A Comprehensive Guide to Creating an eCommerce Website
eCommerce is a booming sector with millions of thriving businesses. If you plan to sell online, an e-commerce website is a must-have. Luckily, creating one and selling online is not that difficult.
Here’s what you need to know:
How to Create an eCommerce
If you want to create an ecommerce website, you need to find the right ecommerce platform.
The most important thing to consider when choosing the platform is your budget. Some common platforms include:
- Shopify
- Wix
- BigCommerce
- WooCommerce
Each has its advantages and disadvantages, so you must choose the one that suits your business best.
Apart from the eCommerce platform, you must also decide how and where you want to host your website. You can choose a cloud-based solution or a dedicated server.
Alternatively, you can also host your website on a server that belongs to your hosting provider. You also need to decide whether you want to use a reseller hosting solution or a managed hosting solution.
In general, reseller hosting is cheaper than managed hosting, but it also comes with more responsibilities.
Choosing a Payment Gateway
One of the most crucial aspects of creating an ecommerce site is choosing the right payment gateway. This service processes your customer’s payments and transfers them to your bank account.
The most important thing to remember when choosing the right payment gateway is the fees they charge.
Depending on your business model, you can choose between:
- a hosted payment gateway (e.g. Stripe)
- a non-hosted payment gateway (e.g. Braintree).
For hosted payment gateways, you don’t have to worry about security or maintenance. On the other hand, for non-hosted payment gateways, you need to set up and configure your own server for processing payments.
This might seem challenging, but thankfully, there are many payment gateway providers that can help you set up your checkout process.
Launching an ecommerce
Once you’ve decided upon the perfect eCommerce platform, you can start building the site. When building your eCommerce store, ensure that its looks and feel are consistent with your brand.
This is important because you don’t just want people to buy your products. You want them to fall in love with your brand. To achieve consistency, you can use tools like Adobe Creative Cloud.
You can also choose a CMS that’s specifically designed for eCommerce websites like Shopify. This will allow you to create a beautiful and functional website without learning to code.
But don’t forget — your site also needs to be user-friendly– meaning it needs to load quickly and be simple to navigate.
Start Now
If you’re considering launching an ecommerce store, now is a great time to start. With the rise of digital commerce, there has never been a better time to start your own online store.
Author bio
Payment industry guru Taylor Cole is a passionate payments expert who understands the complex world of UK POS systems. He also writes non-fiction, on subjects ranging from personal finance to stocks to cryptopay. He enjoys eating pie with ice-cream on his backyard porch, as should all right-thinking people.
