Ecommerce Website Backend Issues: How To Stop The Rot

E-commerce businesses face a myriad of backend challenges that can significantly impact their performance and customer satisfaction, with recent studies showing that 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a website after a poor experience.

Ecommerce companies need their websites to perform. If they don’t, they risk going out of business. Even a couple of hours of downtime can lead to missed opportunities and brand reputational damage. 

The key to a successful online store site is a robust backend. Everything needs to be running perfectly behind the scenes, with built-in redundancies for when things go wrong. 

Of course, only a minority of firms ever take precautionary actions. And that’s what leads many of them into serious trouble and eventual failure. 

This post is a guide to prevent you from becoming one of these latter brands. We run through everything you need to know to take care of your website’s backend and stop the rot from setting in and putting your enterprise at risk. Here’s everything you need to know. 

Identify The Problems You Face

The first step is to use an IT services audit to identify the problems you have with your existing setup. Professionals can detect where you’re likely to experience failures first and why they might occur. 

Don’t get into the habit of believing that everything’s going to work out, just because that’s what’s happened before. There are no guarantees in this game, and it is unlikely the technology is perfect unless someone who really knew what they were doing set it up. 

Check Your Server Logs

During this process, professionals will usually go back through your server logs and check them for anomalies. Errors might indicate an underlying issue that needs to be resolved before you can label your systems “robust.”

Website backend issues can often fester for years before they create problems. However, when they do, it can be serious and may require days of downtime to resolve. 

Fixing these problems preventatively helps to stop all of that and gives you more confidence. You feel more relaxed when everything’s going to go well. 

Review Changes You’ve Made

Another approach is to review any changes you’ve recently made to your website’s backend and ask whether they might be causing issues. Updates are usually beneficial and fix bugs, but they can also add to your pain if you don’t do it properly. 

Again, ask whether professionals carried out the work, or whether it was more of a DIY job. Sometimes, you can fix problems quickly without much hassle. But other times, it can require going more deeply into the backend and trying to work out why you’re getting the instability you’re seeing. 

Watch Out For Common Backend Issues That Could Damage Your Website’s Functionality

Perhaps the most important thing you can do when trying to prevent website backend issues from causing problems is to remain vigilant. Watching for tell-tale signs can help you get the jump on any issues that might affect your enterprise in the future. 

One way to do this is to keep an eye out for shopping cart problems. These glitches can be particularly nasty but they also often indicate backend issues because of the sheer number of independent systems they rely on. If you see a payment page issue, check all the HTML and whether it is still linking up with the provider as their SLA promised. 

Also, look out for problems regarding payment processing. Again, these issues link to site backends and suggest that something isn’t working properly. 

Attacks and breaches are another obvious sign that you need to work on the underlying problems with your site. Hackers will often look for vulnerabilities they can exploit to enter your network and cause chaos. 

Once you’ve dealt with the immediate threat, use these intrusions as a wake-up call. Ask whether you could improve your site’s backend and how you might achieve it. 

Lastly, database issues can sometimes cause problems with websites. If your product pages are displaying the wrong information, it could mean that your underlying data and sites aren’t aligning properly and that you might have a “merge” issue. 

Test Your Site

If you can’t see any of these issues on your ecommerce site, it is still worth engaging in precautionary testing. Stressing pages and seeing what happens can help you eliminate annoying glitches and bugs that might reduce your conversion rate. 

The best way to test your website is to use a testing tool. These can uncover problems with the backend and suggest remedies. Some tools can actually fix problems by themselves without you having to go in manually and make corrections. 

So there you have it: how to keep your ecommerce website’s backend healthy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are common backend issues in e-commerce websites?
Common backend issues include slow loading times, security vulnerabilities, inventory management problems, payment gateway integration issues, and database performance challenges.

How does slow page loading affect an e-commerce site?
Slow page loading can significantly impact customer experience, increase bounce rates, and reduce conversion rates. It can also negatively affect search engine rankings.

What security measures should be implemented in an e-commerce backend?
Important security measures include using SSL certificates, implementing secure payment gateways, regularly updating software, using strong authentication methods, and conducting regular security audits.

How can inventory management issues be addressed in e-commerce backends?
Inventory management issues can be addressed by implementing real-time inventory tracking systems, setting up automatic reorder points, and integrating the backend with warehouse management systems.

Why is scalability important for e-commerce backends?
Scalability is crucial because it allows the website to handle increased traffic and transactions during peak periods without compromising performance or user experience.

What role does database optimization play in e-commerce backend performance?
Database optimization is essential for improving query response times, reducing server load, and ensuring smooth operation of the e-commerce platform, especially during high-traffic periods.

How can payment gateway integration issues be resolved?
Payment gateway integration issues can be resolved by ensuring proper API implementation, regularly updating payment modules, and working closely with payment service providers to troubleshoot any problems.

What are the benefits of using a content management system (CMS) in e-commerce backends?
A CMS can streamline content creation and management, improve site organization, and make it easier to update product information, blog posts, and other content without requiring technical expertise.

How can e-commerce businesses ensure their backend is mobile-friendly?
To ensure mobile-friendliness, businesses should use responsive design techniques, optimize images and content for mobile devices, and test the backend functionality across various mobile platforms.

What steps can be taken to improve the overall performance of an e-commerce backend?
Steps to improve backend performance include optimizing code, implementing caching mechanisms, using content delivery networks (CDNs), regularly monitoring and analyzing performance metrics, and upgrading server infrastructure as needed.