Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the company?
Wisitech has been in the web solutions business for 20+ years, and we have a skilled professional team with 480+ combined years of experience in web solutions - including Responsive website development, E-commerce sites, Mobile Apps, SEO-SMM-PPC, Web content development, and Affiliate Marketing. Wisitech was founded in January 1999. We provide a complete range of web solutions to build, establish and sustain your web presence. We have clients from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies across the world – in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. We have offices in; New Delhi, India (Corporate Office) Toronto, Ontario, Canada Beverly Hills, CA, USA.
Mention the objectives or the parameters critical in determining the time frame of developing an ecommerce app.
We consult and discuss the requirements of the client to determine the time frame of developing an e-commerce app taking into account the following things:
a. The project requirement is first documented to give us a clear idea of the objective of the business, the structure and navigation and the modules involved
b. We consult the client on the most suitable framework for the e-commerce app depending on the business’ requirements, size, scale
c. We also inquire and consult the client on what additional features and functionality the client would want in the application as well as what ideally ought to be there, apart from standard features. Consulting is a critical part of determining the time frame.
Once the blueprint is drawn out, we break down the development of each module into specific timeframe as also the timeframes for the other critical inputs regarding design, content, QA and offer our final timelines to the client.
How much effort in terms of time goes into developing the front end and back end of an ecommerce app?
The time required to make standard e-commerce application will be between 1 to 2 months. But depending upon the complexity and size of the application, the time may vary. For example, a complex e-commerce application that converges a large number of vendors and services together will need separate design for each service and product apart from admin, vendors and end users. The design takes a few weeks to finalize following which it goes in for front end coding and backend development. Such projects take between 3-5 months to complete.
What is your company’s business model–in house team or third party vendors/outsourcing?
We provide complete end-to-end digital solutions for web, app and e-commerce development and marketing with fully equipped teams in-house. We have been in this business for 20 years and have 480+ years of experience collectively of our top professionals. We have dedicated departments and highly skilled teams for Conceptualization & Consulting, Visualization & Design, Front-end Development, Backend Programming in various technologies and frameworks, Content & SEO, QA, Project Management and Digital Marketing & Promotion. We do not outsource.
How is your business model beneficial from a value addition perspective to the clients compared to other companies' models?
Our business model is much beneficial from a value addition perspective to the client compared to other companies’ models for the following reasons:
a. We provide complete end-to-end digital web app solutions under one roof. Hence there is no need for the client to work with different vendors for different requirements – for example, getting a design done by one vendor, programmed by another, content developed by yet another and marketing done by a fourth. We eliminate the need to approach different windows.
b. We provide expert consultation to the client to help him/her determine the best solutions for his/her business. We take away the headache of mulling over technology. The client knows his business but need not necessarily be aware of the technology/framework that would help him meet his business goals quickly, cost-effectively.
What industries do you cater to? Are your clients repetitive?
We cater to a wide spectrum of industries – from large e-commerce stores to startups, from corporates to entrepreneurs. We have worked on projects for IT industries, electronics, health and nutrition, travel and hospitality, lifestyle products, fast moving consumer goods, inspirational and wisdom sites, sites for coaches and mentors, dating sites and apps, online pharmacies, truck rental sites, and apps, to name a few.
We have the unique distinction of having 92% repeat clients for the value addition we bring to each business relationship.
What are the key parameters to be considered before selecting the right platform for an ecommerce application?
Below parameters to be considered before selecting the right platform for an e-commerce application:
a. Pricing and Payment: The first thing we should consider when searching for an e-commerce platform is the price. Whether we are a small business just getting started or an already established brick & mortar business moving online, we need to know exactly what we’ll be paying.
Almost all platforms will have a monthly fee. Depending on the type of platform we get (self-hosted vs. hosted) the costs may vary. We should also consider the processing fees that will be associated with the platform. Don’t sacrifice the things we’ll definitely need for a cheaper price. Try to weigh the pros and cons of each to get the best for our budget.
We should also consider how our customers will be paying. Some platforms don’t offer the ability to pay via third-party vendors (such as PayPal). This could end up being a huge inconvenience for our customers – a frustration which can lead to shopping cart abandonment. Don’t take this risk; decide which forms of payment we’ll accept first and remember this when we’re looking at the different software.
b. Integrations Another factor we should consider when looking at e-commerce platforms is their integrations and plugins. Most platforms, such as Shopify, will have plenty of tools for us to run our business. Our business needs will be a determining factor when deciding on the plugins that will work best for us. When looking at the different platforms, think of what tools we’ll need or already use for our business. Here are some of the most popular types of plugins that you should look out for:
i. Accounting plugins to help with sales, taxes, revenues, and profits. ii. Email marketing tools to help us keep in contact with our customers. iii. A platform that helps us reward our customers for using our products. iv. Apps to help with shipping your products.
c. SEO Ecommerce businesses are not exempt from working on their SEO. In fact, it can be highly beneficial to have our store rank high in search results. We want our customers to find us when they’re searching for products like ours.
Some of the most important factors when looking for an SEO friendly platform include i. The ability to add a blog to our website ii. The ability to use our own domain name iii. The ability for customers to leave reviews
d. Mobile Friendliness Nearly 60% of searches are done from mobile devices. Often those searches continue to purchase from a mobile device. This means it’s important to look for platforms that allow customers to access your website easily as well as make a purchase on their mobile device.
e. Customer Service: A key aspect of any business is its customer service. As the experience provided by traditional brick-and-mortar businesses is based in a physical store, they typically have more control over how smoothly their business runs.
E-commerce is a whole different ballgame; software outages and server downtimes are often out of your control and will prevent any of our customers from accessing our business. Odds are that at one point our servers will crash at the worst possible moment. This can affect both our revenue and our brand image.
Having someone to call at any time to help us get things up and running again is a huge factor when we’re looking at e-commerce platforms. Take a look at each platform’s customer service—are they available 24/7? How are we able to reach them? How many levels of support are offered, and what does each cost? Think about these questions and make sure we ask them before we decide on our platform.
f. Security: No one wants to enter their credit card information on a sketchy website, which is why security is becoming one of the biggest concerns among consumers. While most software today will have robust security as standard, always check to make sure our platform supports HTTPS/SSL for a safe and secure checkout for our customers.
Also, make sure that any platform we choose is PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant.
g. Scalability: All business owners hope their business will grow in the future, but we may not know to what extent. Nonetheless, it’s important to look for a platform that will scale along with our business.
We don’t want to pay for features and storage that we’re not using when we first start. We also want to keep up with higher demands as our business takes off. Choose a platform that we can scale to our business size, and that won’t charge us outrageous fees for doing so.
Which platform do you suggest your clients to begin with when they approach you with an idea (Magento, Shopify, Bigcommerce etc) and why?
As you know all platforms have created standard e-commerce application. We study the client requirement, the size, and scale of the business and the customization needed in the application. Based on the requirement, we decide the best e-commerce platform.
Which Content Management System do you prefer to use (Wordpress, Jumla, Drupal etc)?
We prefer WordPress for the content management system. Around 172 million clients are using WordPress worldwide for a content management system. It’s easy to use and manageable. Also, there are lots of plugins available in WordPress for different features.
What are the key factors that you consider before deciding the cost of an ecommerce application?
Cost of an e-commerce application mainly depends on the requirement of the client. Based on client requirement and needed customization, we select the application platform and the cost.
What kind of payment structure do you follow to bill your clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, Pay per Milestone (could be in phases, months, versions etc.)
We have flexible payment structures, as per the client’s convenience. They are as follows:
• Fixed cost
• Pay per hour
For Fixed Cost projects we follow the Pay per Milestone payment structure. Each Milestone is divided into major modules of the application. Typically a milestone structure would be something like this:
a. Advance payment
b. Payment of scope of work finalization
c. Payment on design approval
d. Payment on design integration and shared for UAT
e. Payment on admin panel integration and shared for UAT
f. Payment of front site integration and shared for UAT
g. Last payment before making the application live on the client’s server
Do you take in projects which meet your basic budget requirement? If yes, what is the minimum requirement? If no, on what minimum budget you have worked for?
Our basic budget requirement is $500. We have worked with every kind of client and budget starting from entrepreneurs, individuals, and small and medium firms to large corporates and Fortune 500 companies.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2018?
In 2018, the minimum price range was $2100 and the maximum was $62,000.
What do you think is the future of the ecommerce industry?
E-commerce industry is poised for massive growth in the future as it is gradually replacing the need for physical stores. We are in a global economy where products are sold on e-commerce platforms to reach buyers across the world. E-commerce stores can cut down on costs of physical stores, retail networks, and agents and thus offer products at competitive prices and discounts. Their reach, efficiency, speed of purchase and delivery, buyer engagement and inventory management is highly superior owing to rapidly changing technology. With e-commerce stores becoming accessible on smartphones with unique and exclusive benefits for app users, the future is waiting to witness explosive growth.
Kindly share your feedback on how Goodfirms has been doing so far in increasing your visibility among potential clients.
Goodfirms has helped build the credibility of our brand and enhance our corporate presence. Clients like to check out a firm’s credentials, feedback, reviews, and portfolio before engaging it for their projects. Goodfirms help us increase visibility and pleasingly presents our corporate identity to potential clients.
