The right eCommerce consulting agency can help you stay ahead of the competition with strategic planning and a deep understanding of the evolving digital commerce marketplace. In this guide, we'll explore the nuances of these eCommerce consulting agencies, why businesses opt for their partnership, the key services they offer, and important factors to consider when comparing them.
What Is an eCommerce Consulting Agency?
An eCommerce consulting agency is a specialized firm that provides strategic advice and services to businesses operating in the digital marketplace. These agencies bring a wealth of expertise in various facets of eCommerce, helping businesses optimize their online presence and drive growth. They often act as trusted advisors, guiding companies through the intricacies of online business, from platform selection to digital marketing strategies.
Many eCommerce agencies also offer services beyond consulting — including site development and technical support — among other related services.
Related: Magento eCommerce Consulting: Why You Should Consider It
Why Do Businesses Hire eCommerce Consultants?
First and foremost, these experts possess in-depth knowledge of the digital landscape, staying up to date with the latest trends, technologies, and market demands. They also offer a fresh perspective, helping businesses identify untapped opportunities and address challenges effectively. Furthermore, eCommerce consultants can streamline processes, enhance customer experiences, and lead to increased revenue given the partnership is fruitful.
So, why do businesses hire them? Ultimately, eCommerce businesses want to see the highest ROI possible on their efforts — and eCommerce consultants offer a path to achieving that. Businesses that sell online hire eCommerce consultants because they have the know-how and experience to boost their visibility and sales, all while ensuring their site and brand remain customer-focused.
5 Essential eCommerce Consulting Services
With that information in mind, here are some of the top services that the best consultant businesses can offer your business.
eCommerce Consulting Service: Platform Selection
One of the primary services offered by eCommerce consulting agencies is assisting businesses in selecting the right eCommerce platform. This involves a careful analysis of the business's needs, scalability requirements, and the features offered by different platforms. The goal is to align the chosen platform with the client's long-term objectives, ensuring a solid foundation for growth. In some cases, this effort may also include consideration of the existing platform that is in use. In this scenario, a gap analysis is essential to understand the cost/benefit of replatforming. The best eCommerce consultants will dig deep into a total cost of ownership analysis to help a business make a decision based on likely return on their investment over time.
eCommerce Consulting Service: Conversion Rate Optimization
eCommerce success hinges on converting website visitors into paying customers. To that end, eCommerce consultants will employ various strategies to optimize your site’s conversion rates — such as performing a comprehensive eCommerce CRO audit, improving website design, and streamlining the checkout process. This effort is often directly connected to the UX services outlined below.
eCommerce Consulting Service: Accessibility Compliance
Ensuring that an eCommerce website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, is crucial for both ethical and legal reasons. Knowledgeable eCommerce consultants can assess a website's accessibility features and recommend adjustments to comply with regulations, ensuring a broad reach and positive user experiences for all.
eCommerce Consulting Service: UX and UI Audits
User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) are critical elements in driving customer satisfaction and loyalty. eCommerce consultants will focus on enhancing the design and usability of your website, making it easier for customers to navigate it, find products, and complete purchases.
eCommerce Consulting Service: Systems Integrations
Businesses make use of multiple technology platforms that deliver their greatest value when integrated with each other rather than standing alone in functional silos. A skilled eCommerce consultant can identify the most valuable opportunities for integration and will help you design the requirements to help a skilled development team do the implementation and testing.
What Should You Look for in an eCommerce Consultant? 5 Factors
When evaluating different eCommerce consulting agencies, several key factors should be taken into account to ensure that the chosen partner aligns with your business goals and values.
Alignment With Your Business Needs
A successful partnership begins with a deep understanding of your business needs. Choose an eCommerce consulting agency that takes the time to comprehend your unique challenges, objectives, and market position. This alignment ensures that the strategies implemented will be tailored to your specific requirements and ensure that you only get the services you need.
The best eCommerce consultants will perform an audit or consultation to assess your business needs and find alignment — IronPlane offers this service for free.
Range of Services
In some cases, it is helpful if an eCommerce consultant offers a variety of services covering everything from strategic planning to SEO, marketing, design, development, and support.
However, it may be wise to find distinct teams offering highly targeted services based on extensive expertise in one area or another. For example, we often see agencies specializing in one or two of the following areas:
- eCommerce Strategy Development
- eCommerce Platform Selection
- eCommerce Design, Development, and Ongoing Support
- eCommerce SEO and Marketing
Industry Experience
Experience in your industry is invaluable. An eCommerce consulting agency with a proven track record in your market will better understand the nuances and challenges specific to your business. This familiarity will enable them to provide targeted solutions that resonate with your audience and industry dynamics alike.
Client Success Stories
While past performance is not always a reliable indicator of future success, case studies that fit a similar profile of the services you require can provide helpful insights into how an eCommerce consulting agency operates. Look for an agency with a readily available portfolio of client success stories. Even better are those agencies willing to provide one of those past clients as a reference for you to connect with.
Learn More: Barbecues Galore Case Study
Platform Expertise and Platform Agnosticism
Most agencies will have a bias to recommend the platforms they are most familiar with rather than the platform that is genuinely best suited to your business. Only the best of these agencies will strive to be platform agnostic and focus on finding the best fit between several platform options and your defined business requirements.
It is often not possible for every agency to know everything about every platform, but the best agencies will be open to finding you the answers you need in order to make an informed decision. Be wary of short answers full of certainty when you ask “which eCommerce platform should I choose?”
Partner With IronPlane for eCommerce Consulting Services
Choosing the right eCommerce consulting agency is a pivotal decision for your business. By understanding the services an agency partner offers, the reasons businesses seek their expertise, and the five key factors you want to consider for them, you can identify the best partnership for your business. Remember, your success in the digital marketplace will start with a strategic partner who not only understands your business, but also has the expertise to navigate a changing marketplace and keep you ahead of the competition.
You’ll find many great eCommerce consulting agencies while searching for a partner of your own, but IronPlane is a strategic partner like no other. With a team of seasoned eCommerce experts — ranging from development to support to platform management — we offer a wide array of services and perspectives for your business to tap into. Our commitment to learning your business and understanding its unique needs sets us apart from the rest, and our track record of success across multiple industries speaks for itself. Should you choose to partner with IronPlane for your eCommerce consulting needs, we can help elevate your eCommerce business to new heights.
