Development of an online store on Yii2

Why waste time and energy going to the store if you can press two buttons and buy everything online, with delivery straight to your apartment? This is exactly what the modern consumer thinks. The future of retail is definitely in eCommerce, but simply launching a website, even with an attractive UI, and filling it with products is no longer enough.

You need to build a competent server that will ensure transaction security, high data processing speed and will be able to withstand a large online presence. All these and other tasks are easily handled by the Yii2 PHP framework. We’ll talk about how to create a successful online store on it in this article.

Yii2 is an object-oriented framework for developing web projects in PHP. His strength is his versatility. That is, it is equally well suited for creating MVPs, small projects and large e-commerce portals, and provides almost unlimited possibilities for scaling projects. Of course, the advantages of Yii2 do not end there. Here are four more reasons why you should choose this framework for developing an online store:

• Development speed. Yii2 provides access to a huge collection of ready-made modules and built-in libraries, solves routine tasks, and also contains automatic code generation functions. Taken together, this speeds up the implementation of the project and reduces the cost of the final result.

• Safety. The framework is equipped with tools to protect sites from various hacker attacks. Therefore, payments and personal data of your clients will be completely safe.
• Fast debugging. For convenient QA testing, the framework provides its own Yii2-debug library, which helps more efficiently handle errors and debug code.
• Open source. Yii2 comes as open source. This means that you can use it in your commercial projects for free and without any restrictions. Plus, thanks to the large community, the capabilities of the framework are constantly growing.

The basic algorithm for interacting with an online store looks something like this: the user flips through the catalog, opens cards for the products he likes, and if he is satisfied with everything, pays for the goods online. Therefore, to launch an eCommerce project from scratch, the basic functionality may be quite sufficient, which will further be built up and expanded with advanced technologies, such as smart search, personal recommendations, and so on.

With this approach, you will be able to speed up the launch of your store, reduce risks and timely adapt your business strategy to the real needs of the market. Let’s look at the key modules of an online store that are needed at the start:

• Catalog. A convenient and structured product catalog, with a well-thought-out filter system that will allow the buyer to quickly find what he needs.
• Personal Area. Helps users effectively manage payment methods, add products to favorites, receive personal discounts and track order statuses.
• Ratings and reviews. 97% of consumers say that reviews from other users influence their purchasing decisions. In other words, the feedback tool helps compensate for the lack of trust and increases conversion in the store. However, it is extremely important that the reviews are real, so it is worth considering a reliable system for protecting against fictitious comments.

• Basket. Here you can do without any breakthrough features. The main thing is to give customers the opportunity to conveniently manage content: change the quantity of goods, delete items, choose a delivery method, etc.
• Fast payment. A very important part of any online store. A long and complex payment process negatively affects conversion, so the right solution would be to connect Apple Pay, Google Pay and virtual wallets. This will allow your customers to make payments in two clicks.
• Order tracking. After the money is written off, many users begin to worry, especially if the courier is delayed. To alleviate their worries, it will be useful to add a module for tracking the status of the order and the location of the parcel.
• Chatbot. Customers can shop at any time, including early morning and late at night. Therefore, it is far from a fact that your administrators will be online and will be able to answer their questions in a timely manner. To correct this situation, chat bots can be introduced into the store, which will instantly and automatically provide all the necessary consultations. In addition, this will reduce the burden on operational staff.

Creating an online store is a series of sequential steps. And for a project to become successful, many parameters need to be taken into account: from a well-thought-out business model, to the selection of a technology stack and the choice of a development team. From a technical point of view, development can be divided into 6 successive steps, so let’s look at them in more detail:

Step 1. Analysis and collection of information. Specialists study the market, closest competitors, user requests, and then compare them with customer requirements. This allows you to coordinate expectations and determine the direction of product development.

Step 2. Prototype. At this stage, the team thinks through how users will interact with the online store, what functionality will be needed to achieve the intended goals, and what technologies will make the project a reality. The result of this stage is a carefully planned prototype, which includes mindmaps and interface warframes, a description of functionality and block diagrams of individual modules.

Next, the mockup is presented to the customer, approved and transformed into project documentation.

Step 3. Design development. Based on the approved warframes, designers create an intuitive, consistent and attractive store interface.

Step 4. Technical implementation. At this stage, coding begins: front-end developers create the client part of the store, with which users will interact on the browser side, and back-end developers write functional code and implement the business logic of the project on the server side, using the capabilities of the Yii2 framework.

Step 5. Testing. QA engineers conduct automatic and manual testing to catch and eliminate all possible problems in the store before the official release.

Step 6. Technical support. The release is not the end. After launch, our team offers the client qualified technical support for the project, aimed at continuous development and solving current issues.

The easiest and most effective way to launch a successful online store is to entrust its implementation to a team that understands this. That is, outsource the project. But here the first difficulties may arise, because the number of teams offering such development is measured in hundreds.

According to the IT Rating portal, more than 1,700 studios are registered in Ukraine alone, and this does not count freelancers. Therefore, the question arises – how to choose “that” contractor who will definitely do the job well. To avoid making a mistake in your choice, follow these steps:

• Study the potential contractor’s portfolio. Look at what projects he created before: standard or individual, what technologies he used, whether he has experience in creating similar solutions.
• Check out the reviews. Do your research and see what previous clients say about the contractor. Private reviews can be found on the Internet, on various review platforms.

• Pay attention to the company’s place in the ratings. If a contractor occupies a leading position in thematic ratings, most likely he really understands the development of online stores. But the cost of services from famous companies is usually higher than the market average, which also needs to be taken into account.
• Feedback speed. Effective communication between the customer and the outsourcer is important for the implementation of a successful project, so pay attention to how quickly they respond to you. If, even at the stage of discussing the project, the contractor begins to disappear and does not contact for weeks, it is worth considering.

We, at AVADA MEDIA, have been helping clients successfully build and develop e-commerce businesses for many years. To learn more about our experience and watch video reviews from clients, take a look at our portfolio. And when you decide that it’s time to act, fill out the form below, and we will contact you within 24 hours to discuss the project.