by Sarah Znideric, VP of Global Partnerships

As your ecommerce business scales, efficiently managing your customers’ expectations becomes impossible without deploying various technologies to handle the many tasks involved. 

Because no single product can manage your entire ecommerce operation, it’s essential to build a tech stack that helps you reach your objectives with the minimum fuss. 

As VP of global partnerships at Linnworks, it’s my job to manage the strategic partnerships we operate across our entire ecosystem and help our clients build out that frictionless tech stack. 

What are ecommerce integrations?

Ecommerce integrations serve as the connective tissue to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and expand functionality. As such, the Linnworks ecosystem is built around many different strategic partnerships.

Those partnerships include various channels, including:

• Online marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Walmart
• Social commerce channels like TikTok Shop
• Ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce or Shopify

Next up? Logistic services, including 3PL service providers, shipping aggregators and the couriers themselves. Then there are all the supporting technologies that our clients might have in the tech stack. That could be a CRM, an accountancy tool, or a point-of-sale system.

We strive to build partnerships across the entire ecommerce ecosystem, giving our online sellers everything they need to run their business efficiently.

What are the benefits of ecommerce integrations?

Ecommerce integrations offer a pathway to improve your online store’s operational efficiency and customer service potential. Below are some of the key advantages of leaning into these integrations:

• Make Life Easier: Say goodbye to the headache of juggling inventory and orders manually. Automation is here to save your day, making sure you spend less time on paperwork and more on what matters.
• Keep Everything In Sync: No more scrambling or scratching your head over mismatched numbers. Everything, from your sales channels to your shipping details, talks to each other nicely, keeping your data clean and coherent.
• Smart Choices On-The-Go: Get the lowdown on what’s happening in your store anytime, anywhere. These insights mean you can make snappy, informed decisions without second-guessing.
• Treat Your Customers Like Royalty: Use what you know about your customers to make their shopping experience unforgettable. From personalized recommendations to seamless communication, show them you care.
• Stay Agile, Stay Ahead: The online world moves fast, and so can you. Adapt to market changes and customer needs swiftly, keeping your store fresh and competitive.

By integrating your ecommerce tools and platforms, you’re not just upgrading your tech game — you’re setting your business up for simplified operations, happier customers, and a team that can focus on growth, not grunt work.

How a growing ecommerce business can build a best-in-class tech stack

At Linnworks, we have an ecosystem that we believe is best-in-class for growing online sellers.

Much of our work focuses on helping SMB sellers scale into more established and successful businesses.

The partner team is here to support our sellers. We can help make recommendations for any gaps they have in an ecosystem, whether it’s technology, adding more selling channels, or changing how they manage their logistics or couriers. 

We make sure that we have the right relationships to make the kinds of introductions our partners and sellers need. When a seller comes on board, or if their business strategy changes, we can help them prepare for the next level of scaling.

In-house ecommerce training and enablement 

Another part of our job in the partnership team is making sure that everyone, from sales to customer success and account management, has a clear understanding of the opportunities available to sellers via our partner network.

There’s nothing static in ecommerce. Things are changing constantly when it comes to different providers, integrations, and solutions. So we spend a lot of time on enablement, both in our partner base and enabling our team to understand that partner proposition better. 

What does a good tech stack look like for a small online seller?

We all know that a small business will be spending a lot of money at the front end of that business, acquiring the audience. If they’re falling short in the post-order process and delivering a poor customer experience, that makes it really hard to scale. So, customer trust, reputation, and that whole brand piece are super important to that growing business. They need to ensure they have the right technologies to create that great customer experience.

Ecommerce integrations

A smaller seller, just starting out on their growth journey, would typically be selling on one or more online marketplaces. They might also have their own ecommerce platform, so they would be integrated directly into a platform like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce. Obviously, because they are trading online, they would have to have a relationship with a payment gateway. That’s a great starting point from where we can help them build.

Inventory management

It won’t be long before an ambitious seller needs an inventory management system to keep track of their stock levels across their warehouse and help them manage how orders are fulfilled. That will be an essential part of their tech stack as they grow.

Shipping and logistics

As their orders increase, they will need a solution to help with their shipping and logistics. That could be managed through an aggregator or their own courier relationships. But as they grow, they are going to need more automation here.

Analytics and Reporting 

Then as they scale across multiple channels, analytics and reporting will be really important to that growing business. Small but ambitious online sellers looking to grow fast will rely heavily on good data to make sure that they’re making the best decisions regarding where they’re investing.

What are the risks of not investing in technology?

We often focus on the benefits of investing in technology without really understanding the risks of not making those investments. Businesses that do not invest wisely in technology will limit their reach. That will affect their ability to maximize their potential market share and presence.

We talk a lot about online marketplaces here at Linnworks. Expanding into new marketplaces can help you reach new audiences and sell more without the upfront costs of things like Google ads. There’s a captive audience waiting for you on these platforms. By not investing in technology to manage your sales across those marketplaces, you’re definitely going to be reducing your ability to grow your business both efficiently and profitably.

Inefficient operations are a huge Achilles’ heel for any growing ecommerce business. If you don’t have technologies in place to streamline your business, you will have to throw people at the problem. 

Obviously, putting more people on your payroll has its own cost implications.

Investing in technology early will help ensure that things like order management, inventory management, and warehouse management enable your business to be much more agile and grow more efficiently by reducing your overall cost of sale and fulfilling that item.

Where can online sellers find Linnworks’ preferred partners?

Our ecosystem is our powerplay. The connectivity we have adds incredible value. It’s not one-size-fits-all. There are lots of options available to suit the needs of individual businesses.

Almost all of our ecosystem and integrations exist in a public forum in our app store. So, it’s very easy for our clients to have a look at what’s available and access those services.

We also have public documentation. That is available to help sellers understand each integration’s functionality and make sure that they make the best possible decisions for their business.

To learn more about how Linnworks can help you build a more efficient, productive, and profitable ecommerce business, schedule a call with one of our ecommerce experts today.