Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which are looking to expand and engage in the e-commerce sector, must eventually adopt a better solution for a demanding customer experience.
Many smaller businesses are priced out by the high-tech features and technology of CRM platforms. Mikel Lindsaar is the founder and CEO of StoreConnectIt was noted that many merchants must settle for the features included in their chosen software platform.
Mikel Lindsaar
StoreConnect’s CEO
Lindsaar spent the last few years refining StoreConnect. He believes that it is a better platform for small and medium businesses. He announced in September his ecommerce App Exchange package, “CustomerCommerce” for Salesforce CRM during the company’s Dreamforce event 2023 in San Francisco.
Customer Commerce represents a major turning point for the ecommerce industry, which Lindsaar refers to as Salesforce 2.0. It allows SMBs the ability to create strong customer relationships, deliver exceptional customer service and prioritize customer satisfaction.
He told The E-Commerce Times that “the Customer Commerce category” was created out of the idea that there are a number of things you can do to provide a beautiful e-commerce shopping experience for your customers.
“E-commerce” is only one part of the equation. “You need service, support, and all of these other things that are centered around the point of purchase, like multiple storefronts. Subscriptions.
E-Commerce Painpoints Solved by Quest
StoreConnect is designed to promote progress in e-commerce that puts customer satisfaction and growth at the forefront. Lindsaar hopes that the announcement made at Dreamforce will encourage SMBs consider Customer Commerce as a new category of software.
The company says that, based on data from industry reports and sales figures, it estimates that, annually, 840 billion dollars in revenue are lost due to poor customer service. It is clear that small businesses are struggling to offer a seamless shopping experience.
Slow websites can be a real problem for SMBs. According to data from analytic sources, 79% customers will not return to a website that is slow to load. It is also difficult to overcome the negative impact of poor customer service.
Consider that 73% will abandon a product or brand after experiencing three or fewer poor customer service experiences. According to industry reports, 80% of customers prioritize speed, ease, expertise and friendliness for a good customer experience.
Scalable E-Commerce – A Different Approach
Lindsaar claims that users can manage their entire business from one place, using a single truth source about customers. They don’t have to worry about technology. StoreConnect is a platform that replaces all the different software subscriptions. It includes e-commerce, mailing systems and support systems.
He added: “We will replace all of that with a unified system that allows SMBs to get back to business and sell directly to their clients.”
Lindsaar picked Salesforce CRM due to its features and functionality. He said that Salesforce’s scalability is one of its strengths. Salesforce can grow with a company, unlike some CRMs.
Lindsaar says that the platform is a flexible solution which allows for growth and expansion.
“I believe that’s the main difference between the solutions we offer and others that lock you in to default fields. He said that every business is different and you should be able customize it and adapt it to fit your needs.
StoreConnect partners are experts in different industries and have more than 70 StoreConnect partners worldwide.
Solving Ecommerce Issues
Salesforce is the company that sells CRM platforms to small businesses. At the same moment, they purchase the Salesforce licence. StoreConnect is only available to Salesforce licensees. The two products are closely linked.
StoreConnect’s onboarding is handled by partner services, based on the location of the vendor. Lindsaar gave the example of a client who launched a new company in June 2022.
After obtaining StoreConnect, Salesforce, and other licenses they launched the website for their plumbing supply business. This process took four days.
The plumbing supplies business has grown over the past year, and they are now hitting their sales targets. StoreConnect consolidated all the data from Salesforce CRM to create a comprehensive record.
“The two business owners didn’t have to fight the situation because some data was in the ecommerce system. Some data is in the support system and others are in mailing system. The platform is all-inclusive, so the company was able to expand as the business grew and avoid the obstacles that SMBs often face when they grow,” Lindsaar explained.
StoreConnect and Salesforce dual strategy
You may think that once SMB retailers adopt StoreConnect, they will be able to ditch Salesforce CRM. Lindsaar said that this would be an incorrect assumption.
Customer Commerce Tools provide retailers with a platform to monitor business activity via the CRM installation. The Customer Commerce tools bring together all the features of Salesforce in one place.
The shoppers do not see any Salesforce IDs on the website, or in product listings. Customer Commerce, however, installs tools and connections to the vendor’s Salesforce organization on the retailer’s website.
“We add all of the fields we need, and the pages, the articles and the posts pages. All the stuff you need for your business.” He said that when you log in to Salesforce you will see all the Store Connect records and items installed.
StoreConnect, an AppExchange package for Salesforce.com, is an ecommerce App.
StoreConnect provides the missing e-commerce platform features that Salesforce does not offer in full dose for SMBs. StoreConnect is a platform for ecommerce that Salesforce doesn’t offer to SMBs in its entirety.
“Salesforce offers an ecommerce solution aimed at mid-market and enterprise users. Lindsaar noted that the price, or how much to set up and implement, was not an affordable self-service option at higher levels.
Enjoy a Discounted Price
According to Lindsaar, the most expensive StoreConnect plan is roughly equivalent to that of the least-expensive plan offered by Salesforce directly.
The pricing structure is designed to provide a similar experience as large sales organizations enjoy today with Salesforce CRM.
He said, “We’ve now brought it down to the small-to medium-sized business market.” “We will be releasing a bunch of new features over the next couple months.”
Lindsaar stated that the StoreConnect addons integrate seamlessly into Salesforce, eliminating any need for third-party developers to develop additional features within the Salesforce platform.
