Online First: 2020 and on!

Are you delivering what your customers expect?

The commerce world was changing prior to 2020. But the COVID pandemic really expedited changes, due to obvious needs.

Just a couple years a go,  I enjoyed walking the aisles at the grocery store making choices for dinner. Now I only go in if we forgot something for the online pickup order. Whether good or bad, this gave us all a kick in the direction of online normalcy.

The fortunate thing for us in e-commerce is that this means people are more comfortable buying online!

It also means changes need to be made to processes. And questions need to be asked.

  • Do you have an e-commerce site out of necessity or because it will grow your business?
  • Can you fulfill curbside if your buyers are local?
  • Can you fulfill via shipping locally? In your region? Nationally? Internationally?
  • Are you keeping in touch with your buyers on the progress of their orders?
  • Can users answer 90-99% of their questions with your systems and FAQs?
  • Are your systems efficient or are your transporting data from system to system?
  • Can you make your process easier or more helpful to your customers?
  • How does your store differentiate your brand to potential customers?
  • Copy what works, but are you a carbon copy of every other brand in your vertical?

The world at large is getting used to the Amazon's of the world. Sure, Amazon isn't perfect anyone can point fingers at things they could do to do better. But one thing you can't say is that they aren't trying to make their customers lives easier.

The good news is you can learn from Amazon and other large retailers or brands. Copy the great things and innovate on the rest. Set your brand apart from the giants because you can respond faster to your customers.

If the goal is to improve the lives of our customers, then we can do that by good customer experiences that make them feel seen and heard, as well as good customer service. The best way to make these things happen is to automate the normal and create glowing personal experiences with the non-normal -- the strange shipping situation, the accidental order, the broken item or a bad day.

The bar is being raised. Normal is getting more advanced.

Keep focusing on your customers and their experiences, and you will win!

If we can help you on your journey, hit us up. We would be happy to help.

The state of e-commerce in 2024

Online shopping is up 18.62%. And rising.

The big boxes keep raising the bar. Small businesses must keep up.

The government imposed shutdowns are impacting those that can't do business seamlessly online.

This is the new normal. Shoppers buying patterns have changed. Do you have what it takes to stay ahead?

Start

What is Flex?

  • Is Flex a custom store?

    No, but it can be modified to be what you need.

    You don't need custom, unless you are in 0.1% of our customers. (Trust us... We have been building custom, one-offs for the past decade.)

    While it isn't custom, it can be customized in any aspect, at any level - from colors to workflows, to dashboards, to loyalty programs. Have questions - just ask.

  • Can I customize the checkout?

    Yes.

  • Is this a headless e-commerce solution?

    It can be.

    We think that is the right solution for some, but not all businesses. But we can open the Flex API on your store and act as one without restrictions.

  • What are the long-term costs?

    Infrastructure and maintenance.

    Both combined are less than platform costs, in most cases.

  • How is it priced?

    At numbers that make sense to leave platforms.

    Fixed base package. Fixed add-on features. Project based design, customizations, and imports.

  • Do I have to run my store on your platform?

    Flex isn't a platform. You can run it anywhere.

    For the nerds, we are an e-commerce framework to build stores quickly that can be customized infinitely.

  • Is this a platform?

    No.

    We find platforms restrictive for customers desiring this tier of store. If you are coming to us you don't want artificial rules holding you back.

  • Do I have to pay for it all up front?

    No.

    But it is more cost effective. We offer pay over time options. You do have to pay for all custom design and development up front. You can get the source code after your payment plan is complete.

  • Can this store be shut down?

    We make resilient stores that can be live anywhere. We can set you up with a site that fails over to another cloud (infrastucture) so we can make it difficult for those that wish to cancel you.

    You won't get shut down buy us because you own it. If you do get taken down, we can get you back up quick!

  • Do you offer discounts?

    Yes, for non-profits. And for our development cohorts.

    We do these cohorts on occasion to improve sections of our codebase. You get a store with a discount and we get to improve our code! Contact us to find out more.

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