Many e-commerce apps use online marketing strategies to improve the customer experience and get customers to use the platform. These include email, online catalogs, shopping carts, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), file transfer protocol, web services and mobile applications.

These approaches are used in B2C and B2B e-commerce activities, as well as other types of outreach. They include emailing targeted ads and e-newsletters to subscribers and sending text messages to mobile devices. Sending unsolicited emails and texts is generally considered spam, so more companies now try to entice consumers online, using tools such as digital coupons, social media marketing and targeted advertisements.

Another area of focus for e-commerce companies is security. Developers and admins should consider customer data privacy and security, data governance-related regulatory compliance mandates, personally identifiable information privacy rules and information protection protocols when developing e-commerce applications. Some security features are added during the design of an application, while others must be continually updated to address evolving threats and new vulnerabilities.