You must have seen emails from freelancer consultants or agencies approaching you for online store setup. They typically give you how they can help you in setting up your e-commerce store that can work more efficiently. If you consult them, they give you a detailed plan for implementing the process including timelines and milestones.

If you already have an e-commerce site which is performing well, this article might sound like an old hat. However, I would suggest reading on because sometimes it is good to go over the groundwork you have done. If you are planning to set up an e-commerce site, this is a perfect start to explore.

These articles will let you draw a roadmap on setting realistic approach towards building an e-commerce store especially in Magento with three golden rules. The three golden rules for setting up an online store are:

Rule#1 – Know your needs and wants before you align them with the different service providers available online.

Rule#2 – Know the difference between freelancers and agencies/ service providers.

Rule#3 – Look at the approach and terms

So, let us explore these golden rules.

Rule#1: Know your needs and wants before you align them with the different service providers

I know it sounds routine to ask you what you want and what you need for setting up an e-commerce site. You must have prepared a list briefing your needs and wants. However, it is important to uphill the question before you begin anything. The reason being – “Your wants overwhelm your needs”.

You might have seen many giants giving you the best practices and the systematic process to set up the online store.  However, that is not the real thing I am talking about. While listing them and finalizing the items, you finalize them based on your needs or based on your wants.

Now, your e-commerce site needs to be informative about you and your selling items. Homepage, About us and Contact us provide information about “you”. Product page drives the information about “your selling items”.

Next comes the basic wants of your e-commerce site.  You want your e-commerce site to load in minimum time because your customers are too impatient. You want your site to be responsive because most of your customers are mobile freaks.

The above are upfront/front-end activities. What about your back-end activities? Let us look at them.

In that sense, you need your e-commerce site to integrate with your e-commerce departments and share the required information. You need a smooth payment tractions happening across your vendors/ suppliers. You need to track the sales, marketing effects online, and offline. You need website analytics and performance.

Now, while having a seamless integration between your warehouse and inventory, you want to inform the user that the selected item is out of the stock but he can get the used item for some x% of discount. This is B2B strategy is used to promote old/reused stock. This feature is called the “Associated Products”.  i95Dev has implemented one such customization.

Similarly, you want your customer to buy the product in EMI. You want your customer to check his eligibility or in how many EMI’s, he owns the product completely. This is again a customization. You can find many plugins for this function. i95Dev implemented “ Affirm Monthly EMI payment” for our beloved client.

After you define your wants and needs, you discuss them with the e-commerce store development service provider in detail.

Rule#2: Know the difference between Freelancers and Agencies

“Why do you hire freelancers?” This is the most common question I ask many store owners. They are more concerned about the cost involved in the whole process and they are right.

However, the two basic factors to look for before hiring any of them are Risk and Value.

Let us assume you have an e-commerce site and it suddenly goes down. It is not working and you cannot figure out why? You are losing the money.

If you hire a freelancer and ring him up to solve the issue, he might not address the issue proactively. He might have schedules to attend. He wants to help you but cannot drop his current schedule.

If you hire an agency, they have a larger capacity. They have people available to help in these situations. They can investigate and fix the issues quicker.  They can help you solve the ancillary issues.

The same rule does not apply to various tasks for agencies and freelancers, but it does demonstrate how having more resource can benefit you.

Next catch is clear: you pay more to get more. Agencies can afford to have the additional resources when needed and work to provide a solution. Hence, they charge more to present greater value for your money.

Rule#3 – Look at the approach and reality terms

The project e-commerce site should start by setting up regular milestones and targets. Ideally, there should be an outline of action items in the proposal. This can work for all kinds of experts (freelancers or agencies).

It is recommended that you get material from the expert on each process involved in the project. It should outline for you the start and the end of the project. It ensures you that you are on the right footing. It also reminds you by when a part of the project can be done. If not, a day of yours is wasted.

Since years, i95Dev with the help of Business Analysts, Magento programmers, and website designers, we understand our customers. Based on your needs and wants, we provide a prototype on each operational feature that can be applicable to your online store. The process typically represented in the below image.

One of our prime customer who is the New York city’s largest independent music retailer and a Brooklyn based Moog Dealer called Pro Audio Star has implemented the concept of MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Back in 2014, he has got a website with minimum features. You can see the website design changes made from 2014 to 2018.

We recently wrote other blogs in line with similar business requirements of e-commerce players. Below are some of them.

We, at i95Dev, come across global online store development projects. Thus, our experts got to talk to connected people belonging to different domains. With have a large pool of certified Magento professionals with more than 10+ years of core industry experience. We are specialized in providing end-to-end e-commerce business solutions in Magento platform. Contact us at [email protected]