subject: Challenges of International Ecommerce and Solution through Open Source [print this page] Challenges of International Ecommerce and Solution through Open Source
Introduction:
A recent study reports that almost 40% of current Internet companies turn away international orders because they do not have processes or systems in place to fulfill the order or they don't have idea of solutions for the challenges they are facing. Even though, Internet makes it possible for a company to sell their products in an international marketplace through online, many companies are not prepared to go global. In this article we will study the general challenges faced by a company in International ECommerce and solution for the same.
Major Challenges of International ECommerce:
Cross border orders & Global Shipping:
Shipping is the key step in the International ECommerce Systems. Smaller products mean air transport is affordable but for larger merchandise the shipment through freight forwarder is feasible. The Ecommerce system should support both kinds of Shipment facilities.
Communication barriers:
Another challenge in international eCommerce is developing websites without communication barrier. It should support international audiences, i.e. customers of each country. The websites should also provide interface for translation of one language into another that addresses the culture of the target region or area.
Import and Export Laws/ Tax System:
Each country, province or county have their own law for Ecommerce trading and tax system. The eCommerce system should provide interface and facility for accommodating such region specific tax system and settings.
Internet Payment Systems & Security:
The International payments are a major concern for the online customers. The eCommerce system should support International Payment System but through a secured channel for payments.
Marketing and Promotion of products:
Many of the eCommerce System lacks the support for Marketing and promotion of products through the system.
Top 5 Challenges of ECommerce Websites:
Don't waste the customer's time:
Time is the most important commodity in online shopping. You want your customers to be able to find what they want and buy it as quickly as possible.
Lack of browser compatibility:
While 80% of the market uses Microsoft Internet Explorer, failing to design your eCommerce site to work with other browsers is passing up a huge opportunity
Poor UI design of website:
When a website is not well organized or looks unprofessional, many customers will immediately look elsewhere.
Poor customer service options:
All eCommerce sites should make it easy to get questions about products and purchases answered.
Security concerns of customers:
Many websites fail to recognize how apprehensive some shoppers are to enter their sensitive information into unknown eCommerce sites
Other Challenges:
The other eCommerce challenges are low conversion rates of orders, high shopping cart abandonment rates, low average order sizes, high bounce rates and low return visitor rates.
Challenges addressed through Open Source ECommerce Systems:
With some simple (and some not-so-simple) adjustments, an eCommerce site can improve its profitability significantly using the open source technologies and systems.
The Open Source Ecommerce Software such as Grove Cart (from eGrove Systems Corporation), Prestashop, ZenCart and Magento supports different Shipping Gateways, Multi-lingual support and translation facilities as well as different currency support.
Grove Cart, Magento, ZenCart also supports region based tax settings and different payment gateways such as PayPal, Authorize.net, Google Checkout, etc. The website security is addressed through the provision for transaction through the secured socket layer which most of the eCommerce systems have these facilities. Magento eCommerce systems provide interfaces for email marketing through the ecommerce website itself.
Grove Cart have the feature of one page checkout thus by saves buyer's time and it also have the different browser compatibility. One of the most important features of Grove Cart is the vast gallery of templates that facilitates rich UI design options for companies.
Conclusion:
We have in place system for International ECommerce solution using Open Source Technologies such as Grove Cart, Prestashop, Magento, ZenCart and Joomla Virtue Mart Systems. In future, the growth of international eCommerce is likely to be explosive, as there are vast support from Open Source Communities and entities like eGrove Systems Corporation.
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