A comprehensive request for proposal (RFP) that thoroughly covers critical points can assist organizations in reducing costs and producing better return on investment (ROI), faster.
If an RFP helps a management team reach a final decision in 12 weeks rather than 16 weeks, an additional month of revenue may be added to the bottom line from the e-commerce channel. This could translate into hundreds of thousands of additional revenue dollars.
And, a well-crafted RFP can ensure that a company does not pay a premium for features it will not need for the foreseeable future.
Ten questions to ask when crafting an e-commerce RFP
As with most things in life, to set yourself up for success, you need to ask the right questions in order to glean the most knowledge possible. This also holds true when it comes to e-commerce RFP’s.
E-commerce RFP questions:
- Does the platform provide a foundation for multi-channel commerce? Does it integrate with other systems (in-house and third party) to facilitate multi omni-channel commerce?
- What’s the total cost of ownership of the platform over five years? Is the e-commerce vendor willing to guarantee future upgrade costs?
- Was the platform architected from the very first version to be global-ready, or was it designed for a specific market/region and internationalized at a later point in time?
- What deployment methods are available – on premises, hosted (managed services), and on-demand (SaaS)? Is it easy to migrate between these methods?
- Who typically implements the e-commerce platform?
- How does the e-commerce platform ensure integration with new customer touch points such as smartphones and tablets? Does it provide agility for compatibility with future devices?
- What features are available to empower business users to configure and update the e-commerce platform without help from IT?
- What is the frequency of versions and point releases? When were the last two major versions of the platform released? When were the last three point releases?
- Which features and modules of the e-commerce platform are written on a single code base (homogeneous stack), and which are not? Is this single code base built on an open standard? And, is the open standard an industry standard (or likely to become one)?
- Does the e-commerce system include an integrated module and centralized repository for managing both structured data (text, pricing information), and unstructured product information and content (video, pictures), in multiple languages? If a platform includes an integrated product information management (PIM), how does that compare with conventional PIM software and similar capabilities available from ERP systems?
A well-designed RFP with all the right questions and decision criteria can be instrumental in driving the success of an e-commerce implementation to produce the best ROI and fulfill all critical business needs for years to come.
Decision makers are encouraged to think about both short term and long term needs, keeping in mind that they might dictate different solutions. If so, the RFP should reflect that.
