Some ecommerce businesses use databases, which is why you may see terms like “database backed” or “cloud database.” All this means is that the ecommerce system uses a database. If you have an online business, you may be asking if having a database is good or bad and what it can do for you.
In this post, we’re going to explore the different types of data that ecommerce databases organize and the benefits of adding one to your application.
Databases and Types of Data
In simple terms, a database is a system that organizes data. For ecommerce sites, data falls into one of two categories:
- Site content. Site content is what you see when you’re browsing an ecommerce site. This data generates HTML pages such as content pages (about us, FAQs, shipping), product pages (price, dimension, weight) and category pages (grouping similar products together).
- Transactional data. Transactional data is a result of visitors taking action on your pages. When an ecommerce application is first created, it has no transactional data. But, as customers make purchases, transactional data is created. Examples include customer orders and inventory updates.
Benefits of Ecommerce Databases
There’s a reason why so many ecommerce businesses use databases – they work! Need to check on a customer’s order? It’s in the database. Want to know the shipping dimensions of a specific product? It’s in the database.
When you use a database to handle your data, your web application can ignore the details and focus on the presentation of the data. As a result, the web application will be simpler and easier to understand. Your customers will appreciate a fast and smooth shopping process, too!
Here are a few more things an ecommerce database can do.
- Track customer orders. It’s difficult to track and manage transactions because there is so much information included in each. Rather than being consumed by all of these details, a database can track customer orders for you.
- Organize products. If you have a large inventory, a database will come in handy. Ecommerce databases can organize products while taking into account their variants, styles and combinations.
- Structure store data. A database puts structure around your data. When everything is organized in the same way, it makes creating code easier. Plus, your application doesn’t have to manage the data, only the structure.
If you have an ecommerce business and are considering using a database to support your data, contact Arkware today at 877-519-4537.