If you don’t read part 1 of this article please go and read it first.
What are the steps involved to start an e-commerce website?
Here we start dreaming of implementing a successful e-commerce store. Let’s discuss the major steps involved in it:
1. Need to decide on Domain name
Picking a Domain is an integral part of the major decision for a website owner. A perfect domain name creates a positive impact and enhances brand reputation and company goodwill. Fortunately, the process is quite simple, all you have to do is choose a unique, user-friendly, and impressive domain for your e-store. Choose domain name extensions like .sa, .com.sa, .com, .net, .org, etc. prudently that are extremely unified with your website and signal. Use appropriate keywords to reach the targeted audience, it should be simple, short, unique, and flexible.
2. Choose a good server or hosting company
A good server ensures that the website loads quickly and reliably for visitors, which is especially important for an e-commerce site because users are more likely to abandon the site if it is slow or prone to errors. An e-commerce site needs to be able to handle a large number of visitors and transactions at any given time, especially during peak periods such as holidays. A good server is able to handle this increased traffic without slowing down or crashing.
3. Hire developer/Company
A good developer or agency will have the expertise and experience necessary to build a professional, high-quality e-commerce website. They will be able to advise you on the best technology and design choices for your website, and ensure that it is built to the highest standards. Building an e-commerce website can be a complex and time-consuming task, especially if you are not familiar with web development. Hiring a good developer or agency can save you time and effort, and allow you to focus on other aspects of your business.
4. Preparing product catalog
A product catalog is a list of all the products that a business offers for sale. It is an important aspect of e-commerce business for several reasons:
- Visibility: A product catalog allows customers to see all the products that a business offers, which can help to increase visibility and sales.
- Organization: A product catalog helps to organize and categorize products, making it easier for customers to find what they are looking for.
- Marketing: A product catalog can be used as a marketing tool to showcase products and highlight special deals or promotions.
- Inventory management: A product catalog can help businesses to manage their inventory, by tracking which products are in stock and when they need to be reordered.
- Customer service: A product catalog can help customers to find the information they need about a product, such as its features, price, and availability. This can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Overall, a well-organized and comprehensive product catalog is an important asset for any e-commerce business, helping to increase visibility, sales, and customer satisfaction.
5. Choose the best e-commerce platform to best suitable for your requirement
You need to discuss with your expert developer or any e-commerce consultant to choose the best platform that matches your requirement and budget. Here is the list of leading e-commerce platforms.
- Woocommerce: WooCommerce is an open-source plugin for WordPress that allows users to create an online store and sell products or services. It is designed to be easy to use, even for those with little or no technical expertise. WooCommerce allows users to customize their online store with a range of features and options, including different payment gateways, shipping options, and product options. WooCommerce can be easily integrated with other WordPress plugins and features, such as contact forms, email marketing, and analytics. WooCommerce has a large and active community of users, developers, and experts who can provide support and resources for users.
- Shopify: Shopify is an idyllic and powerful platform for carrying out e-commerce business transactions. It’s a highly popular and worldwide accepted e-commerce system that is simple and easy to use. Shopify supports a wide range of businesses and sells physical, digital, or drop-shipped products. It is highly cost-effective with low start-up costs, contains attractive themes, perfect for Dropshipping, and a multichannel support system, ensures better safety and reliability.
- Magento 2/Adobe Commerce: Magento 2 is an open-source e-commerce platform that is used to create online stores and sell products or services. Some key features of Magento 2 include:
- Scalability: Magento 2 is designed to be scalable, allowing online stores to grow and expand as needed.
- Customization: Magento 2 offers a range of customization options, including the ability to create custom extensions and integrations with other systems.
- Mobile-friendly: Magento 2 is designed to be mobile-friendly, ensuring that online stores look and function well on mobile devices.
- Security: Magento 2 includes a range of security features to protect online stores and their customers from cyber attacks and other security threats.
- Community support: Magento 2 has a large and active community of users, developers, and experts who can provide support and resources for users.
- OpenCart: Create an online shop with OpenCart, a free open-source solution. It turned into a familiar and trending e-commerce platform that helps to create and manage numerous online stores. OpenCart offers unique functionalities and customization options with the multi-user management system, runs multiple stores with a single interface, a product affiliation system, coupons and discounts, backup and restore, and many others too.
- Prestashop: Prestashop is an open-source e-commerce platform that offers rich features with the best e-commerce solution. It helps to develop a self-hosted cloud-based store that offers an easy-to-use, powerful, and responsive e-commerce store. Prestashop is quite simple to install, friendly, easy to customize, user-friendly, secure payment, demographic assistance, and many other advantages. It’s an ideal platform that provides a personalized and flexible e-commerce system.
Features required for an e-commerce Website
Product catalog management system
A product catalog management system ensures a well-organized and structured product database. It has a vital role in building up your brand and user experiences with an accurate formation of product information. A systematic catalog management system tracks all your inventories across all digital channels and has customization options like price, color, size, material, country, information, details, and more.
Content and marketing system
A content management system (CMS) is a software application or set of tools that are used to create, edit, manage, and publish digital content. Some common types of digital content that can be managed with a CMS include Web pages, Blog posts, News articles, Product descriptions, Landing pages, and Marketing campaigns. A CMS typically has a user-friendly interface that allows non-technical users to create and edit content easily. Many CMS platforms include tools and features that help to optimize content for search engines, such as the ability to add meta tags and titles.
Order Management Section
The order management section tracks all the order processes from placement to fulfillment and monitors all the inventories. It ensures greater customer satisfaction with higher order visibility, intelligence, flexibility, real-time stock, scheduling and dispatch, resource management, and service optimization. An effective order management system offers seamless customer satisfaction and systematizes the entire managing order process.
Payment gateway integration
Payment gateway integration is an e-commerce tool that allows customers to make an online payment transaction. In this technological era, the digital payment process became a moving trend among customers and merchants. Develop a smooth e-commerce application with end-to-end integration and avoid physical transactional complexities with the best payment gateway system. Hosted payment gateway, direct post payment gateway, self-hosted white label payment gateway, and A self-hosted custom payment gateway are the various online payment gateways that work differently with specific benefits.
Shipping Integration
Shipping integration refers to the integration of shipping services and functionality into an e-commerce store. This can include:
- Calculating shipping costs: An integrated shipping system can calculate the cost of shipping a product to a particular location, based on factors such as the destination, weight, and size of the package.
- Providing shipping options: An integrated shipping system can present customers with a range of shipping options, such as different carriers or delivery speeds.
- Tracking shipments: An integrated shipping system can provide customers with real-time tracking information for their shipments.
- Printing labels: An integrated shipping system can automatically generate and print shipping labels, saving time and effort for the business.
Email communication platform
E-mail is the former method of communication platform and it still has huge acceptance in today’s technological era. E-mail communication platforms are the greatest and most influential promotional method that leads to great business expansion for online retailers. E-mail communication plays a vital role in building strong relationship status among businesses and customers. Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, Klaviyo, AWeber, etc. are the most popular email service providers for e-commerce marketing.
Can I develop an e-commerce website myself?
Yes, if you have good technical knowledge you can develop a simple store by yourself. There are many do-it-yourself platforms available in the market like WIX, Shopify, and WordPress. But if you really looking for a professional and secure e-commerce platform better you hire an agency or a freelance developer.
Why do you need help from an expert to start an e-commerce website?
Starting an e-commerce website can be a complex and time-consuming task, especially if you are not familiar with web development or online business. Here are a few reasons why you may need help from an expert to start an e-commerce website:
- Expertise: An expert can bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the process of building an e-commerce website, helping you to make informed decisions and avoid common pitfalls.
- Time and efficiency: Building an e-commerce website can be time-consuming, especially if you are not familiar with the process. An expert can help you to save time and focus on other aspects of your business.
- Quality and reliability: An expert can ensure that your e-commerce website is built to a high standard, with fast loading times, minimal downtime, and a professional appearance.
- Security: An expert can help to ensure that your e-commerce website is secure, protecting sensitive information such as payment details and personal information from cyber-attacks and other security threats.
Overall, seeking the help of an expert can be an investment that pays off in terms of the success and smooth operation of your e-commerce website.
Conclusion
E-commerce opens up broad business opportunities with the perfect strategy for developing a successful business organization. If you are planning to explore e-commerce marketing you should know the melding factors of it and the user expectations. Here we go with the exciting facts about e-commerce and the process of building an e-commerce website from scratch. Comment down your valuable question and we love to hear your feedback.
