10 essential tools to boost your online store's efficiency that you need to know

Table of contents

• Extra tools in an online store - do you need them?
• How to choose the best eCommerce tools?
• The perfect toolkit for your online store - TOP10 eCommerce tools
• Netsuite WMS - comprehensive warehouse management
• Elasticsearch - enhanced search capabilities
• Zapier - effective process automation
• Brand24 - opinions and reviews of customers in one place
• Kissmetrics - in-depth understanding of customer needs
• Competera - assistance in pricing
• Buffer - all social media in one place
• Integriti - platform security
• HelpScout - even better customer communication
• 3DBinPacking - optimization shipment packaging processes
• Which tools will become a permanent part of your eCommerc



According to Statista's forecasts, by 2024, the share of online sales could represent over 20% of all commercial transactions overall, with this percentage increasing year by year. This trend indicates that online shopping is becoming commonplace for an increasing number of consumers. As a result, online stores must meet the growing needs of a larger group of buyers and also face competition in the market. As eCommerce evolves, running an online store becomes increasingly complex. Often, the basic version of a sales platform quickly becomes insufficient. Therefore, it's important to use appropriate tools that will help expand the sales potential of the online store. In this article, we present 10 such solutions, providing insights on what to focus on to unleash their full potential. Want to learn more? Keep reading!

Extra tools in an online store - do you need them?

Are you running an online store and feel like you could operate more efficiently while increasing customer satisfaction? Perhaps it's a sign that it's time to consider expanding your platform with additional tools. There is a wide range of solutions available on the market that allow you to tailor the store's functionality to your current needs. Whether you want to streamline shipping, automate marketing actions, or simply improve the shopping experience, you'll surely find something for yourself. What will you gain by investing in additional tools? Among the key reasons to expand your e-shop in this way, you can count on:

• better shopping experiences for customers - with advanced tools such as product recommendation systems, personalised offers, or easy order tracking, you can increase user engagement and thereby improve the conversion rate.
• efficient order management - additional tools can streamline processes related to order processing, inventory management, and payment handling. This way, you save time and resources that you can use to further develop your business.
• utilization of data potential - by using advanced analytical tools, you can, among other things, better understand your customers' behaviours, track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and adjust your strategies to meet changing market needs.

How to choose the best eCommerce tools?

eCommerce tools are typically solutions based on SaaS engines, available upon purchasing the appropriate licence. In addition to these, there are also open-source tools, offering greater control over the source code, as well as custom solutions that can be designed from scratch according to individual business needs. As you can see, the choice and complexity level of available tools are wide-ranging. Furthermore, with their help, you can effectively streamline every area of your eCommerce operations (from customer service to managing your online store). However, before deciding on a specific tool, it's worth considering several important factors. These include:

• licence costs (or access) - make sure to understand the total costs of using the tool and pay attention to the available functionality packages. Sometimes opting for a cheaper option may seem attractive, but remember to consider future needs and development possibilities that may require additional features available only in more expensive packages. Additionally, if you run a larger business, in many cases, you may have the opportunity to negotiate individual licence terms and customise the offer to your own needs and requirements.
• trial period - it's also worthwhile to take advantage of the trial period often offered by eCommerce tool providers. This way, you can test the functionalities and check if the tool meets your expectations before making a final decision. However, it's worth remembering that despite the lack of licence fees during the trial, testing multiple tools will always require you to invest time in getting familiar with and setting up each system properly.
• integrations with existing systems - check whether the eCommerce tool offers integrations with other tools and systems you already use in your business. Integrations can significantly facilitate, and even prove essential in managing data and streamlining processes.
• technical support - make sure that the tool provider offers adequate technical support, including a prompt response to reported issues, as well as regular updates and fixes.

Ultimately, in addition to the capabilities of the tool itself, also investigate information about its provider. Pay attention to whether the company continually develops its products and follows the latest industry trends, and analyse the opinions of other users. This will help you make the best choice that effectively supports the development of your online store and ensures customer satisfaction and business stability in the future.

The perfect toolkit for your online store - TOP10 eCommerce tools

Various tools are available on the market, tailored to the needs of both small businesses and large corporations. You can find solutions that are easy to implement and manage, requiring neither significant financial investment nor advanced technical knowledge. At the same time, there are tools whose full utilisation may require the support of IT specialists. To facilitate your choice, we have compiled a list of eCommerce tools that are worth considering when developing your online store.

Which of the tools from this list caught your attention?

Netsuite WMS - comprehensive warehouse management

An increase in orders or expanding your product range can lead to chaos in the warehouse and errors in order fulfilment. To avoid such problems, it's worthwhile to integrate your platform with a Warehouse Management System (WMS). With its help, you'll enhance the efficiency of warehouse operations by automating routine tasks and monitoring inventory levels. Additionally, WMS optimises the flow of goods, allowing for better utilisation of warehouse space and faster product localization (thus enabling quicker and more efficient order fulfilment).

While searching for the perfect WMS system for your business, you'll quickly notice that many providers offer such tools. It's advisable to choose proven solutions (of course, considering individual business needs), such as NetSuite WMS (from Oracle), which stands out with functionalities like mobile barcode scanning, predefined order picking strategies, or automatic receipts issuance for returns.

Elasticsearch - enhanced search capabilities

When a customer visits your store, they often come with a specific purchasing need (a desire to solve a problem), but they may not necessarily know how to fulfil it. You can help them and, in turn, increase the chances of them placing an order in your online store. How? For instance, by implementing tools that enable intelligent search, such as the ElasticSearch engine. With its assistance, you can extend the search function to include features like auto-correction (e.g., in case of typographical errors), suggestions while typing, and filtering results according to various criteria. This way, you'll provide customers with easier access to products and increase the chances of them finding exactly what they're looking for.

Example of an advanced search engine based on the ElasticSuite engine at domneo.pl store.

Zapier - effective process automation

Fulfilling orders, responding to customer inquiries, creating and managing promotional campaigns - these are just a few of the complex tasks that often overlap, absorbing significant resources of a business. However, there is a way to automate many routine activities and integrate key processes. This effect can be achieved with Zapier, a tool that allows you to automate the collaboration between platforms and other tools (such as Salesforce, Facebook Ads, Gmail, or Paypal), creating more or less complex scenarios. For example, in an online store, you can use Zapier to automatically add new orders to a spreadsheet for further analysis or to generate SMS notifications for customers about the status of their orders. This way, you'll gain automation of many processes, such as order processing, sending notifications to customers, or data synchronisation.

Brand24 - opinions and reviews of customers in one place

Social proof, or social validation, is a significant element in building customer trust. Effective management of opinions, reviews, and other internet entries regarding your brand or products contributes to increased sales and shaping a positive image. It's worth remembering that mentions of your brand may appear not only in your online store but also on social media, news sites, forums, or review platforms (e.g., Opineo), and even in comments under articles on websites. Manually monitoring the internet to "catch" all such entries can be time-consuming or even impossible. So how can you gain control over customer opinions?

The Brand24 tool allows for comprehensive monitoring of mentions about the company across various channels - such as social media, news websites, online forums, or review sites. This approach enables quick responses to emerging opinions, building a positive brand image, and identifying areas for improvement (e.g., improving the shipping process if a significant number of customers complain about this stage of purchase).

Brand24 panel (Source: brand24.pl)

Kissmetrics - in-depth understanding of customer needs

Analysing the customer purchase journey helps capture details that are particularly important to individual customers. These could include preferences for specific products, frequently visited sections of the website, or preferred payment methods. Armed with this information, you can personalise your offer, which will undoubtedly translate into increased conversions. Such results can be achieved through the use of analytical tools like Kissmetrics. With this tool, you'll be able to track customer behaviour on the site, analyse conversions, and identify key factors influencing their purchasing decisions, enabling you to tailor your offer to customer needs.

Competera - assistance in pricing

There are many ways to encourage customers to shop in an online store. However, consistently, one of the key factors influencing the decision to place an order remains the price. Therefore, it's also worthwhile to invest in additional tools that will allow for flexible price management. Competera is an advanced tool for monitoring competitor prices, analysing price trends, and automatically adjusting your own prices in real-time (using artificial intelligence algorithms). Thanks to it, effective competition in the market and optimization of pricing strategies are possible.

Buffer - all social media in one place

The presence of an online store on social media is a "must-have" in customer communication. Social media not only helps maintain the attention of buyers but also, when used properly, serve as an additional sales channel. Actively managing accounts on various social media platforms (where users spend an average of over 2 hours daily!) requires a lot of time, strategy, and content preparation work. To facilitate this endeavour, it's worth using a tool like Buffer. With it, it's possible to manage all social media accounts from one place.

Buffer enables, among other things, content planning and publishing, interaction monitoring, and result analysis on various platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or LinkedIn. Thanks to Buffer, it's also easy to adjust the publication schedule to the best times of your audience's activity, increasing reach and engagement. Moreover, the tool continuously evolves and adapts to the dynamic social media environment, where popular trends change practically from day to day. The latest option available within the system is the "AI Assistant," which generates ideas for engaging content, creates it, and even transforms existing content into something new (e.g., turning a post published on LinkedIn into a series of short posts on platform X).

Buffer panel (Source: https://buffer.com/resources/how-to-manage-multiple-social-media-accounts/)

Integriti - platform security

Running an online store, as important as building exceptional digital experiences, is ensuring the cybersecurity of customers. This includes protecting confidential data such as addresses or payment card numbers left in your store. This priority ensures customer trust and minimises the risk of hacking attacks and data theft (which can result in reputation loss, as well as financial penalties).

Additional tools such as the Integriti platform can also help ensure security. Integriti is a crowdsourcing company specialising in security, which allows its clients access to highly qualified experts from the global community of "ethical hackers," who will conduct regular security testing and analysis as part of the chosen program. This enables companies to effectively prevent hacking attacks, data theft, and other cyber threats, providing customers with safe and secure online shopping.

HelpScout - even better customer communication

In the age of ubiquitous digitization and increasing market competition, building strong customer relationships becomes a key factor in success. Excellent customer service not only increases satisfaction and loyalty but also translates into increased sales and a positive company image. HelpScout is a tool that meets these challenges. It offers a comprehensive solution to streamline customer communication and build positive relationships at every stage of their interaction with the company.

HelpScout integrates email contact, live chat, social media, and other channels in one place, guaranteeing full control over customer conversations. It enables smooth collaboration between team members by assigning tasks, tracking progress, and sharing conversation context. Additionally, thanks to the AI assistant, it allows for automatic responses to simple questions, saving time and allowing the team to focus on more complex issues.

3DBinPacking - optimizing shipment packaging processes

Inadequate packaging of shipments is a problem for both companies and customers. Packaging that is not suitable for the size of the product generates excessive shipping costs and also has a negative impact on the environment. According to a study by DS Smith, along with ordered products, empty space is transported due to poorly thought-out packaging, generating over 42 thousand tons of unnecessary CO2. Furthermore, mismatched package dimensions can also lead to damage to the order during transportation, resulting in customer dissatisfaction and additional costs associated with complaints. 3DBinPacking is a tool that addresses these problems, allowing for the optimization of the shipment packaging process. The system plans efficient placement of products in packaging to maximise space utilisation, minimising losses and shipping costs.

Which tools will become a permanent part of your eCommerce?

Implementing additional eCommerce tools can be a crucial step in developing your online store and maintaining a competitive position in the eCommerce market. With them, you not only improve customer experiences but also increase store management efficiency, enhance its visibility on the internet, and utilise gathered data to improve sales results. The possibilities are virtually limitless, but the goals you achieve depend solely on you and your priorities. If you're wondering in which areas you can quickly improve your business, contact us - we'll help you choose the right tools for your online store.