Creating a branded ecommerce experience from the ground up can be a challenge, considering all the moving pieces and technologies that need to be brought online to make a site work effectively.

Implementing an ecommerce store can be a challenge. The number of moving pieces — from technology platforms to implementation partners — is a daunting undertaking for merchants of all sizes. Whether your business is launching a brand-new site into the marketplace, or you’re implementing your sixth, GRAYBOX partners with companies to launch effective ecommerce experiences.

It starts with a comprehensive understanding of your business and who your customers are to figure out what the best solution for you is. There's no "right solution" that fits for everyone and every merchant brings nuance in its business model, product offerings, and brand ethos that all impact what is ultimately the best fit. GRAYBOX brings a keen understanding of the best design approach based on your goals. One of the key trends we’ve seen in the industry in the last few years is a move in the direction of leveraging out-of-the-box, but well-designed, theme frameworks as a baseline for a design effort. Gone are the days when a theme makes your site look like everyone else's. Regardless of whether or not we’re starting with an existing theme or doing a fully custom design effort, GRAYBOX works with merchants to determine what’s best for them.

Another critical decision is what ecommerce platform is going to fit your business best. GRAYBOX has experience with a wide variety of platforms and we take an agnostic approach to finding the right one. Some are best for gigantic catalogs and when you need to customize every aspect of the design and code. Others are great for getting a site up rapidly and for when you don't want to worry about whether or not your site goes down. Your business fits somewhere on that spectrum and GRAYBOX can work with you to determine what's best for your business and your budget. We also get a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem of other services and platforms your core ecommerce site will need to tie into — from ERP to fulfillment to inventory management — necessary to support your growing business.

GRAYBOX keeps client-partners in the loop and shows work early and often to reduce surprises throughout our technical implementation process. The last thing we want is to go dark and for our client-partners to lose visibility into where a project is at. Considering all the components that need support from all parties involved, communication is key, and maintaining an ongoing punch list is critical.

Building ecommerce stores well is like developing software. When it comes time to test, GRAYBOX borrows from the software development world and utilizes both human and automated testing to ensure that the site functions as it should. We validate core functionality with human-driven testing based on user stories with defined acceptance criteria. GRAYBOX is also a proponent of automated testing, especially for browser-based device testing, saving time and money throughout the process and increasing the confidence that we got it right.

Finally, even a well-orchestrated launch of an ecommerce site can be a stressful time and GRAYBOX communicates transparently the timeline, risks, and associated stakeholders that will be needed to be involved in the launch of your site. At the end of the day, GRAYBOX sits alongside you in getting the site launched and afterward in a support and iterative capacity. After all, once the site is live, that’s just the beginning.