How Hatimeria Builds Your E-commerce Software – Implementation Projects

1. Discovery Phase: Understanding Your Business (This process differs from maintenance projects.)

What we do:

1. Understand Your Business Needs

• Our process begins with a comprehensive discussion to understand your business model, target audience, and overall goals. Whether you're starting from scratch or migrating an existing store, we aim to identify the unique aspects of your e-commerce vision.
• We focus on understanding your product catalog, pricing strategy, and any unique requirements such as integrations with third-party systems, custom workflows, or compliance needs.

2. Help Select the Most Suitable E-Commerce Platform

• Based on your business goals, we guide you in selecting the most appropriate platform. Each platform has its strengths, and our role is to match your needs with the platform's capabilities.
• We provide recommendations based on scalability, ease of use, customization options, and budget considerations.

3. Assist in Selecting a Hosting Solution

• If required, we help you choose a hosting provider that ensures optimal performance, reliability, and scalability for your store. This includes analyzing factors like server speed, uptime guarantees, and security protocols.

4. Analyze Design Assets for the New Store

We review your existing design assets (if any), including brand guidelines, UI/UX designs, and wireframes. If you don't have these assets, we work with you to create a design strategy that aligns with your brand identity and enhances user experience.

5. Provide an Estimate for the Project

• Once we've gathered all necessary information, we prepare a detailed estimate, including timelines, costs, and potential milestones. This estimate serves as a roadmap for the project.

6. Define the Project Scope and Approach

• Together with you, we determine whether to implement the entire project at once or adopt a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) strategy. The MVP approach allows you to launch quickly with core functionalities, while additional features can be implemented post-launch as part of a separate budget and timeline.

Key results:

- Clear Project Scope and Prioritization: We deliver a well-defined scope that outlines the objectives, deliverables, and priorities for your e-commerce project.

- Detailed Estimate for Implementation: A transparent and comprehensive estimate that includes costs, timelines, and potential phases of the project.

• Our team provides tailored recommendations based on your timeline, budget, and priorities. By offering an MVP approach or phased implementation, we ensure you can go live quickly while maintaining high standards of quality and user experience.

2. Planning and Timeline (Shared process for maintenance and implementation projects)

Effective planning is at the heart of Hatimeria’s approach to managing e-commerce projects, including maintenance and development. After the Discovery Phase, we shift our focus to creating a clear and actionable plan, tailored to your needs and budget, ensuring transparency at every step.

What we do:

1. Divide the Project into Phases (Sprints)

We organize the work into manageable phases, called sprints. Depending on the client’s budget and priorities, we adopt either:

- Two-week sprints for faster iteration and frequent deliverables.

- Monthly sprints for more extensive updates or when budget constraints require a broader scope per phase.

2. Share a Timeline with Milestones

Each sprint is mapped out with specific milestones, deliverables, and deadlines. These milestones ensure progress is measurable, and every phase contributes directly to your business goals.

3. Use Advanced Tools for Project Management

We utilize Jira to manage tasks and maintain a clear view of project progress. This tool provides you with access to the sprint planning board, ensuring you’re always informed about what we’re working on.

4. Maintain Ongoing Communication

Communication is key to avoiding surprises. We use Slack for day-to-day updates, enabling real-time interaction and swift resolution of questions or concerns.

Hatimeria ensures client involvement through:

- Sprint Planning Sessions: Before each sprint begins, we hold collaborative planning meetings where we discuss priorities, clarify expectations, and agree on deliverables.

- Transparency Through Tools: You’ll have direct access to Jira, where you can see the progress, upcoming tasks, and current backlog. This gives you full visibility into the project’s status at all times.

- Feedback Loops: After each sprint, we schedule review sessions to discuss completed tasks and gather your feedback to inform the next phase of work.

- Clear Communication Channels: Whether it’s via Slack, email, or scheduled calls, we ensure you’re always informed and actively involved in key decisions.

Results are delivered at the end of each sprint. For example:

- Quick Wins: In early sprints, you might see resolved bugs or performance improvements.

- Longer-Term Results: More significant enhancements, such as feature updates or architectural changes, are delivered in subsequent sprints.

How Do You Handle Delays?

We mitigate delays by:

• Identifying risks early during sprint planning.
• Keeping buffer time for unexpected challenges.
• Communicating proactively if timelines shift, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned on the new plan.

Our structured approach to planning and timeline management ensures that every sprint delivers value, with clear visibility into progress and outcomes.

3. Kickoff: Establishing the Foundations of Cooperation (Shared process for maintenance and implementation projects)

The kickoff phase is where we officially begin our collaboration, setting the stage for a successful project. Whether it’s a maintenance project or a new implementation, this shared process ensures that everyone involved is aligned on goals, expectations, and workflow.

What Happens First?

1. Introductory Meeting

We start with a kickoff meeting to:

• Define overarching goals for the project.
• Set priorities for the first sprints based on the Discovery Phase findings.
• Align expectations and clarify the next steps.

2. Meet the Team

During this session, you’ll be introduced to:

- Your Project Manager: Your main point of contact, responsible for coordination, communication, and ensuring the project stays on track.

- Dedicated Developers: The team members directly working on your platform, ready to address technical questions and collaborate on solutions.

- Workflow Details: Together, we establish the project workflow, frequency of updates, and cadence of recurring meetings to maintain transparency and momentum.

3. Agree on Tools and Communication Channels

- Preferred Tools: While we typically use Jira as our primary project management tool, we are flexible and can work with other tools if your project is already set up elsewhere. In such cases, we’ll need access to your chosen platform to ensure seamless collaboration.

- Slack is set up as the main channel for day-to-day communication, ensuring quick responses and collaboration.

Key Results

- Finalized Scope and Timeline: Clear documentation of what will be achieved, when, and how it aligns with your priorities.

- Access to Tools: Your team gains full access to Jira (or another tool of your choice) and Slack, allowing for seamless communication and oversight throughout the project.

We believe in open and frequent communication. Here’s how it works:

- Slack: Day-to-day discussions, quick updates.

- Recurring Meetings: Weekly or bi-weekly check-ins to review progress, discuss challenges, and align on upcoming tasks.

- Jira or Alternative Tools: A transparent view of the project’s progress, priorities, and timelines, so you’re always in the loop.

Customizing Communication to Fit Your Needs

We understand that every client has unique preferences when it comes to communication. That’s why we adjust our approach as follows:

- Meeting Frequency: Based on your availability and project needs, we can increase or reduce the frequency of check-ins. For example:

• Weekly meetings for high-priority or fast-moving projects.
• Bi-weekly or monthly meetings for long-term, steady-progress initiatives.

Reporting Style:

• We can provide detailed technical reports for clients who prefer in-depth insights.
• Alternatively, we offer concise summaries for clients who want a high-level overview of progress and priorities.

Ad-Hoc Updates: If something critical arises, we ensure timely updates outside of scheduled meetings, so you’re never caught off guard

By the end of the kickoff phase, you’ll have a clear understanding of how we’ll work together, who’s involved, and how we can adapt our processes and tools to best align with your existing workflows and business needs.

4. Development Process (Shared process for maintenance and implementation projects)

What We Do

Begin Iterative Development to Implement Solutions

We follow an iterative approach, breaking the development work into smaller, manageable tasks. This allows us to deliver value incrementally, with regular checkpoints to ensure alignment with your expectations.

Hold Internal Daily Standups

Our team conducts daily standups to:

• Track progress on current tasks.
• Resolve blockers quickly to avoid delays.
• Address any questions or adjustments needed to maintain momentum. This ensures the entire team stays aligned and focused on delivering high-quality results efficiently.

Maintain Open Communication with the Client

Client collaboration is central to our development process. We:

• Regularly share updates on progress, challenges, and upcoming deliverables.
• Actively integrate client feedback during and after each sprint.
• Schedule demo sessions after major milestones, so you can see tangible progress and provide input early.

Agile Principles in Practice

Our development process is guided by Agile principles, which emphasize flexibility, collaboration, and continuous delivery of value. Here’s how we incorporate Agile into our workflow:

- Sprint-Based Iteration: Each sprint (typically 2-4 weeks) focuses on delivering a specific set of tasks, ensuring regular progress updates and tangible outcomes.

- Transparency: You’ll have full visibility into what the team is working on through tools like Jira or other agreed-upon platforms.

- Continuous Feedback Loop: Feedback is not only welcomed but actively encouraged at every stage, ensuring the end product aligns with your vision and goals.

- Adaptability: Agile allows us to adapt quickly to changing priorities or new insights, minimizing the risk of wasted effort.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, your feedback is a key part of the development process. Here’s how we ensure you’re involved:

- Sprint Planning: You’re involved in defining priorities and reviewing the planned tasks before each sprint begins.

- Sprint Reviews and Demos: At the end of each sprint, we present the completed work for your review, gather feedback, and adjust the plan for the next sprint as needed.

- Ongoing Communication: Using Slack, email, or scheduled meetings, we keep the lines of communication open, so you can provide feedback at any time.

Benefits for the Client

The Agile-inspired development process offers several advantages for you:

1. Faster Delivery of Value: By working in sprints, we deliver smaller, functional updates frequently, allowing you to see progress early and often.

2. Flexibility to Adapt: Agile’s iterative nature means we can easily incorporate new priorities, ideas, or feedback, ensuring the project stays aligned with your business needs.

3. Transparency and Control: Tools like Jira provide you with real-time visibility into the project’s status, empowering you to monitor progress and make informed decisions.

4. Reduced Risk: Frequent reviews and feedback loops ensure we’re always on the right track, reducing the risk of delivering something that doesn’t meet your expectations.

5. Stronger Collaboration: Agile emphasizes partnership and open communication, fostering a collaborative relationship where your input is valued and directly influences the final product.

6. Higher Quality Output: Daily standups and quick resolution of blockers allow us to maintain a high standard of quality throughout the project.

By following this process, we ensure that development is both efficient and collaborative, delivering a product that not only meets but exceeds your expectations.

5. Testing and Quality Assurance (Shared process for maintenance and implementation projects)

Conduct Comprehensive QA Testing

Quality Assurance (QA) is a crucial step in ensuring your e-commerce platform operates smoothly, securely, and efficiently. Our QA specialists perform rigorous testing to identify and resolve issues before deployment, focusing on:

- Functional Testing: Ensuring that every feature works as intended.

- Performance Testing: Verifying speed, stability, and scalability under expected traffic loads.

- Usability Testing: Checking the user experience to ensure it’s intuitive and error-free.

- Cross-Browser and Device Testing: Ensuring the platform functions consistently across different browsers and devices.

Collaborate with the Client to Refine the Product

We understand that your business operates in real-world scenarios. After internal testing, we collaborate with you to:

• Conduct user acceptance testing (UAT) to validate the platform meets your expectations.
• Incorporate your insights to fine-tune features and performance for your specific audience.

We ensure readiness for deployment through a structured QA process, which includes:

1. Testing Against Predefined Criteria: All features and fixes are tested against agreed-upon requirements to ensure they work as intended.

2. Issue Tracking and Resolution: Any issues discovered during testing are logged, prioritized, and resolved promptly.

3. Final Verification: Before deployment, we perform a final round of testing to confirm stability, performance, and usability.

What is QA and Why is it Valuable?

Quality Assurance is more than just bug fixing-it's a systematic approach to delivering a product that meets your business goals while providing an excellent user experience. Key benefits include:

- Improved User Experience: QA ensures your customers have a seamless experience, reducing frustration and boosting conversions.

- Reduced Risk: By identifying and resolving issues early, QA minimizes the risk of costly downtime or negative customer feedback.

- Increased Trust and Credibility: A stable and secure platform builds customer trust and protects your brand’s reputation.

Examples of Critical Issues Found by QA and Their Impact

1. Broken Checkout Process

- Issue: A bug in the checkout process prevents customers from completing their purchases.

- Impact: High abandonment rates, direct loss of revenue, and potential loss of customer trust.

- Solution: QA identifies and resolves the issue, ensuring a seamless purchasing experience.

2. Slow Page Loading Times

- Issue: Pages take too long to load, especially on mobile devices.

- Impact: Reduced user satisfaction, higher bounce rates, and lower search engine rankings (due to poor Core Web Vitals).

- Solution: Performance testing pinpoints bottlenecks, enabling developers to optimize loading times.

3. Security Vulnerabilities

Issue: A flaw in the platform exposes sensitive customer data to potential breaches.

Impact: Legal consequences, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust.

Solution: QA security testing identifies vulnerabilities, and developers implement fixes to ensure data protection and compliance.

By integrating QA into our development process, we ensure that your platform is stable, performant, and ready to deliver an exceptional customer experience from day one.

6. Feedback and Adjustments (Shared process for maintenance and implementation projects)

What We Do

Organize Regular Control Meetings with the Client

• We schedule recurring meetings, such as sprint reviews and retrospectives, to evaluate completed work, discuss challenges, and set priorities for the next sprint.
• These meetings foster open communication, ensuring the project remains aligned with your business goals and any evolving requirements.

Allow Adjustments to Priorities

• Feedback gathered during these sessions is actively integrated into the workflow.
• If new insights or changes arise (e.g., market shifts, customer behavior trends, or strategic pivots), we adjust the project scope and sprint priorities to reflect your updated needs.

We embrace changes as an integral part of the process. Thanks to our Agile methodology, we can:

1. Quickly Reprioritize Tasks: Using sprint planning tools like Jira, we reprioritize the backlog to address new goals or challenges.

2. Incorporate Feedback Immediately: Feedback is reviewed during sprint reviews or communicated via Slack, allowing us to adjust deliverables in real time.

3. Ensure Minimal Disruption: Our iterative approach means changes are handled incrementally, reducing the impact on overall timelines and ensuring continuity.

Example: Incorporating Client Feedback During the Project

Scenario: Enhancing Mobile User Experience During a Redesign Project

A client managing a fashion e-commerce store noticed during sprint reviews that mobile users were reporting difficulties in navigating the product catalog. This issue wasn't initially flagged during the Discovery Phase but emerged after partial implementation of a redesign.

Steps Taken to Address Feedback:

1. Client Feedback Integration:

• During a sprint review, the client shared customer feedback indicating that the filtering options on mobile devices were hard to use, leading to decreased engagement.

2. Adjusting Priorities:

• The backlog was updated to prioritize improving the mobile filtering experience.
• Non-urgent tasks, such as backend optimizations, were moved to a future sprint to accommodate this critical update.

3. Quick Iterative Fixes:

• In the next sprint, the development team focused on redesigning the filter layout for smaller screens, simplifying the user interface, and improving touch responsiveness.

4. Validation and Deployment:

• Before deploying the update, the new filter system underwent QA testing and a demo session with the client to ensure it met expectations.

Outcome:

• The updated mobile filters led to a 25% increase in mobile engagement and a notable drop in bounce rates.
• The client was satisfied with the swift response to their feedback and praised the improved usability for their customers.

Why Feedback and Adjustments Matter

By embracing client feedback and fostering a collaborative relationship, we ensure that:

- Business Goals Are Met: Adjustments allow us to address emerging needs and capitalize on new opportunities.

- Customer Experience Is Improved: Incorporating real-world insights leads to a product that resonates better with your audience.

- Trust Is Built: Responsive collaboration demonstrates our commitment to your success, creating a partnership based on transparency and flexibility.

By the end of the project, our ability to adapt and act on your feedback ensures that the final result is not only functional but perfectly aligned with your evolving vision and goals.

7. Deployment and Post-Launch Support (This process differs from maintenance projects.)

What We Do

1. Deploy the Solution to the Production Environment

The deployment process is carefully planned and executed to minimize disruptions and ensure a seamless transition to the live environment. Key steps include:

• Conducting a final round of quality assurance (QA) testing to verify performance, security, and functionality in the production environment.
• Coordinating with hosting providers or technical teams to ensure smooth deployment.
• Implementing a rollback plan as a safety measure in case of unforeseen issues during deployment.

2. Provide Ongoing Support

After launch, we ensure your store operates efficiently and continues to evolve with your business needs. This includes:

• Regular updates to keep the platform secure and aligned with the latest industry standards.
• Rapid bug fixes to maintain a high-quality user experience and minimize downtime.
• Performance monitoring to ensure your store operates smoothly under varying traffic conditions.

3. Extend the Project Scope with Additional Functionalities

Post-launch, we collaborate with you to implement new features that enhance the customer experience and drive business growth. Examples of these functionalities include:

• Integrating advanced analytics tools to provide deeper insights into user behavior.
• Adding new payment gateways or shipping options to meet evolving customer demands.
• Implementing personalization features..

4. Carry Out Extra Tasks Within the Maintenance Budget

To support the continued development and scaling of your store, we allocate resources from the maintenance budget for:

• Scaling infrastructure to handle increased traffic during peak times or seasonal campaigns.
• Refining design elements based on user feedback to improve usability and aesthetics.
• Testing and deploying marketing tools or integrations to enhance your promotional efforts.

Key Results

- A Stable and Functional Store: Your e-commerce platform is live and fully operational, ready to serve customers seamlessly.

- Continuous Improvement: The store evolves to meet new business goals and customer expectations, ensuring long-term success.

- Scalable Foundation: Infrastructure and features are prepared to handle growth, whether it’s increased traffic, new product lines, or market expansions.

Once your store is live, we remain a proactive partner, ensuring everything runs smoothly and adapting the platform to meet new challenges. Our commitment to continuous improvement means your store stays competitive and relevant in a dynamic e-commerce landscape.

How Can I Grow My Store After the Initial Launch?

We provide strategic guidance and technical expertise to help you scale your store effectively. This includes:

• Analyzing user data to identify opportunities for optimization and new features.
• Implementing tools to improve customer retention, such as loyalty programs and email marketing integrations.
• Exploring internationalization options to expand your reach into new markets.
• Optimizing performance for CWV and mobile usability to attract and retain more customers.

By providing comprehensive support and strategic insights, we ensure your store not only thrives after launch but continues to grow and adapt to changing market conditions.