Due to technological advances and anabundance of resources, creating an eCommerce website has never been easier. However, this journey is challenging as it involves platform selection, design and functionality with marketing, and many more, as they are one of the several layers of the onion. This blog will cover what it takes to build an eCommerce website through an eCommerce Design Company in India and tips too on how to make the process smoother forwhoever finds it easy or difficult.
1. Getting to Know the Building Blocks of eCommerce
The eCommerce website is a platformfor businesses to sell goods and services over the internet. Increasing digital transactions along with growing consumer preference for online shopping has resulted in increased demand for eCommerce sites. Actually, Statista finds that world-wide eCommerce revenue is expected to top $5 trillion by the end of the continent. All this growth shows that there is value in building an eCommerce website, but that does not mean the road is obstacle-free.
Developing an eCommerce site can besimple or difficult depending on things like:
- The scale of the business
- Budget constraints
- Specific technical skills
- How custom it needs to be
- Nice-to-have (such as paymentgateways, customer account profiles, etc.)
- For those just beginning theirjourney, grasping these fundamental needs is vital.
2. Choosing the Right Platform
An essential part of the beginning ofthis process is selecting a platform. Some of the most common platforms you can use for that purpose are Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and Wix. Each one has its own advantages and drawbacks:
- Shopify is very popular amongnewbies due to its simplicity and ease of use. Its a fully hosted platform, i.e., Shopify handles the technical setup and management. It helps to save time and is best suited for an entrepreneur in a hurry to establish a store.
- WooCommerce is a WordPressplugin, which means that you need a site powered by WordPress to use it. Although WooCommerce offers more extreme flexibility and customization, you also need to know about WordPress, hosting, and general site security.
- Magento is generally a betterfit for midsize and larger businesses. Although very powerful and flexible, it comes with a steep learning curve and will, in most cases, require some coding skills. Enterprise companies mainly go for Magento as its a scalable solution and has customization capabilities.
- BigCommerce strikes a happymedium between ease-of-use and flexibility and is a solid choice for growth-oriented businesses.
- If uploading and inserting codeinto HTML and CSS is new to you, though, look into hosted solutions like Shopify or BigCommerce. However, if you have more technical skills or can hire a developer, then WooCommerce or Magento may give you greater control.
3. Designing the Website
An eCommerce site that offers a smoothuser experience directly reflects upon sales, so the design should be appealing. Well, design is not just about how it looks but also how it works, including usability, speed, navigation, and device compatibility.
- Theme and Template: Most of theeCommerce platforms have ready-made themes. For instance, Shopify offers both free and paid templates for various niches. It is much quicker and cheaper to
use a pre-made theme instead of designing from scratch. - Customizable: Customizable can makebranding better but needs technical skills, or you should get a developer. A lot of businesses begin with the same theme and make minor customizations: add a logo, change colours, rearrange some elements of the page, and so on.
- Mobile- responsiveness: As you canimagine, with mobile commerce growing steadily, an eCommerce site has to be mobile-friendly. Instead, a responsive design changes the layout depending on the device, so no matter what kind of device the user has, they will have a good experience.
- User Experience (UX): UX plays a hugerole in how long visitors stay on your site, so design with UX in mind. This entails having clear product hierarchies, an intuitive navigation, readable typography, and visible calls to action.
4. Adding Key Features
There are certain features requiredfor an eCommerce website to run, be it the product catalogue or checkout process. Here are several key elements:
- Product Listings or Catalogues: Configuring different categories within your store, uploading product images, writing product descriptions, and managing the inventory of your products. Even if most platforms include a product manager, you have to set all these up, which can take forever.
- Add to Cart: An add-to-cartfunctionality is a must-have feature for any eCommerce site that lets users add products to a virtual cart where they can save their orders while continuing to shop.
- Payment Gateways: You need to getintegrated a payment gateway like PayPal, Stripe, or Square to process payments. Certain platforms allow a variety of gateways, while others might restrict them. Security is of utmost importance here, as customers need to trust in the payment system.
- Shipping & Tax Settings: If yourbusiness is global, these decisions can be complicated. Shopify and WooCommerce provide beautiful tools and integrations for shipping and tax calculations, but especially each setup needs to be correct to avoid any future headaches.
- Customer Accounts: Enabling customers tocreate accounts is not a must, but it can help boost loyalty and make the
purchasing process easier. It also allows the site to tailor experiences and
offer relevant promotions.
5. Setting Up Security and Compliance
eCommerce sites handle sensitivecustomer data, including payment details. Therefore, security should be a top priority.
- SSL Certificate: An SSL certificate encrypts data sent between the server and the customer. Most platforms offer SSL as part of their hosting package, but it’s something to confirm.
- PCI Compliance: PCI compliance is essential for any site handling credit card transactions. Most payment processors assist with compliance, but it’s still something to verify.
Conclusion
Building an eCommerce website can be challenging, but it’s certainly achievable, even for beginners. For some, it might take days to set up a site on platforms like Shopify, while others who opt for more complex solutions like Magento could spend months perfecting their site.
However, regardless of the platform chosen, the key lies in planning, budgeting, and choosing the right tools and strategies. So, about this, if you want to know more in detail, then you should get in touch with FODUU right away.
