Ecommerce Tools to Simplify Operations and Increase Revenue

If you’re an ecommerce business owner, you know that running a successful business means more than just running an online store. Behind the scenes, you’re dealing with complex tasks like managing and processing payments, ensuring order fulfillment, inventory management, marketing, customers, finances, the list goes on. It’s essential to have the necessary tools in place to manage all of your business operations.

Fortunately, there are a number of tools out there to help business owners like you manage all the complexity of running an ecommerce store. From operational support to automating repetitive tasks, ecommerce tools can help ensure your business grows efficiently while maintaining control over your financial operations.

With expense tracking tools, accounting, and integrations with ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, Slash is a game-changing ecommerce tool for your business.¹ Slash serves as an all-in-one financial platform, designed and expert-engineered around the unique needs of your business.

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Ecommerce business tools broken down

The ecommerce industry is defined by unique digital capabilities amassing a global reach, with quick, efficient, and international transactions being the norm. With such complexity, ecommerce businesses face the challenge of finding tools that enable efficient operations, order fulfillment, and, ultimately, a happy customer experience for a global customer base.

Ecommerce tools aren’t one-size-fits-all. Rather 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 possible benefits for integrating ecommerce tools into your workflow. Here’s a few highlights:

The benefits of ecommerce tools:

Streamline tasks: through automated tools in payment processing, inventory management, reporting, and more, you can minimize risks and time costs associated with manual labor and oversight
Actionable insights: analytics tools on platforms like Slash Analytics and Google 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 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 and relevant messaging
Enable scalable growth: as your store scales, ecommerce tools can give you access to payment gateways and financial platforms like Slash that allow you to manage operations on a global scale

Types of ecommerce businesses

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.

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Slash goes above with better controls, better rewards, and better support for your business.

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Key types of ecommerce business tools and essential applications

The right ecommerce tools depend on your business needs.

Here are some of the most effective options to support and scale your business operations:

Expense management tools

Like any business, ecommerce business's operations can be supported by better financial oversight. Fortunately, there are many industry-built ecommerce tools for that need.

Slash is an ecommerce management tool that, unlike traditional business platforms, combines accounting integrations, granular spend controls, and an extensive stack of expense management and tracking software.

Ecommerce management tools can provide you with the framework to audit your financial workflows and make necessary adjustments to better develop and innovate your business.

Ecommerce platforms

Behind any ecommerce business is the platform or technology used to create and manage its online store. Ecommerce platforms allow you to showcase your products to consumers or businesses, process payments, and integrate with other essential tools like email marketing, logistics, or analytics tools.

Some common and widely 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 fulfillments 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, integrations, and how well the model can scale with your business. You may want to tailor your search for specific business goals, such as finding platforms with SEO tools and keyword research features, specialized inventory management, or integrations that work with your established workflow.

Your platform is the hub for all other ecommerce tools, so investing in the right foundation ensures your shopping cart, inventory management, and payment gateways all work together seamlessly.

Payment gateways

Once you’ve chosen an ecommerce platform, your likely next step is to set up a payment processing system, ensuring that customers or partners can pay you. In order to do this, you’ll need a payment gateway.

A payment gateway is the rail between your online store and your customers' or merchants’ bank accounts, so it is a vital step in ensuring you receive payments. An example of a popular payment gateway is PayPal.

A payment gateway can be the difference between a good and bad checkout experience. Choosing the right payment gateway can lead to better returns and increased conversions.

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 integreates 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 wholistically designed approach for monitoring and maintaining customer relationships.

Analytics and reporting tools

Analytics tools provide you with visibility into your business spend and income:

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 run keyword research and analyze user 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, with services like predictive analytics, automated marketing, subscriptions, and more.

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 repertivie tasks.
Hotjar: Offers AI powered heatmaps, replays, funnels and surveys 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 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 finances with Slash

Ecommerce tools can be extremely helpful, and leveraging the right tools alongside financial software can help your ecommerce business keep up with fulfillments and customer needs. Between ecommerce tools, analytics, and automated software, Slash offers a financial management solution that offering 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 100+ countries with Slash’s Global USD.
Receive payouts from major ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Stripe.
Handle stablecoins and wires through secure global accounts.
Integrate seamlessly with QuickBooks, Xero, and payment gateways
Mutli-entity support and analytics for ecommerce brands with separate divisions or multiple entities.

Slash provides robust, all-in-one solutions for ecommerce brands to streamline finances and operations, removing challenges of juggling multiple 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 transaction for ecommerce stores. Financial tool 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 ecommerc-business management tools, integrates with a number of ecommerce platforms like Shopfiy or WooCommerce, supporting integration with payment gateways, inventory management, analytics tools, and financial solutions. Slash also itnegrates 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, or expedited shipping fees