Tech Stack for Niche E-Commerce Site

+1 to going with something you're already familiar with.

If your goal is to launch an e-commerce store and grow it, go with a no-code solution (even if you're a master in many programming languages). Shopify is great due to its vast plugins ecosystem (integrations with review services, email services, chatbots..etc). If you don't want to pay shopify's monthly fee, try publii.com + a cart management solution like Snipcart (there's a tutorial on Snipcart's website on how to do that). Publii looks like a great static site generation tool (desktop based).

I built my own website's e-commerce store from scratch because I had a setup in mind which I've used a few times before. I wanted to reduce the number of unknown factors that could lead to disasters especailly that I bought expensive traffic. I am now in the process of moving to a well known ecommerece platform so that I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel every time I wanted to add something new. I don't really have to, but I want to in order to reduce the time spent maintaining common functionality and invest more in product development.

The best technology is always the one you are most comfortable with. No Exceptions. Time to market matters, technology dosen't (unless you are running massive enterprise architectures)

The most important metrics in business are time and money, if you can save either, do it.

I was in your shoes about 2 weeks ago. I started a small vertical farming business and wanted to develop a minimal website to enable online purchases.

My use case requires very little of the usual e-commerce functionalities, so I tried to keep it as simple as possible. At first I wanted to use a low code platform, like WordPress, Wix, Elementor and others, but I didn’t like the ecosystem. Also tried using WooCommerce and Shopify which are great e-commerce tools out of the box with lots of templates and documentation. For my use case they seemed an overkill, but for a more traditional e-commerce website they might be the go to platforms.

In general I would suggest you to create an mvp roadmap with the most important features and future building process. It’s been said all the time that it’s more important to get it out there than to make it perfect.

As for not having web dev background, I wouldn’t worry too much. For years I said that I hate frontend, who has time to play around with pixels to make containers fit. But as I dived into it, I got the feeling for it and I kind of enjoy the creation process.

At the end I went for using GatsbyJS, a cool static site generator deployed at Netlify. You can check out my site at https://pestifarm.hu/, there are lots of things missing, the UI need updates, but its getting there.

Good luck for your new venture!

I believe you should opt for a CMS for an eCommerce. don't reinvent the wheel. use a website builder.

otherwise, ask yourself: whether you want to start making money with an eCommerce shop, or you want to build a website which may bring you more satisfaction during the process?

I would not go this much tech/pretty tools, instead I would focus other topics like how to open earlier, how to pay less et cetera.

Technically speaking, Django and Python fantastic tools, however I would choose a e-commerce SaaS provider for quicker start or PHP for backend. There are too many PHP developer, cheaper than Python/Java and very quick result with CMS like Magento/Joomla/Drupal/WordPress and you can find a developer just expert on one of them. And many community/plugin support in these tools.

MariaDB community and documentation stronger than PostgreSQL. And whatever tool you choose, they are working pretty well with MariaDB.

I would think "why do I need to spend another big period of time for frontend"? What's wrong going with just a simple magento or wp template?

For me, the best technology:

• amount of community power
• plugins, availability
• get things done quicker
• spend less time, produce more business value

I would highly recommend picking up existing open source eCommerce software and launch quickly. Just search on GitHub, with Python as the language filter. Select the one you feel suits best. Investing time in code is gonna feel like a non-core work since you are not selling the code directly.

Also, eCommerce is a well known pattern and even if you have specific needs those are perhaps not so strong in your MVP. Launch quickly, build an inventory and find your way to more users - that is the most important thing. You can write as much code as you want later.

Hope that helps, Sumit

Hi @indieneeraj best of luck with the start of your journey!

I'm also like you - no background in coding, and I've been learning along the way. I've developed and published a few mobile and web apps now (iOS, React and React-Native) and feel I've learned quite a bit in the last 2 years over this journey.

Django is a great choice to start with. I personally don't have experience with Django, but friends tell me it has all of the major features you'll need for any website (authentication, templating, email, etc.). I say pick a framework and stick with it for awhile, instead of learning a bunch of different languages. There are both benefits and downsides when choosing Django (vs NodeJS or any other framework), but generally they shouldn't affect you in a major way in the long run.

I would recommend using a major framework that will help with all of your backend needs, like Firebase or AWS Amplify. They offer authentication, database, API and other solutions all wrapped into one.

For your second question: When I first started I didn't even understand the difference between front end and back end. And I don't think it matters at the beginning. The main goal is to get an app up and running, and doing whatever it takes to get that started. As the sole developer, you're certainly going to be full-stack.

Hope this helps =)

Don't build it! The success of e-commerce stores.are not.in their tech stack but in their marketing and ads stack.
Shopify is more than enough.
Only buil your own platform is that is the product that you want to sell and not the vehicle.
As Shopify did: Shopify started as a snowboard gear store, then the founders pivot.on building better platform solutions.

Hi @indieneeraj, I'm a Python and PHP developer. I would like to join and be of any help with the e-commerce platform. Let me know. Thanks