In this fast-paced world, everything is available on the mobile phone, which is the case with shopping.
Now, customers prefer shopping online rather than going to the busy markets.
With the rise in the growth of online shopping, many organizations are building their eCommerce application. It allows them to reach their target audience and improve market capital.
Nowadays, custom eCommerce development is becoming very popular among every enterprise, as it allows them to provide every significant feature to their customers.
It makes essential to understand the basics of eCommerce development and its customization.
Why you need an eCommerce Solution
Before initiating custom eCommerce development, it helps to know how it helps businesses grow and achieve big milestones.
There are several technical and marketing reasons why this solution is helpful.
Technical Reasons include:
- High Security – you have control over security mechanisms at all times. You can assure data integrity and confidentiality and secure money transactions through debit and credit cards as a result.
- Seamless Integration – The organization has to modify its strategies, operations, and online portals to the dynamic user demands. With a custom eCommerce solution, external APIs and plugins are there to align your solution with the latest business policies.
- Advance Features for end-users – Pre-build eCommerce platforms offer features and modules that struggle to retain potential customers. Tailored software, however, can create a seamless and stable experience for users with ease.
- Easy Maintenance – A custom eCommerce application is easier to maintain than other solutions. Furthermore, if you find a loophole in any application, you can quickly patch it. No longer are you waiting for another platform or vendor for an update.
- Flexibility – Custom software can handle extensive user requests while maintaining the performance and quality of service. By adjoining new components, you can scale up resources and have it offer further experiences to the customers.
Marketing Reasons include:
- Better Search Engine Ranking – It leverages your SEO strategies and improves your online platform’s ranking across search engines. This means you can increase your user base and reach easier and faster.
- Approachable to every customer – Custom solutions allow customers to access them across any device. It helps to reach every user and showcase your products, offers, and client stories, attracting more users to your business.
- Brand establishment – You can tailor every web page, product catalogue, and description using unique colour combinations, gradient style, and graphics. This adds a personal touch to your platform that can make it different from other sites. Moreover, it enables a personal touch to the eCommerce app according to the user personas.
- More sales – You’re attracting more people and creating good experiences. These translate to higher sales as well as data to help you understand what’s selling more. It will eventually boost your business’s sales and overall market capitalization. Having a high-end sale also improves your services and customer satisfaction rate.
- High Visitor conversion and Retention – The same behaviour in sales also comes in with retention. More people will buy, but also visit the site if they like it. This also means they’re more likely to buy over time too as your business engages visitors. At the very least though, you can add that visitor to your potential customer list, offering products and deals.
What to consider before eCommerce Development
Developing and maintaining a reliable eCommerce solution can be a complex and time-consuming task.
Before making a custom eCommerce app, analyze your core operations and have answers to the following questions.
Q1) Do you have the relevant budget for crafting a robust eCommerce solution?
Budget is a primary business constraint, affecting the overall development procedure.
You must research various sources to have an accurate idea about the budget you require. If you don’t have the relevant budget, it can lead to cancelling the eCommerce development in-between and your organization can face a heavy loss.
The cost of any eCommerce development project depends upon multiple factors, such as development methodology, stakeholder requirements, type of application, and technology.
You must consider all these aspects before finalizing the eCommerce development project.
Moreover, you must consult a software development company to understand the overall expenses better.
In addition, according to some internet sources, to develop a feature-rich eCommerce software, you must have a budget of US$25000 to US$40000. However, it can vary according to your requirements.
Q2) Does your target audience will prefer buying products online?
If your target audience is not ready to buy products through an online store, having a large-scale e-store can be a potential risk for your business.
To better understand your current customers and target people, you must conduct a survey and plan based on its data.
If there is a probability of enhancing the productivity, revenue, and customer satisfaction rate, then you must go for creating an online marketplace.
Q3) Do you have a branding and content strategy?
Marketing strategies are crucial for optimizing an eCommerce application’s growth, as it’s the only strategy to magnify business.
It would help if you had a branding strategy, or you must create one during the fabrication of the application.
In addition, you can collaborate with an outsourcing digital marketing company to optimize your solution for better ranking across browsers and other online platforms.
Q4) Do you have the necessary resources to maintain the solution?
Crafting and deploying an application doesn’t end the responsibility.
You have to maintain it for utilizing it in the long run. If your technology partner provides post-development services, you can easily avail them.
Otherwise, you have to hire an in-house team or join forces with other IT firms to monitor the application and patch essential updates loopholes consistently.
In addition, it can affect your project budget. So, it would help if you considered such expenses before eCommerce development.
Q5) What type of features do you want in your eCommerce solution?
The first task of software development is gathering information and stakeholder needs to build a top-notch application.
So, you must have a brief understanding of the type of application and features you need. You can analyze other eCommerce solutions and discuss them with your allies.
Q6) In how much time do you want your business software?
Time-to-market is a crucial aspect, as it aids in determining when the end-users will have access to the application, and you can implement your digital strategies.
For deciding, you can consult with a software development company.
As a result, you will have a relevant feasibility study analysis and original project plan, and your final application before the timeline.
Technologies you must consider for custom eCommerce Development
For crafting an eCommerce solution, consider using the below-listed technology.
- .NET – the most popular development technology on the market. It enables cross-platform compatibility and can function through various programming languages. You can use it to furnish both the frontend and backend of the eCommerce app, leading to save cost and development time. Lastly, there is Microsoft support for development and maintenance.
- PHP – For having high-performance and multiple database support. In addition, you can quickly and affordably discover all the hardware, software, and human resources for working with PHP.
- NodeJS – is the primary backend technology for your eCommerce software. It is a JavaScript-based platform, that allows for more interactive websites.
- React – a JS-based frontend framework that displays high-end graphics and gradient effects. Also, it uses virtual DOM and one-way data binding, assuring to provide a smooth experience for all the users by updating the website constantly with every action. If you use React for developing the user-interface, your customers don’t have to wait for page reload, as it will impeccably display the updated content.
- Angular – It is also a frontend technology, following the MVC architecture, which helps the developers to focus precisely on creating a responsive interface for all the customers. If you have a shorter time-to-market and require a faster and more receptive interface, you can choose it for sure.
- Cloud Infrastructure – Having cloud, such as AWS and Azure as a backend service can provide multiple benefits. It will allow you to scale up the resources anytime. In addition, utilizing it will eliminate the maintenance cost of an on-premises server, optimizing the company’s budget. Also, you will have the best-in-class security for your online marketplace, ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and availability.
All these are the top development platforms and frameworks you should prefer to craft a cutting-edge business solution.
What makes custom eCommerce Development better than CMS-based solutions
You must be considering why you should develop a custom eCommerce solution when you can configure pre-build platforms according to your need.
| Basis | Custom eCommerce Solution | Pre-Build eCommerce Platform |
| Technology | You can select the tech stack of your choice. | You can only configure the available components. |
| Security | Leverages to implement security controls according to your policies and standards. | Allows implementing security systems accessible on the platform. |
| Third-party integration | Allows integrating as many third-party APIs and plugins. | Can block integration of some third-party elements. |
| Loading Speed | Loads faster | Loading speed is slower in comparison to the custom solution. |
| Bounce Rate | The bounce rate is less | 10 to 15% more bounce rate |
Final Thoughts
Custom eCommerce solutions are becoming highly popular due to their features and advantages.
Every company prefers to craft custom software, as it quickly aligns with their marketing and technical approaches.
In addition, it offers better loading speed, bounce rate, and security in contrast with platforms offering pre-build components.
Besides this, if you have to build an online store, you must consider all the points mentioned above and have a relevant answer before initiating your eCommerce project. And you must always select a well-founded technology for your online marketplace.
About The Author
Jemin Desai is a Technical Product Manager and tech-savvy at Positiwise Software Pvt Ltd, Custom eCommerce Development Company. He has more than 20 years of experience for implementing the latest technologies in designing top-notch products for multiple clients. He can do all with perfection, from market research to feasibility analysis and aligning the project with accurate methodology. By turning his writing hobby into a passion, he’s been providing scholarly articles to various audiences.