Analysis
Planning
Design
Development
Quality assurance
Deployment and support
It's the first phase of an e-commerce project. Analysis must happen before writing any actual line of code or before taking any bit of wireframe shape. In other words, this is the point of determining the crucial goals and objectives for the e-commerce website. This is also the point where very hard questions must be asked: How big is the store? What's the CRM/ERP systems we need to integrate with? Who is it for? How will the whole thing scale? Smart decisions now will avoid most costly detours later on.
And then: an audit - the whole works. Examining the existing tech stack and understanding what the business is trying to achieve and where the pain points exist. What works? What holds things back? Based on facts, not assumptions. Then the high-level scope comes into play. What's in, what's out? Clear definitions eliminate scope creep before it even has a chance to begin. Then comes the CMS selection: How flexible is it? Headless? Traditional? Custom-built? The right decision will shape future agility. Of course there is the budget- real numbers. Development, hosting, maintenance, and all future scaling must fit in financial reality. It's less about cutting costs and more about ensuring money is spent wisely.