Development of an online store for an eCommerce project. Everything you need to know about developing a successful online store and high online sales.

 

Composition of a text article

  • Introduction
  • Marketing and research for eCommerce entry
  • The role of an online store in eCommerce projects
  • The beginning of the development of an online store
  • Functional part of the online store
  • External services for eCommerce online store
  • Online store architecture
  • eCommerce project architecture and omnichannel
  • 1C and accounting systems for an online store and an eCommerce project
  • Promotion and advertising of an online store
  • The Role of SEO for an Online Store
  • Online store prototype
  • The role of design for an online store
  • Which CMS to choose for managing an online store?
  • What to choose to manage an online store, CMS or TILDA?
  • What to choose to manage an online store, CMS or framework?
  • Online store automation: analytics of competitors and suppliers, automatic price management
  • Development of an online store as an eCommerce project
  • Development of terms of reference for an online store and eCommerce project
  • Conclusion and general provisions

 

 

A unique material that most fully and clearly describes all the stages of work on the development of an online store in an eCommerce project.

If you don’t know where to start developing an online store or what to pay attention to when preparing work, then this article is especially for you!

The material on developing an online store will be useful for both beginners and experienced eCommerce specialists.

If you need to develop an online store or expand an existing project, contact us at VIMS!

 

Marketing and research for eCommerce entry

An eCommerce project starts with market research.

Before starting work with an eCommerce project, it is necessary to analyze the market, competition, competitors, sales channels, advertising channels, target audience, budgets, and other "available numbers" because. these studies will form the total amount of mandatory investments, the scale of the project, as well as the activity of the company.

 

 

In some cases, even at the stage of initial assessment of the target audience, market, competitors, sales channels and internal resources of the company, it can be concluded whether the company should count on a successful eCommerce project and whether it is worth investing in it at all.

An eCommerce project is associated with constant investments in development, expansion, control and promotion, therefore, with insufficient resources, investments and activity on the part of the company, eCommerce can turn into an “online store” with low traffic, which, of course, cannot even recoup the costs for their own development.

On the basis of marketing research data, it is possible to formulate a concept, the general composition of the project, a plan for going online, a service, additional functionality, a budget for advertising, promotion, development, project growth, design, etc.

Marketing analytics and research are the foundation when starting an eCommerce project.

For an online store, marketing analysis will make it possible to determine not only investments and resources, but also the necessary content and functional composition of the website, the structure of information presentation, USP, pricing policy, additional services, budget for development, advertising, promotion and much more.

 

Quick launch of an online store and work without marketing

Today, as you can see, a fairly large number of online stores appear, this is due to the understandable desire of companies to easily make money on online sales.

Also, an additional trigger for creating your own online store was the seductive availability of inexpensive ready-made solutions based on templates or the low cost of development, for example, through freelance, which “guaranteed a quick entry”.

As practice shows, companies moving along the path of cheap and template solutions usually create inefficient projects for several reasons:

  • impulsive launch and lack of a plan;
  • no launch budget;
  • no understanding of the project;
  • no technological knowledge;
  • no professional management;
  • incorrect operation of the online store and technical problems;
  • confusing structure of the online store;
  • information has not been worked out or is missing;
  • poor design that repels the user;
  • no budget for promotion and advertising;
  • no budget for improvements and development;
  • high competition.

Separately, it is worth highlighting the competition, because. with an insufficient budget, the project becomes “invisible” in the general mass of other online stores, and therefore will not be effective and even burdensome for the company.

Therefore, involvement in the project, understanding of investments, scope of work, advertising budget, directly affect a successful eCommerce project, all this data is provided by marketing analytics and marketing research.

 

An example of an inefficient online store (a real example, the name has been changed)

Company A is a small regional manufacturer of plastic windows and has acquired several fairly successful offline points (salons) in two years of operation.

Since the salons are doing quite well, the company decides to attract additional customers through the Internet and enter online sales.

Due to the fact that the effectiveness of online channels for the company's management is not yet clear, the company decides to move along the path of a "cheap" online store and a small advertising budget, as part of an experiment.

The basis is a ready-made online store based on a template, which is accompanied by a small advertising budget in Yandex.

After several months of the company's work in the field of online sales and even a situational increase in the advertising budget, there is no result.

 

Identifying project issues

  • impulsive entry;
  • no project base;
  • no analytics;
  • ignorance of the eCommerce market;
  • insufficient advertising budget compared to competitors;
  • incorrectly selected advertising channels;
  • non-competitive website (the functionality of the website does not allow the user to interact with the calculation and the catalog, as well as obtain the necessary additional information);
  • information on the website does not disclose the advantages of the company and products;
  • bad design;
  • some template blocks were disabled due to their irrelevance, the absence of blocks created voids in the website design;
  • the price of products on the website is not relevant, because. there is no automatic price change, and manual adjustment is impossible due to the large assortment;
  • the website has poor mobile adaptation.

The result is a loss of investment and time.

 

Solving Company A's Problem

  • competitor analysis;
  • analysis of web resources;
  • analysis of the functional and content part;
  • analysis of sales channels;
  • analysis of advertising channels;
  • development of project architecture;
  • preparation of the project budget in the direction of development and advertising;
  • organization of a pool of responsible persons for project management;
  • development of an online store for the tasks and business processes of the company;
  • integration with 1C and production;
  • implementation of external services;
  • launch of advertising campaigns;
  • work on the behavioral factor and sales.

The result is a working eCommerce solution that brings profit to the company, ready for expansion and development.

 

 

The role of an online store in eCommerce projects

eCommerce projects — e-commerce projects — company activities aimed at making a profit through various online services and online sales channels.

An eCommerce project can consist of a single sales channel, for example, an online store or marketplace, or a whole group of combined channels, such as an online store, product landing pages, social networks, marketplaces, external trading platforms, mobile applications, mailing list services, instant messengers, affiliate networks, collaborations, advertising and much more.

 

 

In the structure of an eCommerce project, an online store, as a rule, plays a basic role, since it is the most informational, functional and massive channel for communication and online sales, the entire e-commerce infrastructure of a company can be built around or pass through an online store.

Inside the online store, there can be any additional functionality that is not available for other websites, for example, a personal account, a gift certificate, analogues, personal discounts, bonuses, etc.

It is on the website that the client can form an opinion about the company and comprehensively obtain all the necessary information about products, services, assortment, availability, analogues, delivery, discounts, promotions, documents, contacts, partners, reviews and much more.

An online store is relatively easy to promote and attract new traffic through advertising, media, newsletters, social networks, SEO, etc.

In terms of functionality, only a mobile application can be compared with an online store, but the application is practically devoid of any mass promotion tools, that is, in order for the client to receive the company's assortment, the application needs to be downloaded, installed and registered, and the company will have to advertise and promote a non-specific product , as an application that will increase your advertising budget on the way to the necessary sales.

In the structure of an eCommerce project, the application is an additional sales and communication channel, and application users can already be segmented as a loyal audience.

It is fair to say that some eCommerce projects may not have an online store, for example, if the company's business model is focused on marketplaces as the main online sales channels. But, our statistics show that with the growth of business and sales, the store is implemented at the next stage in the eCommerce project.

 

Several advantages of an online store for an eCommerce project

Collection of customer base

Passing customers through the website, you communicate with everyone, thereby forming your own customer base, which can positively influence further online sales, for example, through mail and sms mailing lists or retargeting advertising.

It is worth adding that such processing and detailing of customers is impossible when working on marketplaces.

Easy accessibility in search

The online store is available in any search engine and does not have authorization and technical restrictions for visiting and obtaining information by the user.

Return to purchase and "abandoned cart"

On the website, you can “process” the abandoned cart by the client, thereby returning him to continue shopping and increasing the overall conversion.

Unlimited opportunities for the development of the functional part and additional sales

You can refine and develop an online store in any direction, directly for your own business tasks, adding the necessary functionality, such as gift certificates, delivery tracking, pricing policy automation, personal accounts, a loyalty program and much more.

No other website that is part of the eCommerce project allows you to change the sales approach and segment customers as flexibly as the website.

It is the possibility of expanding the resource, the introduction of unique marketing tools that distinguishes an eCommerce project from a typical online store.

Customer behavior on the website

Using the website as a sales channel, you can influence the behavior of the client within the website, thereby increasing sales.

Advertising opportunities of the online store

An online store makes it possible to create and launch effective multi-component advertising campaigns from various search engines, media, social networks, etc.

Formation of a positive customer opinion

The website can form the client's opinion about the company by means of design, functionality and service.

Convenient payment

The online store makes it possible to pay for the goods in a convenient way for the client.

 

Order the development of your online store in VIMS!

 

The beginning of the development of an online store

In order to start developing an online store for an eCommerce project, you need to decide on the concept, format, design, functionality and suggest a possible budget for the development, development and support of the future resource.

Also, you need to decide what role the online store will play in the overall eCommerce infrastructure and how ambitious the project is in general.

The most common mistake that a customer company can make when applying for the development of an online store for an eCommerce project is the desire to immediately repeat the large-scale developments of its larger competitors.

It is important to understand that even large projects of competitors grew gradually and consistently, huge financial, human and time resources were invested in them, and repeating them as part of the first step is a rather expensive event for which almost no customer is ready, so such projects, as a rule, cease be relevant for the customer company at the evaluation stage.

We recommend that you consider developing an eCommerce project or an online store from the MVP version.

 

 

MVP is the minimum working version of the project, this approach does not burden the customer company financially, and further refinement takes place in successive stages according to a convenient and understandable methodology.

 

Order the development of your online store in VIMS!

 

Functional part of the online store

The functional part of an online store is a set of all options and tools that a user interacts with in order to obtain the necessary information and make a purchase.

The functional part of the online store directly affects the design, layout of materials, information delivery, infrastructure, sales and additional services. sales, therefore, it is necessary to determine the primary necessary functionality of the store on your own at the stage of planning and “internal” design of the resource, this information will guide the developer in the project.

We recommend that our clients independently create a primary list of necessary functional elements for an online store that may be in demand by the target audience or have a positive effect on online sales.

In the future, when designing an online store with the participation of our team, we will supplement or simplify the functionality pool, and then we will offer an actual project with a clear composition.

Examples of functional elements of an online store:

  • slider and slidebars;
  • menu of different levels;
  • website and catalog navigation;
  • Search;
  • product filters;
  • feedback form;
  • online chat;
  • gallery;
  • output of product information;
  • price;
  • availability;
  • rating;
  • stock;
  • discounts;
  • registration forms;
  • personal area;
  • bonus program;
  • gift certificates;
  • basket;
  • online payment and payment options;
  • delivery and tracking of the purchase;
  • output of information from external resources and accounting systems;
  • connection with social networks;
  • RSS;
  • forum;
  • reviews;
  • additional language versions;
  • animation;
  • automatic price management and pricing policy formation;
  • referral and affiliate program;
  • storage of text and graphic data.

The functional part of an online store can affect the architecture and infrastructure of the entire eCommerce project.

After forming a pool of necessary functional elements, you can proceed to the next stage — architecture.

Case study on the development of gift certificates

 

Order the development of your online store in VIMS!

 

External services for an online store in eCommerce

External services are services, applications and extensions from third-party developers with the necessary trading and marketing functionality to build successful online sales and communication with a client for an online store and the entire eCommerce project.

When entering an eCommerce project, it is important to consider and analyze external services that are relevant for the successful operation of a particular online store.

External services make it possible to avoid developing part of the functionality, which, in turn, will save money and speed up the launch of an online store.

 

 

The definition of external services for an online store and, in general, an eCommerce project is necessary to form a development budget.

As a rule, external services are available for purchase or by subscription.

Examples of external services for an online store:

  • online payment;
  • banking services;
  • online and SMS mailing services;
  • online chat;
  • cards;
  • gift certificate module;
  • delivery;
  • bonus system;
  • competitor price analytics and automatic price management;
  • etc.

Development of integrations for an online store and a web project

 

Order the development of your online store and additional functionality in VIMS!

 

Online store architecture

The architecture of an online store is the structure for placing information on a website.

Website architecture focuses on how different pages relate to each other and how content, attachments, and apps are displayed for an optimal user experience.

With the right architecture, an online store is convenient and intuitive for the user, and therefore works to increase sales.

 

 

Incorrect store architecture leads to a decrease in the behavioral factor, a large number of bounces, a drain on the advertising budget, and, accordingly, to a lack of online sales.

The architecture of an online store is directly related to user behavior and engagement.

An intricate architecture will not allow a website visitor to quickly and conveniently get information, make a purchase or some other conversion action, since the user most likely will not understand the features of the website and will go to competitors.

Website architecture elements:

  • main page;
  • slidebars;
  • main and secondary menu;
  • directories;
  • navigation and links;
  • secondary pages;
  • product page;
  • promotions and discounts;
  • analogues and dopas;
  • reviews;
  • graphic materials;
  • contacts and feedback forms;
  • attachments of materials (for example, PDF and documentation);
  • "bread crumbs";
  • personal area;
  • website functionality (search, forms, analogues, additional steps, price, availability, filtering, calculators, etc.);
  • SEO and description;
  • URLs.

With the right architecture of the online store, all information will be available and understandable to the user.

 

Order the development of an online store in VIMS!

 

eCommerce project architecture

The architecture of an eCommerce project is the interconnectedness and data exchange of all elements of the structure and infrastructure of a company's online sales, such as: IT infrastructure, accounting systems and 1C, PIM, online stores, landing pages, applications, marketplaces, social networks, partnerships and referrals. programs, additional modules, gift certificates, loyalty program, mailing lists and everything that is included in the company's eCommerce project.

The architecture is the basis for the quality functioning, management and further expansion of the eCommerce project, so any errors should be excluded when building the architecture.

A properly built architecture allows you to easily and effectively manage a project, expand and supplement it with both new functionality and additional online sales channels.

Incorrect architecture, on the contrary, can make the project costly and difficult to manage and expand, as well as completely stop online sales indefinitely, until architectural and infrastructure errors are corrected.

When designing the architecture of an eCommerce project, not only the commercial tasks of the company at a particular moment, but also plans for further development are taken into account.

The eCommerce project is based on a company accounting system, for example, 1C. The accounting system is the source of information for all sales channels.

 

 

Sales channels, such as an online store, application or marketplace, receive information about price, availability, discounts, dimensions, promotions, and so on from the accounting system. Therefore, the implementation and configuration of the accounting system, the establishment of the nomenclature, the implementation of various downloads and integrations should be carried out as correctly and professionally as possible, so that when expanding the eCommerce project with new channels and functions, there will be no problems with obtaining and exchanging information.

eCommerce project elements:

  • servers and it-infrastructure;
  • 1C or other accounting system;
  • PIM system;
  • online store;
  • product landings;
  • mobile applications;
  • marketplaces;
  • social media;
  • affiliate program;
  • referral program;
  • loyalty program;
  • bonus system;
  • gift certificates;
  • abandoned cart;
  • calculation;
  • mailing services;
  • advertising;
  • CRM.

 

Omnichannel in an eCommerce project and its impact on architecture

A distinctive feature of the eCommerce project is its omnichannel nature.

Omnichannel is required for continuous and seamless communication between the company and the client. The information received by the user from the brand, from any channel — a website, landing page, mobile application, mailing list or advertising, must be personalized and targeted at a specific user.

 

 

Also, omnichannel allows the user to move seamlessly between the company's sales channels, without changing the terms of purchase, price, cooperation, bonus account, etc.

The omnichannel approach is necessarily taken into account in the overall architecture of the eCommerce project, if such an approach is relevant for the company at the moment or in the future.

 

Let's build the architecture of your eCommerce project!

 

1C and accounting systems for an online store and an eCommerce project

An accounting system is a product for automating and accounting an enterprise, incl. and e-commerce activities.

The accounting system is the basis for both general accounting of the company and for building an e-commerce and online sales project.

Today in Russia there is a fairly wide range of accounting systems from various companies, but the most common are 1C software products.

 

 

It must be understood that online sales are the same sales of a company, but carried out through various online channels and services, which means that the introduction or expansion of an accounting system for online trading should be carried out as professionally as possible, taking into account the specifics and business processes of the company, this is done in order to avoid all possible problems in the future related to the provision of information to the user, general accounting, availability, profit, markup, taxes, etc.

In e-commerce projects from 1C (or another accounting system), the following is built:

  • the structure of the product catalog in sales channels;
  • product description;
  • product characteristics;
  • the composition of the goods;
  • graphic demonstration of goods;
  • the price of the product;
  • the price of assembling goods from elements;
  • calculation;
  • accounting for the consumption of materials;
  • margin and cost;
  • discounts for goods and groups of goods;
  • information about promotions and sales;
  • balance and quantity of goods;
  • groups of analogues;
  • groups of additional goods;
  • operation of external modules and services (for example, gift certificates);
  • shipping costs and shipping rules.

The above parameters of information transmitted from the accounting system to the online store and back may differ depending on the specifics of the eCommerce project, BUT the main thing is the presence of a mandatory and high-quality two-way exchange between the accounting system, the online store and other online sales channels.

 

If you need professional implementation, setup or integration of 1C for an online store, website and work with e-commerce — contact VIMS — we will help!

 

Promotion and advertising of an online store

When a company decides to work in the field of eCommerce, the most important criterion for successful online sales is not only the presence of an online store and other channels, but also the promotion of the project.

 

* Пример рекламы в Яндекс

 

Promotion is directly related to the budget, so at the planning stage of an eCommerce project, it is necessary to make a preliminary assessment of the effective promotion, this is necessary in order to form the amount of investment and put them into the project.

The main objective of an advertising campaign is to create reach and attract the maximum number of potential buyers to the website for a minimum budget.

It's important to add that the "minimum budget" is not the amount a company is "willing" to spend on advertising, the minimum budget is the amount needed to create a competitive reach for your audience.

If your online store has 10 competitors who invest 1 million rubles in advertising every month, then you are not competing with one million of each competitor, but immediately with ten million invested in reaching your target audience.

 

* Scheme of distribution of funds for advertising among market participants

 

More budget = more reach = more website traffic = more sales.

 

Project promotion can be carried out through any online and offline channels, for example:

  • advertising systems Yandex and Google;
  • social media;
  • blogging;
  • all types of advertising mailings;
  • media;
  • top places in the search results within the websites;
  • SEO;
  • offline channels and thematic design of outlets.

 

To promote your eCommerce project and online store — contact VIMS, we will help!

 

The role of SEO for an online store

SEO — Search Engine Optimization.

When developing an online store, you need to remember the benefits of search engine optimization.

A website that is optimized and well-filled with information will make it possible to receive part of the targeted user traffic from search, without spending on advertising.

 

 

Primary search engine optimization of the website is carried out at the stage of introducing materials — this is:

  • Filling the online store with only high-quality and original information on all pages (no plagiarism).
  • Detailed and useful information about the product: description, characteristics, price, documentation, reviews, etc.
  • Adding high-quality and optimized photos and videos that are useful to the user.
  • Filling in the correct internal description of the pages: title, description, meta tags, focus phrases.
  • Filling in the headings in the correct order H1-H6.
  • Correct design of links and links with other materials.
  • The presence of analogues and special stages on the product pages.
  • Worked URLs.

As you can see from the above list, the content of the online store should be carried out correctly and by the appropriate SEO specialist.

In other words, unfinished or copied text from another website, uploaded by a manager or other “free” employee without understanding the principles of SEO optimization and e-commerce, will not give any result but negative.

There is a version that SEO optimization is not relevant for commercial projects, since search engines know about the specifics of the website and deliberately move it down the search results, thereby encouraging the owner to invest in advertising within the search.

But, if we ignore the versions, we can conclude that a correctly filled online store will have an advantage over a store that is filled incorrectly and incompletely.

SEO is an important tool for promoting an online store and in some cases it gives a significant increase in sales, but generally speaking, with high competition, SEO is more of an additional promotion mechanism, because. the active work of competitors with advertising allows you to intercept almost all targeted traffic.

 

Online store development — VIMS!

 

Online store prototype

After the company has decided on the specifics, concept, functional part, structure and architecture of the project, it's time to move on to designing the future online store.

Design work begins with the development of a prototype.

A prototype is a block version of an online store that is required for the distribution and arrangement of information and functional blocks for each resource page.

On the basis of the prototype, the structure of the future website is visually displayed, which will help the customer to form an understanding and make the necessary adjustments before developing the design.

The prototype of an online store allows designers to clearly understand the task and implement it without additional approvals, which, in turn, will save the company money and time.

 

* Homepage Prototype Example

 

The development of an online store design without a prototype can create a large number of adjustments and rearrangements of information blocks, delaying the project and increasing its cost.

We recommend proceeding to the development of the design of an online store or other web resource only after the development and approval of the prototype.

 

Prototype an online store in VIMS!

 

The role of design for an online store

Important! Design is the first thing one sees when visiting an online store.

The task of design is to distinguish an online store from the general mass of other resources, due to the beauty of design and ease of use.

The design of an online store increases commercial and communicative results.

 

"Sales Design"

In general, in the field of eCommerce there has long been such a thing as a “selling design”, but disputes over this thesis are still going on.

In our opinion, design is a great seller (our eCommerce statistic says so), and “sales design” exists.

The presence of a design in an online store or on a website is not a selling design.

Selling design is a professionally executed graphic work that combines information, information blocks, company advantages and corporate identity.

In other words, we can talk about a selling design when the work is done professionally, proactively and taking into account all the features of the brand and product, then such a design works for the company and can rightfully be called “selling”.

 

If you need design development for your software and web projects, contact VIMS, we will help!

 

About online store templates

There was an example above in which company “A” purchased a ready-made online store out of the box and disabled several information blocks in the template as unnecessary, after which the online store began to look bad and “abandoned”, but in fact this is a fairly common situation , which occurs with finished products when the template is cut and adjusted to fit the company.

The template is a kind of universal online store focused on a specific area. As a rule, a ready-made template contains several information blocks, which, according to the author's idea, may be useful to the company that bought the template. In practice, filling in a template according to ready-made blocks is of little use to a real company, so webmasters have to turn off and adjust some of the information blocks, creating “holes” in the design and breaking the whole concept of a ready-made solution, this applies not only to the visual, but also to the functional part.

Separately, it is worth noting the technical setup and extension of the template, although this section is about design, one cannot fail to mention the difficulties of setting up and expanding some template solutions.

In fact, the design of the template is not focused on increasing the sales of the company that bought the template, but on the sale of the template itself by the developer company, so the finished product can look great on the window and terrible in the production environment.

In practice, “truncated” templates give the user the feeling of an abandoned and unfinished online store, which reduces the cost of the company and the product, making them doubt the service and the result.

BUT! There are templates that you can and should work with at the start of the project, such templates will allow you to quickly launch an online store, and implement the design and additional functionality at the next stages!

 

If you need an online store based on a template, contact VIMS, we will help!

 

About Design

In our opinion, saving on eCommerce design is like shooting yourself in the foot before running a marathon. When a company enters online sales, it is obliged to use all possible tools to increase sales, squeezing the maximum out of each. Design is the most important tool for eCommerce.

Bad design scares off customers, it makes them consider competitors, look for alternative options, doubt the quality of services and goods provided, the possibility of online payment, creates an additional burden on managers, increases the advertising budget and reduces conversion, that is, makes the project ineffective.

As a rule, a company invests in the online store itself, integrations, advertising, competition, attracting client traffic to the website, but if the website itself looks bad, does not meet the requirements of the buyer, does not match the product or service, then the conversion in such online stores is low. .

It is important that in terms of statistics, the lowest price is not always important for the website visitor, many users pay for convenience, service and confidence.

Design affects not only the perception of the brand by the user at the moment, but also forms the attitude towards the company as a whole.

 

If you need design development for your websites, online stores, software and web projects — contact VIMS, we will help!

 

Which CMS to choose for managing an online store?

CMS is a Content Management System or a website engine — it is used to manage the content and structure of an online store.

 

 

One of the most common questions that we face at the stage of designing an online store for an eCommerce project is: “what CMS to choose to manage a future online store?

 

We work with almost all CMS, but separately, for ease of choice, we recommend considering: 1C-Bitrix or Modx.

Both systems are reliable and provide an opportunity for improvements, expansion and addition of new functionality, and the internal interface will allow the store administrator to easily understand the management.

  • 1C-Bitrix — developed in Russia, has official support and license, an excellent system for implementing any online store.
  • Modx is a free professional content management system and web application framework designed to provide and organize a collaborative process of creating, editing and managing website content.

Working with any CMS will require some technical skills (we will teach you!). there are small internal differences between CMSs, for example, in publishing materials or filling in information, but all this, as a rule, does not create any problems after several hours of working with the system.

As for the technical capabilities, with the right architecture of the eCommerce project and the professional development of the online store, integrations, exchange and functional part, it does not matter which management system to use for the online store.

 

Important! We do not recommend the use of highly specialized, custom and "self-written" CMS to manage an online store, especially in large-scale eCommerce projects!

 

You can order the development of an online store on 1C-Bitrix, Modx, Joomla, WordPress, UMI, Drupal in VIMS!

 

What to choose to manage an online store, CMS or TILDA?

Tilda Publishing is a website builder.

 

 

Tilda is a good designer of various websites from business cards to online stores.

Tilda is based on working with visual blocks in your personal account and eliminates the need for the user to work with the code, so it is possible to create a website on Tilda without programming knowledge, which is an indisputable advantage of this designer.

But, is it good for developing an online store for an eCommerce project?

If we talk about developing a store specifically for an eCommerce project, then Tilda, in our opinion, is not suitable.

This is because an online store in an eCommerce project usually implies a large (and constantly growing) number of integrations with external marketing and commercial services, an accounting system, as well as a complex and multi-component output of goods, in Tilda the functionality is limited, so much it is easier and more profitable to immediately use some kind of CMS, for example, 1C-Bitrix.

The clear advantages of Tilda include the speed of launching a simple project and the independence of the owner from web developers. Tilda is great for simple websites that are mostly design related, such as landing pages.

 

Tilda for eCommerce

Tilda is a good budget solution for small websites.

The benefits of working with Tilda in large Internet projects are doubtful, because the implementation of some functional blocks will take much longer than their development on the CMS, which means it will be more expensive.

Tilda has technical limitations for integration into various external services, which cannot be bypassed.

To summarize all of the above, we get:

  • For online stores and eCommerce — no.
  • For the implementation of landing pages — yes.

 

You can order the development of an online store on Tilda in VIMS!

 

What to choose to manage an online store, CMS or framework?

A framework is a set of libraries with the necessary functions that make it possible to create any non-standard solutions.

 

 

CMS or Framework — in fact, dozens, if not hundreds of articles have already been written on this topic, but we believe that in order to correctly answer this question, you first need to familiarize yourself with the terms of reference, as well as get information about expansion and growth plans project.

In most cases, we still recommend developing an online store on a CMS, because. all the functionality and design listed in the terms of reference is usually absolutely implementable in the CMS, but the CMS will save the project budget, support budget and reduce the implementation time.

But when developing non-standard eCommerce solutions with unique and complex logic, it is still better to use framework development.

 

 

Pros and Cons of the Framework

Framework pros

  • no development restrictions;
  • implementation of complex multi-component projects with unique logic;
  • the possibility of non-standard expansion of the project.

Cons of the framework

  • high development cost;
  • high cost of support;
  • complexity of development;
  • extended development time;
  • shortage of qualified specialists.

The choice between a CMS and a framework is usually made by the developer and is based on the functional requirements of the future project.

 

You can order the development of an online store on the React.JS, Node.JS, Vue.JS, Laravel, Spring, Symfony, CodeIgniter, Yii, Django frameworks in VIMS!

 

Online store automation: analytics of competitors and suppliers, automatic price management

An important addition to an online store in an eCommerce project is an automatic price management system implemented on a database from suppliers and competitors.

 

Why do you need price automation in an online store?

As we wrote above, the task of an eCommerce company is to create the highest possible online sales, effectively using all possible tools to attract and retain a potential client.

The price of a product is one of the most important factors in retaining a potential buyer in an online store. An attractive price, coupled with design, functionality and service, can turn a potential buyer into a permanent one for many years to come.

 

 

In a classic online store, the price of a product is built either from a supplier or from production with manual price control, and competitors' prices are monitored selectively by position or not at all.

In order for the price in the store to always remain competitive, it is necessary to constantly monitor the prices of competitors.

When there are, say, 10 products in the catalog of an online store, it is possible to monitor and adjust the price manually, independently analyzing competitors and suppliers.

But if we are talking about an eCommerce project with a total number of products from several hundred to tens of thousands of positions, then manual price adjustment is impossible, especially if you need to analyze the prices of several competitors and suppliers at once, and change the adjusted prices on several websites at once.

 

Solution for automating the price of goods in an online store

Especially to solve the problem of actual prices, we have developed a price automation system that collects information on all goods and prices of competitors, and also uses data on goods and prices of suppliers, analyzes and forms the RRP.

 

 

That is, as a result of the work of our price automation module from VIMS, the online store will always have the actual cost of ALL goods with the declared coefficient.

The coefficient for all goods or a specific group of goods can be set by the administrator of the online store, in other words, you can select a group of goods and set the coefficient "minus 10 rubles from the competitor's price" (the coefficient can be any). Thus, the product group will always have a cost below the competitor, but above the supplier.

The price automation system makes it possible to maintain the competitive cost of ALL goods of the online store, incl. and on all websites (landing pages, other stores, marketplaces, etc.), without the need for manual monitoring of competitors and manual adjustments.

In other words, the engine itself builds prices and keeps a daily history of cost and markup.

RRP data for each product is available to the administrator of the online store.

Case: "Website development, monitoring and price management systems"

 

You can order the development of a system for analyzing and automating the price of goods for an online store and an eCommerce project in VIMS!

 

Development of an online store as an eCommerce project

An online store and an eCommerce project differ in their structure; in fact, an online store is a showcase, one of dozens of possible sales channels, not complicated by any elements of an additional service or additional sales with a customer return function.

The essential difference between an online store and an eCommerce project is the lack of automation, omnichannel and analytics at all levels.

The transition of an online store to an eCommerce project is possible, for this it is necessary to evaluate the goals of the company and analyze the overall architecture of the project. As mentioned above, in the eCommerce project architecture section, building an architecture is the basis for developing an online store as an eCommerce project.

Further, after building the right architecture, the company has the opportunity to create its own unique project, only with the necessary tools, developing and expanding it directly to the tasks of the company.

Development of an online store in an eCommerce project:

 

If you need to develop an online store for an eCommerce project, contact VIMS!

 

Development of terms of reference for an online store and eCommerce project

The terms of reference is a documentation that describes in detail all the actual requirements of the project, infrastructure, composition and stages of development, integration, methods and formats for exchanging an online store with other systems.

The development of the terms of reference, according to which the actual development of the entire project will be carried out, must be trusted only to professionals, because the scope of work reflected in the terms of reference affects the cost and development time.

 

* Project development options without terms of reference

 

The terms of reference are created on the basis of functional requirements and a dialogue with the client, fixing elements, restrictions, rules and goals of the project.

The development of an online store and elements of an eCommerce project according to the terms of reference eliminates errors and inaccuracies in the implementation of the functional, software and visual parts.

The terms of reference must be agreed upon by both parties.

 

You can order the development of technical specifications for an online store and an eCommerce project in VIMS!

 

Conclusion and general information

 

 

  • An online store in an eCommerce project almost always plays a key role, because relative to other sales channels contains the most complete information about the company and products.
  • An online store is the face of a company that is able not only to make a sale, but also to form a general opinion of the audience about the entire company as a whole.
  • The start of work on the implementation of an online store is carried out long before direct work with design, code and integrations.
  • Remember that even the big projects of your competitors started with small implementations and incremental integrations.
  • Fundamental for creating an effective online store for eCommerce is marketing research and analytics, based on the data obtained during the study of the market, the needs of the audience, the company and competitors, you can implement a truly working tool for high online sales.
  • Be sure to create a budget for the planned project, because. budget and deadlines will allow the developer to choose the latest technologies to solve your business problems.
  • The online store is not limited in the implementation of the functional and software part, so you can create a unique marketing product and a pool of service tools targeted specifically at your audience.
  • An online store, unlike other online sales channels, has greater efficiency and conversion when working with advertising from various sources.
  • In the world of online sales, new marketing and commercial tools are constantly emerging, so using external services will not only make your store more efficient, but also help save money and time to launch.
  • The architecture of an online store is an important element in building a project; the website should be simple and understandable for the user.
  • The architecture of an eCommerce project, which includes an online store, should be built taking into account the goals of the company and plans for the future. "reconstruction" of architecture may require a larger resource than construction.
  • The implementation of an accounting system, such as 1C, should be as professional as possible, according to the terms of reference, taking into account the further growth of the eCommerce project.
  • SEO is one of the tools for promoting an online store, which will allow you to collect targeted traffic without investing in advertising, but SEO is not the main tool, all because of the activity of competitors' advertising channels, which allow, in some cases, to cover all targeted traffic on the market .
  • The minimum advertising budget is not the amount that a company is “willing” to spend on advertising, the minimum budget is the amount necessary to create a competitive reach for your audience.
  • Before starting work with the design, it is necessary to assemble a prototype of the future online store.
  • Design is the most important element of any store, if the project looks and adapts poorly, then users will move to other websites.
  • Choose any online store management system and focus directly on the comments and recommendations of the developer.
  • The development of an online store should be carried out strictly according to the terms of reference agreed with your company.

 

If you need the development of a turnkey eCommerce project or the implementation of an online store, please contact us at VIMS Com., we know how to make your project effective! 

 

Date of creation of the material: 2022.
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