How Nodejs can grow your eCommerce business?

According to a latest study, there are 1.92 billion digital buyers in 2019 globally. Missing a huge chunk of customers is not at all a good idea. Therefore, an eCommerce website is crucial for your retail business. Let’s have a quick glance over the rise of eCommerce industry though various facts and stats:

• In 2019, sales over eCommerce platforms are expected to account for 13.7% of retail sales worldwide.
• Nearly half of American small and medium scale businesses do not have a website.
• The top reason people shop on eCommerce platforms is that they’re able to shop at all hours of the day.
• 65% of shoppers look up the comparison of price on their mobile device while in a physical store.
• 85% of customers conduct thorough online research before making an online purchase.
• 81% of consumers trust the advice of their friends & family over businesses promotion.
• 80% of people stop doing business with any company because of the poor experience of customers.

But, which platform you should choose for your eCommerce website? No doubt, Nodejs is gaining momentum and popularity in the eCommerce world with a great pace. With many advanced features, Nodejs is becoming the preferred choice of developers to build eCommerce website.

In this blog post, we will study the role of node js for eCommerce websites and how node js benefits for eCommerce web development services. So, let’s begin:

What exactly is eCommerce?

eCommerce comprises selling and buying goods over the Internet. All the products are listed by the sellers for the buyers to purchase. Most of the people think of eCommerce as selling and buying of physical goods online, however, it includes digital services and products as well.

The first transaction on eCommerce took place on August 11th, 1994. It comprises the sale of a music CD through an eCommerce website named “NetMarket” which is an American retail platform.

What is global market of eCommerce?

As mentioned in the introduction part of this blog, the market of eCommerce is huge and is expanding with a great pace. There are many top eCommerce websites that are now massive multinational companies. Infact, world’s richest man Jeff Bezos is the founder of an eCommerce website: Amazon.

At the end of the year 2017, retail eCommerce sales amounted to US $ 2.3 trillion. Now the experts estimate that it’ll increase to approximately US $ 4.88 trillion by the year 2021. As of mid of the year 2018, the top 5 countries in terms of the eCommerce sales volume were as mentioned below:

• China;
• USA;
• UK;
• Japan;

Here are the top 5 eCommerce platforms in terms of “Gross Merchandise Value” (GMV) at the end of the year 2018 were as mentioned below:

• Alibaba;
• Amazon;
• JD.com;
• eBay;

What exactly is Nodejs?

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime which is built using Chrome‘s V8 JavaScript engine. It enables asynchronous event driven programming which has many significant advantages. V8 is JavaScript engine of Googles which is open-source and gives good performance. It is written in C++. Node.js and Chrome are well-known examples of software which has been used to create.

Here are some of the top benefits of using Nodejs for creating the eCommerce website:

• Immediate Client-app communication
• Growth of development libraries
• Swift Development & productivity
• Less Development Cost
• Reduced time to market
• Delivering a robust solution
• Fastened framework

Let’s discuss these attributes in an elaborative manner:

1. Reduce the development time and cost of any eCommerce website:

NodeJs can get access to create the source code and rather than emerging from the scratch, personalize this solution so as to save your efforts and time.

2. You will get your eCommerce sites 10x more rapidly:

To build an eCommerce website on NodeJS that will increase the speed of your eCommerce application and allowing faster loading of pages with 0.01% downtime.

3. Sustaining Mobile App Development

eCommerce solution offered in Node js is fit for mobile application development as well as to use both front end and back end website and mobile applications.

4. Encouraging revenue Increase:

Using Node Js platform, your eCommerce web apps will be quicker, therefore, pulling more number of visitors with more conversions. You will have the potential of earning more revenue for your business.

5. Transferring to the tardiest technology

You will the privilege of transferring your existing eCommerce website to the modern technologies, holding your eCommerce web app on part with the newest aims and the best practices of development

6. Customization services

In addition to this. The developers can squeeze the authorization code and personalize it for any requirement of your eCommerce website with the help of Node Js. This development platform offers the best customization of services.

7. SEO features

This run time environment platform facilitates the customization of SEO friendly titles and URLs. Therefore, one can easily navigate the data structure data within the website.

8. Simple yet robust

With the presence of Node Js, the admin board is simple-to-use and can run various activities in the storefront in the manner of handle in at once.

9. It is budget friendly

The I/O model of Node.js is quite effective which does not obstruct the I/O operations despite the fact that it’s working on real-time basis. All website applications can get updated quickly.

It also reduces the overall development cost because you do not need to employ two different teams for creating front-end as well as back-end. When you hire Node.js developers, they will suffice your job in an effective way.

Here are some features of the web applications with the Node.JS facility:

A lightweight website loads quite quickly, and it’s also easy to rectify the errors. The code reusability and Node.JS testing reduces the development cost. In addition to this, the important filter and search feature in the eCommerce web apps can be implemented using AJAX and JSON communication. It also offers reduced parsing time.

What is NPM and Node modules?

NPM (Node package manager)

These are the types of libraries which are built by community which will resolve most of your generic problems of coding, NPM has many packages which you can use in your web apps to make your development cost-efficient and a bit faster.

Node Modules

A reusable set of code which existence does not impact coincidentally other code across different modules. You can write different modules and use them in different types of applications. Node.js offers many sets of built-in modules (NPM) that can be reused across without any further installation.

How to create an eCommerce platform based on Node Js?

A custom software development project in order to build a Node.js based eCommerce open source platform comprises the following steps:

STEP #1: EMBRACE AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

eCommerce entrepreneurs most often enhance their web & mobile apps, therefore, iterative development is crucial. Agile approach is the right methodology for this kind of project.

STEP #2: INDUCT A SKILLED & EXPERIENCED TEAM

You need a dedicated development team with the below mentioned roles:

• Business analysts;
• UI/UX designers;
• Node.js developers;
• Testers;
• A project manager (PM).

You can note that you’ll not need cloud platform architecture or infrastructure architects since I recommend you use a “Platform as a Service” (PaaS) provider.

STEP #3: YOU SHOULD USE HEROKU PAAS

Heroku is one of the most reputed PaaS providers and it offers several advantages:

• It enables dedicated Node.js development teams to focus on only coding. Heroku handles the networking, cloud infrastructure, middleware, servers, operating system (OS), 3rd party API integration, runtime environment, and scaling.
• It has a razor-like focus on being a great web application development platform. It ensures a good experience of developer.
• Heroku enables developers to manage, deploy, and scale the Node.js apps. You can also access their comprehensive documentation from here.
• I have also earlier explained in how it works, in “How to deploy your Dart app to Heroku?”.

STEP #4: DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL NODE.JS

You can take the below mentioned steps in order to download and install Node.js:

• You can visit the download webpage of Node.js. After that you can find platform-specific installers.
• You can install Node.js by using “Node Package Manager” (NPM) which is a popular package manager. In addition to this, it has a big collection of reusable code. You can visit the js package manager page in order to learn how you can install the Node.js for your platform.

STEP #5: USE REPUTED NODE.JS ECOMMERCE FRAMEWORKS

If you want to expedite the Node.js eCommerce development project, you can use well-known frameworks. You can have multiple options for that, e.g.:

OPTION #1: YMPLE ECOMMERCE NODE.JS FRAMEWORK

It is an open-source framework and it is a robust choice for eCommerce. This framework offers the following advantages and features:

• This framework uses a modern technology stack.
• You can also get fully responsive templates for design. Buyers can also use this framework easily on their mobile devices.
• This framework provides complete integration with backend and frontend.
• There are integrations with PayPal and Stripe for this framework.
• There is extensive documentation for this framework
• You can also check out their eCommerce modules over here.
• Your development team can also access an elaborative NPM documentation for Ymple.

OPTION #2: SCHEMA.IO ECOMMERCE NODE.JS FRAMEWORK

This eCommerce Node.js framework platform offers the following features:

• There are powerful and robust APIs covering various eCommerce functions.
• You can set up a responsive website quite easily that will work equally well on your smartphone.
• If you are an entrepreneur, you can easily configure the eCommerce store using the admin dashboard, where you can set up workflows.
• The platform offers high performance and scalability.
• Entrepreneurs can easily personalize how their eCommerce store will work.
• You can click this link for finding their documentation.
• In addition to this, there is an elaborative NPM documentation for Schema.io which covers connecting, installation, usage, caching, etc. Your development team can access it here.

OPTION #3: TOTAL.JS FRAMEWORK

This framework supports several use cases including eCommerce apps. Here are their advantages and features:

This is a full-featured framework which enables fast development.

You can create a high performing eCommerce web application, and scaling it will be quite easy.

This framework includes NoSQL databases, which are crucial for eCommerce.

Location, Media streaming etc. are important for eCommerce, and this framework supports these efficiently.

There is high-quality and elaborative documentation for this framework.

Your dedicated developer can also access host of tutorials for this framework.

Your coding team can read the NPM documentation for Total.js from here.

OPTION #4: KOA.JS FRAMEWORK

Koa.js is a popular Node.js framework which help in eCommerce web application development. You can check out the following:

• Their NPM documentation, which covers various “How-to” guides, installation guide, requests, responses, etc.
• There is an elaborative tutorial which covers the development of eCommerce web app, which can benefit your dedicated ecommerce developers.

OPTION #5: REACTION COMMERCE PLATFORM

It is an open-source platform which is built using Meteor JS framework. Reaction Commerce includes various technologies like Node.js, JavaScript, MongoDB, to name a few. This platform provides the following advantages and features:

• This is a fully open-source project, where developers have complete access to the code base. This platform enables flexibility and scalability.
• Product management, adding product images, inventory management, etc. is quite easy using this platform.
• The platform enables customer profile management, easy order management, check-out processing, and email management.
• “Reaction Commerce” provides product search, payment gateway integration, user authentication, etc.
• It‘s easy to configure promotions, discounts, and flexible shipping rates.
• The UI design is pretty easier with its big library of themes. Furthermore, the platform has responsive design templates.
• This platform has extensive and elaborative documentation for their platform.
• You can also visit their GitHub repository in order to download “Reaction Commerce”.

STEP #6: USE HEROKU DEVOPS FOR “CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION” (CI)

With the help of this iterative app development software project, your team will test, develop, and deploy in multiple iterations. In addition to this, you require appropriate tools for building test automation, management, and deployment management.

With the help of Heroku-- which is a fully managed cloud PaaS-- this is easy, as follows:

They provide a robust CI process with the help of their DevOps methods, processes, and tools (PM&T).

You can read about their DevOps capabilities in “Heroku is for developers”.

Heroku also explains their “Pipelines”, review process, CI, release, GitHub integration, etc. with a good amount of detail. Read “Continuous delivery on Heroku” for a description.

STEP #7: PROJECT MANAGEMENT WITH THE “SCRUM” TECHNIQUE

One of the best approaches for managing this project is using the “Scrum technique”. I have explained this in detail earlier. You need to do the following:

• Form a cross-functional dedicated team where developers, designers, testers, etc. work together. This is a “Scrum team”.
• The dedicated project manager performs the role of “Scrum Master”.
• You have one or more than one “Product owners” that provide the needs as features in a document which is called the “Product Backlog”.
• Iterations in the Scrum project is called “Sprints”.
• The dedicated development team conducts a “Sprint planning meeting”. Here, the team estimate the features, and slots a wide features in different sprints, based on overall priority.
• When the team works on a “Sprint” based approach, they conduct a “Daily stand-up meeting” which is called project status reporting.
• When features are working properly, and ready for the demonstration, the team calls “Sprint review meeting”. The project stakeholders approve all the sprint briefings in this meeting.
• At the end of sprint, the dedicated development team meets in “lessons-learned” exercise which is called “Sprint retrospective meeting”.
• You can consider using a good project management tool for example Asana for this.

Let’s Wrap Up:

As earlier mentioned, Node.JS is an enterprise-grade programming technology which can assist you with both backend and frontend aspects of any web application. But, if you want to reap the benefits of Nodejs, you should choose a good eCommerce development company for your project. Their, you can hire eCommerce developer that can create a secure, scalable and feature packed Nodejs based eCommerce websites.