise needed to provide the high levels of on-going support that are needed.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Finding an e-commerce agency to help you turn your website into a place where people can find and purchase the products they want easily, is one of the most important steps that you can take in developing your business. The knowledge and experience an e-commerce agency offers you is invaluable.
E-commerce sites and corporate websites have many similarities, but e-commerce sites have significantly more complexity. As an e-commerce agency, Accorin has the expertise to manage the complexity and deliver a world-class e-commerce site that will increase revenues and reduce costs. Launching a new site or replatforming an existing one? Let’s discuss your e-commerce project today.
