The ecommerce industry is growing massively. According to research, 95% of all purchases by 2040 are expected to be completed via an ecommerce store.

In other words, the ecommerce industry is thriving and it’s only just getting started. To succeed in this flourishing market, you need a content management (CMS) that will let you keep up with demand, keep you ahead of your competitors on search engines and let you easily manage your store wherever you are.

What is an Ecommerce CMS?

A CMS is software that lets you create, edit and publish content on your website. Without writing any code.

A CMS comes in all different shapes and sizes depending on its purpose. An ecommerce CMS typically lets you add/manage:

• Page layouts
• Product pages (including price, description, delivery)
• Discounts and vouchers codes
• Promotional content such as banners and popups
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Email marketing

In essence, it is a user-friendly backend infrastructure that enables you to manage your site, and sell your products directly through your website.

Must have features of an ecommerce CMS

As well as the key elements like the ones listed above, there are extra features a CMS should offer to help your ecommerce store succeed.

• SEO Wizard that helps your fully optimise your site for search engines. With features such as SEO site audits, as well as keyword tools and the ability to input meta descriptions and tags, a CMS gives you everything you need to get on page 1 of Google.
• Product Management: With a CMS, you can add, edit and manage the products listed on your store. Your CMS allows you to add product descriptions, change the price, upload product pictures and assign discounts. The CMS lets you do all this without the need for a developer.
• Customisable Page URLs: Have you ever been cautious about clicking on a link because of its long, scary URL? A CMS lets you customise the page URL to make it look friendlier and more enticing for users. (e.g. www.psp-it.co.uk/contact) it’s also better for brand identity.
• Meta Tags and Descriptions: How does Google pick up on your keywords? The biggest thing it uses is a site’s metadata. This includes the page meta description, page title and alt image tags. Your store’s CMS makes it super easy to fill out all these data. This ensures you have ticked off all the basic on-page SEO so you now your site is fully optimised for search engines.
• Navigation Links and Menu bars: Most CMSs have the ability to create navigation links based on your products and categories.
• Easy integrations: No CMS is perfect and every ecommerce store is different. If you’re looking for a specific functionality that doesn’t come with the core CMS platform, or you’re wanting to be flexible in the future, choose a CMS that can be seamlessly integrated with other tools and plugins.

What Ecommerce CMS is Best for Me?

There are loads of CMS platforms to choose from. This makes choosing the right one for you difficult. We pride ourselves with having 13 years’ experience developing websites and CMSs. We’ve developed websites that generate in excess of £30million per year; so we think we know what we’re talking about. Here are our top picks.

1. Umbraco

For many of our design and development projects, we have recommended Umbraco CMS. Umbraco is one of the most deployed website content management systems in the world. Built on the Microsoft.NET Framework, Umbraco is a powerful, extendable and flexible content management system. As a result, it can handle everything from simple websites to complex applications. That’s why 700,000 websites are powered through Umbraco.

Wile Umbraco CMS does not come with ecommerce functionality out of the box, it’s open-source code and open APIs mean there are several ways to transform your Umbraco CMS into a powerful ecommerce platform.

One of the biggest advantages of Umbraco is that it comes with a great community. Not only does this great community provide around-the-clock support, there are tons of Umbraco packages that are built to enhance your store with additional features.

There is also a wide range of approved third-party extensions you can use to make your website professional, functional and appealing.

2. Magento (Now Adobe Commerce)

Magento is a popular open-source ecommerce platform by Adobe, written in PHP. According Magento, there are more than a quarter of a million merchants that rely on this powerful CMS to run their business.

Offering powerful out of the box features, such as B2B functionality and omnichannel marketing, Magento is reputed for its great flexibility and customisation.

As well as this, Magento has a diverse extension marketplace, including integrations with solutions like CRM, ERP, chatbots and other enterprise-level software. Which basically means, if there’s a feature that’s not built-in, you can bet you will find an extension for the solution you’re looking for.

3. Drupal

Drupal is the CMS of choice for many of the world’s largest organisations. Why?

It’s versatile, flexible and customisable, however it doesn’t come with as many out of the box features as its counterparts.

Because of this, it is mostly used for complex, high-traffic sites with large databases and resource libraries.

Drupal is fully open-source which means you have use of all the vital aspects of your CMS. All the released modules are readily available to everyone, therefore you don’t need to worry about the security aspect, too. Like Umbraco, Drupal comes with a widespread community where you have round-the-clock access to help and support.

Other benefits of using Drupal include:

• Several functionalities: You can develop feature-rich websites with fast deployment. Drupal provides adequate features that cover the entire product catalogue to shopping cart lifecycle.
• Content­-driven: Drupal is proven to improve search rankings through its dedicated modules
• Data security: As ecommerce websites store a vast amount of their customer’s data and financial details, security is of paramount importance.

PSP IT Design & Development

PSP IT has more than 120 years' combined experience designing and developing websites. Websites we have built generate in excess of £30m per year; and are praised for their look, feel and mobile-responsiveness.

Our experienced in-house team of developers work with you every step of the way to build a bespoke ecommerce store that completely fits your companies and your goals.

If you are embarking on a website project, our dedicated customer care team are on hand to help you. Let's talk today: letstalk@psp-it.co.uk \ 01775 722377