What Is an Ecommerce Tech Stack?

Building your ecommerce tech stack is similar to how a chef selects ingredients and tools to create a great culinary experience. It’s all about selecting the right tools to create a seamless shopping experience. It's the heart of your online business. An ecommerce tech stack combines tools and technologies that power your operations — from inventory management to customer experience. Let’s find out why your ecommerce business needs a tech stack, and how to set it up.

An ecommerce tech stack is the collection of software and tools that help you run and automate essential aspects of your business. No matter what industry you’re in or what kinds of products you sell, it’s important that each part of your ecommerce tech stack works together seamlessly. For example, the commerce platform you choose should integrate with your marketing automation technology and your customer relationship management (CRM) tool, to name a few. This concept is known as “unified technology” — and it’s what enables you to provide fast, cohesive, and sophisticated ecommerce experiences for your customers.

Businesses often use a variety of tech solutions for tasks ranging from marketing to inventory management to order processing and more. These technology stacks usually have two broad categories of software:

1. Front-end: This contains your customer-facing tech elements, including website, mobile app, customer service channels, transaction platforms, and any other tools and programs that enhance the customer experience.
2. Back-end: These are your business-supporting software, including tools for marketing, inventory management, shipping, accounting, and operations.

Did you know that businesses typically use over 1,000 apps, with only 29% of them being connected? Even small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that use less than 10 business apps find it overwhelming and inconsistent. That's why having a well-integrated ecommerce tech suite matters. Growing SMBs prefer implementing an integrated suite as it gives them a 360-degree view of their business. The right combination of tools can automate repetitive tasks and provide valuable customer insights, directly impacting revenue and growth. You simply can’t take this one for granted.

Every ecommerce business needs core components working seamlessly — from an online storefront to payment solutions. Let's look at the essential components that form the foundation of a modern ecommerce business.

• Ecommerce platform: Ecommerce platforms provide the foundation for online stores, including hosting, storage, and core software. You can build your storefronts on these platforms and integrate additional tools to customize the shopping experience.
• Website management: Managing and updating your website should be pretty straightforward. Your tech stack should include tools like a content management system (CMS) to support the creation of a search-engine-optimized (SEO) website that reflects your brand values, offers landing pages for new products or marketing campaigns, and enables you to display your entire product catalog. Website management solutions also include tools for analyzing the performance of your site. You should be able to easily access metrics like conversion rates, site visitors, bounce rates, and more.
• Inventory: Inventory management solutions update stock availability in real-time and alert you when inventory is low or stagnant. This helps you keep a watchful eye on stock levels, forecast demand, and inform dynamic pricing.
• Order management: These tools track purchases — from checkout to delivery. This usually includes initiating and processing the order request, sending customer communications, and facilitating the packing and shipping of the item.
• Returns management: Easy returns support customer loyalty because 95% of customers prefer buying from brands with easy return policies . Your tech stack should offer a self-service portal for your customers to review return policies, request a return, print a return label, and track refunds without speaking to a customer service representative.
• Payment gateways: With payments, ease and security are crucial. Payment processing ensures seamless collection of payments for orders while maintaining compliance with privacy and other regulations.
• Product information management: Ecommerce stores need to easily track SKUs, implement pricing, add details like sizing and color, and handle all aspects of overall catalog management.
• Reporting and analytics: Real-time access to data helps you make smarter, faster decisions based on what's currently happening in your business. The right analytics tools will make it easy to centralize data from across your business and distill it into actionable insights. For example, data about which marketing campaigns are performing best in certain segments can help your merchandising teams make decisions about which products and bundles to promote.
• Customer support: Customer support platforms enable flexible communication through chatbots, AI agents, and phone support. A CRM tool gives your customer support team a unified view of customer interactions. This helps you deliver personalized, fast, and effective service.

Choosing the right tech stack can make or break your success — and you should make these decisions based on your unique business needs. But before diving into platforms and solutions, here are a few factors that can help shape your decisions.

Identify your specific needs

While many ecommerce businesses use similar tools, every organization has unique priorities and pain points. The journey to your ecommerce tech stack should start by highlighting your goals, processes, and the issues you'd like to solve. For example, your conversion rates might be stellar but your customer reviews reflect issues with post-purchase experiences. In this instance, you can ensure that the order management solution you choose has the right features and tools to address these customer issues.

Determine what’s necessary and what’s nice to have

Consider the core elements of an ecommerce tech stack and determine which you’ll need for a minimum viable product (MVP). This can help you prioritize the most important solutions first, and ensure that they all work together harmoniously. Beyond that, determine which tools would be beneficial, even if they aren’t critical. For example, if you have a small product catalog now but wish to expand significantly in the future, a product recommendation engine may be nice to have down the road, but not critical now.

Decide on a budget

The price of ecommerce tech varies greatly (and we mean greatly), and your operating costs will depend on your needs, the size of your business, and the types of products you sell. For example, an SMB that only sells a few select items will have much different ecommerce technology needs than an enterprise brand with an extensive catalog that sells in global markets. Whether you’re an SMB or a global brand, you should know your budget before you make decisions about your ecommerce tech stack. Since solutions vary in cost, features, and sophistication, this part of the process will be crucial.

Evaluate ‌complexity

The best solutions reduce the complexity of running your business. What good is implementing a new tool if it’s clunky and difficult to use? Choose a platform that matches your team's technical capabilities — or one that comes with the right support to get your teams up and running smoothly. Managed solutions with automatic updates can save resources and reduce your maintenance burden.

Assess the customer experience

Look for technology solutions that offer a cohesive, frictionless customer experience. Your ecommerce tech stack should make it easy to unify your customer profiles, create consistent shopping experiences across all your digital channels, and interact with customers through touchpoints that feel familiar and natural.

A checklist is helpful when making big business decisions. Here are a few key questions you should decide on with stakeholders from around your business to guide you ‌through ecommerce tech stack decisions.

1. Would a managed ecommerce platform work best, or will you self-host? If you’re looking for a comprehensive solution, a managed ecommerce platform is a strong contender. It bundles essential features like hosting, automated security, seamless integrations, and built-in support and maintenance into one convenient package.

2. Will you embrace a modular architecture? If you’re seeking flexibility and the ability to innovate quickly and easily, a modular architecture may be a wise choice. A composable commerce approach can help you create a bespoke ecommerce tech stack that’s catered precisely to your unique needs — both now and in the future. Modular architecture allows you to add the features and vendors that matter the most to your business. Plus, you can eliminate unnecessary features that don't fit your model.

4. What is your vision for managing customer relationships? Delivering incredible customer experiences is every successful brand’s north star. Choosing an AI CRM that supports things like ecommerce analytics, email marketing, and order management can make this much easier. It can help you analyze customer interactions, personalize communication, and deliver omnichannel experiences at scale.

6. How will you gather data to run your business? You will need analytics tools to track performance and manage data. You can establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for your business, such as reducing cart abandonment rates, resolving customer service questions in one touchpoint, or reducing the delivery time. The right tools help you track progress, identify opportunities, and address challenges.

5. What is your change management strategy? As your tech stack takes shape, your team should be trained and onboarded to each new tool. Their buy-in, productivity, and success will depend on how smooth the change management process is. You’ll want to involve key stakeholders from each team (hint: this will likely be every team). Focus on clear communication, thorough training, and ongoing support to increase user adoption and realize the full potential of the new technology.

Your ecommerce tech stack is the beating heart of your business: It stores customer data, payments, business intelligence, valuable intellectual property, and more. And that means it’s a target for fraudsters and hackers. Here’s a few considerations to keep your tech stack secure.

• Store and process payment information securely: Handling payment information safely drives customer trust and keeps you in compliance. Consider opting for gateways that comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
• Adopt encryption and security automation where possible: End-to-end encryption of your data — whether it's in transit or being stored — helps protect customer data and your business's proprietary information. Enabling encryption and other automated security tools as part of your core tech stack weaves security into every transaction.
• Follow regulatory requirements: From financial information to customer privacy, the national and global regulations you should follow are constantly evolving. Selecting technology with built-in and regularly updated compliance features is crucial to keeping your business meeting these rules.
• Conduct regular manual and security audits: It's important to regularly test your security to detect any potential red flags or security threats. Review and test your solutions often, and use automated security tools to identify existing and developing vulnerabilities.
• Use identity-confirming features: User sign-in checkpoints like multi-factor authentication (MFA) give you and your users an extra layer of security. Enabling MFA, reCAPTCHA, and similar features — even if they're optional — can make it harder for bots and hackers to disrupt your business.
• Educate customers about security: Let customers know what steps you're taking to secure their data. Post your privacy policy and details about what data you collect and how it's used. Transparency and clarity around security can decrease issues and foster trust.

Over time, your needs may change as your business grows. So your tech stack should be able to scale with it. The easier it is for your tech stack to scale and evolve over time, the easier it’ll be for you to meet growing demand, changing customer expectations, and emerging sales opportunities.

Time your upgrades

Plan additional features when your business demands it. For example, expand your mobile application security protection when you introduce a new app or social media management tools as you implement your digital marketing strategy.

Look for scalable solutions

When you first assess your tech stack needs, be sure you're also planning ahead. Modular architecture can position you to scale up capacity, add new features, or create new automations over time as your resources and business needs progress.

Automate to grow

An ecommerce tech stack allows you to automate different aspects of the business, from email marketing to inventory management. If you're considering upgrading your commerce solutions, look at how to automate recurring tasks. For example, selecting an integrated tech stack can help you automate label creation with preferred delivery partners, boosting warehouse logistics.

Track growth with performance monitoring

Performance monitoring and reporting tools can help you monitor factors such as site traffic, sales, and conversions, and back-end system performance. Significant changes such as rapid growth or decline can signal it's time to update your tech stack.

Schedule regular audits

Set quarterly check-ins to make sure that your technology is delivering — whether it's working optimally or if you could adjust your workflow with different functions or automation. On an annual basis, look at your overall tech stack’s cost, complexity, and performance to determine whether you need to expand capabilities or scale up resources.

Your customers expect incredible experiences from your business — and that’s made possible by all the tools in your ecommerce tech stack. From digital storefronts to order management and an ecommerce platform that’s connected with the rest of your business, the tech you choose can make or break your business. Learn more about how Commerce Cloud can help increase sales and scale with you as your business needs change over time.