The Questions You Should Answer Before Starting Creating a Webstore from Scratch

How to start? I think that is a very popular question among those who want to create a web store from scratch. Of course it’s great if you have some experience in web store creating (I mean any kind of partnership with a developer or development team) or you have researched for tons of information and now you’re really good in every aspect and you have a very clear understanding of what you want. In this case it will be much easier to communicate with a developer and explain him every feature you want implement to your website.  

But sometimes you can have only general idea or raw concept of what you want and how it should look like. That’s why we compiled a special questionnaire to structurize your ideas and simplify sharing all details with a developer. We divided all questions into 2 major groups: Frontend and Backend, and each of them contains basic items and short comments of what exactly you should describe in the particular part. It doesn’t mean that every field is required but if you know how to answer the following questions – just do it in free manner. And if you don’t, you can leave the field empty and further we will discuss this point together.

Below you can find suggested questions:

FRONTEND

Here we are going to consider all the points regarding Front End development.

But before you start answer the following questions, please get acquainted with default versions of Magento and Prestashop frontend, to realize what basic functionality is included.

Home
Please provide us with the concept of the home page you want. Please specify details about header, menu, slider, static blocks and their position, products, quick view option, subscribes, social networks, footer, etc.

Catalog
Tell us about catalog view, catalog grid/list mode, breadcrumbs, recent review, layered navigation, filter and any other custom functionality you want to implement.

Product page
Here you should describe all the features you want to see on the product page. So in compare with the out-of-the-box functionality you can decide what you need.

Search
Please tell us about type of search you want: default search, auto-complete search, whether it will require integration with Sphinx (custom search engine), ElasticSearch, etc.

Cart
Would you like to implement some of those features on the cart page: subscribe, loyalty points, discount programs, abandoned cart, GeoIP, shipping calculation, ability to edit a product, etc.

Checkout
Please decide if it should be default checkout or customized. For example you can take a look at One Step Checkout. Do you need an ability to checkout as guest or would like to apply some other custom features in checkout process.

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My account
Do you need to connect your store  with social networks, reward systems, helpdesk systems,  shipping tracking options, etc.

Login and registration page
Will it be default login page or you will need extra fields (customer attributes) : VAT number, special custom ID, referral code, ability to log in through social network account (Facebook, Twitter, Google +), etc.

Other CMS pages (News, Blog etc.)
Here you tell us what kind of CMS pages should be placed on your website. It could be News, Blog, About Us, Privacy policy, Refund policy, etc.

BACKEND

All the features you want to implement on the Back End. This is the core of your website that invisible for customers, but plays a huge role in webstore functioning.

Product types
We need to know about product you are going to sell. Definition of simple and configurable products will help us to built a perfect structure. And we need you provide us with the certain example of each type of product you have. Tell us about attributes and features of your product.

Categories structure
Think about categories structure, subcategories, by product types, brands, departments, etc. Any ideas are acceptable.  

Import / Export
Provide us with Import/Export information, how are you going to perform this process, what source will be used for product import, what format of files could you provide and whether you need to import: product, orders, customers, coupons, tax, CMS pages, translations, etc.

Payment system
What payment gateways are you planning to use? It could be some very popular like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe or any others that you prefer for your business.

Shipping
Feel free to share with preferable Shipping methods (Freight company,  pickup delivery, own car delivery, by taxi, etc.)

CRM system
In case you use any CRM system, please tell us what type of data should be exchanged between this CRM and your webstore.

ERP integration
Is the integration with ERP system necessary? If yes, provide us with details about the type of data you need to upload and frequency of data transfer.

Customer care service
How are you going to communicate with your clients and provide customers service? Tell us about your needs, whether it will be contact form, live chat, helpdesk integration or something else.

Server load and configuration.
We are ready to help you find the best server that meet your webstore requirements. The choice will depend on a type and size of your store, the amount of products you have and how many visitors and buyers would you expect to see. After that we are ready to help you choose the server and configure it to ensure the proper functioning.

SEO / Marketing
Here you decide about Search Engine Optimization. We are able to provide with a basic optimization and in case you will need it, we are ready to discuss it further.

That is not only essential questionnaire for describing your vision and desirable functionality. That is some kind of guide you should follow to structurize your ideas, requirements and needs of your business.