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4. Ecommerce Tools Showdown: How the Best Tools Stack Up

Ecommerce Tools Showdown: How the Best Tools Stack Up

Using tools to automate or optimize an operation in your business is a great way to make your business more hands off and scalable. But you might find yourself spending a lot of time asking in Facebook groups and scouring reviews on the web to find the best tool for a particular operation in your business and quickly becoming overwhelmed by the choices. So, how do you know which tool is the best for your ecommerce business?

We’ve created this article to answer this question by comparing the best of the following types of tools:

• Product research tools
• Repricing tools
• Inventory management tools
• Customer service tools
• Marketing tools

By seeing tool comparisons side by side, you should be able to find the right tool to make your business more profitable, easier to run, and a stronger investable asset.

Product Research Tools: Jungle Scout vs. Helium 10

Two of the biggest tools for product research are Jungle Scout and Helium 10. While they both offer features for other aspects of running an ecommerce business, such as inventory planning and Amazon listing optimization, they are known best for their product research tools.

Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout’s Product Tracker is one of the leading product research tools featured by the likes of Forbes, Bloomberg, and the NYT. It’s a database that allows you to keep all of your product research on one clearly organized dashboard.

Features

The Product Tracker has the following features:

• A sales dashboard where you can track product sales in real time.
• A product search dashboard with drag-and-drop features and custom columns.
• A research hub where you can store your selected products in one place and compare key metrics.
• An Opportunity Score that indicates the profitability of a product’s niche.
• A Chrome Extension that allows you to add products to your search dashboard as you search on Amazon.

In addition to these features, you also get access to Amazon video training in all pricing plans.

Helium 10

Helium 10 has Black Box, an Amazon product finder and research tool. Black Box has a lot of the same tools as Jungle Scout but with a more straightforward set up.

Features

Black Box has the following features:

• Search filters that allow you to find specific products.
• Display of the sales figures for products, including prices, monthly sales, monthly revenue, search volume, and more.
• Ability to search for product details, including variation count, average sellers count, how long the product has been on the marketplace, word count on the listing page, and how the product orders are fulfilled.
• A Chrome Extension that allows you to research and validate product and keyword opportunities and assess the competition in real-time with seven browser tools.

Jungle Scout vs. Helium 10

The following table compares the key features provided by the various pricing packages on offer:

Reviewing the key accessibility of the tools, Jungle Scout gives access to the key search feature even in the most basic packages, while the Helium 10 basic plan is more of a testing package that gives users a taste of the tool before upgrading to the mid-range or premium packages, which offer plenty of room for scalability.

Repricing Tools: Repricer Express vs. Feedvisor

With the increasing competition in ecommerce, it’s becoming more and more important to make sure you’re selling your products at the right price point. Let’s look at some repricing tools that can keep your price tags competitive.

RepricerExpress

RepricerExpress is an official Amazon Web Services partner. It claims that 78.3% of its customers enjoy an increase in sales and get Amazon Buy Box ownership during their first 15 days. Quite a promise, but do they have all the features you need? And how do they compare with another industry leader, Feedvisor?

Features

RepricerExpress has the following features:

• Automatic repricing with custom repricing rules that take into consideration competitor shipping costs.
• Real-time product price-change dashboard.
• Ability to perform a filtered search to narrow in on products and data, including product overviews, product repricing history, and products at the maximum or lowest prices.
• Ability to identify when reprices were updated.
• Marketplace channel overview.
• Ability to compare the price and position of products against those in the Buy Box and those of other sellers.

Feedvisor

Feedvisor is also an official Amazon Web Services partner. There’s a large team at Feedvisor that can provide expert guidance, and they claim to be able to help you achieve a 64% increase in revenue, 41% increase in profits, and 51% improvement in sales rank.

Features

Feedvisor has the following features:

• Automatic repricing that takes into consideration factors such as fulfillment, inventory, and every variable that impacts how the Buy Box winner and share are determined.
• Buy Box evaluation to increase the potential for products to get Buy Box status.
• Profitability assessment at the SKU level for more granular data collection.
• Competitor tracking to assess your product’s performance.
• Management of repricing across all marketplaces, including Amazon and eBay.

RepricerExpress vs. Feedvisor

The pricing structures for repricing tools vary, and with Feedvisor, you need to request a demo to find out the pricing packages available to you.

Overall, Feedvisor appears to be more of a full-service option for beginners who need a bit of guidance. RepricerExpress is also an in-depth tool that gives you a lot of valuable insights into repricing products on Amazon.

Inventory Management Tools: Sellbrite vs. inFlow

Many sellers are looking for ways to navigate the recent inventory limits set by Amazon. Inventory management tools are excellent help in this area. Both Sellbrite and inFlow can be used across multiple channels to allow you to keep on top of your entire inventory chain.

Sellbrite

Sellbrite works with Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, and other ecommerce platforms. It’s very well reviewed, and you can get started for free.

Features

Sellbrite has the following features:

• Bulk listing of products to marketplaces.
• Management of stock levels across all warehouses that allows you to customize each sales channel to only show inventory from one warehouse or sync all of your stock everywhere you sell.
• Syncing of your FBA quantities across all channels.
• Printing of shipping labels from UPS, USPS, and FedEx.
• Sending of orders from other sales channels to FBA for fulfillment.
• Routing of orders to each of your warehouse locations automatically.

inFlow

inFlow has been featured by the likes of Forbes and Inc. It’s one of the biggest inventory management tools and it integrates with Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Squarespace.

Features

inFlow has the following features:

• Label printing and barcode scanning and generating.
• Push inventory value to QuickBooks.
• Stock tracking of locations and sublocations, stock adjustments, transit status, assembly cost tracking, and product availability.
• Return processing.
• Sales, purchasing, and inventory reporting.
• Personalized onboarding sessions and one-on-one demos.

Sellbrite vs. inFlow

The following table compares the key features provided by the various pricing packages on offer:

Sellbrite is certainly the more cost-effective solution, and looking at the key features available, it looks like it packs a lot into its monthly rate. That said, inFlow offers onboarding and one-on-one demo services, which you might find valuable if you’re not too strong on the inventory management side of your business or you would like to learn how to improve your overall inventory management.

Customer Service Tools: Freshdesk vs. Zendesk

Customer service can be a make-it or break-it part of running an ecommerce store. Yet, many sellers get stuck while trying to manage communicating with their customers in an organized, personalized way. That’s why customer service tools specific to ecommerce sellers—that allow them to have a virtual customer service desk—have come into being.

Behind the customer service desk, we have Freshdesk and Zendesk. Both are big names in the industry and have a wide range of capabilities.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk claims to be the highest-rated customer service software, with customers calling it clean and easy to use and saying that it helps their businesses be more efficient and consistent in their customer support messaging. It’s been featured on Forbes Cloud 100 Rising Stars and has been used by giant brands such as Panasonic, Unicef, and HP.

Features

Freshdesk has the following features:

• Email, live chat, phone, web, and social media integrations.
• Automated support communications.
• Knowledge base creation.
• Customizable help widgets that allow users to search through content.
• A customer support analytics dashboard.

Zendesk

Zendesk is another big player in this space, working with brands such as Siemens, Uber, and Netflix.

Features

Zendesk has the following features:

• Customizable chatbot support.
• Option to build a support community forum.
• Customer avatar-based support system setup.
• 1000+ integrations.
• Storage of third-party data within the platform.

Freshdesk vs. Zendesk

The following table compares the key features provided by the various pricing packages on offer:

Freshdesk seems to be the more cost-effective and higher-value option here, offering smaller-priced packages that still pack a punch. However, Zendesk offers the option of using their support, so if that’s something you feel you need for your business, Zendesk might be preferable.

Marketing Tools: Mailchimp vs. ConvertKit

It’s important to have the right tool to manage your audience in the way that’s best for your business. Your specific business needs will determine how you set up your marketing campaigns for scalability, and the features of your chosen marketing tool should align with how you want to scale your business. Here, we compare two of the top softwares that help you set up your marketing for success.

Mailchimp

Arguably the most recognizable marketing software brand, Mailchimp works for both small startups and big companies, such as Vimeo and TED.

Features

• Mailchimp has the following features:
• Content studio to store all of your brand assets.
• Drag and drop email builder.
• Campaign analytics.
• Transactional email deliverability.
• Custom domain email address.

ConvertKit

With 404,629 users, ConvertKit has established a name for itself in the marketing tools niche.

Features

Convertkit has the following features:

• Automated email sequences and broadcast email deliverability.
• Free software migration service.
• One-time fee for subscribers on multiple lists.
• Customizable email design with countdown timers, zip code targeting, and video embedding.

Mailchimp vs. ConvertKit

The following table compares the key features provided by the various pricing packages:

Despite being a more fully fledged service, it seems that Mailchimp offers the most value at the lower price ranges. It’s only when you get to the enterprise-sized packages that Mailchimp’s pricing starts to rise. You get unlimited support at the free level with ConvertKit, which could be especially useful for a startup. Overall, it looks as if Mailchimp offers a wider range of services, while ConvertKit is more focused on email marketing and offers what seems to be better functionality in that area. The free software migration service you get with ConvertKit is also a bonus.

The Right Tools Make for a More Valuable Business

Selecting the right tools for your business depends on factors such as your business model and size. It’s a big commitment to make because once you’ve added all your business data and assets into one software, it’s difficult to transfer it to another one.

That said, you don’t have to use just one tool for each operation. You can integrate multiple tools or use them in different ways. You just have to experiment to find the best solution for you.

Hopefully you found these comparisons useful in helping you choose the right tools to automate and scale your business. But keep in mind that scaling isn’t your only option.

Sell Your Ecommerce Business for a Profitable Exit

If you don’t think you have the capacity to scale your business, or if you’re getting a bit bored with it and would like to try a new venture, then consider cashing out of your business by selling it for 25–45X its monthly net profits.

The first step in that process is finding out how much your business could sell for using our online business valuation calculation tool.