There are about 12 to 24 million active ecommerce sites in the digital world. This means a huge rivalry and a chance to get lost in the messy market.

The key to stand out is a secure and appealing ecommerce website.

E-commerce website development is a technical process that involves how the website performs, its security, the appealing design, the payments, and the user-friendliness of the website.

Back in 2022, the value of a website development company was about 11 billion dollars, and now it is double, opening the gates to a new potential for owners of startups and SMEs to launch user-friendly, secured, and well-designed websites.

In this blog, you will explore ecommerce website development and how to make one.

Let’s get in!

 

What are the choices in e-commerce website development?

There are three options for e-commerce website development. Let’s discuss each:

Develop it from scratch:

Open-source e-commerce platforms are best for building your website from the beginning with minimal to no modifications, but remember web hosting, security concerns, PCI compliance, and manual patch updates.

 

SaaS Solution Customisation:

If you lack the expertise to build a website from the start, SaaS e-commerce is the best option because it is a subscription-based model. Third-party developers maintain the website, which is hosted on the cloud. SaaS allows the lease of the platform, while the party who provides the platform is responsible for product updates, hosting, security, PCI compliance, and all other things in software management. BigCommerce is a big example.

 

MACH (Microservices, API-First, Cloud-Native, and Headless):

An architectural framework or set of technology principles for developing software as per business needs. It has four parts. The first microservices, small services that take a particular action, combine to make a website. They are alone built, updated, set up, and managed, and each one applies separate coding. Second is the API first, which means the website is built with API the very first. Third, Cloud natives use all SaaS tech and cloud skills to upkeep and track the tech and license it via subscription services. The last one is the Headless, which separates the look and feel of a website from its ecommerce functions in the backend for better flexibility and multiple channel integration when making the UI.

 

How can you pick the most appropriate development for your ecommerce website development?

Now look at how you can build a strong ecommerce website with full confidence by hiring the right team.

Overview of multiple development strengths: Some excel at front-end skills, while others excel at back-end skills. So pick those who excel at both or hire two teams on the front and back end. Normally, developers are focused on being skilled in either backend or frontend.

Understand your goals before hiring: Before choosing a developer to outsource the project, you need to learn what you really want from your ecommerce website and what talents are required to build a website per your demands. For example, you want to use an open-source framework or a SaaS platform; if you open-source one, then an end developer is best, and if you use a SaaS platform, you need a frontend skill at first, along with someone familiar with making APIs.

 

What functionality can you take into consideration when developing an e-commerce website?

In your ecommerce website development, there are certain vital functionalities you need to keep in view, which all rely on your unique business needs and the model you opt for.

First, you need to make a list of features that are dependable upon the goals you set for your e-commerce website and in close line with your customer lifecycle. For instance, an SME won’t need multiple currencies, but for cross-border retailers, this is just a feature.

You can determine which shopping cart features it needs to perform from more important (generic) to less important (specific)

First, make a list of basic features like marketplace integration and preferred payment gateways,

You can add extra features like a calculator for managing sales tax and shipping rates.

Then you make those features that are not essential but improve the client purchasing process and rate each from 1 to 5, with 1 being the most important feature for improving sales and 5 being the add-on features that can make day-to-day website performance efficient for both buyers and sellers.

 

Responsive design

As per the Statista, the retail sales from m-commerce in the UK are exceed the 100 billion British pounds by 2025.

You need a website that is responsive and user-friendly on mobiles, so make sure to build a website that gives the best UI and UX to users on both desktop and mobile.

 

SEO skills

If your website is SEO optimised or designed to fulfil the SEO guidelines, it will rank well; otherwise, it will not.

You need to build a website that is well–optimised for SEO, conduct proper keyword research per the user’s intent, and The pages must be structured in a hierarchical manner and use a flat site architecture with clear navigation design.

 

Site Speed

According to Google, the chance of bouncing back heightens when a website loads for more than a single second.

Also, quick-loading sites are a main part of SEO as part of the technical side, and Google uses site speed as a ranking factor.

So, once you hire a decent website design company for your e-commerce website, development will craft a fully-functional and user-friendly website and fulfil all SEO guidelines necessary to develop ecommerce websites to rank higher on SERPs.

 

CMS

Content management is a must for any ecommerce store. It centralises all content into one place, like web copies, blog posts, and visuals used in content management.

With a strong CMS, you can add or remove any content, and those changes can automatically show on the ecommerce site. Thus, you can keep updating your site with new content.

 

Product Management

A common feature in retail online stores is product management, where you can add, delete, manage, and keep track of the product inventory. Sometimes, you can add a discount for a promotion or even a shipping discount during a certain time period.

 

Payments and Checkout

PayPal, mobile wallets, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and the debit credit system are the norm, so it won’t work if you offer only a single payment method. Multiple clients in your niche have multiple options to buy the product, so having all sorts of payment methods is great for your ecommerce website development.

In fact, the more options you provide, the more flexible and smooth option client will have and the more the client will spend.

 

Security

Ecommerce website development is about the ins and outs of transactions in the online store. Before making a purchase, the person signs up and puts in personal data, which is extremely sensitive. The ongoing huge number of transactions is active by multiple clients, so all these need to be secured from scammers or hackers who could ever imagine hacking or stealing.

PCI compliance standards for credit card payment management and SSL certificates to assure the client that their transaction is safe are smart approaches to building strong protection on the e-commerce website.

 

Integration

No ecommerce website comes with everything already built in. You must ensure that your ecommerce website is eligible enough to allow integration from other sources.

Most businesses have multiple systems for their internal operations, and they need to integrate these with each other, such as OMS, ERP, CRM, or PIM, so that everything works in balance and is connected.

Also, you need to connect your site with multiple external platforms, like social media channels or your SEO tools, to gauge your website performance in SEO terms and also want to incorporate social sharing options for sharing posts on social media and social feeds on your X, or Facebook feeds on your website?

 

6 Stages For Custom Ecommerce Website Development

As discussed, there are three options in e-commerce website development; rather than only starting one from scratch, the other options allow the use of minimal or no code to build a website. You can choose the one that fits your business needs.

Here are the basic factors to consider when opting for ecommerce website development.

 

What are your goals?

First of all, ensure that you want a website for direct-to-client sales or as an avenue. Are your clients general people or businesses?  In the future, you will either want to serve locally or expand internationally.  You want to build an ecommerce website as a retailer or a business brand. What industry you cater to also helps you design the structure of the website? What is the number of items you want to put on your website?

 

Understand your aim audience buying experience

What sort of shopping experience do you wish to deliver to the clients? You may want to build a filter by researching options like sise, colours, and price with side-by-side product comparison, or you may want to build a website with rich images from multiple angles, product videos, and detailed descriptions with a wish list or favourites list for later consideration. Learn your audience’s behaviour to give them a simple and quick experience.

 

Discuss platform options

As discussed, choose the platform you want: SaaS ecommerce, a building from scratch, or a MACH. Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify or Shopify Plus, and WooCommerce. Some wholesalers with content-heavy websites prefer WordPress, while others build from scratch.

 

Add products

Make sure to add HD images and, if possible, provide a video as guidance on how to use the product or a long page visual with a detailed product description and as per the alignment of where to put product title, quantity, images, and description along with offering recommendations at the bottom of the related product.

 

Set payment and shipping situations

A skilled website developer can help integrate shipping carts, checks, and payment gateways into a website. Integrating these gateways is necessary and challenging, and a certified developer can do that.

 

QA and launch website

Now, take your website from production to an MVP launch to assess how the website can perform and rectify the errors with feedback. You can review CTA, tile, homepages, and landing pages, double-check the payment process, ensure all images are of HD quality, make sure your tax setting is accurate, check all link works well, and ensure your inventory options work well.

And at last, ensure that your website displays and performs well on both desktop and website.

 

Conclusion

Launching an ecommerce website is a hefty job that pressures you to get help from experts from Sky Potential US.

So get the best ecommerce website development services from the best website design company in the UK.

Our software house in the UK is best for all sorts of app, website, and software development needs.

Our UK IT services provider will convert your website vision into reality within the timeline.

Contact us!