Ecommerce development is the process of building, maintaining, and developing from an online shop with just a few items for sale, to a huge and complex e-commerce platform with thousands of users. In the digital era where people go shopping online more than they actually go to brick-and-mortar stores, the increase in the number of online stores and ecommerce platforms has recently skyrocketed because people see the potential of a huge revenue when launching their businesses online compared to their physical stores. And that is the reason why ecommerce development services are also in high demand in today’s era.

Ecommerce development requires the collaboration of many positions such as web developer, web designer, graphic designer, UX designer, US copywriter, etc, in order to successfully launch an e-store or digital platform to the public. In today’s era, there are plenty of digital marketplaces that allow you to build your own online store and sell your products to their community of buyers. Amazingly enough, you don’t have to have any knowledge about coding, web designing, or programming in order to manage your ecommerce store, the platform itself will assist you with all of those tasks.

Like any other job title, freelance ecommerce development services are now also available to help business owners create and manage their own online store on any ecommerce platform. Freelancers with their knowledge and experience in the ecommerce industry will not only efficiently assist you on managing your business online, they will also provide you with advice on how to improve your revenue and make your digital store reach the right customer segment.

There are several big ecommerce platforms with a huge amount of users out there on the internet. Each of the platforms has its own advantages and disadvantages that can fully fill the demand of different types of customers. Those famous ecommerce platforms that can be mentioned here are:

Shopify: One of the biggest and most well-known ecommerce platforms that is famous for the drop shipping methods. Shopify is favored by its users by the reasonable price, user-friendly interface and the easy-to-build online stores set up with tons of useful features available.

Wix Ecommerce: Is an ecommerce platform that is famous for its website building. From newbies who know nothing about website building to a professional who wants to have a nice and convenient marketplace to launch their services, from individual customers to business owners, this platform makes the process of building and managing their websites more customized, faster, and easier than ever before.

papmall®: An international digital ecommerce platform that stand between freelancers come to provide professional creative services and SMB owners come to look for talents. Not only the quality services and verified freelancers, papmall® is also famous for its many supporting policies in terms of convenience and safety, such as Safe and secure payment solution, Dispute Resolution & Complains Policies, Payout within 7 - 14 days policies, Customer services support 24/7, and more. Besides, the platform. Ecommerce development services at papmall®, and any other services, are guaranteed to be delivered to the clients at the best quality as possible.

There are numerous benefits of ecommerce website development, including:

Set up an online store at a lower cost: Since most of the ecommerce platforms allow their users to use the services for free and only charge for specific features, you can have a digital shop with basic but enough features and functions to welcome the first customers and make money, such as displaying products, updating the collection, providing payment system, and many more.

Reach out to a wide range of global customers: An ecommerce platform is like a global marketplace where a community of businesses from all types of size and industries gathered together in order to approach a larger group of audience. Customers tend to refer to a marketplace since they have all the options to choose compared to when promoting themself on their own website.

Enhance the businesses’ visibility: When joining into most of the platforms, you will be assisted by a supporting team in terms of designing, promoting, marketing, maintaining and developing your business. So, you will not need to worry about the visibility of your business in front of your customers.

Enable your business to be available 24/7: Luckily, you are doing everything online automatically on a global platform, so you can get rid of those closing and opening hours and be available for the customers to walk in “the store” every time from anywhere all over the world.

Take advantage of the technology: For example, the online payment system makes it easier and faster for the customers to make their purchases, and makes it more convenient for the shop owner to receive payment and manage their inventory as well. Besides, you can update your products/services in the fastest way to keep your customers and keep up with the trend at the same time.

And many more benefits.

Overall, ecommerce website development can help businesses reach new customers, increase sales and revenue, and improve the overall customer experience, providing a competitive advantage in today's digital marketplace.

With millions of people shopping online every day in today’s digital era, the ecommerce industry is expanding rapidly in terms of both sales and size. This also makes this industry one of the most profitable industries in recent years. To those who want to join in the game, choosing the right products to start your business with and pursuing it is what you must consider with your gut of passion, or with a determined mind with vision and plans. However, in order to make profit, a business must sell what customers want instead of what they have. Therefore, trending products also play an important part in a business’s growth.

Below are some of the most profitable ecommerce businesses for you to start with:

• Beauty products
• Health care products
• Digital marketing
• Online courses
• Smart digital devices
• Smart home products
• Natural products
• Pet’s food, healthcare, and toys
• Trending fashion
• And so on

Besides choosing the right products to start your business with, you will also need an online ecommerce business that is built in a global marketplace in order to reach out to a large number of customers worldwide. And freelance ecommerce development service is one of the best ways to have someone help you to do that from A to Z.

E-commerce business models have 4 popular types that indicate who they are and who they sell their products or services to. The 4 main types of businesses are:

1. Business-To-Customer (B2C)

Is the business model that sells their goods and services to the end customers. This is the most popular type of business model out there. Examples of this model are supermarkets, shopping malls, clothing stores, retail stores, tier 1 agents, etc.

- Pros:

• A huge customer database.
• A great potential for marketing and branding.
• An ideal model to get revenue and profit.

- Cons:

• High competitive market.
• High level of difficulty in satisfying all the target customers.

2. Business-To-Business (B2B)

Is the e-commerce business model that sells their goods and services to other businesses. Businesses of this type are often the ones who provide materials, ingredients, and raw materials to the production house in order for them to make their products. This model usually finishes at the purchase stage where the company sells its goods to the end customers.

- Pros:

• Orders often come in a bigger size/amount.
• Transactions between parties are fewer.
• The cycle of the purchase is shorter.

- Cons:

• A smaller customer database.
• Difficulty in getting customers.

3. Customer-To- Business (C2B)

These types of business refers to the model where customers provide or exchange their goods and services to businesses. And the process is often made without the presence of a middle man. Examples are a wholesaler, a manufacturer, and so on.

- Pros:

• Low cost of advertising.
• Zero cost of brand awareness.
• No need of branding.

- Cons:

• Risk of being replaced if the suppliers fail to ensure consistent quality or price as negotiated.
• Unpredictable outcomes.

4. Customer-To- Customer (C2C)

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) model, is e-commerce business model where customers introduce and sell the goods or services of a business to other customers. This model applies the word-of-mouth methods, which is the best way to broaden business’s customer database and reach out to a larger audience. The customers of this model are often those who know each other and purchase the goods based on trust instead of the quality or price of the products.

- Pros:

• Broaden the customer database
• Reach out to a larger audience.
• High margins.
• Zero cost of manufacturing, marketing, and brand awareness.

- Cons:

• Rely barely on trust and how persuasive the business’s sellers are.
• A very competitive market.
• High risk of scams.

Before getting to know how to start a successful ecommerce business, let's find out how to start an ecommerce business first with these steps:

1. Look for a profitable business with a determined mind and a clear vision and plans.
2. Make a thorough research on the market, the competitors, the challenges and opportunities of the market itself.
3. Identify your business’s unique selling points (USPs) and focus on them to do the branding.
4. Set up your specific sales and marketing goals that are archivable.
5. Plan on a business plan with detailed strategy, involving departments, executing platforms, and a specific timeline to execute.
6. Choose your shipping methods, suppliers, and establish your terms & policies.
7. Build for your business e-commerce stores on various platforms and make sure all of your shops have a consistent branding style, terms & policies, shipping & payment methods, and customer services.
8. Launch your business.

In order to build a successful ecommerce business, you need to have a good start with a strong foundation of product ideas, USPs, and well-planned marketing strategies. The steps above are ideal for you to begin with. However, successfully launching your business is just the first step of a long journey. The rest of the path requires so much in the founder in order to keep growing, maintaining, and improving the business in this fierce competition.

With the information above, we hope you have a good start for your business to thrive far in the time to come.