Ecommerce has revolutionized the way of living with it’s unmatched features. It has built up a strong connect between buyer, seller and users irrespective of their geographical location.  For buyers it is a platform that can authorize any goods and services without any limitations and for seller it is a big market place where lot of business can be generated. Buying style has been changed in current scenario and users like to buy online on desktop, mobile or tablet. With ecommerce websites both buying and selling capacity have increased.

When we order anything online and get delivered at our doorstep we might think the process is quite simple. It requires a lot of efficiency and developing techniques that made possible of that parcel reached our doorstep. There is a huge network that is required to create a successful online store. Each stage in ecommerce website development has it’s own significance and important role to play.

Steps for ecommerce website development:

  • Size up the requirements: Before initiating the ecommerce development process there is a need to precise specifications clearly whether you want a proper ecommerce website or want to create ecommerce marketplace to let others sell their products on your website. Ecommerce website is your own baby and sky is the limit for growth and on other hand marketplace ecommerce website has a common platform and like a physical market where any seller can sell and anyone can purchase.
  • Selection of Ecommerce platform:  The right selection of ecommerce platform for your website is a deciding factor behind the success or failure of your business. It should be selected for keeping products and target customers in mind. You can select any platform such as Magento, WooCommerce, OpenCart, Prestashop, Shopify, WordPress etc.
  • Responsive Ecommerce Design: A website should be device compatible that means no matter how big the size is it should be responsive to all such as desktop, laptop, mobile, tablet etc. Now a days maximum number of users wants to have handy information on their mobile sets therefore, if the website doesn’t open on mobile there are chances that you may lose traffic and potential customers and gradually site’s SEO will be affected as Google gives more preference to responsive websites. The main reason behind flourishing of ecommerce business is it’s flexibility to open on mobile.
  • Inspiring Mobile App: If you want to have more traffic to your website then building a mobile app targeting Android and iOS users is suggested.
  • Hosting Platform for Ecommerce website: For site’s performance, accessibility, efficiency chose the correct hosting platform according to requirements and future possibility of traffic on to your ecommerce site. There are various types of hosting such as dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, semi-dedicated hosting, VPS etc. You must decide for a good hosting plan for ecommerce website development.
  • Site Search: User engagement depends on the perfect site search.  A perfect site search will help users to reach the desired product on a particular website. To increase the higher conversion rates perfectly working site search plays key role in boosting your ecommerce website.
  • Display of Related Items:  It is important that related product should be carefully selected else the visitor will move away from the site and it can cause loss in terms of losing potential customers.
  • Easy Navigation and proper categorization: Any website whether market place or your own product it should be well categorized and easily navigated. If all the products are properly directed it will take less time for a customer to select and purchase online. It will lead to increase in sales. Tags on products also add icing to the cake and useful tool to your store.
  • Perfect SEO: You always hire SEO experts with ample of experience in their pocket. A right selection of SEO team can take your website to new heights. An SEO-friendly site can attract good number of customers rather than non-optimized website.  SEO is the backbone behind any successful ecommerce website and must be given in safe hands to handle.
  • Structured Data: Ecommerce Rich Snippets or a piece of structured data is very useful for users and crawlers to recognize more information regarding site’s content.
  • Security: As everything is done online therefore, it should be your prime concern to secure your online store from all cyber threats. Customers personal information such as phone number, credit or debit card detail, address, should be strictly sealed and covered for any leakage. The server for payment should be as per standard and site must support secure socket layer.
  • Speed Optimization:  Website speed can turn a visitor into a buyer. People abandon the page which takes more time than expected. The development should leave no stone unturned for speed optimization because user’s page load experience will convert more customers and increase in sales. The team should be trained enough to imply image impression and caching technique during development process.
  • Website Testing: Website testing is the vital facet in ecommerce website development. Manual and automated testing can be initiated immediately after the designing process is over and experts should carried out various tests on broken links, bugs, usability, forms, script, navigation, spell check, user convenience etc. There should not be any space left for bugs or errors.  An error free website leaves good impression in visitor’s mind that’s prompts buying decision quickly.
    Factors to consider while testing: Resolution, load, scalability, stress, integration, cross-browser compatibility, security, functionality, database and cookies usage etc. are few tests that should be carried out during ecommerce website development.
  • Refine Offerings: The website owner must entertain offers, discounts or coupons to new or existing customers to catch their attention. The more offers or discounts you give to customers more sales will come to your way because it is a basic nature of a customer to get attracted towards new offers.  Therefore, always refine your website according to customers browsing and purchase pattern.
  • Digital Marketing:  Once the website is complete it should be digitally market. In order to gain profit and more sales it is necessary to market your website on multiple platforms. An effective online market campaign will surly bring you positive result and business gain. A smart strategy and best suited online campaign will surely attract potential customers. Social media marketing, viral marketing, email marketing and rich content are few traditional methods to drive more sales and promote business.
  • Secure and feasible payment methods:  Customers who purchase online always prefer secure and easy payment methods such as cash on delivery, net banking, multiple currency payment, credit or debit card and of course all methods must be secured. If once customer finds insecurity of their personal information will never turn up to that website again.
  • Exchange or Return policy: To be in ecommerce business race your exchange and return policies must be initiated so that you never lose any customer due to poor return or exchange policy.

Ecommerce website development is a detailed process and requires extreme dedication and advance technology. The result of your online store completely depends upon selecting the right team who can imply perfect market strategy, advance tools and technology to accomplish flawless online store.