Successful brands continuously refine, mature, and transform their e-commerce strategy over the lifetime of the business. At some point, your brand will seek to take its e-commerce strategy to the next phase of its lifecycle.

To help your brand take that next crucial step, you’ll need an experienced and strategic e-commerce partner that can guide your brand on the path of e-commerce evolution and implement solutions to real-world challenges. A great e-commerce partner should be skilled at deploying e-commerce platforms, at the forefront of industry trends, and invested in your long-term success.

We wrote this guide to help brands that want to evolve their e-commerce strategy, and that are searching for a strategic partner to guide them on this journey.

Evenica's research has shown that there are four e-commerce stages in a business' lifecycle, which have specific Information Technology (IT) investment requirements. These four stages are as follows:

1. Startup: The company has a basic IT infrastructure. Ownership is conservative with its IT spending due to its limited budget and will avoid making unnecessary technology purchases that could disrupt the business. It also prefers technology that is easy to install, implement, and use. 
   
   
2. Expansion: The company is looking to sell the business, which involves investing in its e-commerce architecture (i.e., the software involved in business operations). It will look for proven technology that provides value for money spent. There is a willingness to evaluate and pilot new technology with promising upside.
   
   
3. Establish: The company is intent on enhancing its existing IT systems and technology, through investments in efficiency and automation, looking for ways to optimize operations, reduce costs, and improve the customer experience. When evaluating its technology options, there's a greater focus on quality over price. This is the stage to spend more time evaluating vendors to identify an ideal e-commerce partner.
   
   
4. Maturity: Operational efficiency and cost optimization continue to be key, although the focus is on upgrading versus replacing its current technology. There is a search for balance between the conservative approach of keeping the company's current operations and actively staying abreast of new technologies. Innovation is vital for maintaining a leadership position in the market. 

Knowing your current stage of e-commerce will help with making the right technology choices that will grow your business. You can take smaller steps within these stages of e-commerce to progress and evolve at a pace that works for your organization.

At this point, you’re an inspired practitioner of e-commerce. Your brand possesses an established e-commerce platform, but you have an ambitious goal of evolving your online brand presence.

You’re already selling online. However, you’ve come to realize there’s room for improvement. You might need to upgrade your systems or software. You might also want to move to a new platform that will help you to grow your business.                                                          

What you need is a scalable foundation. Your goal is to expand beyond your current e-commerce setup and offerings. Your vision requires the upgrade or replacement of your infrastructure. That means implementing an enterprise-grade e-commerce platform that’s reliable, scalable, and easy to connect with your ERP.

This evolution requires development and implementation of an adaptable business strategy, as well as an enterprise-grade e-commerce solution that can grow as your needs evolve. Scalability is essential, and a foundational step in your evolution. This requires a robust and reliable platform upon which you can build your e-commerce solution.

As a premium seller, your brand has a reliable, scalable e-commerce platform. You’re ready to connect that platform to other parts of your business for seamless selling.                                                                        

What you need is intelligent automation. You require an integrated solution that will make the buying experience frictionless for consumers and that is unified across all customer touchpoints.                                         

For example, one multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products uses intelligent automation to sync its customers’ in-person and online shopping histories. They track e-commerce data and maintain stock in relevant locations to ensure faster shipping. This level of connected data and integration creates a better shopping experience, improves customer loyalty, and increases long-term sales.                                                     

How can you create this type of seamless selling experience? The key is to automate all business processes and connect your technology solutions. Make each step of the buying process easy and enjoyable for your customers. This requires doing work on the back end to seamlessly connect your software and systems.