The foundation of an eCommerce business starts when you create a website. Building an eCommerce website demands many things like domain, hosting, theme, products, etc. 

Many business owners think building an eCommerce store is difficult and full of problems but an eCommerce website is easy to build. You just need to follow some guidelines. Before that, you need to find out which features and elements your eCommerce website required.

That’s why we created this article not only help you to build an eCommerce website but also know the guidelines that we mention above. 

Types of E-Commerce Websites

Types of eCommerce sites depend on services or products, organizations, etc. Businesses can go for different eCommerce sites. Here are the major 4 types of eCommerce websites.

• B2B(Business to Business) is a type of eCommerce transaction that exists between business to business, between wholesaler and retailer. For example Evernote

• B2C(Business to Consumer) is the most common business model. These companies sell products directly to customers. For example Amazon

• C2C(Consumer to Consumer) model is where a consumer sells old products to another consumer through a third party. For example eBay

• C2B(Consumer to business) is a type of eCommerce where users offer a product or service to organizations. Mainly focus on creating value from their customer base by asking for feedback, crowdsourcing projects, etc. For Example Google Adsense

Why Your Online Store Needs an Ecommerce Website

It’s needless to say why your online store needs an eCommerce website. To keep your place strong in the competitive marketplace eCommerce site is necessary. You see your competitor is doing great in business. They are getting more customers and more sales.

All these are because of an eCommerce website. Reasons you should start building your eCommerce website: 

• Grow your business

• Get more leads and sales

• Create brand awareness

• Globally run your business

• Get new customers

How to Build an eCommerce Website Step by Step

Now we have reached the main part of this blog. For ecommerce site building you have two options. First, you can hire a developer and the second one is to choose a website builder or eCommerce platform. Which one will you choose?

Let me tell you something before you take an action. If you hire a developer it will take more than 4 or 5 months. Sometimes it takes more time if you set up a customized website. It’s necessary to keep in mind how much time you have left for launching your website. 

If you plan to launch your website after a few months, you can hire a developer. Also hiring a developer is costly. You need to hire a developer and pay him monthly. Or you can employ a project basis. 

On the other hand, if you making a website using a website builder or eCommerce platform for your small business it will save you time. Develop an eCommerce website with a website builder is very easy and cost-effective. There are many eCommerce website builders available. You can choose their monthly or annual plan. 

Let’s get back to the point of how to build an eCommerce website. The following points will help you to create an eCommerce website.  

Select Your Brand Name

Once you jump into the journey of your eCommerce website you need a unique brand name. The brand name will be highlighted in the domain name. While choosing a brand name decide who are your targeted audience, your products, goals, etc. Create your brand logo. 

Buy a Domain Name

A domain name is the web address of a website. A domain name is divided into two parts. Brand name and extension, e.g (xgenious.com), xgenious is the brand name, and (.com) is the extension. Purchase a domain name from hosting companies or domain registers. Choose a domain name that suggests your business name. 

Choosing an extension or suffix is difficult. There are many eCommerce sites that are already registered on .com. There is also a very popular domain name that exists, like .net, and .org, .biz. Your potential customers need to remember your web address with the extension name. That’s why try to choose a short one. 

Choose a Hosting Provider

A web hosting plan gives your website space on the internet and gives you enough storage with bandwidth so that you can run your site smoothly. A good web hosting provider grows your eCommerce business for future development. There are some points to keep in mind before you choose a hosting plan:

• An eCommerce website needs enough storage. On an eCommerce website, there’s a huge amount of photos, videos, and product details. Choose a web hosting provider that gives you storage. Choosing low-price hosting may not give you enough storage. Do research before selecting one.

• Bandwidth is important because it controls how fast a web page loads on your browser. It is one of the most important things when you choose a web hosting provider. If you have limited bandwidth your web pages may slow down which impacts user experience. Unlimited bandwidth makes it smooth for your user to navigate from one page to another page. Watch video content and image smoothly.

• Website speed is another important component of an eCommerce website. Whether your website takes much time loading bounce rate increases. Choose a hosting service that makes sure your fast load time for your online store. 

• Security is a matter of question for an eCommerce site. When you choose a hosting service make sure they provide security for your customer’s data and your site. Many hosting services provide SSL certificates, automated backup, access management, and updates. 

Analyze Your Competitor’s

As a business owner you know competitor analysis is very important before starting an eCommerce site. What is your competitor doing, and how they are performing with their eCommerce store? By doing competitor analysis you can learn eCommerce business tactics, marketing strategy, etc. 

• Know eCommerce business positives and negatives
• Understand the market
• How will is eCommerce industry doing
• You can set a guideline for your business

Select a Theme

A theme is the basic layout of your eCommerce store. Choose a theme that goes best with your eCommerce website also user-friendly. If you choose an eCommerce website builder or an eCommerce solution you will see they have many pre-built themes available. You can also customize themes. 

Add Products, Descriptions and Prices

Now the domain, hosting, theme, and all setup are done. The next step is to add products. Consumers are not going to purchase anything until they see any products. Organize your products with categories, prices, and sizes. Upload high-quality images of your products. High-quality images attract visitors. Which compels them to purchase products. 

Along with products add some details. Otherwise how your customers are gonna know which product is for what. Add brief information about the product. Make sure to add prices. Or else it may not happen that customers know the price when they are about to checkout. And by seeing a price that may out of their budget and they will not purchase. In this way cart abandonment rate increases, which is not good for an eCommerce website. 

Set up Payment Processing

Online payment allows your customers to purchase directly from your website. Add multiple payment gateways to your eCommerce website. For example, your customer wants to pay through stripe. Unfortunately, your website doesn’t have the stripe payment option. 

What happens? The customer is not going to purchase the product. Ultimately you lose a customer. Make sure your eCommerce website is integrated with multiple payment gateways.

Test Your Website and Launch

Now the final step. Time to launch your website. Before launching your eCommerce website test your website in preview. Website links, buttons, and forms are working or not. Test the shopping cart, checkout process, and payment process before your website go live.

Another crucial thing is to test how your website looks on mobile. Double-check and test your website. When everything is okay publish your website. Share your site on social media pages. Social media is best for more engagement on your website and for selling products online. 

What to Consider Before Creating an eCommerce Website

Before you create an eCommerce site there are key factors you should keep in mind. An eCommerce website is a road to your success but success will not come overnight. You need a strong online presence.
For these, you need to consider some facts.

Select Your Product

First, you need to select your product for your online store. Which products do you want to sell online?
Research before you select products. What your competitors are doing, and which products are on trending now? This strategy will help you to select products for your eCommerce store and run smoothly.

Fix Your Budget

Budget is important for your eCommerce website. You need to buy a domain, hosting, themes, plugins, etc. You need to purchase all these required things within budget.

Responsive Design

70% of people are ordering online from smartphones. Bearing this in mind your eCommerce website design is optimized for mobile. Which creates a good user experience.

Security

Security is one of the main headaches for eCommerce websites. Your website contains customer data. Their data should remain secure. SSL certificate ensures that your website is secured and safe.

Shopping Cart Design

The shopping cart in your online store allows customers to add items to their shopping cart, remove, and recheck the order list.

E-commerce Marketing Strategy

Before you launch your eCommerce website you draw out your eCommerce marketing strategy. How you can reach your potential customers, how to create brand awareness, how to increase the sales rate and revenue, etc. SEO, social media marketing, and email campaign can help you with this purpose.

Features Your Ecommerce Website Should Have

Features of an eCommerce website that let you know which features and functions you need to add to your eCommerce site. An E-commerce website is the implementation of a home page, product page, customer account page, shopping cart page, blog page, and so on. 

Adding these features improves your website’s appearance and makes it more appealing to your audiences. Following features, you need to add your eCommerce site.

• Basic Features user-friendly navigation, mobile friendly, website design, browse compatibility, breadcrumb navigation, security, payment gateway, shipping option, website load time, chatbot, return policy, offers, etc.
• Homepage Features customer login, logo, shopping cart, search bar, category page, social media icons, company information, customer care, etc.
• Customer Account Page Features order history, payment method, review, return, Wishlist, settings, etc.
• Product Page Features product title, images, price, product comparison, product description, filter and sorting, recommendation, etc.
• Shopping Cart and Checkout Features customer details, cart details, coupons, payment method, add or remove product to the cart, etc.
• Backend Features dashboard, order management, customer management, shipment management, SEO, store management, payment, invoice, etc.
• Contact Page Features about us, email address, business opening hours, phone number, etc.
• Blog Page Features recent blog posts, blog category, tag, social sharing button, etc.

Wrapping up

Creating an eCommerce website requires time, hard work, passion, resources, and dedication. A good eCommerce site is not only for selling products online. It’s a place where a small business can create and build its brand, get new consumers, and this is how you will get potential customers. 

Choose the right eCommerce platform with a strong marketing strategy for creating a successful online business and start selling online.

Frequently Asked Questions