E-commerce development. What’s your idea about the whole process of ideating an online product-selling website and making it live on the web? At the back of your mind, you might be thinking of readily customizable platforms like Magento and WooCommerce. Just fill in the content, set payment options, and you are good to go. Right?

Well, this is only partially true when we talk about e-commerce website development. There is an advanced thought process that goes into making such ideas a reality. To begin with, you need to define user experiences and product value in the market based on current trends.

Now, why should you know the different stages of the development process from start to finish? Anyway, you will be hiring top developers to do everything for you. Possessing basic knowledge will help you to get clarity on what you should expect in the end product. You can also proactively engage with the development team and offer valuable inputs whenever required.

So read the blog further to understand the six important stages leading to a fully-functional e-commerce website.

Research and Strategy

Sufficient and relevant research is necessary before you even think of starting the development process. UI/UX is a key aspect and it should be extremely user-friendly.

On the other hand, business owners should delve into other aspects like product quality, required capital, competitors, and other related things. The below graph depicts research done on the barriers to e-commerce growth.

Image copyright: MarketingSherpa

This will help to estimate the round figure of users and determine the breakthrough keywords by which the audience will explore your e-commerce website development company. This is the most efficient way to fascinate more right users rather than expending money on marketing strategies.

Website Outline

It’s one of the crucial stages of e-commerce development. This includes considering all the big and small aspects of your dream e-commerce website.

The best way to get through this step successfully is to consider yourself a user. Now think about what you will expect when shopping online. There’s no need to rush. List down each and everything that comes to your mind. Also, visualize where you would like to see those things as soon as the website loads on your screen. Once this is clear, think about the content on the webpages. This will give you an idea of what should be added to convince your users.

This is how your website should look like in the end.

Structured Framework

By structured framework, I mean that everything should be organized systematically so that users can find what they want easily. Nevertheless, potential customers generally tend to make their decisions based on product information. If your product description and images answer their questions, then there is a high probability that they will proceed to checkout soon.

Website Designing

This stage involves the creation of a graphic representation of your e-commerce website. You will need to harness your creativity and showcase it through animations for the display of detailed information regarding your e-commerce company and product.

The designers will design the prospector of your company. These templates will reflect the company’s agenda, strategy, principles, and products. It will also cover e-commerce website development services that the company offers to its users. Try to be more creative in the product landing pages instead of just stuffing them with lengthy content.

In this sample product landing page, a visitor gets every type of information at a glance. The product details, how it works, its benefits, and much more.

Construction of Website

After planning and designing the website to your satisfaction, it is to be constructed. Construction is the process of taking the design and creating the actual website.

This is the point when the actual development work gains momentum. It includes user, server-side applications such as CGI scripts and the incorporation of third-party tools and solutions. They work on the accessibility of your e-commerce website.

Whenever you hire website developers, make sure that they have a good working knowledge of HTML and using different products such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage. The codes that they write should be clean and contain the least amount of bugs.

Just take care of these things and the construction process should work fine.

Migration and Final Launch

You are now in the last stage of e-commerce website development. The site will be shifted from the development server to where it will be hosted. Before going live, ensure that all the QA checks are completed and the bug-fixing is done properly. Don’t forget to verify the contents of your website, especially the product-related information. Taking care of minor things and fixing them instantly is a leadership quality. It will increase the chances of your success multi-fold.

Follow Your Path to Success

There is no defined blueprint for success. The steps shared in this article is to give you an overview of how e-commerce development works in the real world. So put in your best while following the best practices and you will move closer towards success with every step.