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Key Questions
to Include in
an E-Commerce
Platform RFP
reach final
decision in
less time
Q1
Does the platform provide a foundation for multi-channel commerce? Does it integrate
with other systems (in-house and third party) to facilitate omni-channel commerce?
In calculating the total cost of ownership, make sure to include the above listed.
Hardware Footprint
Upgrade Costs
Integrations and
Customizations Expenses
Implementations Costs
Q2
Whats the total cost of ownership of the platform over five years?
Is the e-commerce vendor willing to guarantee future upgrade costs?
Many e-commerce software vendors started delivering products for one specific geographic region, grew organically, and
then tacked on new functionality to support other new regions.
This can lead to the proliferation of time-consuming and potentially expensive upgrades that should have been standard
features from the start.
These capabilities should have been present from the start,
and users should not have to pay extra to build out basic multiregion functionality through maintenance fees, that should
instead be fueling product advancement and innovation. And,
platforms that were singularly focused on a specific region are
often developed solely through the filters of how that region
conducts business. This kind of bias can permeate the entire
architecture and functionality of the platform.
Platforms with retrofitted multi-region capabilities might
eventually get the job done, but users may discover they
require costly customization as the organization grows and
expands into new international markets. Companies should
expect and demand that their e-commerce platform is globalready from the start, and requires no customization or exceptional development effort to support new markets.
Q3
Was the platform architected from the very first version to be global-ready, or was it
designed for a specific market/region and internationalized at a later point in time?
Q4
Q5
Vendor Implementation
This is where the software developer who has built the e-commerce platform
leads the implementation. This implementation option is especially useful
when the buyer requires significant customization.
Internal Implementation
The buyer implements the platforms themselves. This implementation option
is best suited for companies that have difficult back-end integrations, and
especially when those integrations are with homegrown systems.
Third Party Implementation
A third-party consulting company leads the implementation. This implementation
option makes the most sense when the buyer needs localized or industry specific expertise and cant complete the implementation alone. A French maker of
high-end LED televisions who has chosen an e-commerce platform developed
by a US company would be well served if they chose a French implementation
partner that has particular expertise with consumer electronics.
The best platform vendors will support multiple implementation options, with
wide variety of price points, vertical solutions and regional expertise, including:
Determine whether the e-commerce vendor offers endcustomers a good experience on the devices that matter
most today iPhones, iPads, Android devices, etc. A more
thorough answer would include several additional points.
How rapidly did the vendor support these touch points
when they were first emerging? Did they offer iPhone integration in 2009 or much later in 2011?
What additional devices does the vendor already have built
into their release plan? Is their platform future-ready to include new touch points that may not be on the market yet?
Does the platform support new touch points one by one (an
iPhone module, an Android module, etc.)? Do they offer an
API with enough flexibility to support a variety of current or
future touch points?
Q6
How does the e-commerce platform ensure integration with new customer touch points
such as smartphones and tablets? Does it provide agility for compatibility with future devices?
Q7
Answers to look for Almost every platform vendor will provide an administrative control panel that enables business
users to add or edit products, create promotions, personalize a site experience, generate reports,
complete other tasks necessary to run the day-to-day operations of an online store, and execute a
multi-channel strategy.
Another critical back-end feature is how the e-commerce platform handles workflow and staging
of content. When adding a new product line, a finance manager first approves product pricing, and
then an art director approves the visual layout. In parallel, copy is routed to a translator and then to a
product manager for final approval. Imagine how convenient it would be if the e-commerce platform
would help create, manage, and track those tasks through a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, workflow
engine.
Why this is important In most e-commerce companies, IT resources are scarce. It is essential for an e-commerce platform
to provide functions that allow different types of business users to interact with the system without
continual support from IT. In an economy where rapid time-to-market is critical, business users need
to make quick changes and update websites to stay ahead of the competition. When end-users are
dependent on IT, bottlenecks can develop that slow down the companys response to competitors and
changing market dynamics.
Back-end interfaces that are well designed, easily customizable, and focused on specific tasks, will
save time on user training and platform adoption. Companies should demand that an e-commerce
platform removes as much complexity as possible from the user interface, without requiring expensive customizations, and while leveraging all current advances in technology and design thinking.
When platforms cant manage content workflow and staging, the process of updating an e-commerce
site becomes much less efficient and far more prone to errors.
The best platforms allow for different types of users to have distinctly different views of the control
panel. A finance user might need to customize several types of sales reports while a category manager would need the ability to add products or edit inventory items within different categories. The
key here is to enable users to view, edit and customize the information most relevant to them without
complicating the interface with data that is not pertinent to their role.
Q8
product content
information management
security
reporting
social commerce
mobile
platform
promotion
Q9
Which features and modules of the e-commerce platform are written on a single code base
(homogeneous stack), and which are not? Is this single code base built on an open standard?
And, is the open standard an industry standard (or likely to become one)?
Product information management has become very challenging, considering the variety of content types and channels
through which content is consumed by customers. The content
pieces associated with one product can include text, reviews,
pictures, and video all available in multiple languages.
Managing this variety of structured and unstructured information is made more difficult by the need to ensure it is displayed
consistently across various channels mobile, web, and print
in physical stores and in the hands of field sales representatives using tablets. To manage this complexity, it is best to have
one repository where all content resides, so that all channels
and regions can draw on the central repository for productrelated content. This approach reduces the cost and complexity of managing product content, and reduces discrepancies
among channels.
Q10
Does the e-commerce system include an integrated module and centralized repository
for managing both structured data (text, pricing information), and unstructured product
information and content (video, pictures), in multiple languages? If a platform includes an
integrated product information management (PIM), how does that compare with conventional PIM software and similar capabilities available from ERP systems?
Decision makers are encouraged to think about both short term and long term needs, keeping
in mind that they might dictate different solutions. If so, the RFP should reflect that.
Carefully consider all other systems needed within the e-commerce infrastructure and focus on
vendors who provide complete solutions with a minimal amount of added integration expense.
Think about how e-commerce can be combined with offline channels, mobile channels, and
social channels to deliver more cumulative value (1+1+1+1=5).
Develop a short list of two or three vendors who offer the most flexibility, in terms of deployment
options and pre-built integrations, and conduct focused, solutions-oriented discussions prior to
issuing an RFP.
After receiving RFP responses, companies may want to ask their top two or three vendor choices
to develop a rough prototype or proof of concept especially for custom features needed within
the platform.
When a selection committee can make a quicker decision so that a new solution can be rolled
out a few weeks early, it may be possible to capture potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars
in additional revenue.
A well-designed RFP with all the right questions and decision criteria can be instrumental in
driving the success of an e-commerce implementation to produce the best ROI and fulfill all
critical business needs for years to come.
The