Ultimate Guide for Building an eCommerce Website/App Like Amazon/Flipkart
E-commerce has made it possible to shop from home without physically visiting a store, waiting in long queues, or being a part of the tiresome checkout process. Online shopping has reached a whole new level, thanks to the pandemic where everyone is stuck indoors, and it is not safe to move outside. Customers can choose from a huge catalog of products from different brands at their own time and can place an order whenever they want!
With the help of an e-commerce website or app, customers can compare products and select the one best suited to their needs. In terms of business, a virtual website or app also takes off the pressure associated with having a physical business location. In turn, it helps you concentrate efforts on delivering a remarkable service that addresses your customers' needs. Additionally, e-commerce can be the perfect channel for increasing sales and revenue for any business because of its numerous benefits saved for the customer as well as the seller.
Here are some interesting statistics related to e-commerce giant Amazon-
- In the first quarter of 2020, Amazon saw a 26% net increase in sales
- In April 2020, Amazon had more than 208 million unique visitors!
- Push notifications
- 82% of users claim that Amazon is the most important online retail store.
You can create a website like Amazon by using a website builder. However, this is not an appropriate option in terms of customization and security. A better solution would be to create a website from scratch and incorporate all your visions for the e-commerce website.
This article will guide you through the various steps necessary to build a website like Amazon/Flipkart, keeping in mind both the customer and the sellers involved.
Steps to Develop an E-commerce Application like Amazon/Flipkart:
#1 Planning and Market Research
Start by analyzing your target group's needs and requirements. Gather sufficient data to understand what customers want and does it align with your business goals?
Analyzing the patterns and behavior of your target audience, including the demographics like their age, geographical location, interests, likes and dislikes, will help you make better decisions to build a relevant e-commerce application. It's also important to carry out an analysis based on a "seller's" perspective since they will depend on your platform/app to better manage their products and inventory and ensure a smooth transaction between their potential customer base.
#2 Competitor Analysis
Keeping in sync with point #1, once you have finalized the kind of aspects you want to include in your website/app, it is important to do a "competitor's analysis" as well.
List down all your competitor sites and understand why they are the first choice for buyers.
Small details make the biggest difference in terms of website/ app design. Analyze pointers like website load time, UI/UX features, transaction times, ease of customer service, etc., to understand why and how your competitors drive major traction towards their websites.
#3 Choose Essential Features
Now that the analysis phase is out of the way, the next step is to finalize features that will keep customers returning to your website/app. For building an outstanding application, you need to consider both user-friendliness, as well as seller features. Here is a list to get you started:
User End Features:
- User Login and Signup option
- Edit Profile
- Search bar to find products
- View various product categories (Sort by Alphabet/category)
- Wishlist Button (for favorite products/ products to be bought in the future)
- Add to Cart
- Checkout Process
- Payment Gateway
- Chatbox
- View and add product reviews and ratings
- Push Notification (in-app)
- Multiple Payment Options
- Product Quick View to compare different products on the platform
Seller End Features:
- Registration & Login
- Edit Profile
- A comfortable, easy-to-use platform for selling products (uploading product details, pictures, videos of products, etc.)
- Product Inventory Management
- View products ratings and reviews
- Daily, monthly, or annual analytics reports related to sales, highest purchased product, most liked and disliked the product, etc.
- Order Management to get complete order details of the user. This will enable sellers to track the order starting from dispatch till the time it is delivered.
#4 Choosing the Appropriate Tech Stack
A successful e-commerce application requires a full-fledged technology stack to function without any issues. The backend and frontend technologies should work in sync on both web and mobile platforms for a smooth user experience. Here is a roundup of some popular technologies that you can incorporate into your website/ app.
- Front-End- Javascript, Vue.js, Node.js, Angular, React.js
- Back-End- PHP, C#, Java, Spring, Python
- Database- MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB, Firebase Database.
- Payment gateways- Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net
- Analytics tools- Piwik, Hotjar,Woopra
#5 An Amazing UI/UX Experience
The UI is what a customer first sees and interacts with when he/she visits your website or app. This is the first place you can make a good impression on your customer. Focus on using high-quality images of products along with unique and informative content. This can add to your website's overall appeal. The components of your website's design should be easy to use and navigate so that customers can easily find the information they are looking for when browsing your website on different devices like mobile, tablet, and desktop devices.
Make sure that your website is responsive and mobile-friendly for added user experience.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it, our roundup of the top 5 pointers that will help you build and scale your e-commerce website/app. We hope that this guide will help you create a "customer-centric" platform that will surely lead to explosive growth in your business. Additionally, you can refer to our guide on how to scale your eCommerce website here: https://biz4commerce.com/blog/effective-tips-and-tricks-to-scaling-up-your-eCommerce-business-in-2021
Biz4Commerce is one of the leading eCommerce platforms trusted by top fortune companies worldwide. The platform offers enterprise as well as SaaS-based solutions to build, run and grow your online store.
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