What this guide covers
- Single-Brand Online Store Development
- Online Marketplace Development
- Subscription Box Store Development
- Dropshipping Store Development
- Digital Products Store Development
What ecommerce projects cover
Ecommerce projects range from a single-brand store to a marketplace with many sellers, and the differences matter more than the shared shopping cart. A grocery store lives or dies on delivery slots and stock accuracy, a digital-products store on instant delivery and licence handling, and a wholesale portal on price lists and credit terms. Picking the wrong shape means rebuilding checkout, catalog, and fulfilment logic later, which is why each guide below treats its project type as its own build, not a variation on one store template.
Across all twelve guides you will see the same discipline: a clear catalog model, a checkout that matches how customers actually pay, and fulfilment that reflects how goods really move. What changes is everything around that core — subscriptions need billing cycles and skip logic, auctions need bid timing and reserve rules, and print-on-demand needs artwork handling and a print partner pipeline. Read the guide for your exact project type before scoping, and use the others only to compare trade-offs.
Choosing the right project type
Start from how you sell, not from a feature list. If one business owns the stock, a single-brand store or a category store fits. If many sellers list products, you need seller onboarding, commissions, and dispute handling, which is marketplace work. If customers pay repeatedly, subscription billing and fulfilment scheduling belong in the core from day one, not bolted on later. If you never hold stock, dropshipping or print-on-demand changes the whole fulfilment model, and the platform must be built around supplier data, not warehouse data.
Also decide early what the launch must include and what can wait. A store can launch with a tight catalog, one payment method, and manual fulfilment, then add recommendations, loyalty, and automation after real orders arrive. What cannot wait is accurate stock, working checkout, tax and shipping logic for your markets, and a way to handle refunds and support. The guides below mark those foundations for each project type.
All project guides in this section
Each guide below explains one project type in full: its features, build phases, technology choices, and common pitfalls.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an online store and a marketplace?
An online store sells one business's products, while a marketplace lets many independent sellers list products under one storefront, with seller accounts, commissions, and shared checkout.
Do I need custom development or can I use an off-the-shelf platform?
A standard store often works on an established platform, while marketplaces, wholesale portals, and subscription models with unusual billing usually need custom work around the platform's limits.
How do I handle payments and refunds?
Use a recognised payment provider, support the payment methods your customers actually use, and define refund, return, and chargeback handling before launch so support is not improvising.
What should I launch with first?
A working catalog, accurate stock, checkout, shipping and tax logic, and order support. Recommendations, loyalty, and advanced merchandising can follow once real orders are flowing.
How long does an ecommerce build take?
A lean store can launch in weeks, while a marketplace or wholesale portal with seller workflows and integrations usually takes a few months. Confirm a timeline against a written scope.