If you own an e-commerce store, having tools to make the process smoother for you and your customers is a smart move. You need to find ways to keep up with an ever-changing and ever-growing industry, especially since the B2B e-commerce market alone is expected to be worth $36 trillion by 2026, and around 43% of Americans prefer shopping online rather than in-store. 

If you're a business owner, IT manager or e-commerce professional looking for ways to integrate an online store with your existing systems, this e-commerce integration guide can help.

What Is E-Commerce Integration?

E-commerce integration helps companies connect different software to the systems they use to manage their operations, streamlining online purchases. For example, you may be interested in integrating an e-commerce platform with your existing payment gateway and inventory management system. This technology helps various platforms work together so businesses can operate certain processes while providing customers with a better experience.

5 Steps for Successful E-Commerce Integration

Whether you're new to the e-commerce world and are just launching your store, or you've been in the business for a while and looking for effective ways to manage and update your online shop, e-commerce integration tips can help. Here are five steps for a successful integration process: 

1. Find Compatible Platforms

Start by determining which e-commerce platforms will work with the systems you already use. This step will help minimize the disruption to your business and ensure everything works together smoothly. If you pick incompatible software, you could face problems like data loss or out-of-date information. Do thorough research and ask integration providers questions to narrow down your options.

2. Synchronize Your Data

E-commerce integration acts as a connection between your store website's front end and back end, which means that whatever you do behind the scenes should also be reflected to the user. Whenever you integrate a new platform, you must synchronize your data to ensure both sides have the same information. This process is ongoing to keep the front and back of your website mirroring each other.

3. Centralize Your Data

Different systems vary in their data storage formats. For example, enterprise resource planning systems, customer relationship management platforms and order systems store data in more than one way.

The amount of data your business uses depends on how often it's updated. Centralizing this information helps immediately reflect changes, allowing everyone involved to see data in real time rather than waiting for changes to reflect on their end. It also makes it easier to access data since you don't need to obtain it from various sources.

4. Implement Scalability

Since the success of most e-commerce businesses is based on sales, it makes sense to want to grow your business as much as possible. To meet that goal, opt for an integration option that allows you to scale your business. This way, you can expand your product offerings online, better handle increased traffic, and even go global.

Many systems offer upgrades so that you can grow your integration alongside your business. Consider cloud-based solutions that can easily accommodate increased data storage, and look for integration options that provide continuous support and upgrades.

5. Practice Ongoing Maintenance

System maintenance is one of the most important keys to successful e-commerce integration. Keeping up with your software, data storage and other system components can help you secure your e-commerce business and avoid outdated information and data loss.

Here are some maintenance steps you can implement:

• Update systems: You should regularly update all software — including integration platforms — to ensure your systems and integrations remain compatible. Updates are also essential for security purposes, so consider automatic updates to stay on top of the latest patches and fixes.
• Perform backups: Always back up your data on a consistent basis. Having more than one copy of your business's data is crucial — if some or all of the data is corrupted or lost, you can rely on the second copy to keep things moving.
• Prioritize cybersecurity: Since software can access confidential information, investing in protective cybersecurity measures is crucial to ensuring the safety of your business and customer data.
• Run tests: It's a good idea to regularly test integrations to double-check that they're functioning properly. Performance monitoring tools can help you track analytics and give you insights about whether you need to make adjustments.
• Look at performance: Monitor how well your integrations perform. If you notice regular errors or slow processing, it could be a sign that something's wrong with the platform.

Why Integrate?

If you're considering using e-commerce software for your business, it can be helpful to learn about its advantages to make an informed decision. Here are some of the main benefits of investing in integration:

• Increased efficiency: By connecting multiple systems and automating processes, you and your team will spend less time on manual tasks, increasing overall productivity.
• Cost savings: The reduced need for manual labor saves costs. The risk of human error is also smaller, so you'll spend less money fixing mistakes.
• Real-time data syncing: Syncing data in real time means you always have access to the latest, most accurate information.
• Data insights: Integration gives you deeper insight into your online store's data, which you can then use for better analysis and reporting. You can access information on customer trends and how well your integration systems are working.
• Increased marketing: Thanks to the increased data and information about your customers, you'll have the knowledge to improve your marketing efforts and target your audience more accurately.

The Importance of Selecting the Right Service Provider

A lot can go wrong if you try to perform an e-commerce integration yourself. To name a few potential pitfalls, you could lose data, miss a crucial step or accidentally add or remove a vital section of your website. 

The key to the effective integration of e-commerce systems is to use a reliable service provider to handle the process. Experts have the knowledge and experience to quickly and efficiently integrate your commerce platform with various types of software, offering you the opportunity to improve your online store's efficiency. Additionally, they can help you troubleshoot any problems and maintain the integrations. 

Contact ConnectPointz for E-Commerce Integration Solutions

At ConnectPointz, we understand that the e-commerce industry is competitive, and you need an advantage to help your business succeed. We know every online store has its own needs, so our team builds solid relationships with our customers to help them find the best solutions.

With more than 35 years of experience and an extensive library of e-commerce integrations, we can help you navigate how best to sell your products online. Our pre-configured and custom integration solutions for e-commerce stores allow you to connect, integrate and automate processes with ease.

If you're ready to take the next step, contact us today to learn more about our integration solutions for e-commerce.