With increasing internet and mobile penetration, the world is increasingly getting online for shopping. And why not? It is convenient, it is easy, safe (considering the global pandemic situation), time-saving, even save your money, and tech-savvy too. To put it in short, shopping online is a great way, and consumers today are acknowledging it. No wonder then, that e-commerce platforms all over the world are increasing.The growth of your online business can be facilitated through the use of effective web design in Toronto.

The number of e-commerce stores globally is estimated to be somewhere between 12 to 24 million. That’s a huge number for sure and can confuse consumers about which one to choose for your shopping. It can be a troublesome decision for some. So, here we are today, to help you in choosing the right eCommerce platform for your shopping.

The need to shop on the right eCommerce platform:

With increasing online shopping, there has been an increase in online fraud too. There have been nearly 20-30% growth in online shopping scams every ever. Consumers, as well as online sellers/merchants, are facing losses due to this. Also, with phishing being the second most worrying online fraud, e-commerce platforms are now very concerned about identity theft.

In such circumstances, it becomes important that consumers very carefully choose the right eCommerce platform for their shopping. So, how do you choose the right e-commerce platform? Let’s take a look.

How to choose the right eCommerce platform?

• When you open a fraud e-commerce website, chances that your browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, etc.) will give you a warning – ‘the page or site you are about to visit is not safe’
• If you are choosing an e-commerce website, search it on your search engine – especially search for ‘review of’ the platform to gauge its genuineness.
• The right e-commerce platform will have a strong presence on social media platforms. You can find a lot of reviews and comments of consumers on the social media pages of such e-commerce platforms to help you determine their authenticity.
• You can check third-party websites providing reviews of websites and comparison sites like GoBazzar, PriceGrabber, etc. which provide a comparison of reviews and prices of authentic online sellers.
• Next, check the URL of the website. The website should begin with ‘HTTPS://’ and there should also be a padlock sign beside it. Also, check the URL for any misspellings. Scammers tend to use URLs similar to well-known e-commerce platforms.
• When you open the website, check the contact details & return policies. If you find the return policy fishy or if there are no contact details like contact no. or email id; it should be considered a sign of a scam.

Follow the above tips and you can easily find the right eCommerce platform that is genuine as well as will provide you great deals.

What are the right eCommerce platforms?

If you as a consumer are not too price-conscious and rather prefer to play it very very safe, you can always rely upon the well-known eCommerce giants like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Shopee, etc. for your shopping.

Many of the e-commerce giants have different portals for various countries that enable buyers to get a regional flavour when shopping. This way these e-commerce platforms provide a single point of access to sellers as well as shoppers within a particular region. For example, if you are shopping within the UAE, there are regional portals of international giants such as amazon. ae, IKEA.ae, etc. These e-commerce platforms can be very safe options for you to shop from.

Do note that there are chances of fraud sellers appearing on these platforms too so do check out the reviews and ratings of sellers separately before purchase. Of course, there are many genuine local e-commerce platforms too that can give better deals such as faster delivery, lower prices, etc.

Thus, proper precautions mentioned above, you can choose the right eCommerce platforms for your shopping.