An MVP helps you understand and decide how to further develop a product or service (hereafter referred to as a “solution”), by giving your users access to the solution, before it is completely built.
By starting with the core of what you want to offer, and launching a stripped-down (but production-capable) version, that gives users sufficient benefit, from the start; you can then collect data, learn more, and - based on these outcomes - further develop your solution. Users can utilize your solution, as it’s being developed. The purpose is to allow you to quickly enter the market, gather relevant insights, and make informed decisions about how your solution should be further developed; to add even more value.
One big advantage with using an MVP is that you have the opportunity to better understand your customers' interest in your solution; and further develop it, accordingly. If it becomes clear that there is no interest in the solution, then it hasn’t been as costly for you as a fully-developed solution, which is then rejected by the market. An MVP also works well if you are not completely sure of how what you are going to build should look and work.
In larger e-commerce projects, it is not entirely uncommon to produce an MVP, first. Noteworthy benefits of using an MVP, in an e-commerce project, is that it:
1. Has enough value for users to want to utilize the e-commerce solution.2. Creates a feedback loop that further guides the team in the development of the solution.
3. Helps the team not to get caught up in details, but to make the right decision(s), in order to move forward.
4. Make it easier to change course, if it turns out that you have been mistaken.
