In the rapidly changing world of e-commerce retail, it's crucial for an online store to be able to respond quickly and flexibly to market changes. Competitors are constantly adjusting their prices, launching new features, and improving the user experience to retain customers.
In this article, we'll show you that to remain competitive, online stores must not only be able to identify these changes but also respond to them immediately. A proactive approach and a flexible platform are key to success in an environment where customer preferences and technology are constantly evolving. Based on our experiences and customer needs, we'll give you two examples of why it's important to respond quickly to competitors' actions and how you can prepare your online store's implementation accordingly.
Price reduction within minutes
A product manager has various tools and methods at their disposal to identify when a competitor implements a price reduction. This can be done, for example, by using market analysis tools that provide notifications via a dashboard. The competitor's situation is then analyzed: how large is the price reduction, which products are affected, is the price reduction temporary or permanent, and has it been implemented across all sales channels? Based on this analysis, the company determines whether it is necessary to also lower its own prices, and if so, for how long and how.
If a decision is made to lower prices or launch a promotional campaign to keep pace with or even surpass the competition, it is crucial that these changes can be implemented quickly, both in physical stores and on the online platform. To implement such adjustments efficiently and on a large scale, this requirement must be considered from the outset when designing the e-commerce platform architecture.
If the need to quickly adapt large numbers of products is taken into account when designing the architecture, you can significantly strengthen your competitiveness. Price reductions can then be implemented within minutes. By using a well-designed Composable architecture and considering this performance requirement when selecting services, this speed has already proven achievable. If this is not done, adaptations can take several hours or only be possible overnight.
New features, stay ahead of the competition
Usability improvements to an e-commerce platform can have a direct impact on customer satisfaction and conversion rates. Consider, for example, simplifying the checkout process, improving search, or enhancing the mobile version for a smoother user experience on smartphones. Rapid implementation of improvements is crucial, as competition in e-commerce is fierce. If customers experience a slow or frustrating experience, they quickly switch to a competitor. By quickly responding to feedback and technical innovations, a webshop not only remains relevant but also increases the likelihood of customers returning for repeat purchases.
Rapidly implementing improvements across a large e-commerce platform requires a well-coordinated approach. After the design phase, it's essential to have a streamlined process for development, testing, and deployment. Streamlining methods like Agile methodologies and continuous integration can help, allowing teams to quickly respond to feedback and implement adjustments without excessive delay.
Prepare your e-commerce platform
Our recommendation is to always prepare new e-commerce platforms well. Keep three key points in mind:
- Aim for a short development cycle for developers, with code changes visible on their local version of the website within 10 seconds. This prevents unnecessary delays.
- Ensure that all developers' code is automatically integrated and deployed to the test environment. This shortens the time between development and deployment, allowing us to deliver new features to the business faster.
- Automate the testing process. This ensures fast and thorough quality control of changes.
What are your specific wishes?
Do you have specific requirements that are crucial for your e-commerce platform? We'd be happy to discuss how you can incorporate these into your architecture before implementation.
