E-commerce Website Features in 2025. Part 2: Admin Panel

• Admin Part Features for eCommerce Website
• What to Consider While Developing the Back End of E-commerce Websites
• Final Thoughts on Admin Panels for E-commerce Websites

Developing an admin panel for an e-commerce website is just as important a task as developing its front end. We’ve already covered the key client-side features of e-commerce websites in the first part of our article. In this one, we will dive into the critical admin panel functionality for online stores. We will illustrate common features with examples from Magento 2, a popular platform for e-commerce software development. 

1. Admin Part Features for eCommerce Website

A robust and complex backend is essential for your e-commerce website to work fault-free. From orders to logistics to payments, your backend is the foundation on which the rest of your website is based. You need to take great care when building it out as you don’t want to return to it in order to make modifications that would greatly affect other parts of your e-commerce website ecosystem.

1.1. Inventory Management

You need to establish a direct connection between the items shown on the front end and those in warehouses ready to ship. The backend connects these two and prevents customers from ordering out-of-stock products. For this, you need to integrate an inventory management system, which will be especially beneficial if you work with numerous suppliers and warehouses. 

1.2. Shipping Management

The logistics involved in delivering products from warehouses is complicated, requiring an automated solution that reduces the potential for human error and gets products to customers quickly and efficiently. 

Whether you are in doubt about integrating a ready-made shipping management system or building a custom one to meet your tailored needs, our experienced business analysts and software developers are ready to help. At SECL Group, we have experience in both building custom systems and integrating out-of-the-box solutions and can offer you advice on making the right decision. 

1.3. Order Processing

The backend should make it easier to process orders, covering order placement, payment processing, order tracking, and fulfillment. It should also include options for tracking order status, returns, and interactions with customers about their orders. 

For this, you can utilize systems such as order management software, CRM systems, and POS software. With a decade of experience building e-commerce websites, we can analyze your website and define the must-have integrations for it. We can also give recommendations on using ready-made systems without compromising the flexibility and scalability of your back end.

1.4. Payment Gateway

By streamlining the payment process, you ensure that fewer customers leave items in shopping carts. You need to integrate best-in-class payment solutions that accept a variety of payment methods, which means more completed sales. At the same time, you shouldn’t add too many options so as not to confuse your customers. Consider only a few of the most popular payment systems in your target location. 

1.5. Customer Management

Customer management is essential, including features like account creation, profile management, order history, wishlists, and personalized suggestions. The back end should also foster communication channels such as email notifications and customer support solutions. 

1.6. Product Management

Product management functionality should include adding products, editing, deleting, and uploading them via CSV. It also has to cover product titles, descriptions, images, prices, and shipping details. In addition, you need to be able to track inventory for a certain product in real time. 

1.7. Warehouse Management

Warehouse management features help keep track of all warehouse activities. They control all goods movements from the moment they enter the warehouse until they leave it. With a clear inventory balance, you receive accurate and relevant stock data and can then make informed decisions based on the insights. This functionality helps improve warehouse efficiency, enabling your store to deal with higher volumes of stock. 

1.8. Accounting

Accounting involves managing common business transactions, generating financial reports, tracking sales, and calculating taxes. This functionality helps automate financial management, keep track of sales, and manage inventory. If your business sells internationally, you should incorporate multi-currency and international sales support. Expense and profit analysis enable data-driven decision-making. 

1.9. Customer Support

Customer support and helpdesk features provide various accessible ways for customers to receive support (e-mail, chatbots, website forms). They provide a centralized space to manage customer queries coming from different channels. They improve issue detection and resolution, leading to increased user experience and satisfaction. In addition, they help collate and analyze customer data. You can also incorporate AI-powered assistance functionality.

1.10. Document Management

Document management capabilities help e-commerce stores optimize storage space, create backups automatically for speedy disaster recovery, organize documents, and implement version control and role-based access. They help enable regulatory compliance, reduce errors, and provide secure storage. 

1.11. Distribution Management

Distribution management features help control various aspects of an e-commerce website, such as supply chain operations, inventory, packaging, shipping, and logistics. They are especially beneficial for stores dealing with large stock volumes and different vendors. With this functionality, you can quickly identify gaps in your distribution operations and fill them quickly to increase customer satisfaction. 

1.12. Category Management

Category management includes adding and editing product categories and sub-categories, and searching and sorting them easily. For an e-commerce website backend, you also need to be able to feature them intuitively within the website navigation, or on the homepage. Since some categories can be temporary, i.e. Black Friday offers, making them active or inactive is a must-have feature. Lastly, the ability to add SEO elements to the categories and generate valid URLs for them is also essential. 

1.13. Brand Management

When selling products from multiple brands, you require comprehensive brand management features. They may include adding new brands, their information and logos, managing products associated with them, and setting them as active or inactive on a website. Same as with categories, setting SEO elements and URLs for the pages is also essential. 

1.14. Wishlist

Adding products to a wishlist is a necessary feature for authorized users. They can view all the items in a wishlist on a separate page. You may also need a price tracking feature with email or message notifications for these products. 

1.15. Cart Management

When it comes to shopping carts, adding or removing products from them, and changing their quantity are important features. Furthermore, adding coupons or discount codes is also necessary. 

1.16. Communication Tools

Sending emails and newsletters to customers is the most effective way to inform them about new offers, discounts, or sales, as well as notify them about order or payment status changes and much else. Creating different types of messages, adding personalized details, and setting other parameters, such as dates or times between email follow-ups are necessary.

1.17. Coupon and Discount Management

Create coupons and discounts, define the details (codes, % discount to be given, discounted products or product lists, offer duration), and deactivate them when they expire. 

1.18. Analytics and Reporting

Generate comprehensive reports on sales, orders, and inventory. Track sales by date, product, customer, and other criteria. Identify bestsellers, low or overstocked items. Analyze user demographics and their behavior patterns. 

2. What to Consider While Developing the Back End of E-commerce Websites

There are a number of things you should consider while building the server side of an e-commerce solution. This is only a brief description of these factors, and we will discuss the back office of e-commerce stores in the second part of this article. 

2.1. Scalability

The backend should be able to handle high traffic and increased data volumes, particularly during high shopping seasons. For websites with large databases of goods (one million plus), ordinary CMS systems may be insufficient. Developing a backend architecture that can be expanded horizontally and vertically is critical for supporting growth. At SECL Group, we have experience in creating high-load websites, such as a marketplace with millions of products and 10+ million users per month. 

2.2. Security

E-commerce websites deal with sensitive customer data, such as personal and financial details. To protect user information from unauthorized access and cyber threats, use strong security measures such as data encryption, multi-step authentication, and compliance with industry standards such as PCI DSS. 

Even if you use payment gateways and do not store customer payment data yourself, you still have order data inside that competitors really want to get hold of. Therefore, e-commerce sites have an increased risk of hacking. Our specialists know all the ins and outs of building an online store and can help you build an e-commerce website that meets high-security standards.

Access control is another critical aspect that allows you to manage users responsible for different parts of an e-commerce website based on their roles. This prevents users from accessing sensitive data if they don’t have sufficient authority. 

2.3. Third-Party Integrations

An e-commerce website needs to be integrated with a variety of third-party services, including payment gateways, shipping solutions, and marketing tools. Creating a flexible backend architecture that can seamlessly integrate with various APIs and services is critical for ensuring smooth operations. Our analysts can help you define any necessary integrations for your store depending on your project’s needs. We have a lot of experience with different integrations, many of which you can find here. 

2.4. Search Engine Optimization

Search engine ranking is a critical factor for any e-commerce website, yet many businesses face challenges with it for numerous reasons. For instance, JS-based technologies that are often used in online store development do not always perform well on search engines. In the case of one of our clients, Danone, they had issues with search engine indexing since they used the Vue.js framework. We helped them improve the rankings of their online store by adding SSR. 

Final Thoughts on Admin Panels for E-commerce Websites

A robust and comprehensive admin panel is essential for managing the complex processes inside an online store. Adding the required functionality and considering the important aspects mentioned throughout this article can make all the difference in achieving higher productivity for your e-commerce website. These projects are highly specific and you may need to consult a team with experience in this specialist area. At SECL Group, projects for retail and e-commerce are one of our key areas of expertise. We also have experience in developing various back-end systems for e-commerce.