eCommerce Infrastructure That You Should Know

What Are the Fundamentals of eCommerce?

From the management’s point of view, when we talk about the fundamentals of eCommerce development, we can’t help but ask very high-level questions like, “What kind of e-commerce applications do we need to build (supply chain management, e-procurement, secure online ordering, or customer relationship management)?” Email, Web-based ordering, or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)? Accordingly, we have to ask, where do we host eCommerce applications? Which access methods do we support (mobile access, digital TV with interactive features)? What tools and standards do we use for development? How do we publish content and data and keep track of their quality? How do we keep data safe? What is the creation process for an eCommerce site?

Such questions are relevant to experts in eCommerce development from an eCommerce development agency. We will only talk about the most important parts of a good e-commerce infrastructure in this article. Consequently, you should be able to talk to a third-party provider of hardware, software, and services using simple technical terms and ideas.

The Importance of an eCommerce Infrastructure

At Designveloper, we recognize the pivotal role that a robust ecommerce infrastructure plays in driving the success of an online enterprise. As a premier web & software development firm based in Vietnam, we’ve empowered countless businesses to construct and refine their ecommerce infrastructure, aligning it with the evolving demands of the digital marketplace.

In the year 2024, global retail ecommerce sales are poised to surpass an impressive 6.3 trillion U.S. dollars, marking a substantial surge from the projected 5.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. This surge underscores the paramount importance of cultivating a scalable ecommerce infrastructure capable of adeptly navigating escalating demands and managing spikes in traffic, particularly during peak sales periods.

A lackluster infrastructure risks underwhelming website performance, potentially resulting in missed sales opportunities and discontented customers. At Designveloper, we draw upon our wealth of expertise and track record to fortify your ecommerce infrastructure, ensuring its readiness to confront these challenges and propel your business forward.

Security stands as another pivotal facet of ecommerce infrastructure. With the proliferation of cyber threats, establishing a secure infrastructure is imperative to safeguard your business and the sensitive data of your clientele. Not only does this foster customer confidence, but it also ensures adherence to regulatory mandates. At Designveloper, we accord primacy to security in our ecommerce solutions, deploying cutting-edge security protocols to shield your business and customer data.

Furthermore, an effective ecommerce infrastructure facilitates seamless integration with disparate systems, encompassing inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), and payment gateways. Such integration streamlines operations, enhances efficiency, and elevates the customer journey. At Designveloper, we’ve adeptly orchestrated these integrations for our clientele, culminating in heightened operational efficacy and heightened customer gratification.

eCommerce Infrastructure Components

The hardware, software, content, and data used to provide e-business services to customers and business partners are all fundamental part of the eCommerce infrastructure. It has a direct effect on the speed and responsiveness of the service your customers get from you. We need to think of eCommerce infrastructure components as layers of infrastructure with clear points of connection between each layer. So, they should be thought about in terms of a typical task that a user of an e-business system would do.

*A five-layer model of e-business infrastructure*

The above graph presents the five fundamental layers of eCommerce infrastructure:

E-business services – applications layer (i.e., CRM, supply chain management, data mining, content management systems)
Systems software layer (Web browser and server software and standards, networking software and database management systems)
Transport or network layer (Physical network and transport standards – TCP/IP).
Storage/physical layer (permanent magnetic storage on web servers or optical backup or temporary storage in memory – RAM)
Content and data layer (web content for extranet and Internet sites, customers’ data, transaction data, clickstream data)

In the following sections, we will go through the technologies that are popular in eCommerce development.

FURTHER READING:

1. 10 Best eCommerce Website Design Services for Success

2. What is B2B Ecommerce? All You Need to Know about B2B Ecommerce

1. Internet Technology

Millions of computers around the world can talk to each other through the Internet. And because all data transfers on the Internet work through the request-response system between client computers or mobile devices and server computers, we can say that the Internet is a large-scale client/server system.

Most of the time, your customers’ computers connect to the Internet through local Internet service providers (ISPs). These ISPs are linked to larger ISPs, which are connected to the major national and international backbones, which are run by companies like AT&T, UUNET, and Verizon.

1. Hosting of eCommerce websites

If you have an online business, you can set up a web server on your own and keep it in your office. But a lot of people hire a hosting service to handle this service for them. Indeed, a hosting provider is in charge of an organization’s website server and how it connects to the Internet. Rackspace is a well-known web hosting company in Europe that has helped thousands of clients with hosting, e-mail servers, security, and storage.

2. Extranets

An intranet is a network of computers within an organization. An extranet, on the other hand, is a network of your business’ server computer and the computers of your customers.

From the user’s point of view, if you want to buy a book or CD online, you might go to a website and log in with a username and password. The internet is the system behind your account and how it handles your requests. That’s an easy way to describe what an extranet is. Therefore, building a reliable extranet is a fundamental part of every eCommerce development project.

The extranet is a safe place where you and your customers can share information. It lets you cut down on the number of people who have to place orders, which lowers the costs of doing so. It can also link a retailer’s point of sale terminals to a supplier’s delivery system to reduce the number of sales that are lost because an item is out of stock. To conclude, these are just a few of the ways the extranet is helpful.

When building an extranet, you need to know about firewalls. On the whole, they will make sure that no one from the outside gets to see private information.

2. Web Technology

The most common way to share information on the Internet is through the World Wide Web, or “web”. It can be reached through web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge that can show web pages with embedded graphics and text.

One of the best things about the Web is that it has links that make it easy to move from one website to another. This is “surfing”. Also, HTML, which is the main standard document format for web pages, can be formatted in many different ways. As a result, this makes it easy to read documents on a variety of devices.

Web browsers, HTML, and other web technologies work together to help eCommerce businesses do fundamental things like have conversations on social networks, make financial transactions, add rich-media advertising content, make websites easy to use on different platforms and screen sizes, and so on.

3. An Example of an eCommerce Transaction Using the Web

A man wants to buy shoes one day. Therefore, he opens Google Chrome on his PC and types in search terms like “where to buy shoes” to see what comes up. In the same way as other search engines, Google acts as a middleman between you and the site you want to visit. It could be a web app, a blog, or just a page with contact information. In brief, this is where you meet your clients.

So if you want to run a website, you have to hire a company to make it and keep it up to date. In the same way, finding a place for your site’s servers is part of making a website. This is often done through a hosting service provider. If you go with a reputable and reliable hosting service, it could add a lot to the cost of building a website. In a nutshell, that’s how your eCommerce website is built and how it works.

4. VOIP, A Promising Cost-Reducing Application for eCommerce Businesses

Some fundamental examples of Internet-access software that can help your eCommerce business do well are Web 2.0, blogs, emails, and feeds.

Voice over IP is another application that deserves to be mentioned here (VoIP). This is a fairly new way to send voice over the Internet, and it is becoming more and more popular as a way for organizations to save money on phone calls between themselves and their stakeholders.

*VOIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is one of the services provided by Designveloper.*

Apart from cost reduction, there are other benefits following the application of VoIP:

Click-to-call – users click the number they want from an on-screen directory to call.
Call forwarding and conferencing to people at other locations
Unified messaging. E-mails, voicemails, and faxes are all integrated into a single inbox.
Hot-desking – calls are routed to staff wherever they log in – on-site or off-site.
Cost control – review and allocation of costs between different businesses is more transparent.

Designveloper’s VoIP development is also one of its most important services. Don’t be afraid to leave your information at this link if you want in-depth advice on this application. We’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can.

5 Pillars of a Scalable eCommerce Infrastructure

Crafting an eCommerce website may appear daunting initially. Yet, with Designveloper’s wealth of experience and proficiency, we can streamline this journey for you. We center our efforts on what we term the “5 Pillars of a Scalable eCommerce Infrastructure,” pivotal for navigating the intricacies of the digital realm.

These pillars not only furnish a sturdy eCommerce foothold but also furnish the flexibility to swiftly adjust, innovate, or broaden in tandem with market dynamics. From comprehending hosting nuances to harnessing the adaptability of cloud solutions, here are the foundational pillars that delineate a resilient eCommerce presence.

Robust Platform

A robust platform forms the backbone of any scalable ecommerce infrastructure. It’s the foundation supporting all operations, from product listing to checkout, requiring flexibility to adapt to evolving business needs and customer demands.

Scalability stands out as a key feature. As businesses grow, the platform must handle increased traffic and transactions without compromising performance, ensuring a seamless shopping experience even during peak sales periods. Ecommerce sales are projected to grow by 8.8% in 2024, with the global market expected to reach $6.3 trillion in 2024, highlighting the criticality of scalability in ecommerce infrastructure.

Security remains paramount. The platform must implement robust measures to protect sensitive customer data and transactions, fostering trust and compliance with regulatory standards. With the surge in ecommerce due to the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the regions and sectors likely to sustain growth is vital for informed investment and resource allocation.

Seamless integration with other systems is essential. Platforms like Magento, Shopify Plus, and WooCommerce excel in scalability, flexibility, and robustness, offering advanced features and the ability to manage high traffic and extensive product catalogs. This integration streamlines operations, enhancing the overall scalability of the ecommerce infrastructure.

Scalable Hosting

Scalable hosting stands as a pivotal element within a robust ecommerce infrastructure, guaranteeing your platform’s ability to accommodate fluctuations in traffic and transactions. As your business encounters surges in demand, scalable hosting seamlessly adjusts to meet heightened loads.

A defining characteristic of scalable hosting lies in its capacity to expand in tandem with your enterprise, facilitating effortless scaling of resources like storage and bandwidth to align with evolving business requisites. This adaptability forestalls downtime, preserving a frictionless user experience even amidst peak sales peaks. Notably, ecommerce sales are poised to exceed a 10% growth rate by the close of 2023, underscoring the significance of scalable hosting.

Furthermore, scalable hosting solutions often boast robust security measures, shielding your ecommerce platform from burgeoning cyber threats and safeguarding the integrity of your customers’ data—an imperative in an era marked by escalating cyber risks.

Moreover, scalable hosting can deliver cost efficiencies by enabling you to pay solely for the resources utilized, translating into substantial savings as your business expands. Esteemed providers like CloudWays, InMotion, and A2 Hosting are renowned for their scalable hosting solutions.

Lastly, seamless integration with ancillary systems such as inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), and payment gateways represents another boon of scalable hosting. This fosters operational efficiency and cohesion, bolstering the overall scalability of the ecommerce infrastructure2.

Secure Payment Gateway

A secure payment gateway serves as the cornerstone of any ecommerce infrastructure, acting as the conduit for processing customer payments swiftly and accurately.

6 Pillars of a Scalable eCommerce Infrastructure

Security assumes paramount importance in the realm of payment gateways, necessitating adherence to the most stringent security protocols to safeguard sensitive customer data. This entails robust encryption technologies and compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). With the average cost of a data breach in the US soaring to nearly $9.5 million, the imperative of fortified payment systems cannot be overstated.

Moreover, the payment gateway ought to offer a diverse array of payment methods, encompassing credit and debit cards, digital wallets, and bank transfers. The provision of multiple payment options enhances the customer journey and can engender heightened sales. For instance, industry stalwarts like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net are celebrated for their extensive repertoire of supported payment methods.

Furthermore, seamless integration between the payment gateway and the ecommerce platform is essential. This ensures a frictionless checkout experience for customers and expeditious order processing for the business. For instance, J.P. Morgan’s Orbital Gateway furnishes clients with an “always-on” partner boasting a comprehensive suite of DIY and PnP payment products tailored to real-world exigencies.

Efficient Order Management

Efficient order management stands as a pivotal pillar within a scalable ecommerce infrastructure, orchestrating the meticulous tracking and administration of every order from inception to delivery.

Central to this system’s efficacy is its capacity for swift and precise order processing. Real-time updates are imperative, affording both the business and the customer visibility into the order’s progression. This enhances the customer journey and expedites issue resolution.

Integration emerges as another critical facet. The order management system must seamlessly integrate with other facets of the ecommerce infrastructure, encompassing the ecommerce platform, inventory management system, and shipping providers. This synergy fosters operational seamlessness and diminishes error margins.

Furthermore, an efficient order management system yields invaluable insights. It facilitates trend identification, performance monitoring, and informed decision-making, thereby nurturing the holistic growth and scalability of the ecommerce infrastructure.

As per a report by NetSuite, 71% of companies prioritize the expansion of successful ecommerce systems and the development of early-stage ecommerce infrastructure. This underscores the pivotal role of efficient order management in fostering the growth of ecommerce enterprises.

For instance, esteemed solutions like Brightpearl and Orderhive specialize in delivering comprehensive order management systems tailored to the unique requisites of ecommerce ventures. These systems proffer real-time updates, seamless integration capabilities, and actionable insights to propel business expansion.

Customer Support

Effective customer support constitutes an indispensable component of a scalable ecommerce infrastructure, addressing customer inquiries, resolving issues, and augmenting the overall customer experience. Responsive, empathetic, and efficient service is paramount.

Customer support assumes a pivotal role in nurturing customer trust. A dependable and helpful support system cultivates customer loyalty, fostering repeat business and underpinning the sustainability of an ecommerce venture.

Accessibility is key to the efficacy of the customer support system. Offering a plethora of communication channels—ranging from email and phone to live chat and social media—ensures customers can engage via their preferred medium. For instance, platforms like Shopify and Zoho Desk are lauded for their comprehensive customer support systems tailored to the exigencies of ecommerce businesses.

Furthermore, the system ought to be fortified with tools for tracking and managing customer interactions. This facilitates timely issue resolution and furnishes invaluable insights into customer preferences and expectations. As per a report by Ecommerce Fastlane, companies leveraging conversational AI bots can accrue savings exceeding $1 million in annual customer support costs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, grasping the intricacies of ecommerce infrastructure is paramount for businesses seeking to flourish in the digital marketplace. At Designveloper, we boast years of expertise in crafting resilient and scalable ecommerce solutions that propel growth and drive profitability.

Our adeptness enables us to navigate the multifaceted terrain of ecommerce infrastructure, ensuring that your online storefront not only boasts user-friendliness but also adeptly manages surges in traffic and secures transactions. We remain abreast of the latest trends and statistics in the ecommerce realm, empowering our clients’ enterprises to maintain competitiveness and relevance.

Remember, a meticulously planned and executed ecommerce infrastructure can delineate the line between mere survival and thriving in today’s digital sphere. Entrust us, at Designveloper, to accompany you on this evolutionary journey. Let’s embrace the future of ecommerce in unison.