In case you haven’t seen the increasing number of industry reports and news articles, e-Commerce is growing at an exponential rate making it vastly important for online merchants to find new ways to make their businesses relevant enough to cut through the market clutter. In a piece for Practical Ecommerce, Armando Roggio gives an overview of how Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) enable Web-based applications to interact –helping online merchants improve store features, add site content and engage customers and partners… pretty cool, huh?

In the article, Armando compares the API to a simple instruction manual – in that APIs explain how a Web developer can operate a particular application. In order to illustrate his point, Armando uses the example of an online merchant using an API to track customer information and transfer it externally for marketing purposes. Many API’s not only allow merchants to transfer this information to an external marketing site, for example, they also instruct merchants on what formats can be submitted  (i.e. XML), how to connect to the application’s servers and provide all kinds of other information as well.

Additionally, Armando explains how APIs can improve online businesses through user interface enhancements, helpful feature add-ons and much more. For example, it’s an API that provides users with real-time shipping rates from FedEx and the United States Postal Service online. So, when an online merchant connects to an external application to add a useful feature and improve the user experience, it’s most likely an API that’s doing the heavy lifting, enabling website features many of us have come to expect in our day-to-day online activity.

We had a great conversation with Armando back in June regarding the launch of the Plimus Buy Anyware™ API. You can read the result here. The Buy Anyware™ API allows e-Commerce developers to integrate online sales solutions into website content or applications without requiring users to go to a virtual store or shopping cart. For example, if a social gamer wants to purchase one virtual good or another, he can do so without being diverted from the game screen. These anytime, anywhere transactions can turn browsers into buyers and lead to increased revenue. It’s a great example of how APIs can improve business online by providing a seamless experience for consumers while boosting monetization for vendors.