There is no denying that technology is reshaping every industry, and eCommerce is no exception. With the advent of cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and NFC technology, the eCommerce industry is making groundbreaking advancements. Among all these advanced technologies, one technology that helps scale your eCommerce business is APIs.

An Application Programming Interface (API) is basically a set of functions that allows applications to access data and integrate with different operating systems and microservices. It helps companies to make the most of their functionalities without building features from scratch. With APIs, you can connect your eCommerce store to many shopping platforms and software components to manage operations.

Whether you plan to launch an eCommerce store or improve the performance of the existing one, API integration can help you grow your online business. API integration, if done right, will allow eCommerce marketers to expand their business and sell products on various marketplaces such as Amazon, Facebook, and eBay.

Advantages of Ecommerce API Integration

API integration can help marketers organize and automate basic eCommerce operations like shipping management, order management, inventory control, and much more. By automating several processes and procedures, eCommerce professionals can significantly improve their bottom line and customer engagement.

If you are thinking of establishing a platform for your online store, API integration is essential to make it workable. API integration can boost the performance of your eCommerce store, increase the service quality, and make eCommerce store development much easier.

Let’s explore the major benefits of eCommerce API integration.

Improves Functionality

eCommerce APIs help your development team transfer useful information from one software to another while enabling software products to send and receive responses. This can improve the functionality of your eCommerce store by streamlining various functions.

Enhance the Security

When it comes to running a successful eCommerce store, protecting customer data and confidential information is essential. By following API security best practices, you can keep an eCommerce store a safe and secure place to shop. API-based authentication could minimize the risk of data breaches and prevent hackers from accessing the backend of a server.

Improves Speed

Speed matters most when it comes to online shopping. Using APIs makes it easier to automatically update the inventory, allowing you to provide customers with a smooth user experience.

Synchronization

API integration allows eCommerce marketers to choose elements of your online store from multiple platforms and programs to fulfill the ever-increasing demands of their customers. It helps you synchronize your business operations, improve your services and eventually improve the performance of your eCommerce store.

Exploring 8 Types of eCommerce APIs

When it comes to developing an eCommerce API, there are hundreds of APIs developers can choose to integrate into the store. You will find helpful SaaS for many operations, from shipping APIs to payment gateways, dynamic pricing, anti-fraud, and recommendation engine APIs.

Here are some of the most useful eCommerce APIs you should consider integrating with your online store.

1. Recommendation Engine API

By integrating recommendation engine APIs, eCommerce marketers can increase the chances of getting more sales. Many eCommerce giants like Amazon, Alibaba, and Zappos have already deployed recommendation engine APIs. The recommendation engine only shows the most relevant products based on customer’s interests and browsing history.

When your site displays products by keeping the visitor’s interests in mind, it will increase the chances of getting more sales. It also motivates the visitor to stick to the site for longer and make more purchases.

2. Shipping API

A shipping API is one of the most important APIs for eCommerce businesses to help them accurately calculate the shipping rate. Shipping API integration automates the shipment booking process that allows customers to check the shipping rate at the time of checkout. With shipping API, tracking numbers and shipping labels can automatically be created as well.

API integration with shipping companies helps online stores to automate billing, reporting, and pickup details. Today nearly all shipping companies are providing API integration options. You should definitely consider this option for your eCommerce store development process.

3. Payment Gateway API

Today’s consumers want more advanced payment options. They want to pay bills via credit card, debit card, PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, and other means. Payment APIs make it possible for eCommerce stores to accept payment through multiple payment gateways. The payment API can be programmed per the existing payment gateway of your online store.

4. Catalog API

Integrating with a catalog API is a smart way to make catalog creation and editing easier. The catalog API can synchronize with multiple product catalogs to keep the inventory up to date. Furthermore, it could help support multiple categories, complex products, downloadable products, and gift certificates.

5. Cart API

Many eCommerce marketers strive hard to reduce the shopping cart abandonment rate and thus develop innovative strategies to improve the cart experience. With cart API integration, eCommerce business owners can access shopping cart data to provide intelligent product recommendations and make smart business decisions. By using cart APIs, you can also create a highly customized cart experience for your customers.

6. Multicurrency APIs

Online shopping makes it super easier for consumers to get their desired product as most eCommerce sites offer worldwide shipping. A multi-currency conversion API can enable this, allowing you to instantly convert currency to the customer’s local currency. Allowing customers to buy a product in their local currency will surely increase the trust of prospective customers and boost the conversion rate. This API expands business opportunities for a majority of online shops to ship orders to international customers and increase their profits.

7. Login API

A login API allows you to connect your online store user account with your preferred login system. With the help of login API, you can give users an option to log in via your CMS software or single sign-on system.

8. Third-Party Supplier API

A third-party supplier API integration is another important part of your eCommerce development process. It is an important API for stores that use dropshipping business models and rely on their suppliers for order fulfillment. Supplier API integration eliminates the need for manual order handling. It automatically fetches the product details and makes products available on the eCommerce store so that customers can easily make a purchase.

Wrapping Up

The list is not over yet. There are hundreds of other eCommerce APIs that are beneficial for your online store. eCommerce businesses that want to grow and achieve new heights of success should consider API integration to automate business processes and provide one-of-a-kind user experiences.