The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management | A project management framework is necessary for e-commerce web projects in order to limit and constrain project needs and act as a roadmap for stakeholders and the development team.
Cost overruns and budgetary blowouts are a frequent result of inadequate planning because a significant percentage of ecommerce web projects are vulnerable to revision.Here are some suggestions to follow if you are about to start an e-commerce web project:
Create a Solid Plan: The majority of initiatives begin with ill-defined functionality. This can cause issues throughout the development phase. It is the responsibility of programmers to decipher specifications and code them appropriately.
If you haven't properly considered and expressed the precise project specs, you need to do so before starting the project build. Dependent relationships are established when database developers build the database.
The development team may experience a chain reaction of issues if you subsequently decide to significantly alter the project structure. Spending time preparing your e-commerce project before starting development should be your top priority.
The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management
Choose Qualified Individuals: Qualified personnel are required to carry out the project plan for an e-commerce site. Prior to using a web development company or possible candidate's services, it is crucial to verify their credentials and experience.
Not always is the cheapest option the best. You may encounter quality control issues that cost time and money if the organisation does not adhere to a project methodology. If the company can handle the project needs, it should be clear from the development of previous projects. Using skilled staff to lead the project can help it go smoothly.
Extensive platform, usability, and stress testing should be carried out on e-commerce websites. These projects should also be extensively functionally checked across a variety of platforms and browsers. This is done to make sure the project is user-friendly, commercially viable, and fits project criteria.
This entails checking the security precautions to protect the website from potential outside threats if you have integrated payment gateways. For carrying out these tests, the developer or web company should have elaborate protocols.
You can find out about this step when interviewing potential candidates to create the internet project in order to determine the quality control criteria the candidate adheres to.
The aforementioned recommendations ought to help give a general overview of e-commerce site project management. Similar steps are taken in both internet initiatives and the software development life cycle. Doing a web search on this method will reveal more information about it.
What You Should Think About When Planning Ecommerce
Planning for e-commerce demands a focused method for defining the functional requirements of the company. The web presence of a company will depend on its aims and objectives. In turn, this will specify the technology and platform needed for the plan's execution stages, marketing campaigns, support staff needs, and other necessities.
The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management
It is crucial to have a defined ecommerce project plan before you start the build stage. This covers project needs, feasibility, and business analysis. The project needs to be designed to work with current company procedures. As a result, you must ascertain the level of any back office or legacy system integration. The design and technology will take into account the needs of business processes.
For instance, it might be necessary to integrate with an existing inventory management system using a comprehensive online store. Business requirements must be adequately defined because they will be utilised by developers to understand the ecommerce project plan and as a guide during the testing phase to ensure that the project execution matches the initial stakeholder objectives.
The functional and end-user requirements of the project must be taken into account while designing the ecommerce planning interface. Online e-commerce projects must compromise on the design to be search engine friendly and have considerable database integration.
Typically, a sequence of screenshots are used to conceptualise the layout and provide a visual representation of the project. Company branding establishes the interface's appearance and feel. During this phase, tradeoffs are typically made to accommodate the project's many conflicting requirements.
The preferred platform will typically depend on what is internally supported by the organisation or externally supported by the web development business. The development process will also take the provider of the payment gateway into account.
A technical paper outlining the project's requirements must be available to the development team in order for them to code the project. In order to prevent expensive overruns during the implementation stage, the ecommerce plan needs to be precisely specified both in terms of specification and interpretation.
The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management
Extensive functional, usability, and security testing is done after the coding and interface have been completed. This is done to make sure the website is reliable, satisfies the project's goals and objectives, and can withstand platform and stress tests. The ecommerce plan outlines the test objectives. The project is launched when any last adjustments have been made.
After the project is launched, the ecommerce plan's marketing endeavours will become crucial. The company must now shift from the development mode to the promotion mode, and a distinct and comprehensive plan will need to be created for this.
Plan for Online Marketing
The effort being done right now is focused on marketing e-commerce services. It outlines the crucial marketing procedures for a fresh company providing website development, design, programming, and promotion services.
The service should only be offered online through the business' website. Ordering, deciding on specifications, developing a design, and offering ongoing customer assistance are all part of operating an online business.
The following phases should be included in the service implementation process:
Outlining the site's objectives. This could be an actual meeting or online discussion about the product in question.
Creating the website's framework. This stage aims to demonstrate the site's technological features. The definition of required technologies, as well as the type and requirements for site navigation, should be included.
Creating and building websites. Creating the website's layout and graphics. This could be describing the company's true creative process for creating the order's visual appearance or adhering to the specifications the client has provided for the project's overall aesthetic.
The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management
Building and programming websites. This stage is dependent on the specifics of each individual project and the predetermined standards set for the calibre and degree of the site. Additionally, this process differs depending on the clientele and final destination of the site in question. The site's features are all up for inspection and testing by both customers and the company's experts.
The site's technical release. Following completion of the project's technical components, the customer should receive a free consultation along with additional site marketing and promotion services, strategies, and helpful suggestions.
Ongoing site upkeep. At this point, the task of building the client's website is complete. However, the corporation promises to maintain all of its websites up to date in terms of design, navigation, and usability.
Following the site's launch, the business continues to work with the client to set up a programme for routine website reviews and maintenance to satisfy client demands, take into account user feedback, and incorporate new system updates and new technologies.
It is a truth that the concept of this sort of online commerce is not entirely original, and in order for a new firm to enter the market and make money from its operations, fresh features in the service provided must be invented.
The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management
When compared to a wide range of competitors operating in the IT e-commerce sector, this project stands out for its original features thanks to a combination of generic cost leadership and differentiation techniques (according to M. Porter, [1]).
The project is therefore launched in a B2C format, notwithstanding the possibility of customer differentiation and, consequently, differentiation in the quality and range of services provided to each individual customer. The project is also a for-profit small business case.
This new company aims to compete with both huge companies that offer site development services and small companies that deal with this subject.
The project's inclusion of a wide range of services in a single company offer is another distinctive aspect. Web design, redesign of an existing site, ability to work with a variety of programming languages, site management, inclusion in search engines, animation, free hosting offer, email registration, web mail and POP3 access, ftp access, tools for web statistics, domain name registration, additional services like full-life website consulting, creation of flash animation, development of graphic and logo design, e-commerce and shopping carts, site management, and administering are all included.
Industry Snapshot
One of the global industries with the fastest and most rapid growth is e-commerce. Today, it is rather challenging to quantify the actual influence of the Internet on trade, but estimates indicate that in 2000, there were around 260 million Internet users globally, and by the middle of 2003, that number had more than doubled to reach 580 million. Their population was projected to exceed 770 million by 2005.
These statistics demonstrate how the Internet has developed into a very major and vital business medium via which buyers and sellers not only complete transactions that were previously completed in person but also complete online-specific company buy-and-sell activities.
E-commerce transactions exceeded $20 billion only three years ago, in the first three quarters of 2002, according to data from the Department of Commerce [3]. It should be noted that those figures are far less than the volume of actual real-world transactions.
The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management
E-commerce is flourishing right now. The e-commerce market has grown to enormous proportions. Furthermore, its expansion frequently quickens. The overall value of American retail e-commerce sales climbed from $44 billion in 2002 to 56 billion in 2003. Then, in 2003, only 1.6 percent of all sales were done online, giving rise to the argument that there is significant room for development.
By 2007, it is expected that online sales will increase to 2.9%. As a result, the US economy as a whole is now more dependent than ever on the Internet economy. The Web is changing how people work, according to research by Cisco Systems (available at [2]), and revenue from online transactions is increasing by more than 50% annually.
According to Jupiter Research [4], American B2B Internet commerce rates rose significantly during the preceding five years, rising from $336 billion in 2000 to $6.3 trillion in 2005. Jupiter lists five industries where more than half of all online transactions for buying and selling take place.
These include computer and communications tools and software, chemicals, electronics, motor vehicles and parts, and aerospace and defence. With an expected $1 trillion in online sales in this 2005 year, computer and communications equipment and software is leading among these sectors.
Given that the project in question will be launched in the computer and communications industries, this is crucial for the current study. The direction of one's business related to online service and e-commerce, despite fierce competition, therefore, has every chance to further develop and be successful because this market sector is open to improvement, development, and transformation. This conclusion can be drawn from the trends mentioned in the industry of electronic commerce.
There is a very high and steadily rising demand for programming, design, site development, and marketing services since there are more people using the Internet, more businesses wanting to have a presence on the Web, and more businesses starting online businesses.
Therefore, a new company in the sector theoretically has good chances to enter the market, regardless of how saturated it may be, and develop successfully. The relevant business target market's general outline can be seen based on the aforementioned.
Market Sighting
The project's target market is fairly sizable. Individuals with the bare minimal expectations for the website's functionality, aesthetics, and programming options are different from major corporations with more demanding and expensive orders.
The Benefits of Ecommerce Project Management
Customers should be divided into separate groups since there are many different types of customers with varying interests and needs, each demanding a distinctive strategy and professional level of performance. The company's chances of success are increased by segmenting the consumer base.
The amount of intended product complexity was used to segment the client base. Three levels can be identified using this criterion: those requiring basic site development, intermediate level, and sophisticated level.
Basic level denotes relatively inexpensive services and is suitable for casual businesses, such as those engaged in the online sale of a limited selection of goods. This solution's name implies that it will have little functionality, a straightforward design, and quick order implementation.
The second group of clients consists of individuals with orders of a moderate level. These websites ought to have.
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