ECommerce Development - A Step By Step Guide

Performing businesses like the exchange of goods and services via online platforms can be considered as eCommerce. For such activities, an interested one should have an eCommerce website. In this article, you can get introduced to some important factors related to the eCommerce and procedure of developing a perfect website. 

ECommerce Industry - Recent Facts

As per the scenario of today’s world, the majority of the population loves to consider online shopping. According to Oberlo, more than 63% of buyers choose the option of online stores. This particular fact can be considered one of the biggest reasons many companies are trying to become part of an online marketplace with a unique website. 

Note: As per the recent COVID-19 crisis, the rate of using online shopping sources has increased than before. Due to the strictness of governments and a safety point of view, everyone is trying to avoid going outside and try to complete their tasks online as much as possible, like - buying required stuff. COVID-19 crisis leads to a great impact on the eCommerce industry and completely transforms it.

ECommerce Website Development 

Developing a perfect website cannot be easy for anyone. It includes deep market research and analysis. The business owners need to be focused on the audience’s demand and current trends. Along with it, you have to make a final decision regarding different elements such as - 

• Selection of platform 
• Business model
• Web & Application development 
• Competitor analysis 
• Product types 
• Website design 
• Store Category 

It will be useful in developing a perfect online store that can be helpful in business growth. Before you start the developing process, you have to make some specific decisions. The following details are based on such important factors. 

Clarity About Business Model 

A website is designed by keeping objective in mind. In the case of eCommerce, the objective is based on the business model. 

• B2B - where a company runs all operations and exchanges with other companies or businesses only

• B2C - where a company tries to connect directly with the audience or potential customers for selling products and generate revenue

These are the two major types of business models. You have to choose one of these and then proceed for the next step. 

Identification Of Target Audience 

Identification of the target audience is another important factor that provides a base for the development tasks. It will help you in understanding the audience and their taste. As a result, you are capable of developing a perfect platform by which you can easily impress the audience and achieve the desired objective. Here, you need to be focused on analyzing the complete market properly and competitors as well. 

Development Procedure 

The complete process of developing the best eCommerce platform is based on four major parts. 

• Part 1: Requirement Analysis 
• Part 2: Selection Of Platform 
• Part 3: Frontend Development 
• Part 4: Backend Development 

While working on such a procedure, you have to be focused on every single aspect by which you can complete the task with perfection and get an attractive & user-friendly website as a result. Here, you can get a full explanation related to the complete procedure. 

Part 1: Requirement Analysis 

Requirement analysis can be useful in providing a base for the development ideas. Firstly, you have to keep the potential customers and target audience in mind to analyze the correct system requirements. For gathering the right information, you have to complete analysis in four major parts such as - 

• Obtaining requirements 
• Analyzing requirements 
• Modeling 
• Review 

While working on these four parts, you have to use soft and technical skills adequately. Soft skills can be useful in interacting with the audience and figuring the desired information. Technical skills are useful in working on the hardware and software parts for refining the data. As a result, you have the following data. 

• Actual customer’s requirements 
• Functionality allocation 
• Economical analysis 

After fetching the complete data, you should not forget to consider the documentation procedure. Proper documentation of plans helps in distributing the information among all perfectly. 

Part 2: Selection Of Platform 

For designing and developing an online store, you have to choose an eCommerce development platform first. You can look at lots of options on the internet for such a decision. When it comes to making a final decision, then you need to check out some basic factors like - 

• Reliability 
• Platform’s speed 
• SEO-Friendliness 
• Availability of features & functionalities 

It assists in the inspection of options and picks the suitable one. 

• Magento
• Joomla 
• Shopify 
• OpenCart
• WooCommerce 

These are big options or platforms of the industry. You can pay attention to your requirements and features of the platforms for comparison and choosing the best one. Here, you should discuss all factors with experts and then make a final decision. 

Part 3: Frontend Development 

To get success in the online marketplace, you have to develop an eCommerce platform with high user-experience. The user-experience is completely based on the design. Part 3 (frontend development) of the process is all about the creation of impressive web design. Here, you have to be focused on the following elements. 

• You should add all types of terms & conditions and privacy policies to the website for a better understanding of customers. 
• For sorting out the visitors’ queries quickly, you should add a FAQ section with some common questions and their answers. 
• You have to get SSL certificates for the domain to keep the website secure and gain the trust of the audience and search engine as well. 
• Create a design that is suitable for both desktop and mobile devices. 
• Don’t forget to maintain a balance between the simplicity and effectiveness of the website. With it, try to avoid the excessive use of pop-up features. 
• Consider different symbols & icons for highlighting information. 
• Try to define the categories of products clearly for a better understanding of the audience. Highlight your special deals, discounts, and offers effectively to grab the attention of visitors. 
• Feature your product pages with high-quality images, detailed product descriptions, and some relevant recommendations of products. 
• Keep the design and process of the checkout page simple & easy to follow. Feature your check out page with multiple payment options and maintain high user-experience. 
• Create the shopping cart design with a user-friendly interface. 

These are some major tips that you should keep in mind while working on website design. Hiring a professional eCommerce development company can help you in fulfilling all your requirements and get an SEO-friendly website design. 

Part 4: Backend Development 

When the professionals complete the designing and frontend development, then it comes to bring your website into existence. It can be possible with backend development, where a team of coders starts building your website on the servers as per the design prepared. Completion of the last part is based on the selected platform and the use of programming languages such as - ASP.NET, JAVA, PHP, Python, CSS, and so on. You can choose as per your requirements. 

Final Words 

It is a detailed explanation of the complete eCommerce development process. Hiring a good development company will help you in achieving the objectives and get a fully competitive website. A good company has a team of best professionals who can develop your website according to the recent market trends and audience requirements.