The rapid growth of IT has allowed us to build an ecosystem of various technological services which is one of the reasons why online stores are on the rise nowadays.
In every stage of the customer journey in ecommerce, from navigating to find the desired products to getting products delivered to your place, IT solutions are implied by business owners. It’s the reason they can offer an enhanced user experience. And the brand that can offer a better experience undoubtedly positions itself at the top of the market.
But developing an ecommerce store is not an easy task. You need resources, infrastructure, and talented or expert professionals, basically, you need to look around for a relevant eCommerce development company.
Among all these, a reliable technology stack plays a critical role in ecommerce development. The technology you use determines what kind of capabilities your platform will possess. It is the key to filling in the gaps in your business framework and finding the right solutions.
Therefore, in this blog, we are going to explore what an ecommerce technology stack is, what kind of technologies are used for development purposes, how to pick or put together the right tech stack for your project, and lastly which platform will be more suitable for hosting services. So, let’s get started.
What is an ecommerce technology stack?
An ecommerce technology stack is a group of tools used to run an online store. It consists of software, hardware, and services that help you run your business. It includes your inventory management system (also known as an order management system or omnichannel), the payment processing system (such as PayPal), fulfillment center (such as Amazon FBA), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
The most important thing about an ecommerce technology stack is that it should be compatible with each other. You need to make sure that all your different platforms are connected and can communicate with each other seamlessly to achieve the best performance possible.
It’s important to note that even though most companies use the same software and hardware, they may not use the same operating system or browser. This means that if one platform has an issue, everything else will stop working too!
Ecommerce web development tech stacks
Front-end
If you’ve got the HTML and CSS, you’ve got the JavaScript, you know how to use Grunt for your build process. You can write modular code, you know what a Gulpfile is, and you’ve got a basic understanding of how to use SASS. You’re ready to go!
The front-end stack consists of the following tools:
- JavaScript and CSS: These technologies are used to build the minimal interface of an ecommerce website.
- HTML: It’s a markup language that is generally used to create content for the web page. You can use any programming language like HTML5, HTML4, XHTML, or even PHP to write its code.
- CSS: It’s used to style websites according to their requirements.
- Bootstrap: It is a front-end technology framework used to build responsive sites with HTML and CSS. It’s highly customizable and has a lot of components in it (buttons, forms, navbars, etc.) which can be easily customized as per your needs.
Back end
The back end is the basic code that runs your ecommerce website. It includes the database, front end, and payment gateway. The developers work with the backend to build out the functionality for your site.
The backend part here means data storage and processing. This includes:
- Database management
- Data manipulation and transformation
- Back-end APIs (for connecting with other platforms)
The backend is the software that handles all of the transactions. It may be built as a series of PHP or Node.js services that run on a cloud computing platform such as AWS, DigitalOcean, or Heroku. The backend could also be built with another scripting language such as Ruby on Rails, Python, or Java, or even in the form of a compiled language like C++.
The backend is what drives business processes and makes them work. It’s where data is stored and processed for further processing, where orders are placed and fulfilled, and where payments are processed.
How to build a winning tech stack?
The best way to build a winning tech stack is to think of it as a toolkit. Each item should be there for a specific purpose, and the more you use them, the more they become integrated into your daily life. The goal is to find items that work together well and integrate into your workflow—not just in isolation but also as part of a cohesive whole.
Here are some key considerations when choosing a web development stack:
- Performance: Speed is essential for an ecommerce website. You need to be able to process orders quickly and efficiently so that your customers aren’t left waiting for their products or having to switch browsers or open another window to complete a transaction.
- Security: A secure ecommerce platform is crucial for protecting your customers’ data from hackers and other cyber attackers. It’s also important for reducing fraud, which costs businesses billions every year.
- Flexibility: An ecommerce website needs to be flexible enough to accommodate new features as they are developed by the business owner or developer of the site.
One of the most important steps in building a winning tech stack is to know what your customers want, need, and expect from you. Then, based on this data, you can create a list of requirements that will define what makes up your perfect ecommerce platform.
Your ecommerce platform must have the following features:
- UX/UI design for easy navigation and user experience
- SEO optimization to obtain better rankings in any particular or multiple search engines (SEO)
- Integrating payment gateways like Paypal and Stripe (Payment Gateways)
- Shopping cart integration with shipping, returns, etc. (eCommerce Software)
Why choose Shopify as an ecommerce service provider?
Hosting service providers like Shopify offer services on a monthly subscription. If we talk about Shopify then this platform alone is used widely around the world. You can either start building your store through this platform or can integrate an existing one later on too.
Some people say that Shopify is a kind of basic toolkit for ecommerce development. But it is more than that. They also allow you to customize your online store with a little backend by integrating with ERP systems. In this way, you can find out the most cost-effective way to provide a better user experience to the customers and not just sell stuff with a shell.
If you are working on a startup or have fewer resources then Shopify is the best choice for you. It is easy to use and comes with everything you need to build your store, get started with your ecommerce business, and succeed in it.
And when after a while, the scale of users goes beyond the threshold and your online business starts generating great revenue, it would be appropriate to migrate to a cloud platform. The cloud platforms offer more custom services like analytics or integrating microservices.
Apart from Shopify, there is another great option available and that is Magento. It is an open-source framework and many top companies use it to empower their sites. Magento provides hosting services for your site and you can customize the services if you want by modifying the source code. And if you want some advanced services, you can always integrate Magento with third-party softwares, ERP systems, APIs, and plugins.
Final words
Your budget is the most important factor when you go out shopping for the ecommerce tech stack. You have to thoroughly estimate the development cost, maintenance cost, and other hidden costs too. If you don’t have enough budget to hire in-house developers or to set up the infrastructure then it is best to outsource your services.
Now, when it comes to picking the ecommerce tech stack, you must first consider your business requirements and then compare them with the features of a tech stack. If the match seems ideal then you can go ahead with it. Also, never think that the free platforms are not good enough. They are very useful and reliable. Many ecommerce companies use open-source platforms like Magento to achieve their business goals.
You also need to understand that in technology, there isn’t anything like size fits all solutions. No platform can help you do it all. You have to pick the one that can help you do the most and to handle the rest, you can get plugins, APIs, or third-party softwares.
I hope this helps!
