Good processes are not just fussiness or excessive administrative overhead. They form the backbone of scalable, maintainable, and user-friendly digital experiences.

Today, we’re looking at the critical role that structured, well-thought-out processes play in delivering successful web development projects, particularly in the area that PureNet focuses on: ecommerce platforms, back-office integration, and customer-facing portals.

The Foundation of Good Web Development

Web development encompasses far more than simply writing code (or “clattering keys” as one C-level executive airily put to me, with the dismissive tone of someone who hadn’t a bloody clue).  It actually requires significant coordination among multidisciplinary teams, a real understanding of user needs, and dextrous alignment with business goals. No effective processes equal projects that encounter delays, scope creep, budget overruns, and ultimately, a failure to deliver.

Good process, and by this I mean particularly those that are standardised, repeatable, and continuously improved, help to significantly mitigate these risks. They let teams work collaboratively, manage complexity, and maintain quality. From initial discovery and requirements gathering to deployment and maintenance, clearly defined processes ensure that every stage of development is transparent, measurable, and aligned with what the client wants and needs.

Ecommerce: High Stakes, High Complexity

Nowhere are these principles more crucial than in ecommerce, where pitfalls litter the ground. Digital storefronts must deliver seamless user experiences (UX), handle secure transactions, scale efficiently, and integrate with a variety of third-party systems such as payment gateways, ERPs, CRM platforms, and analytics tools.

If you don’t have robust development processes, the intricate ecosystem that is an ecommerce platform just becomes unmanageable. For example, client requirements must be effectively gathered and validated to ensure all stakeholder needs are captured. If you don’t do this it will come back to haunt you with a vengeance. Inadequate discovery will result in missing functionality—such as abandoned cart recovery or multi-currency support—that are costly to retrofit. A process-oriented approach that includes workshops, stakeholder interviews and user journey mapping helps ensure that the developers (or key clatterers- only joking) build a product that meets (or exceeds) expectations.

Agile methodologies, when done properly, offer the flexibility to adapt to changing requirements while maintaining control over deliverables. Iterative development with regular feedback loops, such as sprint reviews and user testing, allows for continuous refinement. This is super helpful in ecommerce, where market conditions and customer behaviours evolve rapidly.

Integration: The Glue that Holds Systems Together

Modern web applications rarely operate in isolation. Integration with other systems, whether back-office systems, cloud services, or third-party API, is essential for delivering a joined-up and efficient UK. This is vital in ecommerce, where systems such as stock management, payment processing, fulfilment, and customer support must work in harmony.

Here, good processes really are indispensable. Integration projects are notoriously susceptible to failure if not properly planned and governed. Key risks include mismatched data structures, unreliable third-party services, poor documentation (a biggie), and security vulnerabilities. A structured process helps to identify these risks early and plan mitigation strategies.

Furthermore, integration Quality Assurance (QA)/user acceptance testing (UAT) should be automated where possible and conducted continuously as part of a DevOps pipeline. This ensures that any changes, be they internal or external, don’t break critical workflows. By putting these elements into a clearly defined development process, teams can ensure system interoperability, data integrity, and long-term maintainability.

Portals: Personalisation, Access Control, and User Experience

Portals serve as centralised platforms that offer users access to personalised content, services, and data. These may be customer portals, employee dashboards, supplier hubs, or partner interfaces. In each case, the challenge lies in presenting complex information in a user-friendly way while maintaining secure access and system performance.

The development of portals requires meticulous planning and rigorous adherence to process. Key process steps include elements such as user segmentation, access control modelling, interface design, content management planning, and performance optimisation. For example, permission structures must be carefully designed and tested to ensure that users see only what they are authorised to view. A poor implementation could lead to data breaches or service disruption.

Like ecommerce platforms, portals often integrate with multiple back-end systems, such as HR databases, CRMs, billing platforms, etc., which means that data synchronisation, latency, and error recovery must be addressed early in the process. Without a good process to guide these efforts, teams risk poor UX, data silos, or redundant functionality.

Design thinking, combined with agile development and user feedback loops, offers a powerful process framework for portal development. Regular usability testing and accessibility audits help ensure that the portal serves all user groups effectively. Clear documentation and onboarding processes further enhance user satisfaction and reduce support costs.

Monitoring and observability are also vital. Processes must be in place to log system events, track performance metrics, and alert teams to anomalies. In ecommerce, where even minor downtime can result in significant revenue loss, proactive monitoring is a must. Good processes define how alerts are triaged, escalated, and resolved, ensuring that teams can respond effectively to incidents.

Documentation, Governance, and Compliance

In regulated industries or sectors dealing with sensitive data e.g. healthcare, finance, or education, compliance requirements add another layer of complexity. Data protection regulations such as the UK’s Data Protection Act and the EU’s GDPR require that systems handle personal information in specific ways.

Good development processes ensure that compliance is not an afterthought but an integral part of the project lifecycle. This includes documenting data flows, establishing data retention policies, encrypting sensitive data, and securing access to systems. Auditable trails and version-controlled documentation allow organisations to demonstrate compliance and respond effectively to regulatory inquiries.

Moreover, governance processes provide oversight across projects, helping to standardise best practices, enforce coding standards, and ensure alignment with enterprise architecture. This leads to better maintainability, improved scalability, and reduced technical debt.

Tools to the Job Right

Tools such as Jira and Service Desk (as used by us) are integral to efficient web development and support, streamlining task management and issue resolution. Our Jira system enables agile development by organising sprints, tracking bugs, and assigning tasks to team members with full visibility. This ensures accountability and progress monitoring.

Service Desk, on the other hand, provides a structured approach for handling user requests, incidents, and service queries. It integrates seamlessly with Jira, allowing support tickets to be escalated directly into development workflows. This connection fosters quicker response times, improved communication between support and development teams, and a clear audit trail. Together, they support continuous improvement, ensuring websites remain robust, secure, and responsive to user needs through effective collaboration, prioritisation, and resolution of technical issues.

Gone, then, are the days of laid-back coding teams approaching web development in a casual way, with each build treated as one off web build. Processes are essential to make complex web platforms work properly. We do it not because we’re fussy. We do it because it works. Get in touch to find out how we can help with your latest project.

The post Don’t Leave it to Chance- Why Good Process Makes for Good Web Development appeared first on PureNet.

The conversation was lively and provided some invaluable information to businesses considering a brand new ecommerce build or even a successful re-development of an existing store.

Watch the Webinar below

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I am delighted to introduce Magium Commerce, a UK-based Magento development agency and the latest addition to the PureNet Group. Our certified Magento developers and their aptitude in third-party integration will help elevate ecommerce capabilities and create resonant user journeys. Magium Commerce is excited to bring meaningful experiences to our clients’ customers powered by great technology.

The ultimate business-ready ecommerce platform, Magento 2 will help Magium’s clients grow their online revenue. Packed with new amazing features, the platform has been developed to deliver a better user experience, both for our clients and their customers. While Magento Open Source will deliver a sound B2C solution for online businesses, Magento Commerce has been named a leader across major competitive ranking report systems, including Gartner and Forrester, for both B2B and B2C. The Magento Commerce Cloud offers the perfect solution for secure and scalable ecommerce and with the news about the Adobe acquisition of Magento opens up possibilities for an end-to-end platform for content creation, marketing, advertising, analytics, ecommerce, order management and business intelligence for B2B and B2C.

Thanks to our close collaboration with Magento, Magium will be able to inform our clients about new exciting features of the platform and work with them to achieve their business goals. We believe communication is key in any successful project delivery and our dedicated Account Management Team creates the perfect link between our clients and our in-house project management and development teams. We are excited to be part of our clients’ next projects and bring their vision to life.

To learn more about Magium and how we can help elevate your ecommerce capabilities, visit www.Magium.co.uk.

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Magento has continued to enhance quality and performance, introduce new functionality, and accelerate innovation with releases like Magento Commerce 2.2, and industry analysts and customers have taken notice. We were just named a “leader” in The Forrester WaveTM: B2B Commerce Suites for Midsize Companies, Q3 2017 and we have seen over 100% year-over-year growth in new Magento Commerce Cloud customers, with over 50% of midmarket and enterprise customers choosing our cloud solution.

Magento Commerce 2.2 adds new capabilities to our all-in-one cloud solution that uniquely position us to enable B2B and B2C commerce success. Our customers benefit from:

• Built-in B2B functionality with support for company accounts, quoting, custom catalogs, and payments on account.
• Fast, friction-free purchasing with quick order forms, requisition lists, and easy reordering.
• Optimised performance and deployment processes that minimize production downtime.
• Integrated fraud protection from Signifyd that enables higher order acceptance rates with lower 
risk.
• Social selling and advertising tools to connect with customers and drive new sales.
• Platform updates that improve developer experience and enhance product quality and security.

Read more about our Magento services.

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Last week over 2,700 attendees across 50 countries joined together in Las Vegas to attend Magento Imagine, a place to get inspired and educated about the Magento platform while collaborating and having fun. For another year the speaking agenda was impressive boasting Serena Williams, Mars Inc, Canon and Braintree amongst many more industry experts and influential figures. During Imagine, Magento took to the stage to reveal its latest product enhancements and launches:

Magento Commerce
As omnichannel demands continue to grow, Magento announced substantial enhancements to its flagship product, Magento Commerce Cloud. These include:

• Shipping
• Content management
• Social commerce
• Payments
• Business intelligence

Magento has also announced the launch of new drag-and-drop content management features that aim to make it even easier for merchants to build feature-rich, elegant online experiences.

The new Magento Commerce Cloud enhancements will be available this summer.

Magento Shipping

Magento also announced its newest offering, Magento Shipping, aimed at automating the shipping and fulfillment process for brands across multiple geographies.

‘The new offering provides merchants with out-of-the-box access to leading regional and international carriers to automate fulfillment, drive cart conversion, uncover new revenue and expand addressable markets’ – Magento.

Magento Shipping enables merchants to:

• Easily connect with global carriers
• Drive customer loyalty and uncover new revenue
• Automate fulfillment
• Reduce costs & ensure accurate billing
• Accelerate time to market

Magento Shipping will be available this summer with Magento Commerce Cloud and Magento Commerce Order Management.

Magento B2B

Magento’s third big announcement at Imagine 2017 was dedicated to B2B ecommerce with the launch of Digital Cloud for B2B Companies – a solution providing merchants with the ability to support and manage B2B accounts, customised catalogs and price lists, tools for rapid ordering, online requests for quote workflow, and increased inventory visibility. Magento went on to highlight its extensive capabilities to integrate with a whole host of different technology solutions and software providers, making its B2B offering now extremely comprehensive and powerful! Some of the new Magento for B2B features include:

• Corporate account management
• Quoting
• Quick ordering
• Custom catalogs and pricing
• Real-time inventory intelligence
• Intelligent routing and order delivery
• Backend integration
• Multi-channel support

Magento Digital Commerce Cloud for B2B will be available this summer.

Ensure you sign up to our Magento Updates Timeline to be the first to hear about Magento’s latest announcements and tips as well as our full roundup of Imagine 2017.

Read more about our Magento services.

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Magento has just released its latest SUPEE patch ‘9652’ to address a possible Zend library vulnerability.

Vulnerability Description:

Zend Framework 1 vulnerability can be remotely exploited to execute code in Magento 1.

To be affected by the vulnerability the installation has to:

– use sendmail as the mail transport agent

– have specific, non-default configuration settings

Severity Level:

Critical – If you are running one of the affected Magento versions it is important that this SUPEE patch is installed.

Product(s) Affected:

Magento Community Edition prior to 1.9.3.2, and Magento Enterprise Edition prior to 1.14.3.2, Magento 2.1 versions prior to 2.1.4 and Magento 2.0 versions prior to 2.0.12.

Official Magento SUPEE-9652 Resource.

The post SUPEE-9652 Magento Patch – The Rundown appeared first on PureNet.

Magento Enterprise Edition.

‘Helps you create rich, differentiated site experiences that maximise revenue.’

We know that, as a fashion retailer, you need to be able to showcase your brand whilst ensuring you have the functionality required to deliver a seamless ecommerce experience. After working with many fashion retailers we understand the fast pace of the industry and therefore the need for a fully scalable, adaptable ecommerce solution. Magento is the number 1 choice for online retailers – let’s see why!

Build and Refine.

‘A powerful Ecommerce Solution that offers off-the-shelf extensions, and cost-effective customisations.’

Omni-Channel Ecommerce

The Magento Ecommerce Solution is fully responsive, that means your website will resize to any screen and present content in an optimised way on phones and tablets. We don’t have to tell you how important this is in the fashion industry!

Bespoke for your business.

With Magento from Coops Collective, your Ecommerce Solution will have a completely bespoke design to compliment and showcase your brand. As a fashion brand, it is key not to have a ‘cookie cutter’ website, your site needs to be individual to really speak to your customers.

One page checkout.

Nobody wants to spend a long time checking out their purchases on a site. A key problem facing fashion retailers online is abandoned checkouts, where a customer runs out of time to complete an order. With Magento, you can create a simple one-page checkout to speed up the process and reduce the number of abandoned checkouts.

Integration with Payment Gateways.

There are many different Payment Gateway integrations available with Magento from PayPal to Sage – quite simply your customers will be able to pay how they want, as fast as they need, on any device they like!

Offer Your Customers.

A digital experience that enhances and amplifies your traditional marketing efforts.

Personalise the experience.

Magneto gives you the opportunity to personalise the ecommerce experience through segmentation and behavioural analysis. This level of ecommerce personalisation will significantly increase your online sales through targeted engagement – clever, hey!

Cross sell and up sell.

Increasing average order values is a common focus for our customers. Magento provides the functionality to include cross-sell and up-sell zones including ‘complete the look’. We all know how tempting it is to add additional items to your basket when you see tailored recommendations!

Engaging content.

As well as providing an extensive Ecommerce Solution, Magento allows you to content market through custom landing pages with showcased products, look-books and videos. The best thing is you can do all of this without a developer, simply log in to the Magento CMS and add the areas you need. So, if a new trend launches or fashion story is hot off the press simply create your landing page and gain exposure in a matter of minutes.

Leverage Clever Ecommerce Marketing.

Focus on results, one complete Marketing and Ecommerce Solution.

Integrate with Social Media.

Social Media has proven to be an excellent way of engaging with your customers on a personal level. Magento combines the Social Media world with Ecommerce including sign in with Facebook, share purchases and Social Media feeds.

Easily update content in line with marketing activity.

For each and every marketing campaign Magento provides you with the flexibility to update website content to match your key messaging. From banners to promotional codes you can ensure your website matches your marketing activity to deliver one unified message and increase conversions from marketing activity.

Increase newsletter sign ups.

Email marketing is absolutely vital to a successful ecommerce fashion store, it is a very much proven method of keeping customers up-to-date and engaged with new products, promotional activities and events. With Magento, you can build up your email database with a number of features such as sign-up forms, pop-ups and online account areas with incentives. The bigger your email list, the more customers you have to speak to so get started today!

Overall, it is very clear to us why so many fashion retailers choose Magento as an Ecommerce Solution – it’s extremely powerful, forward-thinking, scalable and flexible.

We love working with Magento to produce beautiful fashion sites that stand the test of time. If you’re ready for your new Ecommerce Solution get in touch with our team today by emailing sales@coopscollective.co.uk or LiveChat with us.

The post Magento: The Perfect Ecommerce Solution for Fashion Retailers. appeared first on PureNet.

To celebrate the New Year Ecommerce and Portal Development Agency, Coops Collective, has revealed its predictions for the top 7 ecommerce trends that will keep retailers at the forefront of their industries in 2017! PureNet has used its decade of experience delivering solutions to B2C and B2B businesses such as The Royal British Legion, Krispy Kreme, Saddleback, LighterLife and Puzzler and immersion of all aspects of ecommerce to analyse and define its key predictions.

Click here to reveal the trends.

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Magento is here again to keep your ecommerce solution safe! The latest SUPEE patch ‘8788’ secures you against Zend framework and payment vulnerabilities, adds extra security measures to the import/export functionality, ensures sessions are invalidated after a user logs out and more.

Vulnerabilities Descriptions:

With some payment methods, it could be possible to execute malicious code during checkout.

A bug in Zend Framework value escaping could allow a user to inject SQL through the ordering or grouping parameters.

It is possible to use the Magento Enterprise Edition invitations feature to insert malicious JavaScript that might be executed in the admin context.

A user with administrator permissions can use blocks to exfiltrate information stored in cache and possibly execute code.

It has been found to be possible to log in as an existing customer with only an email address.

The import/export functionality in Magento unserializes data supplied from the Admin dashboard without proper checks. This can lead to possible malicious code execution.

In Magento Enterprise, is may be possible to manipulate the full page cache to store incorrect pages under regular page URL entries.

Magento function related to URL processing incorrectly uses user-supplied data from request headers. This can result in a cross-site scripting issue.

If a user as admin level access to catalog management, it is possible to create a category that contains malicious JavaScript code.

A user can upload a modified image that could lead to a script timeout.

Implementing filters for XSS in email templates and other Admin features might not be sufficient to stop specially crafted exploit strings.

Improper form key validation leads to possible CSRF attacks on forms.

A phishing page could be created that, if visited by a customer, may remove the customer’s address or wishlist items.

Sessions do not expire after logout, session cookies are therefore vulnerable.

Lack of certificate validation on calls to external services opens these up to possible attacks. To execute this, the attack would have to be highly complex.

Theoretically, it could be possible to execute a timing attack on the password checking functionality.

Severity Level:

The severity of vulnerabilities in this patch range from Low – Critical – If you are running one of the affected Magento versions it is extremely important that this SUPEE patch is installed.

Product(s) Affected:

Enterprise Edition 1.9.0.0-1.14.2.4 and Community Edition 1.5.0.1-1.9.2.4.

Official Magento SUPEE-8788 Resource.

The post SUPEE-8788 Magento Patch – The Rundown appeared first on PureNet.

Our recent B2B Benchmark Guide provides key analytical data and insight into how customers interact with B2B ecommerce sites. The opportunities within B2B over the next 12 months are substantial, the question on every B2B Marketer’s mind is ‘can my platform support my future growth plans?’.

This blog focuses on the four investments we have identified as priorities for 2016. If you have already invested in these areas, fantastic! We recommend reviewing our B2B Benchmark Guide to identify additional areas for investment. However, if your platform does not support these features or they are not part of your plan to date get in touch to find out how we can help you.

1. Ensure your website is responsive.

Having a responsive or mobile optimised website is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. Our analytical averages have shown that almost 20% of website traffic is from mobile or tablet devices – the simple fact is that, if these visitors don’t receive an optimised experience they will likely leave your website and purchase from a competitor that offers a better experience.

Do people often bounce when visiting your site on a mobile device?
Is your mobile conversion lower than desktop?
Do tablet users abandon their baskets?

If your existing website is not mobile-friendly we highly recommend investing in a new, responsive solution or separate mobile/tablet websites.

2. Integrate with your stock system to offer product updates in real-time.

When asked ‘How important are the following when making work-related purchases online’ 56% of people asked stated ‘real-time inventory information’. This highlights that one of the most important information requests for B2B customers is stock levels, more importantly, customers desire real-time updates. If you have not already, consider integrating your ecommerce system with your stock system to ensure that all information can be passed and presented in real-time.

This has two benefits:

1. Customers are much more likely to make a purchase as they are being given the information they desire
2. Customers are much less likely to become frustrated when part or all of their order cannot be fulfilled on time due to low stock levels

3. Present account specific pricing.

Recent research suggests that pricing optimisation is one of the most important factors for B2B customers when making a purchase online. The vast majority of B2B retailers offer account specific pricing based on a number of factors such as annual spend or size of business.

Does your platform allow customers to see their specific pricing on your website?

If the answer is no, we would recommend speaking to your web development agency to introduce this functionality. Alternatively, perhaps it’s time to invest in a new ecommerce platform?

4. Offer enhanced search functionality.

60% of B2B customers state out of all website functionality they would most like enhanced search. Furthermore, our research shows over half of all revenue comes from just 11% of sessions that include search. In short, customers who use the on-site search function spend more money – but only if that search function provides customers with the information they are looking for. A poor search experience can have a negative effect on sales as customers become frustrated or assume you do not stock the items they are looking for.

Do you know what people type into the search box on your site?
Do your search results present the right products for each customer?
Do people who use the search box go on to make a purchase?

Our final recommendation for investment in 2016 is an enhanced search function. Most ecommerce platforms offer a search feature as standard, but you may want to consider investing in additional features/design to enhance that function even further, for example, allowing customers to search by product code or presenting a drop-down feature showcasing relevant products.

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