Ecommerce is not too old and since its inception, it has never stayed silent.
The relentless work done by the marketing managers are now replaced over the strategy building platform from eCommerce platforms. ECommerce websites are the reason for the success of many businesses. Emerging from the small stores, the growth has now shifted to the worldwide market. No need to setup huge showrooms and invest an enormous amount for local marketing. Instead, push some efforts towards eCommerce platforms and your customer is there at your store.
"Alibaba" is the well-known eCommerce platform and of course an inspirational story of a layman turned billionaire. The shopping platform gave a trend for small businesses and a viable idea to be implemented with limited liquid in hand.
Let's take a look at some data:
- The Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba accounts for 58 percent of the online eCommerce sales.
- In June 2019, the company had 755 million users, which is larger than the population of the USA.
- With its competitors such as Amazon, eBay, and Walmart, the race is tougher than ever.
In this article, we will learn about the cost and features required to develop a website like Alibaba, the blockbuster success in eCommerce solutions.
In the field of e-commerce, Alibaba is the most recognized benchmark and largest business to business or business to customer platforms. It can be said that in the big picture they are the actual magical caves of treasure having their secrets where we can find enough to uncover some of them.
Why Alibaba and what makes it so different?
In the most obvious terms, Alibaba is the name given to the E-Commerce established in China. It is a B2B ie business to business trading and exchanging platform. This website is also an undisputed giant of e-commerce that easily connects the exporters along with companies spread across 200+ countries. Alibaba has given enough opportunities to the exporters located in any corner of the world to give exposure to their goods and shipped them to the locations. This is e-commerce platform is also fuelling the retail IT solutions in a number of ways and recently it has been tied with Samsung to power the mobile paying segment known as Alipay.
When we are discussing Alibaba and China we cannot avoid the fact that more than 1.4 billion population lives in China where it can be estimated that around 600 million users are frequent internet users who usually spend a large proportion of their day in online shopping for e-commerce related purchase. In respect to this, it is enough to overshadow the number of online users in the US which is 277 million and Europe which is 546 million. The announcement is made that the number of online shoppers will boom in the coming year’s websites like Alibaba are set to get the privilege of growth tide along with the baffling numbers.
Let's talk about the secret sauce
There are lots of misconceptions in the industry when it comes to building an eCommerce website like Alibaba, Amazon-like if they are space mission tasks. Obviously we place an astounding denial because it is easy and affordable to hire Responsive web design services and E-Commerce websites if you have the right strategy. If you are certainly not interested in investing a lot for the development cost of the website then why not go for the clone script i.e. e-commerce website template. Clone scripts refer to the software which is especially design for e-commerce websites and perform the exact thing in a very identical manner just like a proven business model for the website. Hence if you do not want to talk much about the costs and features then you have the best option in your pocket go for the Alibaba clone script.
Core features of the website like Alibaba
Sometimes the target audience for the websites may vary but in general, their features are most significant and more or less the same. Sometimes the exception is seen in the way people fill their online details which payment of shipment. The core features which are necessarily included in the websites like Alibaba, Aliexpress are-
1. Registration, account creation and log in:
Recent users or new users of the websites must be able to register themselves in the system through their email address or social media account to create the account at once. You can always go for the direct and simple steps and try not to make the customers go through a very long registration process because it might discourage them to be on your platform and they might continue with other websites.
Read the blog- How to develop a mobile app for retail business: Which features to include in it and how much it would cost
In Alibaba, it is quite frequent that the account changes its interface depending upon the role of the user because each user can be a buyer as well as the seller. The only difference is sellers are asked to provide their business details which must be authorized by the platform administration on the contrary buyers are required to confirm their email address.
2. Creation of product listing:
The major difference between buyer and seller account is the product section in which sellers are required to post on managing their product listings. To start this sellers have to go through the verification process and provide all the "qualified contacts" with whom the frequent users have mostly interacted. It also includes the verified suppliers or buyers having at least 2 years AAP membership on the platform.
Considering this when the connections are approved by the referrals then the user can develop his product listings. With this approach, it is targeted to limit the number of fraudulent activities and increase the security and trust associated with the website. In order to create product listings, the seller must add the name and description of the product along with keywords and then upload the pictures with it. For better reference sellers can also select the categories for the product to well-located and provide better payment methods, packaging details, delivery time and tracking information.
3. Searching:
A large number of internet users looking for retail IT solutions to search on the platform product by product. In business, to business marketplaces, it is obvious that users can consider lookup suppliers by reading the keywords in the search bar. Even at Alibaba, there are several other benefits where you can even search for the product by uploading a reliable image in the search bar. This is extremely useful and can rescue when you don't know the exact keywords for how to explain what you are searching for. If you are having good luck then it gets easy to search for similar products instantly. And if not then you can go for the filters which will help you narrow down the search within no time.
4. Check out process and payment modes:
The checkout process under the head- Online website development of e-commerce must be very intuitive and faster. Also, it is the best means to provide buyers an option to finish the deal without having the need to register themselves and at the same time, you might have an advantage of them becoming your customer. You can also implement a variety of payment modes but do not miss to set priorities for the buyers who are frequent in the location.
A large number of global E-Commerce websites have tried to enter the Chinese retail and e-commerce market but they have failed all the time. When will dig into the reasons it was found that because of the difficulties associated with currency conversion and government specifications in PayPal the market failed to establish. And then Alibaba presented Alipay which is quite safe and simple to use as it is based on the escrow method. Alipay plays a crucial role in being an intermediary that holds the money into a separate account and the seller only received payment when the buyer confirms the quality or delivery of the necessary product.
If you are considering building a website like Alibaba it is extremely important for you to know that the payment process of business to business or business to customer platforms is challenging. the payments at Alibaba or performed with the help of bank transactions for the letters of credit which means that once the order is confirmed buyer and seller will have two mutually agree on the payment process with the help of email or Alibaba chat. This results in some manual processes which are time-consuming and also insecure. What if the Best web development company in the market dealing with thousands of invoices in a day neglects the cause?
The business platforms of the present world emphasize to reduce the cost and waiting time of the users by providing them an opportunity to pay instantly. if you will consider the segment appropriately with your website then you might enhance the user experience abundantly. Also in the big picture, you can make the shipment costs and other overheads crystal clear before the check out so that customers have to meet no other surprises at the end.
5. Order management:
We can call it an obligatory section for buyers as well as sellers which allows them to track the order details multiple times including the status, amount, reviews, refund request and so on. Imagine how would a website will be if it does not entertain such things because under any parameter it is not possible to measure the excitement of a buyer. Order management is a crucial component that must be a part of e-commerce Website development services.
6. Messaging or further assistance:
It is extremely important to provide a communication channel or an interactive interface between buyers and sellers to give them an opportunity to exchange their doubts. This enables us to avoid the disputes which may arise in the future is both parties will get to clear their transaction details, order details and ask questions regarding the purchase. If not publicly then they can even use the platform of inner chat because this will allow the customers and sailors to remain in touch with each other and also on the website. This will strengthen the trust and will try to limit the disputes because they can use the exchange messages as a thread of proof.
7. Ratings and reviews:
We all have the experience of online shopping and it is inarguably true that the reviews and ratings are significant in any of the E-commerce solution platforms. As a rule, it is seen that suppliers or sellers may provide similar goods to the customers by manipulating its price to a greater extent. By going to the ratings and reviews customers can check the authenticity of the product and the seller. Ratings and reviews not just involve text but some of the previous buyers even upload the pictures to give you a clear idea about the quality of the product.
There is another trouble because many cases have been reported of fraudulent reviews to make the user suspicious of the product. Hands, whenever you create a website like Alibaba, do not avoid multiple methods to verify the users to put the reviews, ratings, and feedback for the product. For example, you can include canceling a number of reviews from a single user ID or a single IP address because definitely the person is stirring something. You can also demarcate the unauthorized users and separate them from the list of verified or registered users.
8. Support and other disputes:
Remember that E-Commerce websites are not just about buying and selling but they also include setting up the disputes and provide support to the buyers or sellers. when you have an idea to build a website like Alibaba you have to set priorities to provide technical support to both of the parties and to limit their disputes by offering for the resistance at every level.
For this purpose, you can provide any mail exchange or implement the chat to connect them to the support members. In case the user satisfied with the product description and the delivered product that he must be able to raise the claim against seller buyers must be provided with an easy to use interface that will be delivered to them by the support team. Under any circumstances, the support team must be capable to resolve disputes. Service taken by anyone from the list of Best web development companies in the market be it e-commerce or other understands the importance of providing support to the users.
Let's know the cost to build a website like Alibaba
Which is the most common inquiry which still remains unanswered- how much does it cost to build a website like Alibaba? Well, this is an intense question and there are no organizations to answer it directly or immediately. Prior to the improvisations that started in most of the parts lead the organizations to draw a statistical analysis and have arrangements for such meetings by distinguishing the extent of the venture of the harsh gauge. In order to compute the amount associated with the work, it is essential to assess the highlights and required working hours which are expected for the execution. Also, the required hours of working depends upon the multifaceted nature of the website and multiple bolstered frameworks and gadgets of it. Now you must have a quick rundown of some significant highlights that you have to stick to while developing such a platform. This cover-
- Sign in for customers
- Optimized look all across the channels
- Buyers accommodating for the shopping basket
- Convenient checkout along with payment mode coordination
- Integration for the shipping system
- Availability of users rating and reviews
- Instant support and chat for the feedback
The hourly working charges for the charge of the entire product for developing the website differ from company to company for better say nation to nation. For example in North America compensation for the developers can even reach $200 every hour on the other hand, in Eastern Europe, it is $50 every hour. If you hire an Online website development team for building an eCommerce website then it is essential to include a project manager, few developers, one backend developer, UI or UX architect and some local engineers (depending upon the geographies). Hence the course of the event for making the purchase will take a bit including the timeline (approximates)-
- For the development procedure- Android development will take 330 hours which is almost 20% less than IOS development
- For the UI/ UX designing requires almost 170 hours
- Backend development requires almost 500 hours
- Project management along with question and answers require almost 470 hours
Now add up the time we get almost 1500 hours hence the cost to build a website like Alibaba is near to $42,000.
Let's wind it up
In the market of best e-commerce services, Alibaba has made a good reputation. Right after tea and dragons, we all have heard about Alibaba as another thing coming from China and stirring up the world. It took almost 20 years to Alibaba to create a corporation having 600+ million annual customers and the company has witnessed a growth from 20 to 86,000 employees. For taking the suggestions from a Responsive web designing service or e-commerce functioning Alibaba has become a huge project.
It took almost years to Jack Ma address team to reach tour multi-billion stage having billions of active users. While choosing the functionality for your marketplace you have to bear various factors in mind where you can be considered starting your project with an MVP in order to reduce the development cost and time for your website. Also, the opportunities associated with Website development services or finding a suitable vendor is not limited. Following the words of Jack Ma, you will be convinced, "don't complain. You can find opportunities."