Have you finally decided to take a plunge in the gratifying world of eCommerce development? In case you have finally decided to carry out your business online, significantly cut the costs and enjoy the benefits of vigorous and upbeat market, here are the 5 things that you must consider before getting your eCommerce website developed.
These 5 factors will help you make a better and well informed decision with regards to your eCommerce website. Do note that this list is not the complete set of features which you need to consider, as developing an eCommerce portal could be pretty grueling and exhausting. However, these 5 factors will help you organize the efforts and make a well informed choice. Kindly read ahead to know more:
What is the choice of the platform?
The most important decision which you will make in the process of developing an eCommerce website is the choice of the platform. Of course choosing the wrong platform is not the end of the world, and you can always switch, but isn't that what they say about choosing the life partner as well? Sure you can switch later on, but all the upheaval and the hassles, are you really up for it?
Discuss with your team what exactly you would want in your platform - the features and the functionalities, its scope and utility etc. Besides, it is a good idea to go with a platform that offers enough room for expansion and has an active community of developers contributing for the same. Various other factors also have an impact on the choice of the eCommerce platform, and we shall cover some of them below in the article.
What are you selling?
Products matter a lot in the eCommerce frontier and the choice of a product can completely change the decision of the platform. For instance, selling online software, which are electronically deliverable is a lot simpler and less exhaustive than selling apparels or accessories etc. Depending upon the choice of product, you may require your eCommerce website to have certain specific features such as easy navigation, multiple images per product, shipping, endorsements and marketing etc.
Consider your marketing initiatives?
Online shopping is all about deals and discount coupons and lay offs and what not. It is one of the leading factors which make online shopping so much popular and and enjoyable experience. Thus, discuss with your marketing team and your tech expert. Understand all the innovative and out of the box ways in which you may lure in more customers and also have the tech expert telling you whether such a development is technically feasible or not.
Have you considered the payment options and the taxes?
Online shoppers prefer a list of payment option while shopping online. Various popular payment options include payments through credit cards, debit cards, cash on delivery, bank transfers etc. You need to decide what all payments options are you ready to offer to your consumers. Also, you need to decide whether the payments option would be integrated with the platform or you require a third party payment system.
Taxes are another consideration here. Either you can manage the taxes in the back end and offer a fixed amount to your shoppers, or you can use a third party system, like Strikelon to compute the tax conforming to the latest tax guidelines and principles.
Consider also the shipping options
Just like the taxes, you should also consider the shipping and costs related to it. A lot of online stores offer free shipping to their customers, although we all know nothing in the business world is for free. You need to know whether you want to deploy a third party system like FedEx, UPS or USPS, which offers real time computing of the shipping charges or have the shipping charges integrated with the platform. Thankfully, a lot of eCommerce development platforms have an integrated feature of shipping etc, and hence, yet again the choice of platform matters here.
Of course, we have only covered the top 5 considerations and you may want to have other features intact in your online portal, such as inventory management and a lot more. Dedicate ample amount of time while planning your eCommerce website, work closely with tech experts and management team and come out with a solution which you would rather cherish than resent in the long run.
