Without a doubt, Magento is one of the most sought-after platforms for developing e-commerce sites. It is known for flexibility, SEO readiness, and features suitable for developing an online store. However, to extract the most out of the platform, it is necessary that you use suitable third-party integration.
Thankfully, Magento offers solid integration support for so many third-party extensions. Web developers make use of such extensions widely when they work with this platform.
Top Third-Party Integrations For Your Magento Store
1. Secure Payment Gateways
Payment gateways have become an indispensable part of any online store these days. The least that the customers expect from you is for you to provide one gateway, which is convenient as well as secure. The reason for encapsulating payment gateways as a necessity is the huge fraction of people inclining towards online payment methods. According to the Worldpay Global Payments Report, 36% of online shoppers prefer eWallets, 23% prefer credit cards, and 12% prefer debit cards as payment methods.
Whilst connecting to a payment gateway, customers can opt for either of the two integrations-
– Redirect
This form of integration involves taking the customer to a secure payment page hosted by the Payment Service Provider (PSP). All the authorization and security of payment fall under the concerned PSP. This keeps the customers in a loop of trust as they acknowledge that their information is under the jurisdiction of a trusted PSP. However, you tend to lose autonomy in this situation as you can only feature your logo on the redirecting page to let the customers know that they are connected with you.
– Direct
The direct payment gateway also refers to on-site payment, which falls under the server of your Magento Store. This means that the information you provide and the processing are done by the store itself. This not only speeds up the process but also allows you to customize the payment page as per your business needs.
2. Shipping Software Integration
When you place an order on your Magento Store, there are a plethora of steps that are followed at the backend before the product is delivered to you. These include processing, picking, packing, and finally shipping the commodity. As the process is exhaustive, handling it manually can be quite a tedious task, to begin with. That has led to the incorporation of Shipping Software Solution.
Transparency Market Research, in its latest report, predicted growth in the global shipping market at a CAGR of ~9%. Additionally, concerning the 2020-2030 forecast period, the market value is expected to reach a whopping $5 billion by 2030.
The surging of the market is attributed to the automated process that it brings into play. Consequently, both transparency and accuracy are maintained. Especially in a setting where orders have to be streamlined after coming from various touchpoints, an automated system acts as a boon.
Commonly, Magento Store shipping software solution has the following features-
- Managing Orders
- Automated Shipping
- Price Comparison
- Printing Labels, Packing Slips, etc.
- Inventory Management
- Shipment Tracking
- Reporting and Analysis
Check out Payment & Shipping Restrictions Extensions for Magento Store here.
3. Inventory Management
Inventory management is the presence of the right stock, at the right time, at the right place, and at the right level. While you can think of inventory management using manual means if your system follows a single channel, but in a multi-channel approach, this is not feasible. Peoplevox E-Commerce Fulfilment Report divulged the repercussions of not having an automated inventory system for multichannel systems. They reported that 34% of businesses shipped an order late as they mistakenly sold a product that was already out of stock. This provides a stronger argument for software integration in inventory management to promote synchronization and real-time visibility.
The advantages you can get from integrating inventory software include stock management, analytics, scanning/barcoding, forecasting inventory, and customization.
4. Automated Accounting System
One of the integral areas of any business is managing and monitoring cash flow. This is done in the forms of payroll accounting, budgeting, purchase-sales track record, profit-loss statement, cash flow, and so on. When starting out with a business, you can manage this with the help of a manual resource. However, as the sales multiply and the magnitude of business increases, human error becomes a common observation. This results in the inability to make integral decisions as the data is fragmented and error-ridden.
All such factors advocate for the adoption of an accounting software system by Magento Store. Fortune Business Insights published a report, foreseeing the rise of the accounting software market to $416.23 million by 2024.
Here is what an automated accounting system would do for you-
- Provide customized invoice and transaction statement in multiple currencies
- Scanning data to enter in the system rather than manual entering
- Automation of tax procedure in alignment with local regulations
- Exhaustive report, highlighting all the integral metrics
5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
If you are a business owner, you already know the importance of your customers. More so, you understand that the trade is not just about acquiring customers but also holding on to them with consistent engagement. This involves bettering your relationship with your customers at every stage rather than leaving them hanging after ensuring sales. That is where the Customer Relationship Management is placed. It is responsible for gathering customer data, building customer loyalty, and devising a functional approach to better sales and marketing. Being the biggest software market currently, CRM took a leap from 15% usage in 2010 to 97% in 2020 in the context of SuperOffice.
Where face-to-face interaction takes a backseat, CRM has taken up the role of strengthening customer-provider relationships at Magento Store. Here are the benefits related to the system-
- Attracting potential customers
- Accessible customer data
- Easy cross-channel tracking system
- Analytical tools to help understand customer behavior
- Automated sales
6. Customer Support System
The expectations of customers in terms of support and care have multiplied tenfold in the last decade. Now they expect immediate response and action to address their concerns. Microsoft stated that 59% of customers have heightened customer expectations now than they had just a year ago. This says a lot about the kind of experiences consumers expect from online stores. Possible integrations to consider are re help desk and live chat options.
– Help Desk
Help desk may follow different ways of communications, like calls, emails, etc. Your complaint here is logged as a ticket, which is studied by the concerned executive to find a feasible solution. After solving your issue, the ticket is marked as resolved. This helps in keeping the team track questions/queries and designating a time frame to solve those.
– Live Chat
Live chat is quite a sought-after set-up at Magento Store as you do not have to leave the site to write an email or make a call. Rather, you are connected to the customer care executive on the spot, wherein you can discuss your query and get a response instantly.
When seeking a resolution for your problem, you can also use a combination of both the live chat and help desk features.
7. Automated Email Marketing
Digital marketing is an expansive market now. With the pandemic at hand, everything has gone for a toss, except for digitalization, which has seen a significant boom. In the sphere of digital marketing, email marketing has been leaving its mark. As per Statista , email users are set to grow up to 4.3 million users by 2023, which gives enough reason for adopting email software for efficient marketing.
With an increase in customer base, it becomes crucial to manage relationships to ensure customer loyalty. This is not possible manually. With the integration of listed emails, you can easily gather information and send across promotional emails. This will keep the connectivity alive and the customers will feel valued. Here is how these automated emails help-
- Reminding about what is in their cart
- Conversion of leads
- Informing about sales, thus boosting revenue
- Promotion of products/services
- Gathering feedback
8. Social Media Integration
With nearly 45% of the population or 3.5 billion people across the world using social media daily, Emarsys has unveiled the importance of focusing on social media management. It is a vital component of businesses these days, with the below-stated benefits-
- Drive traffic to your website
- Find leads
- Increases business reach
- Engage people with the brand name
- Provide customers a platform for easy communication
Social media integration can be done in numerous ways to benefit businesses these days.
- Sign-up option for social media
- Streaming social media on homepage/ product page
- Add plugins for numerous social media platforms
- Feature reviews from social media platforms on to your website
On another note, if you want to market yourself directly on social media without the faculty of a website, then this integration is your life savior.
Summing it up
In a nutshell, using third-party integrations can bring a number of benefits to Magento store owners- for sure.
These integrations can help you grow your business and also put up a huge impact on your daily operations and eCommerce sale. Many merchants do find these integrations to be expensive, but it’s only until they assist them to bring customers to their platform.
All we would say is “Money invested to integrate and develop your eCommerce store is a long-term investment and it will be worth it!”.