Written by :
Hani Ghalayini
Posted on : 18/03/2024
Tags :
Tech
Development
ecommerce store
Last week we answered (or tried to) the age old chicken and egg question when it comes to desktop or mobile designs, ultimately, the answer is in the your data, and it sounds cliché but if you're not catering your customer experience to your specific customer needs, you've lost the war before you started.
Moving swiftly on from last week, we wanted to explore how eCommerce tech stacks impact your customer experience, we've picked out a handful of bits to discuss, enjoy!
Tech Stack -whats that?
A tech stack is a breakdown of all the moving parts of your platform that keep it flowing from start to finish.
At the start of your project, you'll typically have it down to its bare bones, because you're yet to decide what your email client is, or your CMS will be, or how you're gonna integrate your in house loyalty programme that is attached to all of oyur customer emails that you need to export and maintain on your new platform. Mouthful, ey? It's not an easy task, interlinking the API that connects your internal system to your eCommerce platform so they run seamlessly, and that's why a diagram of your tech stack is extremely important.
After you've kind of decided what your Tech Stack is, it would typically look something like this:
Do you need a middleware?
If you don't know what a middleware is, think of it like...a mediator. It's a piece of software that helps communicate, instruct, store and direct information to the correct place. Now, it's not the easist to code, but it really takes pressure off your platform when you have a well set-up middleware in place to communicate between various different pieces of tech you have set up.
Is there any way to simplify your tech stack?
Are there any applications that you can use to service your business requirements in more than one way? For example, can you combine your logistics and stock management all to reflect automatically to your eCommerce platform, as opposed to keeping track of warehouse stock and updating it accordingly on the back-end?
Payment Providers
This is a massive one, as it actually directly impacts your checkout and your customer journey. It's make or break time. If you're considering veering away from your platforms native function, you need to be sure that things will be smooth and functional, and not disrupt your customer buying journey.
Making sure you have chosen the company that offers you things like local payment methods, customisable embedded widget for checkout, security against fraud, automated tax calculations based on location, ability to absorb discount information, reporting, the list really goes on and on...but it's so vital so a successful eCommerce platform.
Final thoughts from Superior
Never underestimate how important it is to have someone knowledgable advising you on your tech stack, it's going to make the long-term usability of your platform easier for you and the business. After all, that's all that matters right?
We're always keen to hear from merchants and agencies about how they are approaching defining the tech stacks, what preferred apps/services they're using for things like Pick up point delivery, or CRM or OMS integrations, anything really, we're just here to talk!
As always, thanks for reading, if you'd like to discuss a project, use the form below to give us a shout.
