We have built and supported online stores for Baltic and European retailers since 2016: books, children’s goods, electronics, construction profiles, transport services. Platforms come and go, but the things that decide whether a store makes money have stayed remarkably stable. Here are the eight we check first when someone asks us to “fix the shop”.
1. Speed
Every extra second of load time costs orders, on mobile most of all. A store that opens in under two seconds on a mid-range phone is a competitive advantage in itself, and Google agrees: Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor. Speed is not a plugin; it is server configuration, image discipline, and refusing to load fifteen third-party scripts on every page.
2. Search and filters that understand your catalogue
Customers who use on-site search convert several times better than those who browse, but only if search finds things. Synonyms, typos, brand names in three languages, filtering by the attributes that matter for your products (size, compatibility, material). This is where a custom Laravel store or a well-configured platform beats a default install.
3. Stock and prices that are actually correct
Nothing destroys trust like ordering a product that is not in stock. If you have suppliers, a warehouse system or a physical shop, the store must read stock and prices from them automatically. We build these integrations constantly: supplier XML/CSV feeds, warehouse systems, accounting, ERP. Manual updates always fall behind.
4. The payment and delivery options your market expects
In the Baltics that means bank links and cards, buy-now-pay-later, and parcel lockers (Omniva, DPD, Venipak, Latvijas Pasts) with pickup-point selection at checkout. Every missing option is a share of customers who leave. Every badly integrated one is a share of orders that need manual handling.
5. A checkout with nothing in the way
Guest checkout, address autofill, clear delivery costs before the last step, no surprise fees, one page if possible. Measure the drop-off at each step; the numbers will tell you where the friction is.
6. Marketplaces as a channel, not a replacement
Pigu, Amazon and the rest bring traffic you would not get on your own, at the price of margin and customer relationship. The stores that win use them for reach while keeping their own site as the place for loyal customers, with automated product feeds and order import so the two channels do not require double work.
7. Admin tools the team actually uses
If updating a product takes five screens, the catalogue rots. Bulk editing, imports, clear order statuses, printing labels and invoices in one click: this is where most of the daily time of a small retailer goes, and where good tooling pays back fastest.
8. Somebody responsible for the platform
Updates, backups, monitoring, security, small improvements every month. Stores that have this stay fast and safe for years. Stores that do not slowly decay until a redesign becomes unavoidable.
Where we come in
E-commerce is what we do most: custom stores on Laravel and Vue.js, OpenCart and PrestaShop builds, migrations from old platforms without losing rankings, and the integrations that make a store run itself. Look at the projects, then tell us about yours.
