The eCommerce app world is incredible. Thanks to its convenience and the benefits it provides, many shopkeepers choose to take their businesses to the next level by creating an online platform. That’s the topic we’ve decided to devote our article to. We’ll go through all the phases of eCommerce software development to figure out the points to factor in.

Everyone must understand that before you actually initiate the designing of a service for your traditional store, it’s essential to draw up a list of features your application shall offer. We’d recommend you to take such an aspect seriously.

Functionalities an e-commerce solution should deliver

Registry

It’s absolutely obvious for a program to give the possibility for users to check in. The audience would appreciate the option to register and log in via diverse social networks, so it would be smart to think through such a means.

Personal profiles

That’s a standard item to implement. Customers’ accounts are vital, since they serve as a source of valuable data on your e-store clients.

Catalog of products & services

People need to know what items are on sale in your online store. Are you delivering services? Then, it’s a good idea to describe to potential customers what exactly you’re happy to offer them.

Feedback

Getting feedback from the users – no matter, if it’s positive or negative – is for you to study your audience in order to better understand their needs. That’s the way to become customized, offering each person individualized proposals. Additionally, when building an e-commerce app, you shall not forget about regular upgrades, and your customers’ feedback is to provide some ideas.

Notifications

It’s a great tool to inform your clients about important nuances. Potential and regular buyers should stay posted on the latest news about your online shop. Push notifications are applied to communicate all discounts and special deals with your people.

Online chats

App owners need to get closer to their users, and the possibility to chat at any time would contribute to such a purpose. Just remember to know the limits, so you won’t annoy your audience.

Searching

The given feature serves to make the platform navigation clearer and simpler to manage. Any person should be able to find the information he or she needs smoothly and quickly. This function is for app owners to express some care for customers.

Filter system

Here’s another secret to better the navigation. Wise filtering tools will help clients enjoy the software more, which will improve people’s online experience as well.

List of previous purchases

People might want to check the history of their orders, so it’s wiser to provide them with such a possibility. It’s not too difficult to arrange, and your persons will appreciate it.

Payment instructions

Money aspects always require special attention and extra security. Don’t give any chances for your users to doubt the service safety. The audience needs to trust you their financial details. Moreover, make sure you offer multiple payment gateways, so each person would choose the option he/she feels safer to go with.

Those enumerated above could be supplemented with other great features for the users to take advantage of the e-shop application. And we shall proceed to the development issue itself.

Stages of online store development

Conducting research

Learning market conditions and main competitors is a must-have. Shopkeepers shall have a clear understanding of who they’re about to confront to win customers’ attention.

Prototype building

Prototyping is required to figure out, whether your platform screens will turn good-looking, as well as functional.

Designing

Make sure you find skillful and experienced mobile app developers to create a user-friendly and intuitive UI for your service.

Developing

In the best-case scenario, store owners hire all kind of developers – Back-end, iOS, and Android. You never know what devices potential buyers would prefer to surf and purchase online, thus, you better be prepared for everything. And each gadget version shall operate smoothly.

QA

Remember to find quality assurance specialists as well, cos they conduct tests of all possible kinds to find bugs or glitches, if any. Those experts shall ensure the trouble-free functioning of your software after its launch.

Releasing

Finally, that stage deserves your time and efforts, since the smart application launch will guaranty half of the program’s success.

Awesome eCommerce platform ideas

The secret of success is the ability to offer the audience one-of-a-kind features. Basic functionalities are critical, however, an online platform must be unique. A few cases mentioned below shall inspire you.

Special Tech Capabilities

Every app needs to find its distinctive functions. For instance, Crutchfield has decided to focus on unique GPS parameters. Service owners managed to apply GPS navigators to calculate in advance expenses for goods delivery. That’s a perfect approach, and both program holders and the customers win.

Picture search

That’s an amazing possibility to find a product with the picture. The application which is proud to provide such a feature is Amazon Remembers. Its extended database of diverse images significantly enhances clients’ online experience.

AR possibilities

eBay has managed to find a new application for the Augmented Reality parameter. While passing by some buildings and pointing cell phones at them, people can see available facilities on sale. Those notifications are truly helpful.

There exist more unique approaches and functions, however, we’d like to discover one more aspect today, so let’s move on.

Costs of e-commerce application development

We cannot ignore the financial issue.

To hire expert IT programmers, one shall take a close look at their skills and experience. You could get in touch with their previous clients to get feedback from the source. The location of the development team is one more point to consider, since price rates vary considerably based on the geography of professionals.

Moreover, it’s wiser to hire a specific development organization, rather than freelancers. On the other hand, such companies will ask for higher fees.

Costs on the development of any online platform depend on the number of hours required to build it. We have decided to make approximate calculations for each development stage:

• Interface design takes about 100-150 hours;

• Platform development needs up to 500-700 hours;

• Back-end development requires around 350-450 hours;

• Quality assurance uses about 200 hours;

• Project management takes up to 200 hours.

Such time calculations will help you determine your rough budget, however, having sophisticated requirements for a future eCommerce project might demand longer hours on each phase.

We tried to present everything you need to know for designing a successful e-store application to contribute to your traditional shop growth.

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