Top API Integrations for eCommerce

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Top API Integrations for eCommerce

There is a battle between brick-and-mortar stores and eCommerce. In this silent war, online retail is quickly gaining the upper hand.

Ecommerce is a significant profit generator, and everyone is taking notice. Physical stores that neve had online presence are moving their stores online.

Even though eCommerce is at its infancy, it is growing at an exponential exponentially. Online shopping is on the rise, different communities and nations around the world are jumping on the new shopping trend. To meet this demand, online merchants need to optimize their store processes. Optimization in this industry is possible through Application Programming Interfaces or APIs.

Below are top API integrations that you should consider for your store:

1. Enterprise Resource Management Back-End Software

WMS: Warehouse Management System

Ecommerce adds another layer of complexity to the supply chain. WMS helps companies to meet customer expectations while managing costs. This API enforces order fulfillment by keeping accurate inventory capacities. WMS accomplishes this task by mitigating the challenges that come with overselling, picking and packing speeds, returns, warranty programs, and more. Warehouse management is crucial to dropshipping eCommerce operations. Dropshipping involves sourcing products from multiple warehouses, and this software can sync your inventory with that of the supplier.

POS: Point of Sale System

Point-of-sale integration in eCommerce is indispensable. With a POS system, inventory level tracking, product list entries, and prices are pushed to and from a company's eCommerce platform. From your online store, your business can transfer sales and customer data to the POS system. Data fro POS systems can help map out a plan to optimize your retention rates and mitigate churn. The data can give you insight into your customers' needs. By understanding your customers' needs, you can offer better loyalty programs.

CMS: Content Management Systems

Content management systems are useful in the proliferation and management of text, videos, images, and other forms of content across multiple channels. The volume of almost identical product pages flowing into and out of your eCommerce site can be overwhelming to Google search engines to track and index. If the search engine can't tell one product from another, it is less likely to show either of the pages on the results section.

CMS lets the search engine know what the product pages are and what they entail. Content management systems factors in canonical tags, duplicate content, and cardinality into the SEO equation. Managing and generating these product pages can be hazardous, inviting a litany of SEO penalties.

CMS supports both small and large eCommerce businesses. It also allows complex content while remaining upgradable and customizable.

ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning

ERP integrates POS, WMS, and CMS capabilities, thus creating an optimized omnichannel online business. An ERP and eCommerce integration automates tracks updates, inventory synchronization, and provides accurate inventory levels to the consumers. It also automatically notifies customers on shipping dates.

ERP integration also reduces the severity of tedious administrative tasks like manual data entry. The system automates order creation and updates product pricing and status. Automation comes with the benefit of eliminating errors in orders, shipping, inventory, and more.

ERP integration also allows online businesses to remain flexible enough to add multiple physical and online channels. It ensures that the business handles increased demand without requiring extra resources or losing operational efficiency.

ERP integration in eCommerce creates an infrastructure that allows a holistic approach to sales.

 

2. E-commerce Marketing Integrations

Marketing Automation APIs

Marketing automation APIs are among the fastest-growing eCommerce integration. Marketing APIs organize and facilitate the most technical tasks for marketers. These APIs also automate certain aspects of marketing, including recording, assessing, and grouping customer information. For retargeting in the future, marketing APIs add customer information to targeted email lists. They also personalize product suggestions based on a consumer's online behavior and previous visits.

Social Media Proof APIs

Social proof APIs leverage social media as evidence of a product's popularity and the company's credibility. Social proof API integration will increase the visibility of product or service recommendations, photostream feeds and reviews to the customers. 

Such recommendations may come from experts, celebrities, or peers. The endorsement work can go a long way in growing your customer base, traffic, and sales.

Integrating social proof APIs to your eCommerce website will showcase popular and trending products on social media. This is proof to customers that the products are moving fast. It also creates some urgency to buy and therefore promotes sales.

By proving that your products are valuable to others, you can increase your add-to-cart conversion rates.

Affiliate Marketing API

Affiliate marketing is a business model where the customer promotes your products to his or her peers. As a reward for pushing sales, the customer (affiliate seller) gets a percentage of the sales generated. Affiliate marketing APIs facilitate this business model.

 

3. User Experience

Payment Gateways

Choosing a payment method depends on your location, the needs of the customers, and your eCommerce platform. Stripe, PayPal, and Paysafe are some of the most common payment gateways in the eCommerce industry.

The magnitude of security responsibility on a company's shoulder, the nature of the contract available, and the capacity of a payment gateway to handle many merchant accounts also play a role in your decision-making process. Survey among your consumers to find your customer's preferred gateway of payment.

Shipping API

As an eCommerce business grows, so does the number of orders. With success comes the need to automate order processing and shipping routines. Delivery and shipping APIs help minimize errors and the scope of manual work.

From the point of sale to the point of delivery, you can automate all the processes. By integrating shipping APIs, you are improving the customer experience and streamlining your back-end processes.

Artificial Intelligence APIs

Ecommerce stores can personalize the customer experience thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) applications. For B2C companies (for example, Amazon), chatbots engage with customers while recommendation engines provide personalized suggestions to optimize conversions.

AI technology provides information like opportunity insights and predictive lead scoring. With such data, sales representatives can work towards improving their productivity.

Site Search API

An eCommerce site with large product offerings needs to invest in sophisticated search APIs. These kinds of APIs save customers the trouble of digging through heaps of content when looking for a specific product. Site search APIs also help in promoting products that a customer is yet to discover.

 

Conclusion

In a fast-moving world, businesses have to keep up or risk losing a piece of the market share to competitors. There is nothing like a perfect eCommerce store. Each online business needs regular and specific tweaks to survive in this competitive landscape.

APIs help us automate tasks, minimize errors, and avoid the manual workload. These applications also help us collect the data that we need to optimize our stores.

Streamline your eCommerce store with the right APIs and improve your conversion rates. These tweaks will create a better shopping experience for your customers and more profits for your bank.

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