What is E-Commerce?

Main Factors in Choosing E-Commerce Technology

Selecting a winning tech stack for an E-commerce solution can be quite challenging as there are too many options to choose from. Moreover, these options can make an ideal match for one project and be completely unsuitable for the other.

Business owners who decided to develop their own E-Commerce sites can easily get lost in the extensive range of programming languages, frameworks, and tools offered in the market. To alleviate the process, we’ve compiled a list of points to consider when forming an E-Commerce development tech-stack.

#1 Start with the existing tech-stack

• LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. This is one of the fastest tech stacks for web development. However, they aren’t much scalable and can perform slower with the growth of your E-Commerce project. This is a great solution for a quick start, though might be not the best one for the perspective.
• MEAN is Mongo DB, Express, Angular, and Node.js. This tech-stack is a perfect blend for E-Commerce development, mostly used for building online stores.
• Python & Django is another tech-stack widely used for E-Commerce development. Above all, it provides strong security for the back-end. Software developers usually use Apache as a web server and MySQL or PostgreSQL for database management together with this stack.
• .NET is a Microsoft stack that uses Windows for the operating system (though you can adjust it for Linux and macOS as well), ASP.NET framework, Microsoft SQL web server, any database, and C# and JavaScript programming languages.

#2 Define your project specifics

Each project has its own requirements, demands, and resources. Therefore, check if there are any specific features required – some companies might require to embed the features that are specific for their business niche, e.g. automated invoices for supply chain partners, special offer notifications, a mobile version of the E-Commerce solution etc.

#3 Consider project length

Time to market is a crucial factor in E-Commerce. The faster you get to market, the more customers you can attract and the more successful your project will become. Therefore, it’s essential to decide on development milestones and deadlines, whether you need to release an MVP, if it’s worth starting with the LAMP tech stack, how many developers you want to include in your project.

#4 Scalability

In E-Commerce, scalability is the second most important factor. You need to think from the perspective of how your project is going to develop. It’ll determine the tech stack and resources needed to support the project in the future. With some frameworks it’s easier to do than with the others. Scalability is the main factor for the businesses that are aiming at further expansion in the market and increasing their customer bases.

#5 IT talents available in the market

Talents define product quality and project expenditures. The more widespread the technology is, the easier it’s to develop and find specialists. However, sometimes there aren’t enough talents for specific needs in your area or the costs are too high.

There is always a solution – searching beyond the borders of the available market, for example, switching to outsourcing software development. It’ll allow you to reach a wider pool of talents with extensive expertise. Moreover, outsourcing software development is often a cheaper solution than building your E-Commerce solution internally.

What is technology in Ecommerce and Why it is important for Ebusiness?

In ecommerce, the technology is referred to as the programming languages that are used to develop the ecommerce platform. You can see many programming technologies in online that are emerging out seasonally, in that you have to choose the best technology for ecommerce website.

We will discuss the different programming technologies after in detail.

Importance of Programming technologies

1. In general, the four “ities” will be part of technology. These combinations will vary according to the technology. The best technology will provide all these four proper combinations in your ecommerce platform. The four “ities” are:

Security- All the data and information should be more secure; it helps to retain loyalty to your customers.

Flexibility- Your platform should be flexible enough to customize the things on the website.

Reliability- Reliable elements are popular between the buyers, hence reliability in business is more important.

Scalability- Quantity as well as quality, both should be maintained equally to become scalable ecommerce website between the customers.

2. Database: Database is the heart of the technology platform, where all of the main data are stored.

The Primary database will collect the details from the customers and responsible for the data that are shown on UI. The Secondary database will act as a backup for saving the primary data.

Hence the security and database are the main reason for focusing on technology.

Disadvantages of online commerce shops

Despite the many benefits of e-commerce, it can also have a number of disadvantages for companies and customers. Whether or not these arise, depends largely on which industry a business is in and what capacity it has.

• Complex implementation: building a digital structure takes time and money. Not every small retailer has the necessary know-how or the human and financial capacities to set up an e-commerce store and regularly manage social media channels.
• Increased competition and pricing pressure: global online trading is increasing the number of competitors. If supply exceeds demand, the companies in question will be under enormous pricing pressure. Price comparison websites make it easy for consumers to choose the cheapest offer. In the fashion sector for example, low-cost production facilities in Asia are increasingly taking over their entire distribution operation, even without intermediaries. They often waive customs and shipping costs for their customers and offer their products on the internet at an unbeatable price. Depending on the industry, this makes it very difficult for most local companies to compete with such price wars and turn a profit.
• Lack of personal advice: not all online retailers can provide a 24-hour customer service or have the resources to integrate service chatbots into a website. In contrast to a fashion boutique, there is no direct contact with customers. In most cases, from the customers’ perspective, a sales consultation by trained personnel is more valuable and target-oriented than, for example, an online chat. E-commerce cannot replace on-site, face-to-face consultations, especially for products and services that may require a great deal of explanation, for example, with trekking equipment or medical devices.
• The demise of stores: the booming internet trade comes at the expense of the brick and mortar retail stores. According to The Atlantic, 2017 saw, amongst other things, the closure of 100 Sears’ stores, the liquidation of Sports Authority, and the bankruptcy of Payless. The continued decline of the brick and mortar stores, will leave cities desolate.

Будущее электронной торговли

Рынок e-commerce продолжит расти. По данным Nasdaq, к 2040 году до 95% всех покупок будут совершать в интернете.

Среди глобальных трендов в развитии электронной торговли стоит выделить:

• осознанное потребление (экологичные перерабатываемые товары в противовес одноразовым),
• бесшовный (омниканальный) шопинг,
• внедрение дополненной и виртуальной реальности,
• «невидимые» платежи и оплата по лицу.

Другими словами, магазины стремятся сделать процесс покупки не только максимально быстрым и комфортным, но еще и увлекательным. Это, помимо прочего, становится вызовом для классического маркетинга.

Как работают AR-функции в приложениях Amazon, Gap и других

Электронная торговля берет курс на персонализацию: за счет «умного» поиска и подбора товаров, персональных рекомендаций, онлайн-стилистов и прочих инструментов. ИИ сможет анализировать все ваши покупки и предпочтения, составляя личные рекомендации с учетом ваших особенностей. Продуктовые сети уже реализуют подбор товаров на основе генетического теста и базовых медицинских показателей.

Подробнее о том, как будет развиваться онлайн-торговля продуктами и готовой едой — в материале РБК Трендов.

Еще один заметный тренд — гибридные форматы: когда офлайн-супермаркеты и розничные сети переходят в онлайн и открывают целые зоны для самовывоза или оформления покупок через интернет. Другой пример сочетания офлайн- и онлайн-формата — магазины Amazon Go: клиент может купить любой товар без касс и продавцов с помощью приложения и камер с распознаванием лиц.

Среди других трендов:

• под давлением рынка цифровизацию постепенно воспринимают даже в консервативных сферах потребрынка, завязанных на офлайн-продажи — например, застройщики и автодилеры;
• мировой рынок b2b e-commerce, который уже превышает обороты b2c, будет расти опережающими темпами, в среднем 17,5% ежегодно до 2027 года;
• мобильные приложения вытеснят все прочие каналы онлайн-продаж — на помощь потребителям придут «умные» голосовые помощники, AR-приложения для примерок, а также оплата при помощи PayPass.

Как развивается e-commerce в России и мире?

С ростом цифровизации и массовым переходом в онлайн e-commerce стала драйвером ключевых изменений в мировой экономике. Доступ к электронной коммерции сегодня возможен с любого смарт-устройства: к апрелю 2022 года в мире насчитывалось 5 млрд уникальных пользователей интернета, что составляет 63% населения Земли. Соответственно, меняются подходы к тому, как запускать и продвигать новые продукты.

Вот главные цифры на сегодня:

• В 2021 году число онлайн-покупателей в мире достигло 2,14 млрд человек. В 2019 году их было 2,05 млрд, а в 2018-м — 1,79 млрд.
• Всего на электронную торговлю в 2021 году пришлось более 18% от всех розничных продаж в мире, а в 2023-м — 22%;
• Объем интернет-продаж в 2022 году составит $5,5 трлн;
• Среди главных причин, по которым люди заказывают товары онлайн — бесплатная доставка (53%), акции и скидки (41%), возможность прочитать отзывы (35%), простота возврата (33%) и скорость оформления заказа (30%);
• 33,6% клиентов перед покупкой сравнивают цены на товары в онлайн-приложении и обычном магазине, 81% подробно изучают информацию в Сети перед крупными покупками.

Сегодня Китай — абсолютный лидер онлайн-торговли: в 2021 году сегмент e-commerce там впервые в мире превысил половину всего рынка розничных продаж. Следом идут Южная Корея с 28,9%, США с 15% и Западная Европа с 12,8%. Объем онлайн-продаж за 2020 год в Китае составил $2,3 трлн, в 2021-м — почти $2,8 трлн, а в 2022-м ожидается около $3,1 трлн.

Для сравнения, в США рынок e-commerce в 2020 году, по данным eMarketer, составил $709,8 млрд и превысит $1 трлн к 2024 году. Почти половина (45%) всей электронной торговли в стране приходится на продажи через мобильные приложения.

По данным Ассоциации компаний интернет-торговли, объем рынка электронной коммерции в России за 2021 год составил ₽3,6 трлн. Это на 13% больше, чем годом ранее.

Поддержка электронной коммерции в России на период до 2024 года регулируется нацпроектом «Цифровая экономика». Основными целями документа являются повышение внутренних затрат на развитие цифровой экономики за счет всех источников (по доле в валовом внутреннем продукте страны) минимум в три раза по сравнению с 2017 годом, и создание устойчивой, безопасной и общедоступной информационно-телекоммуникационной инфраструктуры высокоскоростной передачи, обработки и хранения больших объемов данных.

Advantages of electronic commerce

• Overcoming spatial distances: the internet makes retailers independent of a fixed sales location. They can open up new sales markets across different regions or countries. Although the distribution of physical goods continues to require the expansion of logistics capacities, new locations do not need to be opened. Online communication can even eliminate the need for business trips. For online consumers, the advantage of e-commerce is that they can choose from a huge range of products and compare quality and prices directly.
• Time efficient purchasing process: e-commerce allows for instant shopping without delay. Interested buyers do not have to visit a physical shop to purchase a product. Instead, they can order items around the clock either from the comfort of their home or while on-the-go. As soon as the order has been placed, consumers will receive a confirmation e-mail via the shop system. Service providers can also offer their services online: for example, a travel agency can advise interested parties online and accept bookings.
• Electronic commerce reduces transaction costs: e-commerce may eliminate the need to open new company and warehouse locations. Inventory, cash, and shop monitoring systems automate inventory and cash flow management. This facilitates the coordination of different company departments and offers room for new business models. To increase competing power, small- to medium-sized businesses can now enter into partnerships with online service providers. Instead of using their own online shop they can opt for Amazon Marketplace or the online auction platform eBay. Here, businesses can outsource parts of their sales and at the same time, benefit from the high reach of such marketplaces.
• Simple omni-channel and multi-channel marketing: it pays to connect the online and the offline worlds and to take advantage of multiple channels. By using both an online store and social media alongside your physical store, there are more touchpoints for the consumer to decide or act upon your offer.
• More customer proximity: social media allows businesses to establish personal contact with potential customers and to improve the company image. Tracking and analysis tools are useful for businesses in order to collect personal information and create precise customer profiles. This makes it possible to plan advertising campaigns and align the product range according to demand. By taking advantage of CRM systems businesses can easily stay in touch with customers.
• High customer satisfaction: e-mail support, online contact forms, or instant chats eliminate customers’ inhibitions when it comes to seeking advice. This recent technology allows customers to make inquiries around the clock and get quick answers in return. Simplified ordering and payment processes reduce the effort for companies and customers alike.

Самые успешные кейсы е-commerce

Монополист китайского рынка e-commerce и одна из крупнейших компаний в мире. Рыночная капитализация Alibaba на июнь 2022 года составляет $282 млрд, что делает ее 26-й в списке самых дорогих компаний мира. Компания основана в 1999 году и работает в трех направлениях: b2c (Tmall и Aliexpress), b2b (Alibaba) и c2c (Taobao). Все три платформы уже вышли на международный рынок (включая Россию), однако основная доля по-прежнему приходится на внутренний. У компании также есть своя платежная система Alipay, которая работает как международная.

Модель Alibaba аналогична eBay: она выступает в качестве агрегатора для продавцов — физлиц, магазинов или производителей — которые сами отправляют товар покупателям.

Главный конкурент Alibaba в Китае. В отличие от Alibaba, JD.com работает по модели Amazon: отгружает товары сторонних продавцов с собственного склада и отправляет через свою службу доставки. На конец 2020 года у компании было более 900 складов общей площадью 21 млн кв. м. В составе холдинга есть своя социальная платформа — Jingxi, а также сети магазинов у дома Xintonglu и JD New Markets и даже собственное направление коммерческой недвижимости. В ближайшем будущем JD планирует запустить свою цифровую валюту — e-CNY.

Amazon

Amazon — самый крупный розничный продавец в сфере e-commerce в США и один из крупнейших в мире. Компания располагает огромной сетью складов и сортировочных центров, а также собственной службой доставки, которая использует дронов и роботов, а в 2020 году приобрела еще и самолеты Boeing 767. Помимо основной b2c-платформы, есть также Amazon Business для клиентов-юрлиц.

Как устроена логистика в Amazon

Компанию основал в 1994 году Джефф Безос — изначально это был книжный онлайн-магазин. Спустя 25 лет Безос стал самым богатым человеком в мире с состоянием в $191,4 млрд, а сам Amazon — мировым гигантом онлайн-торговли. рыночная капитализация компании на июнь 2022 года достигает $1,07 трлн, а ее выручка за 2021 год составила $470 млрд — на 22% больше, чем годом ранее. Чистая прибыль за тот же период выросла на 57%.

Сейчас 60% дохода Amazon приносят ИТ-решения Amazon Web Services — облачные хранилища и сервисы. Компания регулярно запускает различные продукты и сервисы под своим брендом: электронные читалки Kindle, элементы «умного» дома, голосовой помощник Alexa, онлайн-кинотеатр Amazon Prime. У Amazon есть и офлайн-магазины Amazon Go. Они работают при помощи нейросетей с распознаванием лиц и компьютерным зрением: здесь нет касс и продавцов, а покупки оплачиваются автоматически через приложение.

Выпуск YouTube-канала «РБК Тренды» о магазинах без продавцов

EBay

eBay был создан в 1995 году как сервис онлайн-аукционов c2c: продавцы выставляли на аукцион вещи (часто подержанные), а покупатели делали ставки. Доставка товаров при этом лежит на продавце, а сам сервис берет комиссию за размещение лотов и занимается урегулированием споров. Позже на платформе появились коммерческие аккаунты частных предпринимателей и магазинов, а покупать стало можно и по фиксированной цене.

У eBay, как и у Amazon, есть свои сайты в разных странах — включая Россию. Однако компания не стала развивать дополнительные сервисы и собственную логистику. eBay так и остался онлайн-агрегатором, чья главная особенность — в том, что здесь можно найти редкие коллекционные вещи и даже ценный антиквариат. Выручка за 2021 год составила $10,5 млрд. Число активных пользователей на 31 декабря 2021 года составило 147 млн человек.

ASOS

Компания основана в 2000 году, а ее название расшифровывается как «As Seen On Screen»: «То, что ты видел на экране». Британский маркетплейс также работает по модели Amazon: агрегирует товары от поставщиков на своих складах и доставляет по всему миру. В основном это одежда, обувь и аксессуары брендов массмаркета, а несколько лет назад к ним добавилась еще и косметика. Биржевая капитализация — $1,1 млрд. У магазина есть локальные версии в разных странах Европы.

Wildberries

Один из крупнейших российских онлайн-ретейлеров на рынке уже 15 лет, а его основательница — Татьяна Бакальчук — возглавляет рейтинг богатейших российских бизнесвумен по версии Forbes: ее состояние оценивается в $21 млрд.

Wildberries продает одежду, обувь, аксессуары, бытовую технику и электронику, товары для дома. Все это компания доставляет с собственных складов через пункты выдачи (в 2020-м доля таких заказов составила 93%) или курьеров. В 2020 году оборот компании вырос на 96% по сравнению с 2019-м — до 437,2 млрд рублей, а число заказов — до 323,8 млн, достигнув 1,5 млн в сутки, что вдвое больше прошлогоднего показателя.

Ozon

Еще один гигант российского e-commerce с оборотом продаж почти ₽450 млрд за 2021 год

Компанию основали в 1991 году. Как и Amazon, первый интернет-гипермаркет в России начинал с торговли книгами. Сегодня 24% продаж Ozon приходится на электронику, остальное распределено между книгами, бытовой техникой, одеждой, косметикой, продуктами и прочими товарами. Как и Wildberries, маркетплейс сделал ставку на расширение пунктов самовывоза, причем с 2020 года делает это только под собственным брендом, а не через партнеров. Ozon доставляет товары в собственные постаматы и курьерами. Компания также запустила сервис по продаже авиабилетов Ozon.Travel.

«Яндекс. Маркет»

«Яндекс.Маркет» пришел на рынок 20 лет назад. До 2018 года развивался как агрегатор для интернет-магазинов, с 2018 года параллельно строил маркетплейс «Беру», который в 2020 году стал частью «Яндекс.Маркета». Сегодня это — маркетплейс, где магазины могут продавать свои товары, а пользователи — совершать покупки, выбирая из ассортимента в 4 млн товарных наименования.

Продавцам «Яндекс.Маркет» предлагает четыре модели сотрудничества с маркетплейсом:

• отгрузка и доставка товаров силами магазина, маркетплейс как витрина;
• отгрузка и доставка товаров со склада маркетплейса;
• отгрузка товаров со склада продавца, доставка силами маркетплейса;
• отгрузка части товаров со склада продавца, части — со склада маркетплейса.

Маркетплейс «Маркета» также предлагает другие сервисы для продавцов и покупателей: поиск по десяткам фильтров, сравнение цен на один и тот же товар, отзывы покупателей, рейтинги магазинов и платное продвижение.

На конец 2020 года на «Яндекс.Маркете» продавали свои товары более 8 тыс. продавцов, по рекламной модели размещалось 25 тыс. магазинов-партнеров, ежедневная аудитория достигла 6 млн уникальных посетителей.

Example of Cloud E-Commerce

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has more than 100 cloud computing services, including Elastic Beanstalk, its PaaS solution. With this setup, e-commerce sellers can quickly deploy and manage custom apps without learning or maintaining infrastructure. Also, they don’t need to know how to write infrastructure-related code as AWS handles all the heavy lifting.

For example, you can upload an application or two, and AWS will take care of capacity provisioning, scaling, load balancing, and app health monitoring. You can use various apps, including those developed in Node.js, Python, Java, Go, Ruby, and PHP. The lawn care retailer, Rachio, uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy and manage its e-commerce website, web apps, and API infrastructure.

In terms of SaaS, fabric takes a holistic yet service-based approach to providing commerce software, similar to how Amazon AWS does for infrastructure services. fabric provides all the services needed to power commerce and let retailers choose what they need without having to worry about infrastructure.

Why is cloud e-commerce a good fit for online businesses?

There are dozens of moving parts in an e-commerce business—web hosting, data storage, payment processing, and other digital services. Without cloud e-commerce, you’d have to pay for costly on-premise hardware and manage it all yourself. You’d also have to code the software that’s already offered by e-commerce software providers as a service (i.e. SaaS).

By adopting cloud-based e-commerce platforms, you can have better scalability, flexibility, security, cost efficiency, agility, and ease of use with your e-commerce solution. It’s a solution for businesses that want to outsource their IT needs while retaining full ownership over their data. It ensures maximum uptime, up-to-date code, and flexibility to customize your frontend using your own unique code or API integrations.

Main Factors in Choosing an E-Commerce Technology

Choosing an e-commerce technology is a crucial step for the company. In order not to face any challenges in the future, here is a list of factors to consider:

• Budget. While planning a budget it is important to decide what are the main goals of the project and what resources should be involved to meet them.
• Size of the project. If the project is small it is possible to consider CMS or WordPress options. Open source platforms like Magento can be a good alternative for medium or big-size online shops.
• Integration. E-commerce technologies should easily integrate with other software used by the project.
• Technical support. Some e-commerce platforms offer support only during business hours, others have a 24/7 operating team. Moreover, support can be provided via chat, FAQ, or even tutorials.
• Security. It is important to make sure that the platform has all the required hack and fraud prevention measures so the customer data will be safe.

Following are the technologies behind e-commerce

An online store is a virtual shop over the Internet. To complete the e-commerce cycle Internet network is required. An online virtual store can be of two types usually. One is over World-Wide-Web and usually referred to as a web store and another is in the form of mobile apps which can be installed on mobile devices and then can be used to process e-commerce activities. The e-commerce activities completed using mobile devices are called m-commerce or mobile commerce. M-commerce is possible through a web store and also through a mobile app. A responsive e-commerce website is used on mobile devices to carry out commerce activities. M-commerce has many advantages and increases the chances of a sale manifold.

Shopping Cart

A shopping cart is a software system integrated into the online store which helps in completing an online order. Usually, it is seen on the product detail pages, from where the product can be added to the cart, and after reviewing the cart, customers checkout to process payment and complete the order. The shopping cart captures all the order details of the product together with the shipping charge as set by the merchant and tax fees if incurred any. Shopping cart after capturing all the details, send to payment processing interface. The payment processor after executing payment successfully, send the order details and payment confirmation to the merchant’s screen. The merchant receives an email for the order and also it is reflected in the back-end.

Payment Processing

Most of the merchants of the world are a reseller of other product procuring companies. They receive the product details to use in their online store. After receiving the orders, small business e-commerce retailers send the order details to the product procuring company. The product procuring company sends the order to the customer directly through the shipping company. This saves inventory management costs to the retailer. Dropshipping is an example of it’s an improved version.

E-commerce Personalization

New technologies are adding new milestones in e-commerce. Data processing through AI & ML, delivery using drones and the list goes on. Data processing has become vital for the success of an e-commerce venture. There are many online e-commerce platforms like Builderfly to automatized the whole e-commerce business.

Виды e-commerce

Электронную торговлю можно классифицировать по двум признакам:

• физические товары — продукты, одежду, мебель, электронику, бумажные книги;
• цифровые товары — музыка, кино и сериалы, электронные книги, онлайн-курсы;
• услуги — фотосъемка, уборка, помощь с переездом и т.д.

• b2c (business to consumer, «бизнес для потребителя») — интернет-магазины, которые продают товары или услуги потребителям напрямую, то есть в розницу;
• b2b (business to business, «бизнес для бизнеса») — компания продает что-то другим компаниям. Это может быть оптовая торговля — чтобы покупатель потом реализовал эти товары потребителям в розницу. Или же товары и услуги, предназначенные для корпоративных нужд: например, кассовое оборудование, облачные хранилища и сервисы, международная доставка грузов;
• c2b (consumer to business, «потребитель для бизнеса») — отдельные люди (физлица) предлагают товары и услуги для компаний. Яркий пример — исполнители на аутсорсинге: дизайнеры, программисты, создатели контента;
• c2c (consumer to consumer, «от потребителя к потребителю») — люди продают друг другу товары и услуги напрямую: няни, репетиторы, кондитеры, дизайнеры одежды;
• g2b (government to business, «от правительства к бизнесу») — государственные органы поставляют что-то для бизнеса: например, использование радиочастот, воздушного пространства, сервисов для сбора и обработки данных;
• b2g (business to government, «бизнес для правительства») — обратный процесс: например, товары и услуги в рамках госзакупок, ПО, электроника;
• c2g (consumer to government, «от потребителя к правительству») — когда потребители оплачивают различные госуслуги.

Два самых распространенных типа — b2c и b2b.

Cloud-Based E-Commerce Solutions

In general, there are three available cloud-based solutions for e-commerce that allow retailers to manage customer data, product data, inventory data, website hosting, digital transactions, and many other e-commerce needs. In order of more involvement to less involvement on behalf of the retailer, these solutions include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS).

IaaS e-commerce solution

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is where you rent physical resources such as servers, databases, and networking gear to power an e-commerce architecture. You build or install e-commerce apps and services on top of them. Services can include custom-built PIMs, open source e-commerce platforms, and licensed e-commerce software from software providers that let you self-host.

IaaS vendors can provide some of the resource management such as virtualization, depending on the infrastructure service you select, but you’re responsible for managing the applications, data, runtime, middleware, and operating system that sit on top of the infrastructure. IaaS vendors include Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Digital Ocean.

IaaS is ideal for retailers that want to maintain as much control as possible over their technology stack without hosting e-commerce solutions on-premise.

PaaS e-commerce solution

Platform as a service (PaaS) is similar to IaaS but requires less infrastructure management. It offers developers a way to build their e-commerce applications using “infrastructure platforms” with pre-defined operating systems and processes that handle resource procurement, capacity planning, and patching.

Ultimately, PaaS allows you to focus less time on managing infrastructure code and more time developing application code to power features within your e-commerce application. For example, Google App Engine offers a PaaS environment for developers who want to build web applications without worrying about infrastructure.

PaaS is ideal for retailers that want to build their own e-commerce applications but are okay with handing off infrastructure-related elements of their technology stack.

Note: PaaS can include “serverless” technology where you simply upload your application code and pay for execution time. We use some of this “serverless” technology to power services inside our own e-commerce platform.

SaaS e-commerce solution

Software as a service (SaaS) providers include commerce technology companies like fabric that offer ready-to-use e-commerce services. These services include a complete e-commerce platform solution, distinct e-commerce applications such as PIM and OMS software, and e-commerce APIs.

SaaS is ideal for retailers that want to quickly scale and spend more time focusing on products and selling than e-commerce platform development.

Top E-Commerce Programming Languages and Frameworks

Software developers implement various programming languages, frameworks, and a number of tech stacks for building E-Commerce sites. Let’s have a closer look at some that suit best for E-Commerce development.

Front-End Development Tools

Javascript is the most popular front-end programming language used for adding interactivity into static HTML pages. With Javascript, software developers can:

Anyone who wants to build an E-Commerce website will need JavaScript development services as they represent the basis for front-end web development. Most front-end frameworks rely on this programming language.

Vue

Node.js is an open-source runtime environment that allows building front-end and back-end solutions based on JavaScript.

Node.js development has got many advantages for E-Commerce solutions, some of them are:

• Scalability. Node.js can easily scale apps in horizontal and vertical directions. It means that software developers can add more machines to the pool of website resources or increase the capacity of the existing hardware by adding CPU or RAM power in the machines as the project grows.
• Simplicity. Node.js is simple to learn for those who already know well how to implement JavaScript.
• Fullstack JS. Node.js is considered as a full-stack solution that runs on JavaScript. It means that knowing only JavaScript, software developers can build a full-fledged app or a website.
• Large Community. In case software developers have any questions on Node.js they can always refer to their colleagues or download ready-made solutions and codes from GitHub. All of these speeds up software development.

Angular

Angular is a front-end framework for building dynamic web, mobile, and desktop apps. It’s considered to be a robust and comprehensive solution developed and supported by Google. Many companies prefer Angular development services for building E-Commerce sites. Angular is so good because it uses:

• Two-way data binding. It helps to decrease the development time and eliminates the necessity to create additional code to establish View and Model synchronization.
• Directives. Directives help software developers to create dynamic and rich content with HTML extensions and DOM structure.
• Dependency injections. They make code components easier to manage, test, and reuse which, in turn, speeds up software development and minimizes the number of code errors.
• Large community. Angular has strong community support on various resources. Software engineers can find a wide number of training materials, helping tools, and solve any development issues within the community.

React

React.js is one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks used for building interactive elements on websites. It’s widely used in software development and many large companies such as Walmart, Tesla Motors, Shopping.com, Hayneedle.com, and others use React.js for their E-Commerce sites.

A great number of web developers use React.js as it is:

• Easy to learn and implement. There is a wide range of documents and tutorials for those who want to start using React. Moreover, React has a shallow learning curve and once a software developer is acquainted with JavaScript, learning React is a matter of several days.
• Reusable components. React is great because it offers software developers to reuse already written code components. It significantly facilitates and speeds up software development and also makes the projects built in React look consistent.
• The virtual DOM. It helps to carefully consider the structure of the future web app or a website. The virtual DOM representation allows adding new features in DOM memory and after software developers can apply them to real DOM in the most effective way. This results in minimized update time and better app performance.
• JSX. JSX represents a mixture of HTML and JavaScript languages. It helps to create a cleaner and simpler code that is well protected from hacker attacks.

Here is the list of the most popular web back-end development tools.

PHP

PHP is a back-end software development language widely used for web app solutions. It’s an open-source and general-purpose scripting language. PHP development is great for E-Commerce for many reasons, it’s:

• cost-efficient due to being open-source, meaning that it’s free. Moreover, PHP is very popular, therefore, PHP development services won’t cost much either.
• compatible. PHP can run on most popular platforms, such as macOS, Linux, Microsoft, and even UNIX. Above all, it integrates with a wide range of databases, including MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and many others.
• scalable. PHP offers a number of tools for the development of effective E-Commerce site architecture. Software developers can use diverse functions and cloud computing infrastructure for PHP scalability.
• range of frameworks. PHP has many frameworks that speed up software development, make it more consistent, and less buggy. The most known PHP frameworks are Zend, Laravel, Symphony, CakePHP, Codeigniter, and many others.

C# is a general-purpose programming language that is used for the development of versatile software solutions, including E-Commerce apps. This language was developed by Microsoft for the .NET framework.

C# has got many features that help software developers build powerful, secure, and effective apps. It has a simplified syntax, can work with other programming languages on the .NET platform, helps to handle code errors, and other useful functions.

For building web-apps, C# has got a separate web framework called ASP.NET. There were many sites built with the ASP.NET framework, including Microsoft, Dell, WildTangent, TacoBell, and others.

Java

Java is an object-oriented general-purpose programming language. Many developers prefer using Java for its ability to run on almost any platform. Besides that, it has fundamental concepts that determine consistent Java application development, it’s robust and secure, and ensures high performance of its apps.

Java has a number of frameworks for various development purposes. However, the most popular is Spring. With Spring software developers can create robust and complex E-Commerce sites.

Spring

Spring is a Java framework that allows developing secure and effective software apps safely, easily, and fast. Spring represents many kinds of frameworks gathered under the Spring umbrella.

For building E-Commerce sites, it has a special Spring WEB framework that includes a well-designed MVC web development pattern. Also, Spring offers many out-of-the-box solutions that make it a flexible, productive, fast, and supportive framework for E-Commerce development. With the Spring, framework software developers can build any app with any degree of complexity.

Groovy on Grails

Groovy is an object-oriented language used to strengthen Java. It makes Java flexible and can enhance apps with special features whether these apps are made from scratch or already developed ones. Groovy can be used for web application development. It helps to build apps that run on Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Grails is a framework that runs on Groovy and facilitates web development. Unlike most frameworks, it has a completely different development approach.

It doesn’t use XML configurations which saves up time that is usually spent on configuring core features in frameworks. And it excludes the addition of dependencies. The Grails prepares its applications by itself. As well as Groovy, Grails also runs on JVM, therefore, it integrates with Java libraries and frameworks.

Python

Python is an interpreted, object-oriented programming language with simple, and fast-to-learn syntax. It supports code modularity and allows reusing it multiple times along the development process. All of these puts Python among the most appreciated and frequently studied programming languages.

Python works great for E-Commerce web development. Many software developers use Python together with its Django framework for building E-Commerce solutions. Here is a number of reasons why:

• fast. Django and Python provide software developers with a number of tools that significantly accelerate the development process;
• secure. Django’s security features allow preventing SQL injections, XSS, CSRF, host head validation, and other hacker attacks;
• scalable. The program code written with Django and Python is easy to scale
• a large number of adds-on. Django framework is compatible with a great number of libraries and adds-on that can significantly enlarge apps’ functionalities and speed up the development process;
• simple. Python and its Django framework are simple to learn and use. Therefore, many developers start their careers with Python. As a result, there is a big Python community and developers can find many ready-made solutions in Python online.

Best Programming Technologies for Building Ecommerce Website

Here I will list out six important languages and frameworks which will be the best technology for the ecommerce website.

Let’s start the discussion.

• Java
• JavaScript
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby
• MEAN

Java is a famous programming language based on classes and objects. You can able to develop full-fledged applications using Java to run on computers.

Java is one of the best choices to build an ecommerce website, as it is robust and flexible, you may modify the designs according to your wish. It also contains effective tools that help you to be more productive.

E.g.: Shopizer is the best example for the ecommerce website which is developed using Java.

JavaScript is also a famous programming language, which is unlike Java, runs only on browsers. It contains coding and texts; it is useful to develop ecommerce websites as it is easily embedded in the code in HTML.

Both front-end and back-end development will be supported in JavaScript.

PHP is another most used language which is abbreviated as Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is mainly meant for website development.

PHP is one of the best choices for developing an ecommerce website. It is highly functional and enhanced with various features to develop the applications.

Magento is developed by PHP. You can have many frameworks for PHP. But Laravel will be the best framework to use along with PHP to develop the best websites.

Python is also a wonderful option to develop an ecommerce website. It is efficient and flexible to make the best applications.

Ruby is a high-level language technology that is useful to build web applications. Rails is a framework build using Ruby. Hence Ruby on Rails will be the best choice when you build an ecommerce website with heavy traffic.

Even though its performance is not as good as the above all technologies, it is highly helpful to customize your store.

MEAN is all about MongoDB, Express.JS, Angular JS, and Node.JS.

This MEAN stack (a group of all framework technologies) is widely helpful in developing ecommerce websites. MEAN stack is especially used for dynamic web application creations.

Here comes the latest technology Angular and Node.JS.

Angular is the growing and ongoing framework for creating dynamic web applications. On the other hand, Node.js is also a data-intensive and lightweight platform to develop network applications. Both will be the best choice to develop an ecommerce website for all the upcoming features on the platform.

Also, take an insight into Angular and NodeJS Technology Stack in ecommerce.

Benefits of Angular

• Easy to maintain
• Readable and understandable
• Reusable is available
• Better Code Consistency

Benefits of Node.JS

• Easy learning and coding
• Used for a single programming language
• High Scalability
• Helps request Handling

Thus, Angular and Node.JS technology will the most appropriate technology to choose to build world-class ecommerce websites.

For instance, Purchase Commerce is the leading ecommerce platform which is developed on next-gen technologies like Angular and Node.js.  Also, Purchase Commerce provides Angular based ecommerce themes to create a colorful and beautiful online store to delight your customers.

Do you hear about Headless Commerce?

In traditional, ecommerce comprises of both front-end and back-end development.  Both front-end and back-end will together help you in developing a good ecommerce website.

But the opposite applies to headless commerce. As the name reveals, it doesn’t need the front-end part. Just with the help of the back-end tool part, it provides the best ecommerce features to the customers. It gives regular updates without affecting the back-end system.

In nutshell, a backend CMS (Content Management System) is derived as headless commerce. Headless Commerce is a growing technology and you can also use this technology in your ecommerce platform. It is very flexible and useful to improve your ecommerce business sales.

To know how the Headless Commerce exactly works, read here: Headless Commerce

As to say, Purchase Commerce, the best platform for creating the ecommerce website, also supports this Headless commerce technology to help your customers to fulfill your requirements.

Benefits of using technology in e-commerce:

• Technology is thus useful to upgrade the new features on the ecommerce website.
• Security will be high as best as the technology is used.

Upcoming Trends of Ecommerce Website:

You have to know the upcoming trends in ecommerce so that it is helpful for you to develop the website based on the latest features.

After the successful emission of ecommerce, where the products are searched by the customers in words, the technology to upgrade is Voice Commerce where the products are searched by pronouncing it to the website.

The concept of ecommerce is shopping online anytime and to save time. By using this voice commerce technology, it will save time even more and makes the customer more attached to the ecommerce store.

Everything is personalized using the machine and also the ecommerce website. The AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology is quite useful to understand the customer’s behavior by instant automated technique.

Chatbots are the part of AI, where the website bots replied to the customer’s messages and feedbacks automatically and also helps to communicate with the customers in a natural way like a human. Some other amazing technologies that are going to be introduced in an ecommerce website, which is available here: Top Emerging Trends in ecommerce

Which platform is best for Creating Ecommerce Website?

Purchase Commerce is the next-gen Angular and Node technology that is available for you at a one-time payment with a lifetime license. It also has headless commerce technology. To get the all-in-one ecommerce platform for your ecommerce business, then Purchase Commerce is the best choice for you.

You can start a friendly conversation over here: Let’s Communicate, to solve your queries or to buy the best ecommerce marketplace platform.

As to conclude, I hope this above information about ecommerce techniques will be helpful for you to choose the best technology for the ecommerce website. Technology is mandatory and you should use the appropriate one for your website application.

Need more ecommerce strategies and tips? Jump here: ecommerce Tips and Strategies.

Are you ready to upgrade your ecommerce website?

Online Ecommerce Business

Online businesses are many to start, among that ecommerce is the first and best choice as all people use the ecommerce app to fulfill their necessities.

Ecommerce is the most famous online business gaining millions of people all over the world. Hence, ecommerce helps you to become successful in your business.

For starting the ecommerce business, technology if the crucial part to consider as the technology will speak more to the customers. All the features are revolved around the technology.