Shopware Development in India

Shopware Development in India

Online shops are becoming more popular by the day.

Shopware is one solution which can be used to build great eCommerce stores. Let’s explore the possibilities of building such webshops in India.

Introduction

Shopware is a solution that is used predominantly in Germany. The reason for it being, that the company started there, in a place called Schoeppingen.

The development was started in 2004 when version 1 was released.

But real popularity started around 2015 to 2017 when more and more companies in Central Europe adopted building online shops with this eCommerce shopping system.

It is almost used as a replacement for Magento in mid sized companies.

Also IT departments in larger organizations use it to build solutions for their other departments, such as marketing, whio use it to advertise their products. An example is Philips, which uses Shpoware to market one of their products called Philips Respironics Miet-Flex or Borussia Dortmund which markets their fan articles there.

Other interesting examples are Gusti Leder, which is a niche market shop for leather products.

Most of the solutions needed in the eCommerce space are for the medium sized market. For that purpose a Shopware development is ideal.

The challenges for web agencies

Web agencies usually have the issue that they do not find web developers for Shopware (short SW). The reason being the huge demand for webshops based on this technology, but only a few experienced programmers who know PHP and the shop system.

SW has somewhat of a learning curve. Meaning that it takes a software developer some time to understand how the system works.

In this it is similar to Magento, where an IT professional needs around 6 month to 1 year to get a better grasp of the technology.

Only then a PHP developer would be able to call him or herself a Shopware Developer.

Also for a long time there was no documentation in English, which made it difficult for programmers from other countries, like India, to do development in this system.

This has changed now. Almost all information has been made available in English.

There is also a push by the creator company of SW to push that language further, making it a more global brand.

The possible solution

One solution are web developers from India, who can learn more about Shopware and start coding for this shop system.

There are also certification programs, like the Shopware 6 Certified Developer.

All you would need to do is ask a PHP programmer from India to do some of those certifications and also do some hands-on coding in SW. In about 6 months the coder will get up to speed.

Web agencies could get their hands on really good IT professionals that way.

We offer this solution by hiring developers according to your requirements, if possible with knowledge in SW.

Small to Medium sized organizations

A similar challenge is faced by small to medium companies. Because the hourly rates and the development costs are so high in Central Europe, there is no option for them to get a good affordable eCommerce solution.

Here also Shopware Development in India could be a solution.

It would be best to get the UI/UX design done by a designer from Europe or USA.

The design can then be implemented by the SW team in India

That way you would benefit from a great design and an affordable coding solution. Because the webdesign is usually only 10 to 15 percent of the overall effort, but is crucial for the success of the webshop.

What can startups do?

In case they have funding from a bank, Angel Investors or Venture Capitalists, then again hiring a coding team in India could be a great solution.

Sometimes even a custom solution in PHP or a PHP Framework like Laravel or Symfony could be a good way to go.

If the option goes for SW, then again they might need to work with a European web agency which does the project management.

If the funds are very low, for example below 10’000 Euro, then the best way to go would be to use a SW template and do it yourself. Maybe even using WooCommerce, which can be done by a layman, could be the right solution for the beginning. The advantage of WooCommerce is also that it can be easily updated and improved with the help of easily to install plugins.

How many IT professionals are there?

Developers in South Asia are plentiful. According to the Indian IT Organization Nasscom there are more than 3 Million IT experts in that country.

Only the USA is bigger in terms of digital experts.

But again, Shopware is not as known here as it is in Europe. So the best way would be also to look for PHP programmers who have worked in eCommerce frameworks such as Magento and are willing to learn more about SW.

They should also have a good grasp of HTML/ CSS, SASS and JavaScript, as it is used in the templating part. Advanced knowledge and interest in frontend development should be a given.

How long does it need to become a developer?

It takes around 6 months to 1 year.

But as mentioned before, it is a good idea to do some of the certifications, so as to use the right approach for coding and customizing.

Modern eCommerce

SW is not only a solution which becomes more popular, it also tries to give the option for very modern web programming.

Headless eCommerce is such an example. It provides the possibility to use an API to connect the backend in SW to any frontend, for example built in Node.JS (API) and React.JS (for frontend).

The project for this has started in Mai 2019 and could be another game changer for the SW solution.

What is your experience? Have you tried teams in India?

Pictures: Canva

Interesting links:

Some learning resources for developers on the SW site

Here some of the top Shopware companies are listed

The author: Sascha Thattil works at Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.