5 SaaS platforms you need to know to grow your e-commerce

Running an e-commerce requires cross-functional skills: whether it's collaborating more efficiently with your team or innovating to keep pace with a rapidly evolving sector, your store's success depends on the synergy between multiple elements, including shipping organization, customer support, payment processing, and marketing strategy.

Orchestrating all these aspects on your own, or with inefficient tools, will hinder your store's growth: to support you there are SaaS platforms, that is, cloud-based software that helps you optimize the management of your online store and simplify your work.

In this article, we suggest the 5 best SaaS platforms for e-commerce to streamline your business's management operations.

• What SaaS platforms are and why use them?

• The best SaaS platforms for your e-commerce

• Zendesk: the SaaS software for customer service and CRM

• Klarna: best SaaS software for payment processing

• Sendcloud: the shipping platform for your e-commerce

• ERP and WMS: how to choose the SaaS platform for logistics

• Conclusion

What SaaS platforms are and why use them?

A SaaS platform, Software as a Service, is a cloud-based application; this means that to use the software you won't need to install programs on your computer, since the infrastructure for running the application is hosted on the servers of the company providing the service, which you can access at any time via the internet.

The advantages of SaaS platforms are many: besides the lower total operating cost - which includes all the costs to bear, such as license renewal, support, and maintenance - the ability to use the software from any place or device, simplified sharing of data and information within the organization, the security of being able to use secure, always-updated applications, and the scalability needed to adapt to your business's growth.

According to the most recent statistics, 99% of global companies use at least one SaaS software within their organization; of these, 38% say they use SaaS platforms exclusively to run their business.

The best SaaS platforms for your e-commerce

We've chosen the best SaaS platforms for running an e-commerce. They'll let you simplify your work, with considerable savings in time and money, and accelerate your business's growth.

To help you navigate the available options, we've decided to focus on five aspects that are fundamental to running an online store: shipping, customer service, payment processing, marketing, and ERP/WMS.

Zendesk: the SaaS software for customer service and CRM

Zendesk is one of the leading SaaS platforms for customer service and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). The software offers all the main features to centralize interactions coming from multiple touch-points (including chat, social, email, and phone), as well as the ability to create ad-hoc support sections on your online store's site and design intelligent chatbots to streamline support operations without operator intervention.

Zendesk Support is a platform that focuses on sharing information at the organization level to give each operator all the reporting tools needed to make informed decisions.

Another point in Zendesk's favor is the wide library of apps and integrations to use the software with the main e-commerce applications and platforms, including Shopify and WooCommerce.

The price of Zendesk Support starts at €49 per month per agent/operator, with higher plans tailored to the needs of larger businesses.

An integrated platform for CRM

Besides the customer-service functions, Zendesk Sell is the platform's "spin-off" focused on CRM operations, giving you a wide range of tools to turn conversations with potential customers into sales, optimize the conversion funnel, and increase the store's revenue.

This CRM platform lets you optimize communications with potential customers, automating the sales pipeline from first contact to conversion, with tools for recording and analyzing calls, activity reports, and filtering the lists of leads and prospects to target.

Zendesk Sell plans start at €19 per month per agent/operator; here too, higher plans with additional features are available.

Klarna: best SaaS software for payment processing

If you're looking for a SaaS platform to process payments for your online store, you may already have heard of Klarna: founded in 2005 in Stockholm, Klarna today has 90 million users and processes over 1 million transactions a day.

Klarna gives customers the ability to split their purchases into 3 interest-free installments, also taking on the entire risk of fraud and non-payment and immediately paying the merchant the full amount. According to a survey conducted by the company, payment in 3 installments has increased the average order value by 55% on average, with a considerable impact on checkout optimization.

Maximum payment flexibility

Klarna offers your store's customers several payment methods:

1. Pay in 3 installments: with this "Buy now, pay later" payment method, Klarna lets buyers split the purchase amount into 3 interest-free installments. At checkout, buyers enter their credit-card details and Klarna will charge each installment every 30 days. As mentioned before, the merchant is immediately paid the full sale amount, and it's then Klarna that collects each installment.

2. Pay now: as the name suggests, this option lets customers pay the full amount at checkout. The advantage is the ability to save payment details on Klarna to speed up future checkouts and increase the conversion rate.

3. Pay after delivery: this option, soon available in Italy too, lets the customer pay for the order within 30 days of delivery. Here too, Klarna pays the merchant the full sale amount at checkout.

Integration with the main e-commerce platforms

Klarna is compatible with the main e-commerce platforms, including Magento, Prestashop, Shopify, and WooCommerce. To start using Klarna, you need to contact the company directly and get approval to use the software on your store.

Sendcloud: the shipping platform for your e-commerce

Shipping efficiently is essential for selling online: according to a survey, 68% of online shoppers in Italy expect to receive their delivery within 5 days of the order. Using a SaaS software to manage shipping can help you speed up all your e-commerce logistics operations and deliver parcels to customers faster - and with less effort.

If you're looking for a SaaS platform to manage your shipments from a single place, Sendcloud is a software that integrates with the main e-commerce platforms to help you centralize all your e-commerce shipping and logistics operations. Among its functions, it lets you access pre-negotiated rates with the main domestic and international carriers (very important if you want to sell abroad), generate labels in a single click, create picking lists in bulk, and track all your shipping data and statistics from the analytics panel.

Turn shipping into a marketing strategy

With Sendcloud you can increase your brand awareness thanks to personalized tracking emails and pages.

This innovative tool lets you personalize communications with your customers by leveraging your orders' tracking system: while customers try to find out where their parcel is in real time, they can interact with your brand and your Instagram pages, so they can access exclusive discounts and promotions.

In short, while you increase loyalty you increase sales!

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Simplify returns management

Did you know that around 15% of all products bought online are returned? Sendcloud lets you optimize returns management to keep track of orders returned by customers and automate the goods-receipt and refund procedure, simplifying the user experience and increasing the trust customers place in your brand.

To start using Sendcloud, you can create your free account and connect your e-commerce right away, at no cost.

HubSpot: best SaaS software for inbound marketing

What does marketing automation mean? Leveraging the power of machine learning to do marketing on "autopilot" and increase your store's conversions with less effort.

HubSpot is a SaaS platform designed to optimize all inbound marketing operations (that is, the set of strategies to get found by customers) and do marketing more intelligently.

An integrated platform to attract qualified leads

Among HubSpot's most appreciated functions is the ability to create automated marketing campaigns, track performance from a single dashboard, develop content strategies that lean heavily on SEO, and design a communication style that resonates in unison across your organization.

HubSpot's strength is the ability to structure and distribute highly specific marketing campaigns, defining buyer personas to show ads or content to at the most suitable moment of the buying journey to maximize the chances of turning these leads into paying customers.

All this translates into considerable savings in time and resources: the more specific the target audience to reach, the greater the chances that these users are actually interested in completing the purchase.

To each their own plan

HubSpot offers several plans and prices to meet companies' needs. In any case, the platform provides a set of free tools to optimize your marketing strategy and reach new customers.

ERP and WMS: how to choose the SaaS platform best suited to your e-commerce

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and WMS (Warehouse Management System) software are essential for resource planning and logistics automation.

As your business grows, using a SaaS platform for ERP and WMS connected to Sendcloud is essential to automate management processes and break down the most complex business operations.

In this case, choosing the most suitable SaaS software depends strictly on the volume of resources to manage and the budget available to invest: some of the biggest market players are KING Software, SAP Business One, and Exact Online, each with a range of software and tools suited to specific needs.

If you don't know which to use, we recommend choosing an ERP/WMS software compatible with Sendcloud: this way, you'll be able to leverage the full potential of a centralized - and automated - platform to more efficiently manage the most complex business and logistics operations, including replenishing warehouse stock and shipping automation.

Conclusion

The key to operating successfully in the world of e-commerce can be summed up in one word: innovate.

The landscape is increasingly competitive, and there's no doubt that choosing a SaaS software to optimize the most manual and critical aspects of running an online store is essential to streamline business processes and turbocharge your business's growth.

By simplifying the slowest, most cumbersome operations that make you lose precious time, you'll accelerate your growth and make the work simpler and more interesting for your team.

Discover Sendcloud today and optimize your e-commerce's shipping process. Create your free Sendcloud account now or book a demo (this too free) of 15 minutes.

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