What are Ecommerce Tools and How do They Support Your Business
Running a successful ecommerce business means more than simply running an online store. Behind the curtains lies a mountain of complex tasks that need proper tools so your business operations run smoothly.
Fortunately, there are several ecommerce tools designed to help business owners like you manage the complexity of running an ecommerce store. From operational support to automating repetitive tasks, ecommerce tools can help ensure your business grows efficiently. Platforms like Slash offer game-changing ecommerce tools for your business.¹
The standard in finance
Slash goes above with better controls, better rewards, and better support for your business.
What are Ecommerce Tools
Ecommerce tools aren't one-size-fits-all; they encompass a myriad of services, products, and software that can help businesses automate operations, connect to international customers, manage inventory, and drive business returns. There are many benefits to integrating ecommerce tools into your workflow.
The benefits of ecommerce tools
- Streamline repetitive tasks: through automated tools in payment processing, inventory management, reporting, and more, you can minimize risks and time costs associated with manual labor
- Actionable insights: analytics tools on platforms like Slash Analytics can provide visibility into transaction trends, income, and spending patterns
- Operational support: ecommerce tools can assist with business operations, including inventory management, tracking, order fulfillment, and customer communications
- Reduce operational costs: ecommerce automation, analytics, and management tools create a transparent view of your cash flow, enabling you to identify and eliminate wasteful or unnecessary spending
- Support personalized experiences: CRM systems and marketing automation tools can help boost conversions through personalized customer experiences
- Enable scalable growth: as your store scales, ecommerce tools can give you access to financial platforms that allow you to manage operations on a global scale
The four types of ecommerce
Not all ecommerce businesses are the same, and, depending on the type of ecommerce business you operate, you may find different sets of tools better tailored to your business needs.
Here's a breakdown of the four main types of ecommerce businesses:
- Business-to-business (B2B): platforms that help other businesses buy or sell products. Examples include Alibaba or Grainger
- Business-to-consumer (B2C): brands that sell directly to online consumers. Examples include Nike or Amazon
- Consumer-to-consumer (C2C): marketplaces that let individuals trade with one another. Examples include eBay or Facebook Marketplace
- Consumer-to-business (C2B): services that connect individuals offering skills or products to businesses. Examples include Upwork or Fiverr
Each business type requires tailored tools. For example, a B2C ecommerce store on Shopify may prioritize email marketing or inventory management tools, while a B2B platform may look for payment processing or order fulfillment services.
The standard in finance
Slash goes above with better controls, better rewards, and better support for your business.
Key Types of Ecommerce Business Tools
The right ecommerce tools depend on your business needs.
Here are some of the most effective options and top ecommerce tools to support and scale your business operations:
Expense management tools
Ecommerce businesses need more than a simple way to track expenses, and that's where dedicated industry-built ecommerce tools for expense management come in.
Slash offers an expense management tool that combines accounting integrations, granular spend controls, and expense tracking and reporting tools specifically designed for your unique business needs.
Eccommerce expense management tools provide the foundation to audit your financial workflows and make the adjustments needed to grow and improve your business.
Ecommerce platforms
Behind any ecommerce business is the platform or technology used to power its online storefront. Ecommerce platforms allow you to showcase your products to consumers.
Some commonly used ecommerce platforms include:
- Shopify: Shopify offers a fully hosted ecommerce platform with native payment processing; a helpful site for brands looking to set up an online store, manage products, or sell across multiple online channels.
- WooCommerce: A plugin for WordPress website design, WooCommerce enables businesses to customize their ecommerce store.
- Wix: Wix lets businesses create ecommerce websites or online storefronts, offering design templates with added support for payments, orders, and shipping.
- BigCommerce: BigCommerce is a SaaS platform that helps manage sales and cross-border fulfillment for scalable brands.
- Adobe Commerce(Magento): Adobe Commerce is a cloud-based platform that supports storefronts with additional analytics and insight tooling.
When evaluating e-commerce platforms, consider factors such as cost, intuitive design or ease of use, and how well the model can scale with your business.
Your platform is the hub for all other ecommerce tools, so investing in the right foundation ensures your business's processes work together seamlessly.
Payment gateways
Once you've chosen an ecommerce platform, the next step is setting up a way for your business to actually accept payments — that's where a payment gateway comes in.
A payment gateway securely captures and encrypts your customer's payment details during checkout, then passes it along to be authorized and processed. It's a critical player in the checkout flow, and without a payment gateway in place, you can't get paid.
A payment gateway can be the difference between a good and bad checkout experience. Choosing the right payment gateway can lead to fewer failed transactions, stronger fraud protection, and higher conversion rates.
Inventory management tools
For many ecommerce businesses, inventory management is both a necessity and a challenge. With the right inventory management tools and systems, you can significantly minimize operational drag and boost efficiency through platform syncing, automated recording, integrations with fulfillment tools like Shipwire or Easyship, and provide analytics and expense tracking tools.
Here are popular inventory management tools:
- Cin7: Provides inventory management software, including comprehensive tools for warehouses, marketplaces, and sales channels. Cin7 also integrates with platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce to prevent understocking and ensure inventory fulfillment.
- Zoho Inventory: A cloud-based system with automated tools for managing orders and shipments. Additional integrations with payment gateways and shipping tools, such as ShipStation, are helpful for ecommerce businesses needing a comprehensive inventory tool.
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
As the ecommerce industry expands and competition increases, ensuring that you not only build strong customer relationships but also properly market to new customers becomes essential. CRM systems can help you collect customer information across email, social media, websites, and more to personalize your tools and marketing efforts.
Below are three of the top CRM tools for ecommerce businesses:
- Salesforce: Automation and predictive analytics for businesses.
- HubSpot CRM: Marketing automation and sales tools for small to mid-size ecommerce brands.
- Zoho CRM: Customizable workflows, integrations, and reporting.
A good CRM system can help your ecommerce business deliver personalized tools that can work alongside your other marketing tools, offering a holistically designed approach for monitoring and maintaining customer relationships.
Analytics and reporting tools
Analytics tools provide you with visibility into your business spend and income. Many software for ecommerce business suites include built-in analytics:
- Slash Analytics: Integrates with your banking and card spend to show payment and income analytics based on merchants, contacts, payment type, or by customizable card groups.
- Google Analytics: lets you analyze user metrics and behavior.
- Glew.io: Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce to provide revenue, profit margin, and customer information reporting.
With real-time reporting and analytics, you can see what's working and what's not, such as viewing what merchants or geographic areas are driving the highest profit through your Slash dashboard.
Live chat and customer support tools
Customer support is absolutely critical for any ecommerce business. Live chat and customer support tools are one area where your business can benefit with faster responses and resolutions, leading to happier customers and better CRM.
Here are a few helpful tools:
- Zendesk: Integrating email, live chat, and more to help ecommerce businesses manage high volumes of support needs.
- LiveChat: Enables real-time conversations directly from your online store.
- Tidio: Live chats with AI chatbots to automate answers for common customer queries.
Shipping and logistics tools
Shipping is an essential part of product-based ecommerce businesses, and can be the difference between securing return customers and losing future business due to failed order fulfillment.
Below are some common shipping and logistics tools:
- ShipStation: Helps manage multiple carriers, print labels, and automate shipping workflows. Popular with Shopify and WooCommerce sellers.
- Easyship: For international shipment fulfillment, Easyship provides real-time shipping rates, taxes, and customs clearance tools.
- Shipwire: Global warehouse management and advanced automation for inventory and shipment order fulfillment.
AI tools for ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence or AI is now often embedded in many ecommerce tools.
Examples of services using AI tools:
- Omnisend: Email marketing software leveraging AI automation and integrations with ecommerce sites like WordPress and Shopify to boost CRM and assist with repetitive tasks.
- Hotjar: Offers AI powered ecommerce tools to help ecommerce brands develop their online stores based on real customer insights and site interaction data.
- Mailchimp: Intuit Mailchimp works with data and AI to enhance email marketing products and services, offering ecommerce brands solutions for more personalized and targeted marketing campaigns.
- Hootsuite: Social media marketing site using AI to assist with strategy and customer insights.
AI ecommerce tools can help ecommerce businesses beyond just speeding up workflows; AI can also help anticipate future trends and make real-time adjustments that impact overall business efficiency, customer experience, and revenue.
Optimize Ecommerce Tools with Slash
Ecommerce tools can be extremely helpful, and leveraging the right tools alongside financial software can help your ecommerce business keep up with fulfillment and customer needs. Between ecommerce tools, analytics, and automated software, Slash offers a financial management solution that offers solutions to ecommerce needs with the tools to grow and build your brand.
Slash stands out as an ecommerce tool by letting you:
- Access working capital to cover ecommerce costs like ads, inventory, and fulfillment.
- Manage USD payments in 180+ countries through the SWIFT network with Slash's Global USD.⁴
- Receive payouts from major ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Stripe.
- Native cryptocurrency and stablecoin support with built-in payment rails to send and receive USD-pegged stablecoins like USDC and USDT.
- Integrate seamlessly with QuickBooks and Xero accounting platforms
- Multi-entity support and analytics for ecommerce brands with separate divisions or multiple entities.
Slash provides robust ecommerce tools that support expense management for ecommerce brands to streamline finances, operations, and remove the challenges of juggling multiple expense management tools.
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Frequently asked questions
How do ecommerce payment tools differ from financial tools?
Ecommerce payment tools can function similarly to financial tools, but their purpose may be slightly different. Payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe are focused on enabling secure, digital checkouts and transactions for ecommerce stores. Financial tools like Slash, however, focus on a broader range of business management tools, covering expense management, accounting, capital access, and more.
Can ecommerce tools integrate?
Yes. Slash, a financial and ecommerce-business management tool, integrates with a number of ecommerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce, supporting integration with payment gateways, inventory management, analytics tools, and financial solutions. Slash also integrates with accounting software including QuickBooks and Xero. All-in-one, Slash offers a well-equipped tool for handling ecommerce workflows from checkout to accounting.
What are the typical costs associated with payment processing?
There are several potential and typical costs associated with payment processing. For example, Stripe and PayPal charge fees per transaction, with additional fees for international payments or other specific reimbursements or chargebacks. Other costs may include bank transfer fees, card network charges, international fees, or expedited shipping fees.
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