eCommerce Website Speed
When picking a solution over another, you should always factor in the impact it will have on website speed. Consider third-party apps and extensions for example: in many cases, an app is a great solution to resolve gaps between subscription and licensing tiers. However, apps can slow down an online store considerably if not configured correctly and tested thoroughly to measure its impact on other existing apps and theme and on the overall website speed and performance.
This is especially true for customer-facing apps that add JavaScript, Liquid and CSS to your store theme because if not done correctly then it will have a negative impact on website speed.
Here are some examples of customer-facing apps:
- Marketing popup apps
- Customer live chat apps
- Live shipping calculator apps
- Product reviews apps
- Mega-menu apps
- eCommerce Widget apps for major ecommerce functions like add-to-cart checkout, product options, ajax actions etc.
Number of Products, Categories or Collections
- A small product catalog is less than 100 products. We refer these as the 10s meaning tens of products.
- A medium product catalog is less than 1000 products. We refer these as the 100s, meaning hundreds of products.
- A large product catalog is greater than 1000 products. We refer these as the 1000s, meaning thousands of products.
- A enterprise product catalog is greater than 10000 products. We refer these as enterprise level catalogs.
Some apps or theme modifications work great for small catalogs with less than a hundred products. When a product catalog grows to consist of hundreds and thousands of products then the theme and apps need to apply to a much larger catalog. There is a higher risk of such apps and themes having a negative impact on website performance if they were not designed to work on larger catalogs.
You’ll want to rather opt for services oriented architecture with cloud based solutions that can better support larger catalogs.
Monthly Maintenance Required
Often ecommerce services will go beyond than just building and enhancing stores and branch out into supporting and maintaining all or some ecommerce features through a monthly pay-as-you-operate maintenance partnership.
In-house Team Skills
Some solutions and platforms require different amounts of effort and time for your teams and individuals to upskill on. While it’s great to be out of your comfort zone and try new things, you might want to consider the learning curve and the time required by your team as they learn and practice new skills and processes.
Leveraging on ecommerce specialists like ourselves for support, maintenance, training and custom webinars is a good idea in these situations.
High Traffic Volume
Businesses with high amounts of traffic and order volumes usually have very specific needs and often opt for scalable solutions that are robust and scalable enough to sustain increasing volumes and pressure.
Considering all points above will help us adopt a more holistic approach to selecting an ecommerce solution that is fitting and right for a business.
This is why with all potential clients we complete the following:
Initial Conversation to identify where your business fits in the ecommerce landscape
We aim to understand your business model as well as your business goals.
This includes components such as budget, business size, complexity, location, existing tech stack, timeline, and business and team composition.
Here’s an overview of how to determine if a platform such as Shopify Plus is the right fit for your business goals
Technical Conversation to identify your technical needs
We aim to understand what you need from an ecommerce solution, such as the Shopify ecommerce platform.
This includes reviewing sales, delivery, and payment models; inventories and countries of operations, and other variables that will impact our project.
We aim to recommend solutions that best suit your goals and budget.
