Why software development can stimulate the growth of e-commerce market?

The e-commerce market is growing by 20% each year

The beginnings of the e-commerce industry dates back to 1979. Its development, on the other hand, can be attributed to 1995, when Amazon began its operations. Currently, it is the largest e-commerce website that overtakes brands such as eBay, Walmart or The Home Depot. When quoting the history of Amazon, it is worth mentioning, that the service first earned its profit in 2003. From then on, its profits have been growing regularly. In other words, Amazon has become a pioneer in the e-commerce industry.

The numbers reflect the best potential in this sector. It turns out that as much as 80% of people around the world use the Internet to purchase goods and services. What’s more, over 50% of them make purchases more than once. The data on average annual expenditure of consumers are also interesting. It is estimated that they spend about $ 1,200 to $ 1,300 on e-commerce websites.

The question is why customers are so interested in e-commerce? The answer is pretty simple, as there are two most important factors determining it. First of all, it’s comfort – you do not have to leave your home and online shopping usually takes only a few minutes. Price is the second factor. About 71% of consumers believe that you can buy products cheaper on the Internet than on regular stores.

E-commerce must meet the needs of customers

Most often, customers making purchases via e-commerce websites, have a wide range of websites resulting from high competition. The key to success for a specific platform is to attract them to the website. The question is how to do it? First of all, an e-commerce platform should be created in accordance with current market trends from the development stage. The easiest way is to show it by an example. It is estimated that a single second delay in loading a website can result in a decrease in sales conversion by as much as 7%. In turn, 40% of users decide to leave the website if they load for more than 3 seconds.

At this point, we touch the basics of creating effective software. Above all, work on its development must be entrusted to specialists, who acquire appropriate knowledge and experience. In case of e-commerce platforms deep understanding of technology both with an ability to choose one that is effective is also very important. Ruby on Rails is one of the most popular solutions.

Stimulate growth by effective software development

Ruby on Rails is a technology often used in e-commerce platforms. On its basis AirBnB and Groupon were created among the others. Its popularity comes from several characteristic features of this framework. Such as:

1. Time saving. Ruby on Rails provides you with an opportunity to create an e-commerce platform in a very short time. Which is quite valuable, especially in this industry. Thanks to Ruby on Rails, you can easily change selected features of the platform. If it turns out that one of them requires changes, then the team, working on its development, is able to introduce all improvements without any problems.

2. Security. Ruby on Rails provides mechanisms that affect platform security. It is a built-in protection against XSS, CSRF and SQL Injection attacks, which are considered to be one of the most popular attacks on web applications or e-commerce platforms.

3. Reliability. A written code in Ruby on Rails is characterized by its high quality. Thanks to it, the created products are usually trouble-free and do not require unnecessary corrections. This affects smooth operation of an e-commerce website. Especially on its initial stage of development.

Do not forget about User Experience

Creating friendly interfaces is another key to the success of e-commerce platforms. If it is designed in a user-friendly way, there is a good chance that in the future they will choose to return to the same place and make purchases. A UX designer plays this role in teams working on software development. Their main task is to search for optimal graphical and functional solutions.

Analyzing statistical data, it turns out that 54% of e-commerce platforms’ customers use mobile. That is why it is very important that a website is responsive in this respect, i.e. it works without any complaints not only on desktop, but also on a mobile device. This is just one of the examples of current trends related to user experience in the e-commerce industry.

Conclusions

The e-commerce industry is a big chance to achieve business success. However, to make it real you need to know the industry specifics and to ensure the highest quality software that will make customers willing to return to this place. This is the most important element of an e-commerce platform’s development at its initial stage. Another is the product implementation on the market: testing them, running through verification, making possible improvements and taking care of effective marketing promotion. Only then a real success will be possible.