The requirements analysis phase comprises of market analysis, proposal Development & Evaluation, project initialization, Subsystem selection and finally defining the functional and non-functional requirements of the eCommerce system.

Market Analysis: The first step of the market analysis is positioning. I.e. all potential competitors on the market are identified and compared with the company's own position on the market. The goal of the positioning is to find new niches and to gain an overview of the duration of a competitive advantage on the market. We determine if other merchants on the market already offered a similar portal and which audiences those merchants targeted.

Proposal Development & Evaluation: During the proposal development and evaluation the feasibility of the client's requirements would be clarified. The goal is to clear regarding the content, legality, mercantile and a software system that would be used to meet the client's functionality and quality requirements.

Subsystem Selection: In most cases the eCommerce portal is not developed independently of an existing hardware and software infrastructure. Usually the portal has to be integrated into existing infrastructure by exchanging data with it.

Functionality: The identification and description of the portal's functionality and the priority-based structuring of these functions are very important tasks. The functionality should not only be sufficient to cover all requirements of the client but also it must stand out from the functionality that competitors offer in order to gain an advantage on the market. It must also contain potential for further developments to ensure future market advantage. Another major factor that would be considered is the time frames i.e. the time and effort required to realize the eCommerce system. There could be considerable advantage in developing and introducing the eCommerce system quickly.

And finally at the completion of this phase a requirements document would be developed and it will be checked for contradictions, redundancy and completeness. After consolidating all the requirements from the different sources the requirements document would be corrected and extended as needed.