E-commerce is one such sector that has proved to be gaining popularity over the years. This is the most effective and result-driven solution arena that more and more businesses globally are focusing on. With the rise in the eCommerce sector, there will naturally be a rise in the level of competition as well.
If you are planning to start such a venture, you will first need to decide on the architecture of your eCommerce platform. When you choose your eCommerce architecture you will need to first consider your needs. Typically, the architecture should perform in accordance with:
- Your functionality needs
- Your budget and
- Technology resources are accessible.
Therefore, you must choose the best-suited architecture for your e-commerce service to make sure that it works just as you want and get the desired result ad revenue from your e-commerce site.
Software as a Service
One of the most common and effective architectures that you can choose is SaaS or Software as a Service. Most of the branding services use this specific software licensing and delivery model.
- According to this, the software will be licensed on the basis of your subscription and also on the apps that are hosted.
- This is typically managed in the data center of the service provider. It will be usually accessed through the browser using a secured internet connection.
If you are an owner of small business and deal with a very small product selection then this SaaS architecture will prove to be the most effective and high yielding option for you to choose. This is because, in a SaaS, the software and the data are typically hosted in the cloud. Choosing SaaS architecture is recommended for the small business owners especially because it requires a very small initial investment.
However, you are also advised to research a lot on this specific architecture from different blogs and websites so that you know about the pros and cons of using SaaS architecture in your e-commerce platform development and its implementation. It is also required to make sure that you know how to add custom functionality in the architecture as that is the primary advantage of using SaaS.
Using Hybrid Architecture
Assuming that you already have an existing website and want to add more dynamic e-commerce solutions to it, the best way to go ahead with it is to use the hybrid e-commerce architecture. This is actually an architecture that is a combination of SaaS and custom-built architecture.
However, you will also have to consider the disadvantage of using such a hybrid architecture. You will need to maintain multiple systems as well as have to deal with the inability to differentiate the e-commerce solution from that of your competition.
- In hybrid architecture, the e-commerce site will use SaaS as well as all other functionalities will be custom-built. These will ideally be hosted separately but the common header and footer will be well integrated.
- When you use hybrid architecture it will typically combine your lower initial investment of SaaS. This will, in turn, provide you with the ability to obtain custom functionality on your e-commerce website.
You may also choose to use a custom build software platform as your e-commerce architecture. This will allow you to build all the necessary functionalities just as per your requirements which will, in turn, enable you to have more control over your site and ensure more functionality.
Using Custom Build Architecture
In addition to that this specific type of architecture will offer you with a large number of diverse benefits such as:
The main reason that most of the businesses that operate on an e-commerce platform prefer custom build architecture is that it enables then to use custom functionality. This, in turn, enables them to differentiate them significantly from their competition.
However, the main disadvantage of custom build architecture is that it will cost you a lot more in the form of the initial investment.
- It will offer you total control of your e-commerce website and its functionality
- You will see that there is no limit for creativity and its execution and
- You can even repurpose the platform later to ensure that it works more efficiently for mobile the sites and its diverse applications.
This is the basic overview of the different e-commerce architecture you can use for a more dynamic solution as well as the basic approaches that you can follow to build and use e-commerce architecture. However, just like every other thing in life where you can choose from multiple options, all of these situations will need specific attention from your side as well as consideration of the inherent pros and cons of each and different approaches.
It is for this reason that the experts say that you must know more about the uniqueness of each of these available architectures and weight it against each of your service and business requirements before you choose one accordingly.
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Working With An Organization
If you want to build a new global platform you will need to work with an organization that will know and understand your needs and delivers accordingly. The right company will be able to provide the strongest and most dynamic eCommerce solutions to help you achieve your business goals.
In short, they will have the ability to provide you with a stronger and more proven solution architecture experience according to your e-commerce delivery requirements.
- With proven experience for a large scale content management and e-commerce implementations, these companies will bring in thought leadership. It is their passion for technology and its extensive use for your specific project that will directly impact thousands of your customers as well as their lives in the most positive way.
- They will also help you to define the physical solutions of the different architectures more logically and at the same time will ensure the proper and most efficient integration of the different architectures of your choice.
- This will in turn and of course help you to manage the inherent risks in both technical and architectural way and all along with help you to develop and adhere to the best technical practices.
