Author: Ajay Sahoo

React VS Angular: Differences Figured Out With Expert View

Posted on by Ajay Sahoo

Choosing a front-end development framework and library won’t be that easy. Out of two popular JavaScript frameworks and library called Angular and React – which one will be the best choice for your existing or next project?

Each of them has special offerings, making it difficult for you to choose one from them.

Whether you are a newbie developer looking for where to invest, a freelancer finding the right framework for an upcoming project, or an enterprise-level architect working on the company’s strategic vision, Angular vs React comparison is a must.

It is more likely to benefit you by bringing out all differences from a professional point of view.

Let us be frank that, the best choice among React and Angular can’t be upright. It considers many factors to decide which technology is less or more suiting your development environment and purpose.

Since there is no direct answer to the question “React vs Angular – which one is best”, you will have something different in this post.

You will have detailed comparison between Angular and React, showing you how to tackle the issue of comparing any two JavaScript frameworks in the most structured way and conclude the best based on the findings.

Key Pointers For Technical Comparison

Before selecting any of these two tools, you should find the answer to two easy questions: “Can it be a good tool independently?” and “Will it go well with my purpose?”

Neither of the answers will give any hint if considered individually, so you need to consider them both for a choice. Well, the above two questions might contain a whole lot of other small questions in each, so let’s discuss about them.

Questions asked about the goodness of the tool individually:

  • How mature or reliable is it and which vendor’s product is it?
  • How advanced are the features it has?
  • What language, components, and patterns it uses?
  • What frameworks and tools are associated with it?

Questions for Self-observation:

  • How comfortable will I and my teammates be learning this tool?
  • Does it fit well with my project development?
  • What does the personal experience of the developer say about this framework?

With all these questions, you can judge the efficacy of any tool, and they will play a part in comparison of React and Angular here too.

Another important point to keep in mind is it is unfair to compare React to Angular, since React is just a JavaScript library whereas Angular is an advance, feature-rich open-source framework.

To equalize, we’ll speak on some of the JavaScript libraries that are widely used with React.

Maturity Level – A Key Point For Consideration

Another key consideration for a qualified developer is to go for the perfect balance between tested, tried approaches and assessing new cutting-edge technology. As a standard rule, you need to be cautious when choosing a tool that is not matured enough due to some issues:

  • The tool can be old-fashioned and unreliable.
  • The vendor can abandon it all of a sudden.
  • There may not be adequate knowledge base or a strong community to support you at the time of need.
  • Angular was launched in 2009, but React was launched by Facebook in 2013. As far as choosing the more mature tool between these two, developers can feel confident about using them both. However, React features as the most preferred tool for developers with a larger number of downloads than its Google competitor Angular.

To summarize, neither React nor Angular is ahead with a great margin when it comes to maturity level.

You can’t make any decision based on this sole factor rather you need a few more technical factors to consider and compare before picking one to use in your case. In brief, the React vs Angular comparison should be more technological.

React At A Glance

React or ReactJS, whatever you are comfortable calling it, is a JS library useful in building User Interface (UI) components and their variants. It supports both front-end and server-side development.

React is normally used for managing the mobile or web apps’ view layer. It also enables you to build reusable UI components in different sections of the application.

It is presently one of the favorite JS libraries with a solid knowledge base and a vast community to support users.

React is a product of Facebook and mostly used in its internal projects, such as WhatsApp, Instagram etc. It is a library which has been accessible since 2013, so there is no question of it being new in the industry.

React has also won star ratings on GitHub for its popularity.

Use of React in Companies – Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, Atlassian and Dropbox.

Angular At A Glance

Angular was introduced to users by Google in 2016, proving it to be a little younger than React, but you shouldn’t take it as completely new to the industry.

It is a fully-featured JS framework useful in creating single-page as well as dynamic web applications. Angular also follows the MVC structure.

Another plus point of angular is that it gives developers the freedom to clearly and briefly express the app’s components with the use of HTML-based template syntax.

Angular has been used in hundreds of Google related apps such as Google Analytics, Firebase Console, Google Cloud Platform, Google Express, and more so far.

It is known for providing users with a lot of consistency and supporting them with its huge community of OS developers.

Use of Angular in Companies – Forbes, VMWare, Upwork, and others.

Background Of React JS

  • Jordan Walke created React in 2011 and FB released it to the public in 2013 May.
  • React 16.8 is the latest version released on Feb16, 2019.
  • React Fiber is the current architecture deployed in its Core Algorithm.

Background Of Angular

  • Google launched AngularJS in 2010.
  • The 10.0 version which is much shorter than earlier released versions of it, has new features and could be downloaded from GitHub.
  • The 10.0 version was made available on June 24, 2020.
  • The 10.1.0 version was launched on Sept 2, 2020.

React Vs Angular – Main Points Of Difference

  • React is a JS library allowing you to create UI components, whereas AngularJS is a structural platform/framework effective in the development of dynamic and single-page web apps.
  • React follows Virtual DOM concept whereas AngularJS follows MVC architecture.
  • React uses JavaScript language whereas Angular uses both Typescript and JavaScript language.
  • React has scope to include an external JavaScript library to the source code while AngularJS does not have scope for the same.
  • React needs additional tools for testing and validating a project in all possible ways whereas AngularJS can accomplish the same with just one tool.

Features & Functionalities

It is universally known that React has less out of the box features than Angular. However, it can be boon or bane, based on how you take it.

Some important features are common in both of these frameworks: components, two-way data binding, and framework-agnostic approach.

Out-Of-the-Box (OOTB) Features Of React

  • Simple to write functional components or React Lifecycle Hooks for creating class-based components.
  • It uses JSX, an XML-like syntax in place of classic templates that goes well with JavaScript.
  • Flexibility to pick and use third party libraries for routing, HTTP calls etc.
  • Cross-site scripting (XSS) protection
  • Improved performance with lazy loading of react components through code splitting.
  • Additional utilities for unit-testing
  • Error catching boundaries
  • Managing the state with the use of set State and use Reducer hooks

Out-Of-The-Box (OOTB) Features Of Angular

  • UI and Business Logic Separation
  • Built in DI (dependency injection) framework
  • Templates that are based on HTML elements with Angular directives
  • Calls lifecycle hooks to create class-based components
  • Angular routing library, installed from @angular/router
  • Sends Ajax call requests to server using @angular/common/http
  • Building Angular forms using @angular/forms
  • CSS encapsulation for controlling component styles
  • XSS attack protection
  • Router allows lazy loading of the code splitting module
  • Test runner, test framework and Angular utilities for unit-testing

When React Can Be A Perfect Choice?

React will be the right framework to choose for your app development in the following cases:

  • You want to develop an app accommodating many events (Multi-event app).
  • Your app development team is familiar in CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
  • There is demand for a custom branded app solution.
  • Share & reuse components from your app project.

When Angular Can Be A Perfect Choice?

Angular versions differ from each other in features. 5 and 6 versions have backward-compatibility packages with Angular 2 and 4 versions.

The newest versions, such as Angular 5, 6, 7 and 8 come with upgraded features to accelerate the development process and cut down costs.

The version 5 that will be the right framework to choose for your app in the following cases:

  • You need ready-made technical solutions for greater productivity.
  • You look for a large scale, feature-enabled app
  • Your team of developers has got expertise with C#, Java, all earlier as well as the latest versions of Angular
  • Complexity in apps varies from low to medium level.

React Vs Angular – Feature-Wise Comparison

Features React Angular
Type & Age React is a popular JavaScript library, and is an older platform in comparison with Angular. Angular is a comprehensive framework/toolkit and younger than React.
Integration of 3rd party libraries 3rd party libraries can be integrated with React js. Angular does not need integration as it is a full-fledged solution in itself.
Learning experience It is relatively easier to learn in comparison to Angular. Learning React may get difficult when augmented with Redux library. It may not be easy to learn Angular for starters without extensive training.
Community Help/support Wider community support is available for React users on GitLab and GitHub. Angular boasts reliable community support.
Installation/set up time It takes more time to install React. However, this framework is quick in creating apps and delivery of projects. Angular is quick to install but may add to programming time which causes a delay in project delivery.
Finest feature It allows users to pick the architecture, tools, and libraries, for building an app. It does not offer users freedom like React.
Data binding process React facilitates one-way data binding, making it difficult to change Ul components without changing the subsequent model state. Angular, in contrast, paves the way for the model state to change automatically with the use of the two-way data binding process.
Code Testing & Debugging It could not perform different kinds of testing without the use of different tools. A single tool is enough to test and debug an entire Angular project.
Documentation Pace React documentation is comparatively faster even while getting regularly updated. Angular documentation is not as fast as React due to the continuing development and enhancement.
Updates Interval Simple and quick updates in React because added scripts help migrating to the latest version. Angular brings updates in every 6 months, which buys some time to do necessary research and changes for migrating to the latest version.
Usage This framework works if you need to create web apps, Native apps or hybrid apps. This platform suits when you like to create a single page app and mobile applications.
Best for Advanced web development and native apps rendered for iOS and Android devices. Large-scale, feature-enabled applications.
Architecture/Model It follows the Virtual DOM concept. It follows MVC model (Model View Controller)
Written in Language JavaScript Typescript
Preference in Language JavaScript XML -JSX TypeScript

 
Examples of Real-Life Use Facebook, Netflix, , Pinterest, Instagram Uber Technologies, etc. Wepay, Auto Trader, Beam, Streamline Social, Mesh etc.
Template Supports JSX, common JS and (ES5/ES6) Supports HTML and TypeScript
Abstraction Principle Strong Medium
Github Star Ratings 126K 46.6 K
Javascript library inclusion in the source code High Chance No Scope
Limitation React enables you to freely choose your options without degrading performance. The sensitivity of Angular as a framework prevents you from using a large app structure.
Management of Code Base With React, you can manage the code base in your preferred format. Angular is available with ready-made JS elements, making code base management easier elements. Due to its vendor, you may face priority and naming collisions.
Forking 30.3 K 48.2 K

Conclusion

React and AngularJS would be great choices with regards to single-page app development. Both of them have their own bad and good sides. It’s difficult to get a clear-cut answer on which platform you should choose.

After all, the comparison is not done here in any specific perspective. There might be times when you come across statements like AngularJS is better than React and vice versa. The final choice is something you will have to do on your own.

Regardless of the personal opinion of your developer friends and colleagues on React Vs. AngularJS, you should make a choice based on the size, complexity, features, functionality, and usability of your project.

Andolasoft is an awarded ReactJS development company. We are experts in top-rated ReactJS App Development service delivery. So, bring us your app idea and talk about hiring a ReactJS developer today!!

How Technology Helps Businesses During This Pandemic

Posted on by Ajay Sahoo

The Covid-19 pandemic is a really difficult time for all. It has triggered a panic button all over the world as a medical emergency, disrupting the global economy and hitting businesses hard in the area of operation and survival.

The consequences such as social distancing, lockdowns, low production/demand, lack of labor, and a high degree of uncertainty, have questioned their continuity. But digital technology has helped pandemic hit businesses to keep up and running like least affected.

Thankfully, many tech companies are promptly offering next-level digital technology to keep their businesses operational even amidst the crisis. As the need for digital infrastructure has grown for businesses during this emergency, solutions like custom app development and cloud computing have proven beyond useful.

A Reality Check for Businesses

From retail, healthcare, and finance industry to grocery, apparel, and salon, every industry has to quickly adapt to the new situation; to serve their customers safe and fast. They have to consider options of virtual contacts, eCommerce tools, and technologies to respond to this crisis-ridden situation in a better way. These drastic changes in business sectors are long-term.

Pandemic and Contribution of Tech Stacks

Businesses are left with no option but to digitize all or some part of their activities to protect customers and employees put under travel restrictions due to the pandemic. Some of the tech stacks have already confirmed that they are getting a record number of requests for the implementation of remote work and digital services across multiple domains.

Again, shopper behaviors and ways of interactions have changed considerably, and the demand for digital technology is likely to continue in the future. Nearly around 75% of shoppers are using digital platforms for the first time. Web and mobile app development companies have to make sure that the approaching businesses are digital-ready and don’t miss a single customer in this unstable condition.

Recent data from McKinsey (Source: Covid-19 US Digital Sentiment Survey) shows the accelerated rate of digital adoption among US businesses and customers in different industries.

US ConsumersCOVID-19Remote Work(Source – mckinsey.com)

Challenges and Digital Adoption in the Press

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown many challenges at businesses – the most important being the company management and financial stability, thus making business resiliency and continuity their ultimate priority.

There are a few other areas where businesses are facing challenges such as reducing operation costs, maintaining data security, etc. Digital technology helps pandemic have a low impact on businesses by taking their eCommerce development to the cloud platform and automating the whole business from supply chain to sales management.

Digital Transformation to Address Pain Points

Digital technology is a savior for businesses in pre-Covid19 and post Covid19 era. It is not just a good to have a feature – but a necessity for companies to weather the effects of the pandemic.

And as businesses now come to consult with tech companies more and more, they are seen struggling in the following areas:

  • Deploying remote staff
  • Reaching out to customers virtually
  • Remote access to business activities and details
  • Adding to agility and competence
  • Stay safe against new cybersecurity related issues
  • Cutting down operational costs and improving supply chain activity

While businesses are undergoing organizational, cultural, and social change, tech companies have been providing the required support to help them cope up with it gradually.

Restructured Traditional Business Model

Empowering businesses digitally is not all about facilitating remote access; they will have to be available 24/7 online taking/processing orders and addressing issues that employees are facing on the personal/professional front. Digital technology has successfully removed in-person client meetings and customers are no doubt experiencing an increased speed of response in the digital framework. Companies are now able to build excellent virtual customer contacts that could be easily shifted to core business activity post-crisis.

The insecurity triggered by the Covid-19 crisis is encouraging businesses to review their IT infrastructure and make sure that they work on the limitations there to work remotely. Businesses are now more versatile in the area of decision making and seen enjoying new customer engagements and conversations than before.

Effect of Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is the key to overcoming the pandemic and helping businesses get robust and resilient for the future. To start with, many companies have sped up the adoption of digital technology and tools that will quickly connect with their workers, clients, and partners safely, without making huge investments. New-age digital solutions like SaaS, Cloud, Data Security, and Automation have come together to make businesses pandemic-proof.

Digital Implementation in Full Glory

With work from home now becoming a standard, the importance of cloud service has grown more. And so far, you may have seen many businesses move to comprehensive WFH mode without any disturbance – thanks in real life to SaaS and cloud solutions providers, which are offering cost-effective packages.

Hundreds of custom app developments have been carried out to connect homebound businesses to collaborative/management tools for their continuity. Similarly, web and mobile app development companies continue working remotely and writing codes in cloud-based secure environments. Some of them even include built-in and cloud-managed features such as AI-backed applications for greater functionality during this pandemic.

BCP is no longer a tick-in-the-box habit rather has become a strategic strength for businesses. When facing supply chain issues during lockdowns, they have started to gain the ability to find raw supply chain data in real-time.

Businesses now use AI and other advanced technologies like IoT, blockchain, 5G coverage, and edge computing to finely balance operating costs, creating a solid supply chain worldwide and turning unimaginable into the projected. They have reached the goal of building better, smarter supply chains by integrating both data and technology. It helps them to escape the current pandemic effect as well as unexpected events in the future.

Conclusion

Distributed staff, virtual contact facilities, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning, data, and analytics: all of them are part of the coveted digital world, already exploited by the businesses in different ways, and to variable degrees during this pandemic. In the post-crisis phase, they are likely to expand faster.

Are you feeling the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic and looking to overcome from it with technology? Let’s discuss! I am sure our tech experts and full stack developers can guide you in right path.

How to Capture the Opportunity after 59 Mobile Apps Banned in India

Posted on by Ajay Sahoo

Last week the Government of India did announce to ban 59 mobile applications as the government said these mobile apps were engaged in activities that were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity, and defense of the nation.

The list includes TikTok, UCBrowser, WeChat, CamScanner, etc and these apps are quite popular and have been widely used in India and in other countries as well.

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown that followed has changed the way many professionals work.

Technology has played a pivotal role — be it work from home or online classes or digital payments.

Same time, certain IT experts feel this may be the best and ideal opportunity for the Startups, particularly from India, to develop and deliver the alternative apps to shine.

What Entrepreneurs are Saying After the Ban:

Shortly after the announcement, Debjani Ghosh, NASSCOM’s president took to Twitter to laud the decision and encourage India’s start-ups to fill the void in the app ecosystem. Her tweet was accompanied by numerous entrepreneurs including PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who was also welcomed by the move.

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Debjani Ghosh, president of NASSCOM, feels that it is the right time for the government and industry to focus on building for the Indian movement. She tweeted –

How This is an Opportunity:

From the last 10 years, India’s tech start-ups have been struggling to compete with the digital offerings with foreign companies which is typically backed by heavy volumes of funding, and capable of undertaking relentless and wide-scale marketing campaigns.

According to experts, India’s tech start-up ecosystem has struggled to secure the same levels of investments that the foreign-backed firms receive. And coupled with the lack of institutional support for the Indian government as well.

The popular mobile apps like TikTok, UCBrowser, Vigo, and other apps, many of which come pre-installed on smartphone manufactures and sold by foreign-based companies in India such as Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE, etc.

What We Can Achieve:

The whole thing is actually about data privacy. There no connection to the Indo-China Border conflict issue for this banning.

So here only to focus the Indian Data-Privacy policy along with other privacy policies to launch your mobile app into the market.

Other checkpoints like features, engagement, usability must to consider for developing a new mobile app.

Obviously, if you are developing a mobile app for public entertainment or people would use the app for their entertainment your data privacy policy need to be transparent as much it can be.

Security of User Information

With that kind of information at stake, mobile app developers need to do everything they can to protect their users and clients.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

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Some the step we can follow like:

  • Encrypt All Data
  • Be Extra Cautious With Libraries
  • Use Authorized APIs Only
  • Use High-Level Authentication
  • Deploy Tamper-Detection Technologies
  • Use the Principle of Least Privilege
  • Deploy Proper Session Handling
  • Use the Best Cryptography Tools and Techniques

The above guidelines will help to keep the mobile app secure as an oyster and keep your clients and users happy.

Conclusion

From video sharing app like TikTok to chat-based services WeChat, to eCommerce, to web browsing and gaming, the latest ban has provided a much-awated gift to the Indian digital niche, at a moment when the spirits may have been at their lowest due to Covid-19 pandemic situation.

Same time, the Indian Government also has to back the Indian startup as a wing to gain popularity. The time is ripe then, for India’s tech entrepreneurs to finally take center-stage.

What’s on your mind? Let’s develop it!

How to keep your SaaS Startup Revenue on Track

Posted on by Ajay Sahoo

After an unprecedented bull run for 11 years, SaaS businesses are faced with a lot of uncertainty as they overcome the business impact of the global pandemic.

There is no fixed path ahead. The truths of each Monday are re-calibrated by next Friday. In the current scenario, agility is critical. You must look at the right leading indicators to make decisions quickly or risk getting buried under loads of data.

While revenue metrics like LTV, CAC, NRR, and Quick Ratio are solid ways to diagnose long-term trends with respect to how the business is performing, it is important to look at the leading indicators of your revenue health, and act on them before they significantly impact growth and cash flows.

Let’s dig into some metrics you should consider.

Cash Burn

Cash burn, the rate at which companies use up their cash balance or reserves, can be impacted by both revenue (inflows) and expenditure (outflows). It’s always good to conservatively assume a higher burn rate unless your business is accelerating.

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Even though there are multiple variables impacting your revenue, the key lies in being flexible and reacting wisely from an expenditure standpoint. It’s good to plan for all outcomes, and not assume you’re going to have a V-shaped recovery.

Practice conservatism and have one to three months of a runaway. This is impactful if the current situation is going to linger longer.

If your vendors are affected, reach out. You could prepay some of these expenses and probably negotiate a discount as well. A 10 to 20% discount means cash sitting on your balance sheet, which eases your expense burdens in the future

Sales Outstanding

At Andolasoft, we are seeing the DSO ratio increasing across all our clients as end customers are slow to pay in recent months.

Sales outstanding is basically calculating the time it takes for you to collect an invoice. This metric is one of the few things you can control.

If you received payment in 20 days pre-crisis, depending on the business you’re collecting from, it might take 30 to 40 days moving forward.

This could have a huge impact on your working capital. When forecasting for the next three to six months, take a closer look at the day sales outstanding ratio.

Accounts Receivables Aging Report

Given that most customers might be freezing their budgets, you may want to close payments on your receivables sooner than later.

On the other side, we’re also seeing businesses with stronger cashflow positions offering more lenient payment terms up to net-60 and net-90 days to build a stronger rapport with their customers.

A real-time accounts receivable aging report lets you see how much money your customers have paid, any outstanding payments, and current debt.

Aging reports help identify customers who aren’t paying, which makes it easier for you to reach out and negotiate payment terms.

Lifetime Value

The next thing you need to focus on is your growth sustainability. Growth should never come at the cost of profitability.

If you acquire a customer with a higher customer acquisition cost (CAC) and low lifetime value (LTV), it means you’re scaling but not profitably.

One way to balance growth and profitability is by the rule of 40. If your growth rate plus EBITDA equals 40%, it means you’re growing profitably.

In this scenario, you should ensure you’re bringing in the right kind of customers and make sure that your retention is high.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

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The advantage of an LTV metric is that it gives you an idea of your customers’ quality. It also shows how well you’re able to retain them, which in turn, helps your team prioritize the accounts that are more likely to last longer than a free-trial period.

Total Credit Notes

Finally, you should be closely watching the leakage points in your revenue cycle.

The total credit notes report shows you the impact of credits and refunds you’ve offered to customers. While churn is bad news in itself, full refunds are even worse as they impact cash already in the bank.

I see some businesses restructuring their refund policies to only offer credits at this time, but it might have a significant hit on the brand. An option can be setting up internal policies, to look into the merits of each refund, then process it on a case-by-case basis.

On the other hand, acquisition teams are starting to use more coupons and discounts to close more deals.

While discounts are a great way to retain customers and continue running the sales machine, you need to watch its impact on revenue and ensure you are reporting on monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and leakages correctly.

This way, you wouldn’t be pushed to a scenario where sales continues to close seemingly big numbers, but with all the heavy discounts you don’t even see its impact downstream on total MRR.

Everything you knew about growing a startup or SaaS business has been upended. You’ll be faced with making tough decisions and your commitment will definitely be tested.

But with a clear understanding of your startup’s health and how your finances are changing on a daily basis, you can navigate these choppy waters.

Planning to launch your SaaS startup? Let’s Discuss!

How To Robust eCommerce Store Using WordPress

Posted on by Ajay Sahoo

Ecommerce is poised to become a major player in the global retail market, and the global eCommerce industry may make up as much as 6.7% of all retail sales by 2025.

And it’s not just giants like Amazon or Walmart that contribute to this figure, as the local marketplace features a multitude of stores selling everything online.

One of the best parts about entering the eCommerce world is that it’s easier than ever to do so. There’s a huge array of services that can give you everything you need to set up your online store with only a few clicks. Find a suitable eCommerce platform, you’re off to a good start!

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In our previous article about what you should consider before building an eCommerce store, we covered several of the best eCommerce platforms to choose from. This time, we zero in on building an online store with WordPress, one of the most popular and flexible solutions for eCommerce.

Why Use WordPress?

WordPress is a free-and-open-source content management system that is developed by both a core group of lead developers and a community composed entirely of volunteers.

About one-quarter of all the websites on the Internet have WordPress as their content management system, and for good reason—it combines ease of use that allows it to be applied to even the most basic websites and plugin-based modularity that allows its functionality to be extended to meet virtually any needs.

Its open-source, community-managed nature also ensures that WordPress is constantly up-to-date with security patches and new features. Tutorials and documentation to do just about anything can also be found all over the Web—if you have a question about WordPress, it’s almost certainly been answered already.

WordPress is particularly useful when building an eCommerce website because there are plenty of premade themes suited to an online storefront. It also features plugins that add complete eCommerce functionality to a site, from product display to shopping cart and checkout.

Finally, one of the top reasons to go with WordPress is that it’s a flexible platform that offers you complete control over what your website does and how it appears. On top of your storefront, you can also include a blog, a forum, and any other pages you need.

All this comes without any ongoing fees to make use of the WordPress platform. Your monthly fees come from your hosting company and domain registrar, with WordPress itself being free to use, and certain plugins and themes being one-time purchases.

Planning to create an online store with WordPress? This blog post will help you along every step of the process.

Step 1: Choose Your Domain Name And Hosting Provider.

The first step in WordPress eCommerce setup starts with your domain name. This will become the address of your future website. A domain name is what you enter into the address bar of your browser to access a website.

While WordPress itself is free, you’ll need to pay for your domain name, which starts at US$10 per year. The cost is well worth it, as having your own domain name (i.e. yourbusinessname.com) is far more professional-looking than having your name on someone else’s domain (i.e. yourbusinessname.otherdomain.com)

You will also need a hosting provider, a service that will host your website on the Internet. By having a dedicated hosting provider, you’re assured that your website will load quickly and not suffer from extended periods of downtime.

You have the option of a shared or dedicated host. With a shared host, your website is on the same server as several other websites, which is cheaper, but often provides you with less control over your website as well as potentially smaller storage and bandwidth availability. Meanwhile, a dedicated host is more expensive, but gives your website a whole server exclusively for your use, and gives you a wide degree of control, storage, and bandwidth.

After snagging your domain and host, you can now install WordPress, and there are two ways to go about it:

One-Click Install

In the one-click install, you register your domain name and get your WordPress site hosted from the same provider. WordPress recommends your host supports PHP 7, MySQL v5.6+ or MariaDB v10.0+, and HTTPS.

You can also use hosting providers trusted by WordPress, which will make installation easier and ensure that your chosen host is supported. WordPress itself recommends Pressable, BlueHost, Dreamhost, Flywheel, and Site Ground.

Manual install

With the manual option, you set up a server manually, then install the WordPress platform on your server, and configure it. You’ll need to have an FTP client, a database set up through cPanel or PHPMyAdmin, and access to your web server. As such, this option is recommended only for advanced users. WordPress has extensive documentation that can walk you through the process.

Step 2: Select An ECommerce Plugin.

What will separate your WordPress eCommerce website from a standard WordPress website will be the means by which you sell products directly from your site. There are no native WordPress eCommerce features, so to add this functionality to your website, you’ll need to install an eCommerce plugin.

WooCommerce

Once a mere eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce has now morphed into a whole platform with its own plugin system since it was acquired by Automattic two years ago. It’s a highly customizable platform that gives you total control over your online store. About 30% of all online stores use WooCommerce as their platform; some local stores that use it are Beauty Choice and Green Point Flowers.

WooCommerce features a complete eCommerce backend that helps you build and organize product pages, and provides a shopping cart and checkout process.

Easily manage and track customer discounts with the powerful WooCommerce plugin.

Download Plugin

It’s free to use, but you can extend its functionality even further with various paid and free extensions. Extensions can do anything from serving AI-driven recommendations to customers on product landing pages to providing the option for scheduled group and daily deals that trigger when a predefined number of people purchase an item.

Easy Digital Downloads

While most eCommerce plugins and platforms revolve around the sale of physical products, Easy Digital Downloads or EDD is specifically designed to help you sell digital products.

EDD allows you to create discount codes, place restrictions on downloads, and provides full tracking and data reporting of downloads, sales, and other statistics. You can also add new features to your EDD storefront with extensions, which give you the ability to sell software licenses and subscriptions, add payment processors like PayPal, and more.

EDD is free, with various paid extensions you can purchase.

WP eCommerce

WP eCommerce isn’t quite as fully-featured as WooCommerce, but it’s another popular and robust choice for creating an online store with WordPress.

It has all the basic features, including product pages, shopping cart, and checkout functionality, and comes with excellent data reporting capabilities and inventory management. Like the other plugins, it’s free but provides optional paid and free extensions that can add functionality. It also comes in a paid Gold Cart package option that adds more advanced tools, layouts, and features. You can also purchase premium payment gateways like Stripe and Authorize.net.

Step 3: Install Your eCommerce Plugin.

Once you’ve chosen an eCommerce plugin for your WordPress site, it’s time to install it through your WordPress backend. For convenience’s sake, the following steps assume that you chose the WooCommerce platform:

Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

On the sidebar, go to the Plugins section and click “Add New”.

In the search bar, type “WooCommerce” and hit Enter. Click “Install Now” on WooCommerce by WooThemes.

If you’re still at the stage where you’re looking for a hosting provider, you may want to check out Bluehost’s partnership with WooCommerce. Bluehost offers an all-in-one solution for WordPress eCommerce setup, which includes a domain name, WordPress with WooCommerce pre-installed, and SSL certification to keep your online store secure.

Step 4: Set Up The Product Pages.

Now that you have your plugin set up, it’s time to start adding products and their product pages. Every plugin does things differently, so we’ll cover the steps for doing this in WooCommerce.

At the very least, every product you add must have the following features:

  • Product name
  • Price
  • Image
  • Brief description

Begin by entering your WordPress admin panel, then select “Products” on the sidebar and select “Add Product”. WooCommerce allows you to add both physical and virtual products to your store.

a) Adding Physical Products

You’ll be greeted with an interface very similar to that of publishing a blog post on WordPress. Insert your product name where a post title would normally be, and add a description where post content would be. Then, on the right sidebar, add a product image for your product (analogous to a featured image), and then optionally insert more images in the product gallery.

Next, in the Product Data section, add more details about your product. The first thing to pay attention to is the Product Type drop-down box. The applicable product types for physical products are the following:

Simple: A simple product with no SKU options

Grouped: Multiple related products, which consist of several related “child” products, each of which is a Simple product

Variable: A product with different SKUs, for example, shirts or shoes that have different size options

External/Affiliate: Items sold outside of your store

For now, let’s go with a Simple product.

You’ll also see “Virtual” and “Downloadable” check boxes next to the Product Type. Leave these unchecked for physical products.
Let’s move on to the components on the left of Product Data, and what goes on in each:

The Attributes section is where you can assign special details to each product. You can add as many attribute fields as you like. Just make sure to keep the attribute consistent among similar products being sold.

b) Adding Virtual Products

Virtual products are products that are not sold physically, while downloadable products are downloaded from your store. Some products are both virtual and downloadable, such as eBooks.

Adding virtual products features the same process as physical products for the most part. However, with virtual products, you’ll check the “Virtual” or “Downloadable” boxes next to Product Type. When you select either option, you lose the Shipping tab in Product Data. You should also go to the Inventory tab and uncheck “Manage stock?”

For downloadable products, the General tab gets more options:

Downloadable files: Insert file links here for large files or files you’ve previously uploaded. Alternatively, click the “Choose file” to upload a file.

Download limit: Maximum number of times this file can be downloaded

Download expiry: Buyers can only download the file for a certain number of days.

Other than these changes, the process remains the same for physical products.

After the Product Data part, you’ll find the Product Short Description. This will appear at the top of your product landing page.

Your shoppers will see this short description before the full description that you’ve already written.

Once this is done, click “Update” and the product will be added.

WordPress eCommerce Product Uploading Tips

The following tips ensure that your products are attractive to customers, and can be located easily either from your storefront or through a search engine.

a) Don’t Forget Your Titles!

Your product should always be named in the title bar when you add a product to your store. You should also use SEO tools such as Yoast to determine the best possible title for your product based on SEO.

b) Create Catchy Product Descriptions.

Don’t copy descriptions from the product’s manufacturer. Be unique and creative with your descriptions. Also, use very specific, long-tail keywords that will ensure your product appears in search engine results. Finally, be short—limit descriptions to 150-250 words.

c) Mind The Quality Of Your Images.

Use a square-shaped featured product image to conform to WooCommerce standards. Also, use large, high-quality images to attract more customers.

d) Categorize And Tag Accordingly.

Place your products under categories and tags. The effect is twofold: Customers will have an easier time browsing for them, and Google will also consider them similar to keywords.

Step 5: Payment

Just as it is the last step in the shopping process, both online and offline, the last step in any WordPress eCommerce setup relates to payment. Your eCommerce site needs a means of receiving payments from customers.

Most online retail financial transactions take place over payment gateways, which are services that act as a middleman between you and your customer.

Upon checkout from your site, a customer is directed to the payment gateway’s website, where they input financial information or sign in to their account with the gateway. Money is exchanged securely from the customer to the payment gateway, and then the payment gateway transfers the money into your merchant account. Some payment gateways also host payment accounts as well.

PayPal is one of the leading payment gateways available, but it’s not necessarily everyone’s preference. Thankfully, WooCommerce supports a wide variety of other gateways, and adding them is as easy as a trip to the Payment Gateways section of the WooCommerce Extensions store, from which you can add the gateway of your choice with a single click. Payment gateways come in both free and paid forms.

To make use of most features of payment gateways, you’ll need to have an SSL certificate. This ensures that all transactions, and thus exchanges of financial information, between you and your customer are safe from the prying eyes of hackers. Getting an SSL certificate can usually be achieved through your hosting provider for a fee.

In Singapore, certain payment gateways are favored by both customers and local eCommerce sites. Here are some of the top that is in use:

2Checkout

2Checkout allows eCommerce merchants to accept payments seamlessly from all over the world, whether from mobile or online. eCommerce sites have the option of using 2Checkout as a hosted solution, where buyers are directed to the 2Checkout website to complete payment. More advanced site owners can choose to integrate their storefront directly with the 2Checkout Payment API.

Asia Pay

One of the largest payment gateways in Asia, Asia Pay is also among the top choices for payment processors in Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Paypal Express

Fast and efficient, PayPal Express lets users check out and pay for their items in three clicks. Users can store their financial information easily within PayPal, making the process quick and easy.

Avoid hidden charges and choose the correct payment gateways for your store.

Considerations when choosing a payment gateway

1. Cost

Every payment gateway charges a certain percentage fee per transaction. Check out the service charges for each gateway you plan on using. Sometimes, a higher fee is justifiable if a gateway has excellent service.

2. eCommerce Compatibility

Not all payment gateways are supported by every eCommerce plugin. Ensure that your payment gateway of choice is included in the list of extensions of your eCommerce plugin.

3. Financial Information Input

Payment gateways will offer two options for receiving financial information from customers. One is the hosted page, which redirects customers to the payment gateway’s website after checkout, where they enter their information. This is the most secure method, but it’s also a little unwieldy and is not likely to match your store’s visual theme.

The other method is integration, where customers input their financial information in a series of fields directly on your website, which will then be sent to your payment gateway. This method is much more seamless and convenient but is less secure.

4. Mobile compatibility

More and more online transactions are taking place over mobile devices. It’s imperative that users be allowed to purchase and pay for items from your store even if they’re using their smartphones. Choose a payment gateway that not only supports transactions over mobile but also has an optimized mobile experience with a good UI.

5. Security And Support

Few things are as important as the safety of your customers’ information. To ensure this, make sure that your payment gateway features encryption, support for SSL certificates, and anything else to do with the protection of data.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

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You should also be able to respond to problems with payment, refunds, and other concerns about transactions. Your payment processor of choice should have efficient and timely support that responds to your needs effectively.

For more information about setting up a payment gateway with WooCommerce, check out this detailed guide.

Conclusion

This article is a WordPress eCommerce how-to guide that has walked you through every step of building your own online store on one of the biggest platforms on the Web. You’ve learned how to choose your hosting provider, decide what plugin to use, install your plugin of choice, add your very first product, and set up a payment gateway for your site.

Want to launch your own eCommerce Store? Let’s Discuss!

How To Boost eCommerce Sale During Covid19 Pandemic

Posted on by Ajay Sahoo

Since the last few years, COVID-19 has made the most unexpected impacts worldwide. As of December, 2021, COVID-19 has affected millions of people worldwide with many deaths.

As with the New variants of Covid-19, the Omicron variant is emerging again, creating a major impact on millions of lives and to the economic sector.

As for the impact on the global business, we can’t say the industry like eCommerce is experiencing the complete fallout. The online sale has taken the hit but it is not completely down.

It’s clear that moving forward, choosing between online sales and brick-and-mortar stores won’t be the answer — instead, “offering a compelling Omni channel experience…is a requirement for survival,” says McKinsey analysts.

The drastic E-commerce growth amid movement restrictions induced by Covid-19 has increased the online Retail sales from 16% to 27.6% in 2021.

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According to a report by UNCTAD, online retail sales have grown in many countries, with the Republic of korea holding a large number of  shares at 25.9% by 2021, up from 20.8% the year before.

This pandemic has spread to over 100+ countries now. But as an eCommerce vendor, it is also time to deliver to their customer despite the circumstances.

Actually, it is very important to handle every step along the way with safety as paramount.

Despite this “post- Covid” era, the situation is constantly changing. With retail and E-commerce business has begun to observe behavioural shifts in the shopping habits , along with many new behavioural shifts observed in the shopping habits.

Online Shopping Increases By Demographic:

A report by BigCommerce has shown that in the Covid-19  various gender and age-groups have adopted E-commerce in varying degrees.

According to a survey it was observed that in the UK and US, 96% of millennials and GenZ are worried about the pandemic which has affected the economy. The widespread worry was  observed that this age group differentiate their behaviours  more noticeably in comparison to other generations.

Agility PR has reported that 30% of millennials has done more Online shopping during pandemic. In contrast 20% of Gen X, 24% of Gen Z and 8% of Baby boomers. 

More data has shown that 24% of boomers and 34% of GenZ have seen Covid-19 has created an impact on the items they are purchasing, compared to nearly half of millennials. These effects might include the cutting back on spending, carrying certain items  and spending less on the experiences.

There is also much disparity observed between genders, with 24% of men found to be online shopping in the pandemic, in comparison to 18% of women. Also, one third of men, in comparison to 25% of women, said that Covid-19 has created more impact on how much they spend on products.

Here I have drafted some safety measures that you should adopt to make your selling experience more effective.

Sanitize Every Place That You Work

For the safety measures, you need to do this at shipment centres, inventories, warehouses, and all the workspaces of your organisation where works are made out. This is the top priority for included people, especially those in the eCommerce sector, considering the far-reaching geographical capabilities of the industry.

Here are some precaution checkpoints of sanitization that you can undertake:

  • Screening the warehouse personnel regularly
  • Instant sanitization of the warehouse
  • Minimizing the working resources and maintain the social distance
  • maintain heavy caution on entry and exit points
  • An emergency phone line to contact the hospital or police station, if required
  • Maintain the manual register for all visitors
  • Contactless delivery

By setting as an example India with1.3 billion people shut down, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said “India’s COVID fight could make or break the global war. WHO said India has a tremendous capacity to deal with the pandemic as it has experience of eradicating smallpox and polio”.

With the contactless initiative, customers can ask the delivery guy to leave their order package in a secure location, from where the end-user can pick it up.

“It can go a long way in containing the spread of COVID-19 and protects both your courier partner and the end customer.”

Winners On The E-Commerce Shift:

Big commerce has reported that month over month, the food and beverage has increased. The impact of E-commerce on emerging markets has grown to 18.8% and also shows a big growth in the downloads of  mobile applications. It has allowed people to hire personal shoppers to prepare and also in some cases they deliver the goods.

The rise of E-commerce popularity was observed as many of us were quarantined  at home, usinging Netflix, Disney+ and all the gaming subscribers has observed growth at an unprecedented rate in Q1 2021.

Provide Training On Sanitization

In these testing times, the biggest threat to society is perhaps, ignorance.

Ignorance, perhaps this is the biggest threat to society. It is so important that each and every single person is well informed about the basics to fight effectively.

Government officials of many countries have adopted epidemic training and awareness procedures for staying safe.

This includes;

  • how to wash your hands
  • how to wear a mask
  • how to stay away from infected surfaces
  • how to deliver using contactless delivery

Collaborate With Shipping Aggregators

The most advantageous outcome of partnering with a shipping partner is to reduce the workload of your internal team and make sure a clean, hygienic shipping process end-to-end.

There are many vendors using this workflow, so you will be able to choose an alternate courier partner without wasting any time.

Keep Customer Support Paramount

To ensure customer satisfaction and general peace amongst customers, make sure that customer support is available round the clock.

Customer service at whim can make sure that the customer and the seller are constantly in touch.

Okay. These are the safety measure for online vendors to ensure the safety of packing to deliver the goods to end-users.

But can we see this lockdown period as an opportunity to boost your eCommerce sale?

As people are willing to stay at their homes these days and they need their daily life stuff also.

So, the answer is YES!

Strategies To Boost Online Sales

It is very obvious that the consumers are spending more time on the internet as they are social distancing and IT professionals are working from home.

So, our recommendation would be to consider your online presence of the online store. This depends on the eCommerce platform you use. Various eCommerce platforms have different limitations.

Example; The core features of Magento, WordPress, are pretty much search engine friendly.

If everything is OKAY.. then revisit your marketing spend and improve the effectiveness of your virtual communications.

1. Reach Out To Your High-Value Customers

Analytica says, “20% of your customers contribute 80% of your total revenue”. Considering this you need to prioritize the high-value customers ensuring their lifetime loyalty.

eCommerce Stats
Source: Squarespace

Applications like Wakeupsales, (cloud-based Salesforce Automation tool) act like the customer relationship solution and contacting platform all in one.

Through this, your marketing staff can stay in touch with the prioritized high-value customers remotely.

So, you can send personalized recommendations that include links to purchase online.

2. Adapt Your Marketing Messaging

During this sensitive period, you also need to rethink your marketing strategy.

However, brands should be cautious of pivoting too far away from their core brand messaging, or worse yet, coming off as opportunistic.

Below are some examples of brands that made simple adjustments to their messaging to “read the cultural room” while remaining authentic.

3. Create “Social Experiences” On Social Media

Staying home means surfing the internet and social media. So the brand needs to get creative about how they leverage their social media presence.

The brand can create problem-solving social media campaigns to gain more reach of your brand or product.

Also, consider the campaign must make aware of your brand and how your brand gets to solve the daily life requirement.

This helps to acquire loyal customers.

4. Offer Free Shipping Or Local Pickup And Delivery

Shipping cost is always a barrier for online users. So if possible, you can consider offering free shipping.

There is another option available “curbside pickup”.

This term of delivery is actually, a customer ordered a product online and can pick it up fro your local store.

It decreases the hassle of the delivery process. And for customers, it also cut the waiting time.

Still, you need to integrate the whole setup on your eCommerce website. This is not a big development process. You can integrate this delivery set up by hiring an eCommerce developer remotely.

5. Extend Your Return And Exchange Policy

“Extending your return and exchange policy in acknowledgment of the current climate could alleviate buyer doubt and incentivize online sales.”

So, changing the return policy can bring some sighs to your customers. As on the lockdown period, the delivery time and pick up time could be delayed. So, extending the return period could help to gain some loyal customers too.

6. Use Retargeting Ads To Reach Your Customers

Paid advertising can help you to reach such people which you cannot go with organic campaigns. And doing it smartly would help you to regain such visitors who were at your store before.

Technically, we called this a Retargeting campaign.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

LEARN MORE

Through it, your ads or product can be displayed to those users who visited your website recently.

The various ads managers like Facebook, Google, etc have the algorithm to perform such methods.

Conclusion:

Developing and delivering the fruitful content display will always have the high-end stuff for your eCommerce website too.

So, before adopting all these methods and strategies, you need to ‘consider your existing website performance and capabilities.

When we come to the point of COVID-19, there is no ETA on when this crisis is going to end. But it is heartwarming to see all people coming together to fight this pandemic.

As the new Covid Variant, Omicron is growing gradually, therefore it is important to take all the necessary steps and grow your business gradually. Develop your E-commerce application now with Andolasoft. 

Our experts, App developers, will guide you with this path, by developing your desired eCommerce Application.

We at Andolasoft also urged the merchant to follow the guideline and secure every touchpoint.

Is your eCommerce site fully integrated to fight this situation? Let’s Discuss.