Choosing the right coding language and tech framework for your digital product or online business is crucial in any field. Today, there are over a million websites that use Python and it's one of the fastest-growing programming languages in the world. At Thorgate we believe that Python with Django framework is the best option for an eCommerce platform development, and we can show why!
Python is equally popular among companies of all shapes and sizes - from startups to tech giants like Google, Netflix or NASA. Retail platforms like Wish and Instacart have also used Python to build their eCommerce. Here’s a few reasons why Python is the popular choice in eCommerce product development:
Don’t reinvent the wheel
First of all, what are Python and Django anyway? Python is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world with a rapidly growing ecosystem. Django is a Python framework that gives you prewritten bits of code. So instead of writing code from scratch, you can use these bits as building blocks to get your app or page up and running even faster.
Python is an open-source language that is free to use, modify, and distribute. It also provides large standard libraries for enhancing the product or adding new features without reinventing the wheel. Python has a huge friendly global community of developers who share their know-how and are always willing to jump in and lend a hand in case you get stuck with a problem.
This makes Python one of the easiest programming languages and with Django, it is also the fastest to write! You can get a beautiful, functional, and powerful web page up and running in the most efficient way possible using Python and Django.
There are also a large number of packages available specifically for eCommerce, e.g. Oscar or Saleor. In eCommerce, this is especially important as online shops require a wide functionality. When the sales increase and the volume of customers grow, your platform needs to grow, too. That’s where many other language or ready-made platforms lack flexibility. However, with packages available for Python, it is very easy to make the pages scalable once the shop grows bigger.
Moreover, Python has a huge community of skilled engineers. A great benefit for working in Python when creating an eCommerce platform is the availability of Python developers when needed. As an employer, this is a big plus if your product is coded with Python in back-end.
Make your platform future-proof
Another critical topic is the security of your online platform. eCommerce platforms usually do just that - commerce. This includes handling a lot of payments, money and sensitive information of customers. Security issues are probably one of the biggest business risks for online retailers. Python and Django can help developers avoid many common security mistakes, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, and clickjacking.
Besides security, another risk is never being discovered! Django is also very SEO-friendly and makes finding your web page easier for your customers. They say the best place to hide a body is on the second page of Google search results since no-one looks there, ever. In a highly competitive field such as eCommerce, SEO and increasing the visibility of a website can make or break an online business.
Last, but not least, Python is great for machine learning, being the most popular machine learning programming language. This might sound way too advanced but it actually means taking the customer experience to a level that has already become common expectation. Machine learning allows eCommerce businesses to create a more personalized customer experience based on that specific customer’s previous behavior. This helps you make better product recommendations, target campaigning and decrease cart abandonment. All this is highly recommended for an optimized UX that could increase conversions and revenue for an online retailer!
Summary
In any business, choosing the right coding language and tech framework is a choice that can either pay interest or take a toll for years to come. Make your eCommerce platform efficient, safe, easily scalable and future-proof by choosing Python and Django.
At Thorgate Python is our back-end language of choice. We built a complex e-commerce platform for a Lithuanian electronics retailer, Novastar, using the latest design and software development practices. We chose the Django Oscar framework, which is specifically built for elaborate e-commerce platforms and makes few assumptions about projects, allowing virtually any part of the framework to be extended and customised. In this way, complex business rules can be captured in an elegant and cohesive way.
We also designed and developed an online grocery shopping service for the largest Estonian grocery retailer, eCoop. To achieve complete stability under heavy traffic and at scale, we used Python, and Django as the main backend engine including Celery for handling asynchronous tasks and Redis for optimising data structure.
See our case studies where we tell the tricks behind our magic here.
Do you know what kind of UX can make you drive more conversions? Read about it here.
Wondering if a custom-built software is worth it? This may make the decision easier: To Build Or To Buy
If you have an idea but you're wondering what is the best way to start, take a look here: Start with an MVP
Or just get in touch with us and the industry experts can help you with your questions!
