E-Commerce Development

Setting up an e-commerce site can be daunting - but it doesn't have to be.  We've helped many businesses, large and small to set up an online shop.  Some have simple shopping cart applications which take a few orders a month, some have complex bespoke systems which take millions of pounds per year.

Our first job is to listen to your needs and work out the most appropriate tools and technologies to deliver the best possible customer experience given your budget.

Simple shopping cart

If you are selling individual off-the-shelf products, then a simple shopping cart may be all you need.  There are a number of open-source shopping cart applications available, although they do have some limitations so we still need to understand your needs to decide whether to use one of these or build our own. Things we will help you think about include

• how your products can be organised into categories
• do you want to offer discounts and what type?  Will discounts be available to all or specific users?  Should they be time limited? Will you be offering a percentage off the price or a fixed amount?
• How to calculate delivery costs - by order value or product weight?
• the payment options you want to offer, and which providers will be best for you in terms of cost and checkout experience
• what types of customer data you wish to capture during the purchase process.  Could the customer have more than one delivery address for example?

Complex e-commerce ordering process

Some products or services require a more complex purchase process.  For example we work with a large print company which offers many different variations of all its products, and the order process needs to include the ability to upload artwork, see proofs etc.  We've also worked with a golf club supplier who needed to offer a full customisation process for each club, from length of shaft to handle material to angle of the club face.  And a training company which offers standard scheduled courses which can be booked immediately, but also bespoke courses tailored to the specific customer.

For this type of e-commerce development we may develop a bespoke system tailored to your needs, integrating with your existing back-end systems where required.

Reservation Systems, Online Booking Systems and Availability Management

We have significant experience developing systems for managing accommodation bookings and other time or availability-limited services (e.g. training courses, permits).  We can provide easy back-end systems for you to manage availability, pricing etc, with a carefully designed front-end website so that it is obvious to customers what is available and when.

We have also worked with third-party systems like Oracle's Opera and Guestline's Rezlynx to integrate a streamlined website with existing hotel booking systems.

E-commerce Reseller platforms

We can also develop 'white-label' e-commerce reseller platforms - so intermediaries can market and sell your products for you. This can allow a third-party who has some marketing expertise or a specialist interest in one part of your product line to easily have their own website running on your system - they take a percentage of the selling price, while you increase your sales volume.

Payment Service Providers

Payment Service Providers or payment gateways allow you to accept credit cards or other forms of payment on your site.  We have worked with most of the major payment gateways (e.g. Worldpay, Stripe, Secure Trading, Sagepay, Paypal, Paypoint, WPM) and can advise on which one will best meet your needs from both a cost and functionality perspective.

We also work with systems such as WPM which can provide recurring card payments, or GoCardless to set up direct debits - for example to manage subscriptions online.

Links to Other Systems

We have a lot of experience linking e-commerce websites and databases to other systems - whether through traditional import/export of data or more modern APIs.  These systems might include legacy databases, back end systems such as Opera Web Services or Guestline's Rezlynx, parcel tracking or pricing from couriers, or communication systems for voice or SMS (such as Twilio).

Samples of our e-commerce and web development work

Our E-commerce Development Credentials

Horisk are one of just 20 international, UK and Scottish companies to be awarded a place on the Scottish Government Application Design & Development (ADDS) Framework - one of the key elements of this framework is public sector web development in Scotland.

We have e-commerce development clients throughout Scotland and the wider UK.  We are ideally situated to provide e-commerce development throughout Scotland. In addition to our offices in Fife and Edinburgh we are in easy reach of Dundee, Perth, Stirling and Glasgow.

Horisk have been shortlisted for the Fife Business Awards and three times for The Courier Business Awards for businesses in Dundee, Angus, Fife & Perthshire, being Highly Commended in 2018.