Develop an Ecommerce website in just 5 Steps

According to Nasdaq, by 2040, it’s estimated that 95% of purchases will be done through e-commerce.

E-commerce is best utilized with a website and stepping into an $11 billion industry is just grasping an opportunity knocking on your door.

Here is a 5-step guide to help you develop an eCommerce website in a hassle-free manner.

 

1. Set up your basics about the product and business model.

Before launching a website, you have to be clear with what you want to sell, who will buy your products and why they need them. Product research and customer research are the areas where you have to invest in initially.

Ask these questions to prepare your target audience-

• What’s their background?
• What’s their income range?
• How old are they?
• Why do they need this product?

Pro tip- Getting some initial customers from social media is the best way to test out your idea before investing in a website.

Going forward with the business model,

There are primarily two types of business models- B2B and B2C

B2B is business to business, an 8.5 billion USD market as of 2021 which primarily consists of
wholesalers, manufacturers, and distributors who directly deal with businesses. Google, IBM,
HubSpot and Skype are some of the famous B2-B companies.

B2C is a business to customers model where you sell your product directly to the people who will be using it. Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, and Ola are some of the best examples of B2C.

You have to see where your business lies.

Choose the eCommerce website builder

Before you can have an e-commerce website, you’ll need an eCommerce account.

This is a crucial step, where you make tons of important decisions. You have to choose a reliable website builder, decide on a domain name, and create your account.

A common mistake that many eCommerce sellers make is rushing through these seemingly insignificant decisions. Don’t be one of them.

Take your time, weigh the pros and cons, do your research, and then make the final payment. By taking these extra steps, you’ll ensure that you’re making the best decision for your e-commerce business.

2. Prepare to launch your Ecommerce Website

Start with a business name. One-word crisp name that reflects your business or the idea is all that you need. Generate some cool domain names for your business by using these 16 domain-name generators. Don’t wait for the correct time to buy the domain name. If you have found the right domain name, purchase it and secure yourself from being snatched.

To launch your website, the next big part after finalizing the name and purchasing the domain name is fixing a platform to make the website. Although there are tons of them out there to choose from, some of the best options include Magento, Webflow, Shopify, and WooCommerce from WordPress

Whenever you choose a platform to build your eCommerce store, the best is the one with a responsive design, simple product management, integrated content management system (CMS), customizable shopping cart, easy checkout page, and effective payment processing

 

3. Start branding from Day 1

Don’t wait to make the website live and then start building a brand. Aim to build a focused brand for the long term. Whether it’s funky t-shirts or subtle corporate wear, party hampers, or corporate gifting, represent your brand through your content every single day.

Brands like Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, and Myntra are famous and have a say in the market due to their unique positioning, brand colors, differentiating logos, and quirky brand tone.

Having a content strategy in place helps you plan the what, how, and why of content. It’s a planned combination of 80% educational and 20% promotional content in the form of short-form content, images, videos, infographics, and blogs.

Learning and implementing SEO helps you rank higher. Some of the commonly known SEO practices are-

• Doing keyword research using Google Keyword Planner
• Optimizing header, title, and description tags to rank higher on a google search
• Make your content niche-specific and smartly incorporate keywords to rank higher in that particular google search of people in those niches.

SEO is much more than keywords and ranking higher. Check out a detailed SEO guide for small business owners here and make your website SEO-friendly.

 

4. Work on product listings

Determine your product categories and list them clearly on the top section of your website. If it’s for men, add a dropdown of what all are available for men- jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, shoes, belts, put them up front. Similarly, if it’s for women, put out if it’s makeup products, dresses, footwear, and breakdown, even more, to be crystal clear.

Collect high-quality product photos. There can be two ways- either set up a background and click photos yourself or hire a professional and get it done once and for all. Aim to go for different angles and closeups of the product to make customers understand it better.

Frame high-level copies for titles and product descriptions.

After going through the product images, the next big thing people focus on is knowing every possible detail about the product. And that’s where a great product description helps in conversions.

Here are some examples of great product descriptions we found online-

Write product descriptions that touch the customer’s pain points and help them know how this product is the solution to their problem.

 

5. Integrate necessary plugins.

Payment gateways- Trends come and go but increasing the percentage of returning customers because of a hassle-free payment system is evergreen. A great payment gateway is the one with-

• No or pocket-friendly Setup Fees and Maintenance Costs
• Simple APIs
• Feature of collecting payments immediately after setting up
• Collect and track payments
• Collect payment through links via commonly used platforms like Twitter, Facebook,
  WhatsApp, SMS

Developing an eCommerce website on your own can be a tedious and difficult task especially if you are managing multiple things at your startup.

We, at Arista, help our clients with end-to-end management and the development of their eCommerce website.

Feel free to contact us at info@aristasystems.in to Develop an ecommerce website and get started.