Web Development After 18+ Years: In E-commerce (PART2)

Web Development Part 1, We wrote about the worrying trend to use shady practices, aka ‘Dark Patterns‘ to succeed online – tricking the users into doing things you want them to do, using a growing range of ‘not okay’ tricks.

Web Development Part 2, We shall be touching upon seven lessons in eCommerce web development, some simple, some obvious, and some valuable learnings after making 2000+ websites in our 18+ years as the most affordable eCommerce website development company of helping our clients succeed online.

So let’s start with our seven lessons in eCommerce Web Development mentioned in a simple form.

Lesson #1: Nothing Ever Stays Still in Web Development

Take this with a pinch of salt. It is most surface-related stuff. One of the present web design trends in web development is to have most content ‘below the fold’ instead of ‘above the fold’, mainly because internet speeds have increased manifold as years have passed.

So eCommerce web development solutions providers and web designers tend to keep users scrolling and scrolling for more content.

Methinks the basics still hold: Have your most important message, often the most critical benefit statement about the current web page, in ‘above the fold,’ albeit in a condensed style.

Further brings me to a related point in lesson #2

Lesson #2: Somethings Never Change in Web Development

In content, you should still be quick and precise about your messaging.

It would be best if you still were user-focused in design, not on what your Web developers & designers of your eCommerce store development company think would look ‘cool’ and always mentions this to incorporate by eCommerce Web Development company.

In coding, you should still be quick with your MVP (Minimum Viable Product), and through iterations, the site/app is fine-tuned. Web developers do not need to be singing about taking their time to code when so much working code is already around; WordPress + Woocommerce, anyone?

Insecurity, your eCommerce web development company, should follow all the best practices right from the word ‘launch.’

Lesson #3: Constant and Open Communication Always

The eCommerce mobile app and web development services we provide always make it the primary task to start a Project update sheet in Google sheet for every project as soon as the client says ‘Go!’.

We don’t aim to surprise the client with some excellent new idea or experiment—no big reveal.

Throughout the web design and development process, channels are open and busy during our eCommerce website development process. Every nut and bolt combo is in front, sitting snugly in a cell on the sheet. We will never forget it is a ‘colored boxes and links’ project.

Other web development agencies may do a lot of songs and dance about being ‘edgy,’ ‘maximum people,’ and all that self – congratulatory stuff, but not us.

We are pure nuts, bolts, and scope people.

In our eCommerce web development company, whenever one of our people comes up with a bold new idea, we put that idea into a scenario that works for the client, and then we talk with the client. If they are convinced and things are put into a spreadsheet cell, we go ahead.

Lesson #4: Your Website/App is Only Half (or Less Than Half) of the Job

Your sales and marketing efforts, aka ‘business development’ in b-school jargon, aka ‘guerilla marketing’ in the small business world, or aka ‘growth hacks’ in the tech startup world, will matter more than anything.

As someone said in a favorite movie of mine, ‘It is a jungle out there!’.

If you thought you would make a ‘cool’ website/app through eCommerce web development, which will be the first chapter in a glorious story, you may be right in thinking so only if you work at building a business.

Lesson #5: Don’t Try to Compete with the Big Online Guns on Price (aka ‘Find your Sauce’)

You cannot outprice Amazon.com or any leading eCommerce website in your chosen field. On the other hand, you would be lucky if you found an untapped lode of competitive product pricing.

Most of the non-Amazon successes have been built by online brands that focus on creating a unique brand and following – examples like Bonobos (colorful pants), Zappos (late CEO’s personality and enthusiasm), Warby Parker (untapped potential of cheap glasses outpricing the reigning behemoth in the eyewear field), and so on.

Ask yourself: What is your special sauce?

You will not have the answer to this question of all questions just after eCommerce web development, but you will take your time. And if the universe demands it, you will find your ‘secret sauce.

Also, Read 10 Prominent reasons why your business needs an eCommerce App

Lesson #6: You Cannot Know Everything in Web Development

Well, you needed help with creating your particular corner on the internet, and so we met as your eCommerce website development company, and magic followed (:-)) Likewise, with other aspects related to the demanding, evolving, and constantly churning online business.

You will need help with the following:

•  Marketing.
•  Packaging.
•  Shipping.
•  Finding that ‘special sauce’ (see Lesson #5 above).
• Handling Packaging With.
• You will need help. (Or, maybe you are that all-in-one- internet genius everyone has been waiting for!)

Since you cannot know everything, it also follows that you will need an open mind, most notably towards the direction you have planned your business to go.

Sometimes, some websites have successfully changed direction when things don’t go to plan.

Twitter famously started as Odeo, a podcasting platform.

The founders of one of the best platforms for eCommerce website development, Shopify, originally started out building an online snowboard equipment store called Snowdevil.

A successful pivot focuses on what is working and doubles down on it.
Your eCommerce store might have wanted to sell mobile phones, but you find more people searching for a particular kind of screen cover than anything else. Why not use eCommerce website development to launch a branded chain of screen covers?

Pivoting allows you to cut your losses and forces you to focus on areas of your business that are bringing in more money than others.

Lessons #7: Keep Everything Simple with Web Development

After working in this industry for more than 18 years as the leading web development and eCommerce development company, we believe that the idea of a business website is to:

1. Showcase your products and services.

2. To connect with users who are most likely to become your customers.

3. To stay in touch with your customers.

Every business decision revolves around this simple concept. This is all there is that will guide your plans and lines of attack in the online arena. Thus the idea of keeping everything simple starts with never forgetting the basics of business.

You don’t need any ‘sexy’ design.

You don’t need false taglines and slogans. We are all drowning in worthless, empty words!

So, no complicated stuff. As an eCommerce development company, we believe what works for our clients is a minimal, mobile-first design, a subtle and matching colour scheme and an easy to understand page layout (aka template).

Make sure your customers get what they need as quickly as the sea breeze.
Remember, it is not the best design.

It is the best design that works for your customers.

Editors’ note: This article is part of a series on the trends shaping the web development industry. You can find all the themes of this series in the links given below:

Web Development After 18+ Years (Part 1): Don’t Make Dark Patterns

Web Development After 18+ Years : Secrets Of A Website(PART3)