Choosing the Best Technology Stack for Ecommerce Development
Ecommerce solutions have their own characteristics and require special frameworks and tools to develop. Fortunately, there are many technologies for developing ecommerce software.
What is a technology stack?
A technology stack, or tech stack, is a combination of frameworks, tools, applications, platforms, and programming languages used to develop a website or mobile application. In a technology stack, tools and platforms are “stacked” one on top of another to create a fully functioning system.
This system has two main parts:
- The front end (client-facing)
- The back end (server-facing)
A tech stack for any ecommerce store
Let’s dive deep into technology stacks for ecommerce websites.
Frontend ecommerce technologies
The user interface is what your website visitors see when they browse your online store. If a product page takes too long to load, your customers will leave the store without making a purchase. The optimal loading speed of an online store is 2.5 seconds. If your online store does not load at least this fast, you are losing potential profit. A website’s loading speed is also a ranking factor for search engines.
Responsive design is another important requirement for frontend development. Mobile ecommerce sales accounted for 34.5% of total ecommerce sales in 2017. In order to receive orders from mobile users, your online store must be responsive.
Frontend development starts with design. The design team creates layouts and prototypes of the site and sends them to the development team. Developers then use HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript libraries (Angular, Vue, React) to develop the front end of the ecommerce website.
Backend ecommerce technologies
Backend technologies are complex. However, without business logic, an ecommerce website would not work. The server side of an online store is responsible for managing orders, adding products to the catalog, optimizing pages for search engines, editing site pages, scaling the online store, registering users, and letting users pay. If the back end is not built correctly, the entire ecommerce website will not work.
The most popular programming languages used for server-side development include PHP, Ruby, Java, and Python.
Operating systems
Selecting an operating system (OS) is the first decision you need to make. There are four major operating systems today (their shares in the global operating system market in June 2020 are shown in brackets):
Web server
A web server is software that accepts requests from users, analyzes them, and provides users with requested documents. The two main open-source and free web servers are Apache and Nginx.
Apache is nine years older, so it has been tried and tested since 1995. Nginx is younger but is gaining popularity among developers due to its architecture that allows users to process an unlimited number of requests at the same time, making it ideal for large volumes of websites.
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Databases
Databases are a vital part of the server ecosystem that allow multiple data points to be maintained and processed. The most popular databases are:
- MySQL
- MongoDB
- DynamoDB by Amazon
- Firebase by Google
- PostgreSQL
Storage
The most popular storage solutions are:
- Amazon Simple Storage Solution (AWS S3)
- Firebase Storage by Google
Programming languages
Programming languages use syntax to tell the computer what to do. These are the main programming languages used in website technology stacks, with associated frameworks in brackets.
- Ruby [Ruby on Rails]
- Java [Spring]
- Python [Django, Pylons, Flask]
- Scala [Play]
- PHP [Laravel]
Third-party services
Oftentimes, an ecommerce website needs additional tools to meet business needs. To do this, ecommerce developers integrate third-party services into the code of an online store. The most popular integrations include:
- Payment gateways
- Analytics tools
- Shipping modules
- CRMs
- Social networks
- Multi-vendor stores such as eBay and Amazon
To learn about the best tech stack for an ecommerce website, read the full article here.
