32 Essential Ecommerce Tools for a Thriving Online Business

When it comes to turning a mediocre eCommerce store into a thriving online business, your eCommerce tools are your best friends. They can add layers of automation and enable you to achieve things that would be impossible (or very difficult) without the use of such technology. It's no surprise then that many successful businesses embrace innovation and onboard technologies that boost productivity and efficiency within their businesses.

However, the problem doesn't come with deciding to use technology. If you're running an eCommerce store that will probably be quite obvious. The problem comes with deciding exactly what eCommerce tools to use. If you've done some research, you've seen the wealth of different options out there, for all sorts of purposes. You need a way to narrow down your choices.

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This guide goes through the best options for eCommerce tools. Not only that but we've organised these top eCommerce tools into different categories so you can choose more easily which ones might be right for your business.

Top Types of eCommerce Tools for Growing Your Business

• Project Management Tools
• Email Marketing Tools
• Social Media Management Tools
• Business Intelligence Tools
• Inventory Management Tools
• Accounting and Bookkeeping Tools
• SEO Tools
• Customer Service Tools

Project Management Tools

Here are the top project management eCommerce tools available on the net:

1. Notion

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Notion is a productivity application which gives you the space to write, plan, and organise your eCommerce business. It features a range of tools including to-do lists, product roadmap templates, and project timelines. The app is powered by AI and encourages creativity amongst your team. It also enables collaboration across all departments so you can streamline all your eCommerce business processes.

2. Asana

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Also powered by AI, Asana is a work management platform that enables you to effectively manage projects, resources, and admin. The reporting tools allow you to track your business goals, and also track the development of each project. Asana's intelligent features enable you to create automated workflows based on your own sets of rules.

3. Active Collab

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Active Collab is a comprehensive project management software that provides an intuitive workspace for your entire operation. From planning and organising, to communicating and collaborating, this software has the right eCommerce tools to drive success. You can track time, keep on top your business's financial health, and drag and drop tasks to assign them to different team members.

4. Trello

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Trello is a kanban-style project management solution. You can create workspaces for different teams. And, create boards that detail different tasks. Easily add people to each task and give detailed instructions to them. There are lots of visually-appealing board template categories to choose from, including marketing, remote working, and project management.

Email and SMS Marketing Tools

Email and SMS marketing will play a big part in marketing your eCommerce store. Hence, next up we're going through the best SMS and email marketing tools for growing your online store:

5. MailChimp

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Mailchimp is arguably one of the best-known email marketing software available. It's got a load of eCommerce tools for managing your SMS and email marketing campaigns across multiple sales channels. With this software, you can automate your SMS and email campaigns. Generate a healthy ROI with advanced segmentation capabilities and send emails with personalised product recommendations based on AI insights.

6. Wheelio

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This is one of those quirky eCommerce tools that's fun for customers and lucrative for business owners. It's got gamification tools that allow you to create dynamic and interactive elements for your eCommerce website. Create triggers to display, for example, a spinning wheel for your customers to win a percentage off their order. This is an engaging way to collect email addresses for email marketing campaigns, along with telephone numbers and other customer details.

7. Privy

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Privy is an ideal SMS and email marketing tool for Shopify and Wix eCommerce platforms. As well as email marketing campaign features like automated abandoned cart recovery emails, welcome emails, and newsletters, the software also comes packed with conversion-boosting tools and SMS eCommerce tools. Add fun spin-to-win wheels to your eCommerce website and send out text messages notifying customers about special offers.

8. Campaign Monitor

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With Campaign Monitor's marketing tools, eCommerce platforms can share immersive, personalised content with their audience. Even your bulk emails will be completely personalised and you can monitor results in real time. Campaign Monitor has a drag and drop email template builder, along with the eCommerce tools you need to build email automation journeys. The AI-powered solution has analytical tools that give eCommerce businesses actionable insights too.

Social Media Management Tools

Online stores need a social media presence. Here are the best eCommerce marketing tools for managing your social media content and engagement:

9. HootSuite

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HootSuite is a tool for managing multiple social media channels in one place. Integrate it with all your channels, whether that's Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. As well as the basic scheduling tools you'd expect from a social media tool, you also get access to powerful analytics, as well as AI-powered social listening tools. You can use these to effectively boost customer engagement. You can also automate your private messaging with pre-written messages.

10. Buffer

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Buffer is an all-in-one social media growth platform that allows online stores to take complete control of their social media management from one location. It's got a range of eCommerce tools for boosting social media marketing efforts. Build customised landing pages for free, and create and repurpose a plethora of content and ideas. The 'Engage' eCommerce tools allow you to keep on top of social media interactions and easily see which comments you haven't yet replied to. Machine Learning technology can also alert you to comment sentiments.

11. Sprout Social

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Manage your social media marketing efforts with Sprout Social; a social media management platform that aims to transform your whole business. Its AI-powered eCommerce tools can enhance your business's customer care with automation. Spike alerts let you know if something needs to be addressed urgently. And, the Bot Builder allows you to engage with customers out of hours. There are also collaboration tools that allow you to share your content calendars with others in your team.

12. FeedHive

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Schedule content for posting across all your social media platforms quickly with FeedHive. This user-friendly software has a smooth interface that's easy to manage and navigate. Get AI-powered analytics to judge the performance of your content. Track followers, growth, and engagement with clear graphs and charts. FeedHive enhances team collaboration and the Social Inbox feature allows you to reply to comments 10X faster.

Business Intelligence Tools

Business intelligence doesn't just come from Google Analytics. Take a look at the three other solutions that we dive into here that are perfect for online stores:

13. Zoho Analytics

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Zoho Analytics provides the right eCommerce tools for analysing business performance and stimulating eCommerce growth. It provides deep insights on a granular level through features like Visual Analysis, Augmented Analytics, and Data Storytelling. Explore your data with dynamic and interactive options. And, integrate data from more than 250 sources, like business apps and databases, for a complete picture of your data.

14. Google Analytics

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Google Analytics needs very little introduction. Free to use and relatively easy to set up on your eCommerce website, this business intelligence tool gives you essential insights into your audience, who they are, and their actions on your site. Google Analytics can give you information about customer demographics, and also reveal details like income level and interests.

15. Domo

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Domo is a highly-visual BI tool for online stores and businesses, and has more than 150 charts available to get stuck into. It gives detailed, real-time insights into business metrics that enable you to make data-driven decisions. Build interactive dashboards that display all the data you need access to regularly. Automate reporting and also turn your spreadsheet data into meaningful reports. Additionally, Domo uses AI and machine learning to make predictions about outcomes of different business decisions.

16. Metabase

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Metabase is another user-friendly software that allows for deep exploration of data from eCommerce websites. The software's Query Builder allows you to build custom queries easily that give you answers to your data questions. Your Analytics Dashboard, on the other hand, gives you access to customised data and charts. Apply filters to your charts and be alerted when something important changes within your analytical data.

Inventory Management Tools

The way you manage your inventory can make or break your online store. The best eCommerce stores use tools and software for this. Here are four of the best picks:

17. Zoho Inventory

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Not only does Zoho Inventory allow users to track their stock levels across multiple warehouses, but it also comes with invaluable eCommerce tools that allow you to manage the customer lifecycle. For example, converting orders into invoices, generating packing slips, and recording refunds. You can even optimise your inventory using smart package geometry tools that allow you to maximise your physical space.  

18. Shipwire

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Shipwire is a global fulfilment solution that caters to eCommerce businesses. You can manage thousands of suppliers through a single dashboard. Shipwire facilitates automated dropshipping fulfilment with real-time data across the board. Keep track of your stock in warehouses across the world, and transport goods from point A to point B in the fastest, most efficient way possible. And, keep your eCommerce platform running smoothly with a streamlined order fulfilment system.

19. Inventory Source

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Inventory Source is created for eCommerce businesses that use a dropshipping business model. It connects with your various sales channels, like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Walmart, and automates the dropshipping process. It even has an eCommerce tool that creates your product listings and catalogues for you. Inventory Source integrates with more than 180 suppliers. You can find the right suppliers for your business in their extensive supplier directory for eCommerce businesses.  

20. Veeqo

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Veeqo is a free inventory management solution that's owned by Amazon. Despite this though, Amazon is not the only eCommerce platform it connects with. You can connect all your sales channels including Shopify, Walmart, and eBay. Manage orders through the platform, print shipping labels, and track inventory. Inventory levels are automatically updated across all your platforms so they're always reflecting a true representation of your stock.

Accounting and Bookkeeping Tools

We're now going through some of the best eCommerce tools that'll simplify your accounting tasks and save you time:

21. Link My Books

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Link My Books is a software that allows you to put your eCommerce bookkeeping on autopilot. It connects with your eCommerce platforms and automatically transfers your sales data to your eCommerce accounting software. This, along with its powerful tax calculation and COGS tracking capabilities, saves you hours of time each month and ensures your records are accurate. Link My Books also has some impressive analytical and reporting features that will help you grow your business.

22. Xero

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Xero is an accounting software known for combining professional features with a user-friendly interface. It has all the capabilities you would expect from an accounting software, including the ability to track projects, accept payments, and process payroll. Xero also connects with your bank accounts for smooth bank reconciliation. And, it'll help you keep on top of your taxes and manage multiple currencies.

23. QuickBooks

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QuickBooks is another good accounting software option for eCommerce platforms. Its eCommerce tools include expense management, reporting, and invoicing. You can also connect your bank accounts for real-time data updates. With QuickBooks, you can see all your transactions in one place, and generate forecasts and statements to direct your marketing efforts. It's an accounting software with inventory management features.

24. Zoho Books

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A Zoho eCommerce tool has cropped up again. This time with its accounting software, Zoho Books. This solution is free for businesses generating under 35K per year. Despite being free (and low cost), Zoho Books has some generous features like invoicing, order management, bill management, and reporting. It connects with various payment gateways, like PayPal and Stripe, too. Zoho Books also has some automation features to take advantage of.

SEO Tools

Search engine optimization tools will enhance your marketing efforts and help you drive organic, free traffic to your online store. Here are some of the best eCommerce tools for SEO:

25. SEMrush

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SEMrush is a suite of eCommerce marketing tools that cover all aspects of digital marketing. Carry out your keyword research, optimise your online store and blog post pages for search engines, and manage paid ads. Furthermore, SEMrush has some competitor research features to help you stand out from the competition. For example, monitoring competitor PR and analysing competitor strategies. SEMrush also has link building tools like analytics and auditing.

26. Ahrefs

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Ahrefs is another popular suite of marketing tools, but this time the focus is more on optimising websites for search engines. The SEO dashboard gives users access to essential data such as the number of back links, domain rating, tracked keywords, and organic traffic. The Site Explorer tool allows you to gain a deep understanding of the SEO of competitors' online stores. Analyse their traffic, keywords, and back links as you look through SEO profiles.

27. Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool

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The Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool might sound just a little bit farfetched. But, it's a really useful tool for improving your website's SEO. Brought to you by Screaming Frog digital marketing agency, this tool helps with technical SEO such as finding broken links, duplicate content, and redirects. With it, you can generate XML sitemaps and analyse meta data. There's even a free version which has a crawl limit of 500 URLs.

28. Moz

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Moz has some free eCommerce tools for SEO, as well as some paid products to enhance your marketing efforts across the board. Free eCommerce marketing tools include the likes of Keyword Explorer, Domain Analysis, and the Moz Bar. If you want to go Pro, you can access a whole lot more. Its Content Marketing tools can give you ideas about what topics can generate the best results. The Digital PR features, on the other hand, can identify the back links which are low quality and even suggest ones to replace them with.

Customer Service Tools

The right customer service tools will help you provide your customers with a top-notch service, encouraging customer loyalty, positive feedback, and recommendations. Here are some suggestions for your online store:

29. Zendesk for Service

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Zendesk for Service is a customer service software for eCommerce businesses and has some customisable features. It aims to enable eCommerce businesses to create a personalised, unique, and responsive experience for their customers. Build an omnichannel communication system with ticket systems, AI agents, emails, and SMS. Zendesk's reporting tools boost customer engagement. They tell you how your customers interact with your brand and give you unique insights into how you can improve brand loyalty.

30. Freshdesk

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AI is at the heart of Freshdesk with its responsive ticket system and intelligent reporting. This customer service eCommerce tool enables a range of automations across your eCommerce business and its customer interactions, like prioritising tickets and updating customers about their ticket status. The system even assigns tickets to agents according to their availability and skills. Freshdesk aims to help your eCommerce business address and close tickets as efficiently and effectively as possible.

31. HubSpot Service

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HubSpot has a suite of eCommerce tools to integrate with your eCommerce platform, one of which is a customer service software. This solution is powered by AI and delivers an omnichannel experience. With HubSpot Service, online stores can increase customer retention for long-term growth. It offers humanised automated communication and conversations. Its analytics tools provide out-of-the-box reports with actionable insights and visual data.

32. eDesk

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eDesk integrates with all your favourite eCommerce platforms including Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, and TikTok Shop. This allows you to create a unified customer service system across all your online stores. The intelligent system instantly gives you access to a customer's complete history when they contact you with a query. You can improve productivity too with rule-based automations. Customer service agents for your online store can create draft messages and rephrase them, or change the tone of them, in seconds.

Are You Ready to Scale Your Online Store With the Right eCommerce Tools?

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eCommerce tools make the world of eCommerce go round. They can help you apply levels of automation that not only enhance accuracy to stop things falling through the cracks, but they can also free up your time to spend on other areas of your business. As you've seen, AI is a major factor in many eCommerce tools today. As technology progresses, these eCommerce tools will become even more impressive.

But you can't use them all. You need to work out which ones are the most important for your business at this point in time. As your business grows, you can add more into your system. If you're just getting your business off the ground, you might decide to use an SEO tool, social media scheduling tool, and an inventory management tool. But when you've got more customers to manage, it might become necessary to purchase a customer service solution.

An accounting software is a must-have for eCommerce stores to keep on top of their finances. Selling across multiple tax jurisdictions can be complex and an accounting software, along with an automated bookkeeping software like Link My Books, can help you keep compliant. Sign up for your free Link My Books trial today and keep your accounting simple.

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