eCommerce Development Proposals
Your Outsourced C.T.O. & C.M.O. for Evaluating eCommerce Development Proposals
When hiring a web developer, app developer, or agency to build your eCommerce site or custom web property, how do you know if their proposal is sound—or even if they have the skills to deliver what they promise? Are you hiring a simple sub-contractor to build an entire brand when you really need to be hiring a team that includes an architect with oversight who can act as a branding & marketing expert? Does anyone involved understand that everything from the URL to the shop name to the models and lighting and angle of the product photos to page structure to platform and hosting as well as all the post-launch customer acquisition efforts is going to affect sales and needs to be planned from the start?
If not, your project will fail before it even gets off the ground.
That’s where we come in. Acting as your outsourced C.T.O. and C.M.O, we provide an expert analysis of the proposals, platforms, and plans being pitched to you. Our role is to assess whether the solutions and teams you're considering meet the professional standards your business needs to run your ecommerce division effectively and profitably.
Platform Fit: Is the Proposed Solution Right for Your Business?
If the proposalS don’t meet your requirements, we’ll explain the gaps and provide the clarity you need to make an informed decision.
We don’t sell platforms or solution—we analyze the proposals you’ve received to ensure they align with your business requirements.
Whether it's Shopify, AWS, Amazon, or a custom platform, we assess the following criteria.
01
Scalability
Does the platform being proposed support your growth plans, or will you outgrow it too quickly?
02
Integration
Can the platform seamlessly connect to your existing systems like inventory, CRM, or marketing tools? Or will you end up needing thousands to tens of thousands more in middleware and custom software development to just make it work?
03
Suitability
Are the proposed features a good match for your business, or are they overbuilt or underwhelming?
Have the developers really sat down with you and taken the time to understand your operational flow, or are they just selling you the packages they can create?
04
Cost Justification
Are you being offered a platform and development that’s unnecessarily expensive because that's all they have to offer (NetSuite etc.) or poorly suited to your needs (WordPress Woo Commerce etc.)?
Where is the bulk of the initial development / creation cost going and is that a budget well-spent?
05
Marketing / Branding
This isn’t the Field of Dreams, building an ecommerce website doesn’t magically attract visitors, and neither does “starting an antenna shop on Amazon”.
A successful ecommerce venture isn’t magical thinking, it’s strategy, planning, and execution, staffing and management, just like any off-line venture, and the base planning is everything.
Evaluating the Developers or Agencies Pitching to You
WE SHOW YOU THE RED FLAGS BEFORE YOU SIGN THE CONTRACT.
Choosing the right developer or agency is about more than just a proposal—it’s about their ability to deliver on what they promise.
We analyze:
Skills and Expertise
Are the developers, creatives, and marketers qualified to execute the project, or are they overselling their capabilities (salesforce-led with outsourced teams)?
Proposal Quality
Does the proposal reflect a real understanding of your business needs, or is it generic and rudimentary?
Communication and Transparency
Are they clear about timelines, deliverables, responsibilities, and budgets, or are they vague and evasive?
Middleware Feasibility: Are System Integrations Being Properly Addressed?
When a proposal includes middleware to link your eCommerce site to backend systems like NetSuite, QuickBooks, or other platforms, we let you know whether it's a GO or a NO.
Technical integrity
Does the proposed middleware make sense for your business, or is it unnecessarily complex?
Compatibility
Will the integration work smoothly with your existing systems, or are there hidden risks and costs?
Value for Cost
Are the proposed development and implementation fees reasonable for the functionality offered?
When you choose the wrong ecom partnerships
You can't tweak trash.
"They told us Wordpress with a Woo plugin was the best for our shop, but it wasn’t even close to what we needed."
We’re a niche B2B manufacturer, but the agency insisted WordPress with an ecom plug-in was perfect for us. Turns out, it wasn’t equipped to handle our complex pricing structures or custom orders. We wasted thousands of dollars and months of time
"Our eCommerce site didn’t even launch after a year of delays!"
The developers kept blaming us for delays, but it was clear they didn’t know what they were doing. They promised a custom site, but when it was finally ‘finished,’ it was full of bugs, slow to load, and completely unusable. We had to hire someone else to start over.
"They pushed us to sell on Amazon, and now we’re being undercut by copycats."
We trusted them when they said Amazon was the best place to launch our product. What they didn’t tell us is how easily our design would be copied and sold by cheap Chinese vendors at half the price. Our brand never had a chance to establish itself, and now it’s too late.
"Our site looked great but didn’t generate a single sale."
The agency spent all their time and our budget on flashy designs and ignored basic eCommerce principles like SEO, calls-to-action, and product descriptions that actually convert or any means of advertising post-launch, they said it would go viral. We started out with high hopes, but after six months and zero sales, we’re worse off than when we started
"They didn’t understand our market at all."
We’re a Japanese company selling high-end kitchenware, but the developers treated our site like it was for budget gadgets. The branding was all wrong, and they used phrases that made no sense to our audience. It felt amateurish and completely out of touch, we spent good money on it too
"They overspent our budget on features we didn’t need."
Instead of focusing on the basics, they built out unnecessary features like chatbots and AI filters. Meanwhile, critical functions like inventory tracking and order management were buggy and unreliable, and there were issues with carts going empty on cell phones..
"They didn’t secure our site, and now we’re dealing with a data breach."
The developers promised a secure platform, but within months of launch, we were hacked, and customer data was exposed. Now we’re spending even more to fix their mistakes and have to start over
"Their middleware didn’t even work with our backend systems."
They promised seamless integration with our inventory and accounting software, but nothing synced properly. Orders were getting lost, stock counts were wrong, and we had to refund angry customers. It was a nightmare and we were quoted over $150,000 by our ERP to integrate it. We ended up having to hire an external software developer
"They never warned us about Temu and cheap knockoffs."
We spent years developing our product and trusted them to help us launch it. A few months after launching on Amazon, we saw our designs on Temu, sold for a fraction of our price. We lost five years of planning in a matter of weeks, and because we didn’t brand well and quickly, it feels like everyone else is getting rich off our idea.
"They told us Wordpress with a Woo plugin was the best for our shop, but it wasn’t even close to what we needed."
We’re a niche B2B manufacturer, but the agency insisted WordPress with an ecom plug-in was perfect for us. Turns out, it wasn’t equipped to handle our complex pricing structures or custom orders. We wasted thousands of dollars and months of time
Contact US Today.
Don't sign that contract without getting a professional review of your eCom hire first
Is the Proposed Product Page Design Functional and Professional?
We analyze the product page designs and structures being proposed to you, ensuring they meet professional standards for functionality and user experience (UI / UX, Page Load Times and more).
Our review includes:
UI/UX Quality
Are the designs intuitive, visually appealing, and user-friendly?
Conversion Focus
Do the proposed layouts effectively guide customers toward purchasing decisions?
Is there sound business logic in the design?
Technical Feasibility
Are the designs practical for development, or are they likely to cause delays and issues?
Marketing / Branding Potential
Is this actually right for your product and brand? Or is this a template or design the developer had on hand?
Visual Assets: Are Proposed Photos and Costs Justified?
Photography is an essential element of eCommerce, but not all proposed visuals—and their costs—are worthwhile, and not all cost-saving is worth the damage it can do a brand:
If the visuals fall short, we’ll highlight why and provide recommendations to ensure your investment delivers value.
Quality and Relevance
Do the proposed visuals align with your brand and target audience, or are they generic and uninspired? Are they informative and appealing? Are they accurate?
Cost Analysis
Is the price quoted for photography or visual assets reasonable based on the quality being offered?
Will you own the photographs? Or just a license?
Strategic Fit
Will these assets work effectively across platforms like your website, social media, and email campaigns?
Translation Review: Is Proposed Content Accurate and Effective?
If your project includes multilingual content, it’s critical that translations are accurate, culturally appropriate, and market-effective so nothing gets lost in direct-translation or sounds like A.I. spam. (For the Japanese / U.S. Markets)
We review:
words matter a lot more than the developers or salespeople will tell you.
Accuracy
Does the translation faithfully represent your brand and message in language that's effective enough to inform, engage, and entertain?
Cultural Fit
Are the translations appropriate for your target audience and target demographic within that culture, or do they risk alienating potential customers?
Market Impact
Will the translated content resonate with your audience and help drive conversions and foster brand loyalty as well as the brand image you're aiming for?
eCom Issues that have taken our clients down
There are as many ways to get it wrong as there are to get it right.
"They talked us into a custom platform that no one else can manage."
The agency convinced us to go with a completely custom-built solution. Now, every time we need an update, we’re stuck paying their ridiculous fees because no one else can work with their code. It feels like we’re being held hostage.
"They didn’t optimize for mobile, and we lost half our traffic."
It’s 2024, and they delivered a site that barely worked on smartphones. Our mobile bounce rate was through the roof, and by the time we fixed it, we’d already lost most of our potential customers that we paid through the nose to get. Who builds sites that don’t load on iPhones? More developers than you’d guess.
"They said localization wasn’t important. They were wrong."
Our product was meant to sell in the U.S., but they told us to just use Google Translate for the site. The translations were embarrassing, and customers didn’t trust us. We ended up pulling the plug after losing more than $100,000.
"They didn’t plan for scaling, and now we’re stuck."
Our initial launch went well, but as our traffic grew, the site couldn’t handle the load. It crashes every time we run a big promotion, and the agency says we need an entirely new platform to fix it. Why didn’t they plan for this in the first place?
"They used stock photos instead of real product images."
They said it was “just for now,” but we launched with generic A.I. images that looked nothing like our products. Customers were confused, returns were astronomical, our reviews were so bad we decided to rebrand and relaunch.
"They didn’t test the site before launch."
We went live with broken links, pages that wouldn’t load, and a checkout process that didn’t work. It was a disaster, and we’re still trying to recover from the bad first impression it left on our potential customers that we spent top dollar getting through aggressive online marketing campaigns.
"They convinced us to go cheap, and it cost us everything."
We were hesitant about their budget-friendly recommendations, but they assured us it was all we needed. The site was slow, clunky, and didn’t build any trust with our customers. Instead of saving money, we lost a fortune in missed opportunities. You could literally see the money lost in bailouts in google analytics funnels. Turns out it was a skill-level issue..
"Our launch failed, and they blamed us."
After months of delays, we finally launched our eCommerce site, only to see minimal traffic and almost no sales. When we asked why, they said we didn’t do enough marketing. Isn’t that what we hired them for?
"They disappeared after we signed the contract"
They were all over us when we were meeting and discussing the site, their sales would call and email ALL THE TIME, but once we paid and things were supposed to get off the ground, we got a few wireframes and then.. nothing. Gone.
"They talked us into a custom platform that no one else can manage."
The agency convinced us to go with a completely custom-built solution. Now, every time we need an update, we’re stuck paying their ridiculous fees because no one else can work with their code. It feels like we’re being held hostage.
You can't get the right proposals without knowing what you really need.
start by making sure you're asking for the right bids By getting consulting on what you should be asking for.
- Proposal Analysis: After discussing with you, the client, what your actual goals are, we reviews the proposals to establish if there's a proposals/goal match or if you need to rebid using different terms better suited to your actual business needs
- Contract Review: Breaking down your agreement to clarify costs and deliverables.
- Rate Benchmarking: Comparing your fees against industry standards to ensure industry standards and competency.
- Performance Analysis: Evaluate whether the developer / agency pitching to you can reasonably be assumed to have the skill levels to deliver what you need
You don’t need to know all the technical details—that’s our job. We're here to help ensure your hires or vendors meet the standards your business deserves, helping you avoid costly mistakes and ensuring your project is best set up to deliver real results.
Our Role as Your Outsourced C.T.O. / C.M.O
We’re not here to sell you a platform or solution to choose—we’re here to evaluate the proposals, skills, and structures being presented to you. By acting as an expert consultant, we provide you with an unbiased assessment of the professionalism and feasibility of the work being pitched by developers or agencies.
Stop eCom failure-to-launch.
Learn how to build it so they will come.
You don’t have to become an expert to identify the best Ecom partnerships—that’s our role.
We’ll provide the critical audit oversight you need to ensure youR company has the right ecommerce partnerships to thrive online.
"Can You Join a Meeting to Evaluate Our eCom development Company?"
Absolutely. We're happy to join a video meeting and provide expert insight by:
Evaluating whether their strategies and execution align with your goals: In layman's terms, are they good enough to deliver what their salesperson is promising and is what they're promising appropriate for your business needs?
Asking the Right Questions:
Determine if you need a ecommerce developer to simply develop what you've laid out, or if you need a marketing forward ecommerce team to create the blueprint for a site that then needs development and execution, and tell you which you’ve hired.
Clarifying Needs
Offering a candid evaluation of their strengths and areas for improvement, or if they're simply not up to the task.
Providing Feedback
Are you an eCommerce pro?
If not, we'll be that for you.
