Did you know that the website development industry is valued to be $11 billion by the end of 2024? As new businesses emerge, the need for website development also rises. A user-friendly website can solve some of the most pressing business challenges, such as determining the right features & functionality, understanding which framework might work best, and integrating the existing business into the new site.
Like any other business, eCommerce website development is a complete process of developing technical aspects – including functions, payment acceptance, user actions, and behavior and aesthetics. A top-notch eCommerce website offers an immersive and consistent experience to the customer, converting them from users to loyal customers.
Only development won’t do. An established site also needs timely maintenance and support post-deployment. Constant updates, positive user experience, bug fixing, and support are a few requisites to keep the site running.
However, to build and maintain an invaluable platform for user interaction with your brand, you need a skilled and professional software developer.
Selecting a partner will help you realize your vision, objectives, and the right steps before launching a website.
While the article primarily focuses on choosing the right developer for an ecommerce website, it’s worth noting the unique considerations that emerge when it comes to healthcare website design, emphasizing the importance of a developer well-versed in both fields.
Choosing Your Development Partner for Website Development
The advancement in technology has given immense power to the user for personalized shopping. The buyer’s journey begins with the interaction with the brand on either social media or the company’s digital storefront. Websites here act as an invaluable tool to draw users’ attention to your business and ensure scalability.
With a strong website presence, you land substantial leads. It also guarantees the conversion of the user to a long-term customer.
Website development is an exciting process that requires technical expertise. Hence let’s move to the couple of things you would need to consider for picking your website developer like A3logics.
Fundamentals of Selecting Right eCommerce Developer
Before hiring a potential web developer for your Shopify or Magento development services, you must identify your needs. Only then would you be able to define them to serve the purpose of developing a lucrative website.
Whether you are an online sellable brand or not, your website will be developed based on it. Usually, eCommerce websites allow consumers to directly buy products online. Hence, whether small, mid, or large organizations, everyone reaches out for a website to drive growth and reach a global market.
Dive Into The Needs of Your Business
After having a collective idea of the website requirement, it’s time to dig more details by asking these questions –
- Functions required for the website.
- The value that your website will provide your customers.
Answers to these questions make communication with the web developer easier and comprehensible, saving a lot of time in digging into the need for what you are looking for.
You must also consider the going or continuous support and maintenance of your site so that whenever you want to redesign or revamp your, you can readily do it. You can also set expectations while your developer can give you pricing for the same.
Which Quality Are You Looking For?
Other than technical expertise, every company looks for other attributes in a developer that might share some company values. A developer that fits in the company culture will make the partnership run like a cakewalk ensuring quality outcomes.
You can define which quality you are looking for in a website developer to run things seamlessly. Is it the creativity and innovation that you seek, or do you prefer someone who can bounce ideas off you?
When you are aware of where you lie on a spectrum in terms of company culture and values, you will be able to identify which trait to look for when hiring a developer.
Also, taking into consideration that a web developer speaks your language means less friction and more energy spent to accomplish the business objective.
Asking for The Portfolio
Certainly, when you are hiring or interviewing a developer, you would want to know their experiences through their relevant work. Substantial proof of work similar to yours can convince you to prefer them for your future needs.
You can also judge the skills, such as the person’s learning willingness and how quickly the person adapts & learns from it.
Ask your developer about any of its successful work and methods/approaches used for developing it, challenges they faced during the development, and how were they able to overcome them.
Securing a copy of the developer can help you distinguish between the candidates with valuable insights and choose the best one.
Work Experience Matters
Followed by Portfolio, work experience is the next big thing that companies should check in a candidate. Web developers who have been in the industry for long enough are well seasoned and know what will work, where, and how. An experienced developer would know how to turn raw ideas into meaningful products.
Ask your candidate how customizable products have been created to add new changes seamlessly. A proficient developer would be able to easily customize themes & widgets, optimize site speed, improve website security, and deliver an excellent user experience.
However, to say that web development prowess is achieved with years of experience. Regardless of lots of talent in the market, you would only want someone with a rich professional background.
CMS Familiarity
When looking for an eCommerce web developer, you must look for familiarity with third-party software such as CMS. A developer must have the knowledge of all open-source platforms, such as Prestashop, Magento, osCommerce, or others.
They should also be well versed with the latest & scalable platform used. Quaint platform knowledge will not help in the development of a modern and intuitive website.
Ask the candidate about projects they have worked on with their respective platform. Asking about the details of the project will help you find the perfect candidate for your eCommerce project.
Cost Factor
Whether you are considering a freelance web developer or outsourcing a developer from a website development company, you either get charged per hour or get quotations per project.
Cost is one of the major decisions for any business to take hence setting a budget is always a good practice. However, with cost, one must never compromise the quality of service. Because a robust, quality, intuitive and scalable website can make a great impression on the audience from the very beginning and yield a return of the investment tenfold.
Development Process & Tech Experience
A crucial factor for choosing an eCommerce developer is how quickly a project can be delivered. An adept developer must be able to follow the latest developmental approach or methodology, such as agile, scrum, or DevOps, to ensure a smooth process.
The candidate must be knowledgeable and understand the importance of various programming languages, such as PHP, MySQL, Python, Java, and others that support cross-platform compatibility.
You can ask the candidate about platforms and modules used in languages they know to gauge their knowledge. Also, about the disadvantages and advantages of programming language for developing an eCommerce website.
In A Nutshell
Developers or a development team is a direct point of contact for any project hence they must have lines of communication available anytime. Developing a website for eCommerce isn’t adequate instead, it must be responsive and able to provide the convenience of shopping anytime and anywhere.
Choosing a developer with a smooth and substantial portfolio minimizes the developmental blocks. Experience does count, along with the knowledge of the latest eCommerce platforms and programming languages to develop them on any platform required by the customer.
Hence scrutinizing developers for a complex process like that of an eCommerce can help in deterring budget shortfalls and heartaches while ensuring a secure product.
