The Fashion Industry is one of the oldest industries in the world. Throughout history, Fashion was largely influenced by society notables – from Kings, Queens, Nobles to Jackie and John F. Kennedy, to Taylor Swift and James Franco. While the rich and famous will always influence what is considered trendy and hip, today the internet is making it even easier for the average person to get their own image out there. The better news is that the internet also allows people to make some money off their own image. Sites like Etsy.com allow artists to create, display and sell their own work. Etsy charges a nominal 20 cent per item list price and a pretty fair 3.5% off the top of every sale made. But the real question here? Why can’t you make your own website that does something similar? eCommerce sites are forward-thinking entrepreneurial ventures. They are businesses that are looking to the future and are seeing that much of retail is already gone digital. While it’s unlikely that Brick’n’Mortar Fashion stores will ever go away, Fashion eCommerce is still a lucrative and growing business. So what does a good Fashion eCommerce website need? Clean, robust, and error free coding combined with consistent, logical, Web Design and a clear marketing strategy. Plus one other ingredient – your style. That may sound a little corny, but Fashion is all about making an impact with your own stylistic choices. Your website will need to reflect who you are, building your brand one visitor at the time. With a little effort and some clever thinking, there’s no reason why you can’t have one of the best fashion sites out there yourself. Platforms or Custom Development? A common debate in the world web development is that of platforms versus custom web development. Both have their merits and really the decision comes down to differences in situation. Let’s go over what works best, when – and why. • Frameworks Frameworks sometimes get a bad rep as packaged solutions that struggle to meet the unique needs of different clients. But this isn’t completely honest – platforms like Magento, Shopify, and WooCommerce are all highly adaptable. These Open Source solutions offer customizability to the unique needs of thousands of different industries. Frameworks are a great option for eCommerce especially because of the high-quality level of tools available to eCommerce developers. Easy plugins allow simple and quick connection to features like PayPal and Shopping Carts. These plugins fulfill one of our qualifications for a great site – excellent, error-free coding. When combined with the thousands of themes available on these solutions, developers can create a unique site with an excellent design. There’s another attractive feature of frameworks that attracts many an entrepreneur: they’re cheaper than custom fashion design websites. And not just financially – building an eCommerce site with Magento can be done in as little as 2 weeks. In a fast-moving market like digital retail, speed is essential to success. • Custom Web Design Custom web development is the ideal way to create a website. It is the best way to create a website that loads quickly, performs flawlessly, and engages users in a fun, easy way. When it comes to Fashion Web Design, a custom website is even more important. As we’ve already stated, Fashion is all about getting your style out there and making people take notice. Design is already an exceptionally important aspect to any website, but even more so for a clothing website. The color palette, font choices, interactive elements, take on even keener importance. Custom Web Development is the best way to create a design that blows away even the most discerning fashion guru. Images and videos are an essential part of fashion web design. They show off what you offer and allow your visitors to imagine themselves in your clothes. While platforms are generally pretty capable of rendering images and videos quite well, but good custom code can do it better. So why don’t more eCommerce entrepreneurs use custom websites? They’re as expensive in time and money as platforms aren’t. Custom eCommerce websites can take months or even years. Every line of code needs to be reviewed extensively for errors – something is already done with platform extensions and plugins. • The Verdict So what’s the answer in the end? As stated earlier, there are benefits to both. That being said, frameworks are a better option for Startups and Entrepreneurs. Frameworks can get a site up and running for a fraction of the cost and time as custom sites, with minimal to no degradation in overall quality. Of course, if you managed to get substantial backing from VC investors (and they’re willing to wait), custom development is definitely a good idea. There’s another quick benefit of frameworks we should consider – easy migration to a mobile app. The so-called mCommerce industry focuses on mobile eCommerce apps. Mobile is where it’s at these days – everyone wants to do things from their phone. It’s simpler, quicker, and more efficient. Most eCommerce frameworks pave the way for eCommerce sites to quickly transform into a mobile app. This increases the value potential clients will place in your brand, as well as providing another outlet for customers to utilize the services you offer. mCommerce is quickly becoming a trillion-dollar business; if you’re just creating an eCommerce website, you’re missing your chance at a piece of the pie. We Design for Trendy Clothing Websites SDI builds apps and websites in all industries. We know how to create a design for designers, without taking away from solid, robust coding with stellar functionality. We can even turn your website into a mCommerce app, further growing your market and your potential revenue stream. Give us a call at 408.805.0495 or email us at team@sdi.la for a free consultation with our design and development experts.