Online stores come in all shapes and sizes. While some e-commerce platforms are set up using saas-based solutions and some are based on off-the-shelf solutions, others are built from scratch using modern technologies like PHP and MySQL. Hence, it is important to confirm what kind of stores your e-commerce development partner has delivered in the recent past.

Going through the portfolio of shortlisted e-commerce website developers will help you identify their design style, development expertise, and e-commerce philosophy. While experienced developers have a vast array of projects to show, it is quite possible that as restricts the firm from sharing some of the most challenging work done. In such cases, it makes sense to gather details through comprehensive discussions.

Top-rated e-commerce developers work with methodologies like minimum viable product and proof of concept to test the technical dependency before diving deeper and investing further. Such processes also help validate the product idea without pumping a lot of resources and time into it. In short, your partner e-commerce development firm should be familiar with such development methodologies and processes.

Top-rated e-commerce developers use a comprehensive design and development process that includes requirement gathering, initial planning, design mockups, development, review, deployment, and support. You must be an active participant in each and every step of the development. Anyone who misses any of the mentioned doesn’t follow what’s must for delivering a powerful online store. Long story short, ask plenty of questions regarding their work process.

When it comes to building online stores, nothing beats experience. Trusting your online store to a team that has been in e-commerce for a decade will guarantee expertise and best practices. Experience of the developer who will be leading your project matters a lot. If you can get someone with 10-15 years of experience in building e-commerce stores and database websites, then, you have hit gold.

While an online store set up on a simple off-the-shelf solution can go live in a couple of weeks, a bigger & feature-rich platform can take some months for the first launch. Keeping in mind the final list of features and design goals, get a specific idea of how much time it will take for your online store to go live. If someone quotes a really short time while promising an Amazon-like store, then, think thrice before signing on the agreement.

Technology is everything when it comes to building an online store. It happens very often that entrepreneurs start their online stores with a solution that is not scalable with their business and later on have to rebuild everything. Hence, this is something that requires all the attention you can give. Top e-commerce development firms understand this and their products are highly scalable horizontally as well as vertically.

If you are not hands-on with e-commerce websites, then, you will need plenty of after-sales support. This will help you in resolving bugs, making design changes, and improving newly-built processes. Leading e-commerce development firms offer at least 4 months of support for mid-sized online stores and up to 12 months of free support for any technical issues caused by their own development.

Today, products are discovered on mobile devices, and hence having a mobile-friendly online store is highly critical. Mobile-ready websites are also Google-friendly and help in ranking higher than competitors. This is why you should ask potential website developers to confirm expertise in mobile-friendly e-commerce websites.