Internal Audit

E-commerce company Audit checklist

The success in the e-commerce industry depends on more than the quality of the product. Top performers attribute their success to the great technology that they possess and their unique designs.

Audit Checklist

The audit checklist in this area includes but is not limited to

Technology and Platform Functionality

It is said that consistent uptime is required for any e-commerce store that is looking to maximize sales. Hence, the platform we build our store on must not be vulnerable to suffering uninformed downtime, which can’t be communicated ahead of time to the audience.

Delivery models

There may be varied hosting requirements, which depend upon the size of the business. Whatever the platform may be, it must provide several options to choose from. The multi-factor authentication helps to add security level.

Frontend and User Experience

Today’s users want to view the products in their own ways and not the way in which the particular company is showing it to them. Examples include- native mobile apps, browser-based mobile apps, etc. Content workflows are important. It makes reviewing and approving content easier. Now, there are AMPs, which are accelerated mobile pages that provide a mobile-optimized browsing experience that enables faster speed, which helps to display the content fast in front of the customers. Language choosing is also important so that the developers may be more comfortable in working.

Content, Product and SEO

An extensive catalogue helps depending upon the size of the e-commerce store. A third-party tool like PIM (Product Information Management) is important. It assists the retailers to manage the content and centralize it. It is better if the platform supports segment-based pricing. It means to offer different prices to different customers.

There are customers who do not prefer buying products from other nations. So in order to give satisfaction to the customers at large, we must provide them products based on their geographical location or their nation’s location. Consumers are also used to subscribing to the channels and websites today in order to avail themselves of the prevailing discounts and keep getting notifications relating to their favourite products.

Integrations

The analytics are crucial in order to identify the gaps in e-commerce strategy. Inventory and logistics are essential parts. The customers also enjoy different types of payments like PayPal, Venmo, etc. The payments through gift cards can also be really enjoyed by the customers, for example, the scratch cards etc. that are offered by the phone etc. these days.

The e-commerce online stores need to be able to include new technologies and offer different variety of options to the customers.

Methods of E-commerce Audit Check

First of all, we will evaluate the site speed. What are the costs for customer acquisition should also be analyzed. The discoverability of the website on search engines is also a very important process. Then, the auditor also needs to check the average order value because the product or service offered by the particular e-commerce company should not be too off the line. It should align with the prevailing rates of similar products by the other companies who are in the business. Because the targeted audience is very important, the trust of the audience must be aligned and taken care of. The user time on the site is also to be evaluated. The size of the cart also comes into play.

Procedures to be followed

The procedure that should be followed while creating an online presence includes-

• Choosing an e-commerce platform.
• Selecting a domain name.
• Choosing a web hosting provider like Bluehost, Hostgator etc
• To ensure that the website is safe or not.
• To add a content management system
• To set up the payment procedure for the online store
• To write a privacy policy for the website

Conclusion

Hence, as we have witnessed so far, the audit value is extremely high in the e-commerce sector because nowadays, websites and apps like Amazon and Flipkart have taken over the internet quite soon. The owner of Amazon has also become one of the most famous and rich people in the world. So, e-commerce has provided ample business opportunities to business people, which was not the case some decades ago. Therefore, the protection mechanisms also come in. We need to conduct proper audits in this sector so as to ensure that there are no available risks in the online market.

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