Running an eCommerce business is rewarding but not easy. There are online and offline sales to track, loyalty programs to manage, email campaigns to send and social media to stay on top of. And that’s not even the hardest part—keeping all that data organized and making sure your messaging stays consistent and engaging is where things get tricky.

So, what’s the solution?

Connecting it all.

When everything’s connected, you get a clear view of your entire retail marketing strategy in one place. You can easily see what’s working across different channels, keep your messaging consistent and guide customers from their first visit to becoming loyal shoppers.

The good news is that there are plenty of ecommerce tools to help. But choosing the right one can feel overwhelming. Some might fall short, leaving your business without the support it needs.

That’s why we created this guide.

Best ecommerce tools for connected retail marketing

Let’s break down the eight best eCommerce tools for connected retail marketing. From key features to integrations and user ratings, everything you need to make a smart choice is right here. 

Loadstone

Loadstone is a flexible martech ecosystem built for connected retail marketing. It offers six distinct products you can mix and match to fit your unique needs, all supported by a data-rich CDP. 

Whether you’re looking for software to boost customer engagement, increase conversions, build lasting relationships with returning customers—or all of the above—Loadstone has you covered. Each Loadstone product focuses on a specific retail aspect, yet they all work seamlessly together—integrating with your data sources. 

Here’s how it works.

At the heart of this ecosystem is the Customer Data Platform (CDP), which pulls together data from both your online store and offline sources. It combines customer details into profiles and uses insights from interactions like ecommerce website visits and purchase history to give you a real-time snapshot of your audience. When you sign up for Loadstone, you get immediate access to the CDP, putting all this valuable customer data at your fingertips from day one.

The Recommender System takes your shopping experience to the next level. Our recommender engine algorithms use AI to recommend products based on individual preferences and display them on your ecommerce website and emails. CRM and Communications is another of Loadstone’s ecommerce tools. Our CRM and marketing automation tool lets you automate notifications for abandoned carts, restock alerts and seasonal promotions—perfect for keeping your customers coming back.

AI Commerce Search gets what your customers seek, even if they don’t type it exactly as it appears in your product descriptions. For example, if someone types “red T-shirt size M”, but your listing says “burgundy T-shirt”, no worries—the system will still pull up the right match. This means your customers get more relevant results faster, leading to happier shoppers and more purchases.

We didn’t forget about promotions. 

Loadstone Promotion Marketing product lets you create and manage campaigns in a no-code flow builder. Create promo codes and vouchers and offer them on all your channels.

As purchases continue to roll in, Loadstone helps you maintain that momentum with Loyalty Management. It gives you e-commerce tools to design and implement loyalty programs like rewards, gamification and exclusive offers. You can introduce a points-based system or tiered memberships to build long-term customer relationships.

There’s also Retail Media. It lets you fully monetize your platforms by showing personalized ads to the right people at the perfect time. Whether displayed on e-shelves, banners or in-store screens, your visitors get the encouragement they need to become buyers.

Loadstone makes your products easy to find, love and buy—again and again. 

And if you need help along the way, our team of experts is always there to guide you. From selecting Loadstone products and integrating them to optimizing for top results, we’ve got your back.

Book a call with our team to discuss which of these products your company can profit from most.

Key features

• No-code campaign and messages creation: Design flows and arrange messages exactly how you want them to appear using Loadstone’s “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) editor.
• Real-time segmentation: Get dynamic audience segments from customer data to target your campaigns precisely.
• A/B testing: Test different campaign elements (like content or timing) and identify the most effective version. 
• AI analytics and reports: Loadstone uses advanced AI ecommerce tools to give you insights into customer behavior and campaign performance.
• Message scheduling: Schedule messages to reach customers at the right time.
• Scalability: Loadstone is built for enterprise-level businesses, but any company size can profit from its scalable, composable commerce platform structure. Our systems process large amounts of data in seconds, providing you with the insights you need to thrive.

Interested? Schedule a chat with the Loadstone team to get you started.

Integrations

Loadstone makes connecting your apps easy with its open API and webhooks for ecommerce websites. No need for a developer. You can set up integrations and workflows between your apps and Loadstone using a simple drag-and-drop editor. 

User ratings

Loadstone has an impressive 4.3-star rating out of 5 on G2. 

Users frequently highlight the outstanding customer support team, with Robin Verbelen, Assistant Marketing Manager at Alternate Belgium, saying, “The account managers follow up on your business case and constantly improve the algorithm”.

Many also praise Loadstone’s ease of use and ability to provide a comprehensive view of retail marketing and ecommerce website performance. Xavier Salvat, E-commerce Specialist at Eurofred S.A., shared, “The possibility of monitoring the tools and actions performed with them and the platform’s ease of use makes it a perfect ally in any website’s marketing strategy.”

Adobe Experience Cloud

Adobe Experience Cloud combines AI, customer data management and automation ecommerce marketing tools. The platform offers Adobe GenStudio for performance marketing and Adobe Experience Manager for delivering digital content. A built-in customer data platform integrates online and offline data, tracking actions like link clicks and ad interactions.

For campaign management, Adobe Journey Optimizer tracks customer journeys in real time and sends tailored messages. Marketo Engage uses AI to create emails, landing pages and chat responses. It also has SEO tools like on-page SEO recommendations and keyword research to help improve ecommerce websites’ online visibility.

Each product within Adobe Experience Cloud is sold separately. Businesses can choose from different packages, each offering various levels of features. The more pricier the package, the more capabilities it unlocks.

Key features

• Customer analytics tools: Adobe Experience Cloud tracks customer interactions through different touchpoints in real time.
• Real-time personalization: The platform adjusts based on live data and tailors content to match customer actions instantly. 
• Cross-channel campaign management: Adobe Experience Cloud enables users to automate and organize marketing efforts on multiple platforms.

See also: Adobe Commerce (Magento) competitors

Integrations

The platform integrates with other Adobe products, such as Creative Cloud and Document Cloud, allowing businesses to align their customer engagement efforts across platforms. It also connects with tools like Facebook Ads, Salesforce and Google Analytics, which helps track campaigns.

User ratings

Users rate Adobe Experience Cloud with 4.1/5 on G2.

Bloomreach Engagement

Bloomreach Engagement is a comprehensive platform for customer journey orchestration and campaign execution. It centralizes data and gives online businesses a complete view of their customers. 

With its Customer Data Engine, teams can capture real-time customer actions, segment audiences and deliver personalized product search results. Loomi AI, the Bloomreach AI model, uses that data for predictive analytics to forecast customer behavior.

Key features

• Campaign builder: Bloomreach Engagement lets businesses create marketing campaigns in a drag-and-drop builder without coding.
• AI insights: Companies can use AI to analyze data and spot patterns in customer behavior.
• Omnichannel orchestration: Bloomreach Engagement connects and works on different communication channels, such as SMS, email and web.

Integrations

Bloomreach Engagement integrates with 160 apps, such as Salesforce, Shopify and Google Cloud Storage. This helps businesses bring data together from different sources and use it for marketing.

See also: Salesforce competitors

User ratings

Bloomreach Engagement has a 4.6/5 score on G2.

HubSpot Marketing Hub

HubSpot Marketing Hub is a marketing automation platform that combines ecommerce tools for email marketing, social media management, content creation and reporting. These features work with HubSpot’s Smart CRM, connecting a smooth flow of information between marketing, sales and service teams.

The platform offers AI features like predictive lead scoring, personalized content recommendations and automated workflows. These ecommerce tools help businesses create more targeted marketing campaigns and improve efficiency. 

The platform’s pricing is tiered—not all features are available at every level. Advanced tools such as custom reporting and adaptive testing are reserved only for higher-tier plans.

Key features

• Social media AI agent: Teams can get AI suggestions to improve their strategy and content.
• Marketing reporting: HubSpot Marketing Hub analyzes key metrics like ecommerce website traffic, email performance and social media engagement.
• Predictive lead scoring: HubSpot Marketing Hub looks at past data to rank leads by how likely they are to convert.

See also: HubSpot alternatives

Integrations

Ecommerce businesses can integrate HubSpot Marketing Hub with Google Ads and Meta Ads to track campaign performance. It also connects with Mailchimp and BeeFree, making it easier to design and manage email campaigns.  

User ratings

HubSpot Marketing Hub scores 4.5/5 on Capterra.

Oracle Marketing 

Oracle Marketing combines multiple products to help businesses create personalized, multichannel marketing campaigns. Responsys is an Oracle Marketing ecommerce tool that manages personalized campaigns and ensures consistent brand messaging across email, SMS, mobile push and web push channels. The platform also enables businesses to create campaigns that deliver content through in-app messaging and rich push messages.

Oracle also offers the SMS Public Aggregator Network (SPAN), a self-service application within Oracle Marketing Cloud that simplifies finding, ordering and managing SMS services directly from the aggregator of choice.

Businesses can purchase these ecommerce tools separately. Pricing is based on licensing, meaning the number of contacts you can engage with and access to features like advanced analytics is limited based on the plan you choose.

Key features

• Customer profiles: Oracle Marketing merges data from different sources to create customer profiles. 
• AI/ML models: Oracle Marketing uses AI and machine learning to analyze customer data and predict future actions. 
• Journey orchestration: Businesses can use the Journey Orchestration tool to design and manage personalized customer journeys through the buying process.

See also: Oracle competitors

Integrations

Oracle Marketing integrates with Oracle’s ecosystem and connects with popular CRMs like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics. This allows businesses to pull customer data from these platforms and manage it within Oracle Marketing.

User ratings

Oracle Marketing scores 4.1 out of 5 stars on Capterra.

Selligent Marketing Cloud

Selligent Marketing Cloud is a cloud-based ecommerce platform designed by the Marigold Group for omnichannel campaign orchestration, personalization and automation. It helps users create and automate personalized content. The platform integrates customer data and allows segmentation, providing precise customer profiles.

With advanced analytics and reporting, businesses can track campaign performance, measure ROI and make targeted marketing strategies. Real-time data and customizable reports offer the insights to optimize and improve marketing efforts.

Key features

• Omnichannel execution: Selligent Marketing Cloud helps businesses engage customers through various channels, such as email, mobile, social media and web.
• Customer journey mapping: Teams can visualize and optimize customer journeys with interactive maps highlighting key touchpoints.
• AI automation: Selligent Marketing Cloud uses AI to handle email campaigns.

Integrations

Selligent Marketing Cloud integrates with other Marigold digital products, including Cheetah Digital, for more personalized campaigns and Marigold Loyalty to help build customer loyalty. It also connects with Facebook Lead Ads and Gmail for lead generation and email marketing.

User ratings

Selligent Marketing Cloud has 4.1 out of 5 stars on G2.

Acquia Campaign Studio

Acquia Campaign Studio is an omnichannel marketing automation platform that helps retail businesses create personalized campaigns and manage marketing activities across multiple channels. Companies can segment audiences, score leads and build customer journeys. Tools like journey analytics and visual email builders help track performance in real time. It also has an intuitive campaign builder and detailed customer profiles.

This ecommerce platform offers an add-on called Campaign Factory. This extension improves Acquia Campaign Studio’s capabilities with advanced analytics and removes limits on how many campaigns businesses can run. 

Key features

• Segmentation: Acquia Campaign Studio lets businesses create custom audiences based on user behavior. 
• Visual email builder: Teams can design, customize and launch campaigns using a drag-and-drop email builder. 
• Contact list management: Acquia Campaign Studio organizes and cleans contact lists. It also includes cookie management.

Integrations

Businesses can integrate Acquia Campaign Studio with BotBiz to interact with customers on WhatsApp. It also connects to HubSpot, Mailchimp and WordPress.

See also: Mailchimp alternatives

User ratings

Acquia Campaign Studio scores 4.1/5 on Gartner.

Synerise

Synerise is an AI Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP) that combines data from multiple sources to create real-time customer profiles. It uses machine learning for personalized recommendations, predictive analytics and behavior insights.

The platform’s real-time capabilities are powered by its database, TerrariumDB and Cleora AI, which analyzes customer behavior and generates dynamic data embeddings. Synerise also supports building loyalty programs with features like push notifications for birthdays and loyalty points after first purchase.

Key features

• Terrarium data engine: Terrarium handles large data volumes and performs analytics on customer interactions. 
• Product Recommendations: The ecommerce platform analyzes customer behavior and preferences to suggest tailored products. 
• Dynamic Reporting: Synerise creates reports that adapt to real-time data.

Integrations

Synerise integrates with Google Analytics and Google Cloud Storage, giving teams access to data for informed decisions. It also connects to WhatsApp and Facebook, so businesses can pull data from those platforms and engage with customers. 

User ratings

Synerise has 4.5 out of 5 stars on G2. 

Best ecommerce tools: Comparison table

Which marketing and ecommerce tool should you choose?

The best eCommerce tool for connected retail marketing is the one that fits your specific needs. If you’re looking for a fully composable solution that lets you build a tailored system, pay only for what you use and receive expert support—while attracting leads and turning them into loyal customers—Loadstone is the perfect choice.

With Loadstone, you can manage campaigns and track performance for better results. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, making it easy to set up and customize workflows without technical expertise. Plus, signing up gives you immediate relief and improvement for your business. You’ll instantly get a CDP where all your customer data is centralized, so you can start making great results from day one.

Sign up today and experience the difference in your business.

FAQs

What are eCommerce tools?

Ecommerce tools are apps and platforms that help ecommerce businesses manage inventory and product catalogs on their ecommerce websites, promote products and sell them on their own online store efficiently.

What is the best software for eCommerce?

We may sounds biased, but we truly believe that Loadstone is the best eCommerce software (and work hard to make it that way!). It offers powerful tools to manage customer data and automate marketing campaigns. Loadstone also lets you create personalized experiences and track performance in real time. This makes it an excellent choice for ecommerce stores, helping you connect and manage your retail marketing precisely the way you want, keeping your messaging consistent and successful across platforms.

What are the 3 types of e-commerce?

The three main types of eCommerce are B2C (business-to-consumer), B2B (business-to-business) and C2C (consumer-to-consumer).

What devices are used for e-commerce? 

E-commerce businesses use customer relationship management systems, analytics platforms, email automation and inventory management to meet their needs. The best approach is to use a reliable all-in-one solution, like Loadstone, which combines all these features and more in one easy-to-use platform.

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