Building an E-commerce website five years ago would have needed you to hire a development firm, a digital agency, or an army of developers and creative workers. Things are different now, in 2022. Without breaking a sweat, anyone, simply anyone, may construct their own full-fledged E-commerce website.
According to Statista, the E-commerce business will increase at a remarkable 50% pace until 2025, reaching over $7,400 billion in sales (Source).
This massive revenue will not be earned by a single corporation like Amazon, Alibaba, or others. It would be a collection of all E-commerce websites that are going to begin, have already opened, or are expanding.
Establish your specialty and brand identity
E-commerce is significantly more complex and sophisticated than you would think. To stand out from the crowd and provide a distinctive service, you must first establish your specialty and craft a brand identity. Your specialty and brand identity must complement each other.
The choice of specialty has a direct impact on brand identification, which is the most important driver of sales. This is because prospects form a mental image of the items based on the brand before becoming clients. As a result, there should be a strong link between the niche you select and the brand identity.
There are hundreds of different niches to pick from. However, the most common ones are as follows:
Fashion includes clothing, accessories, cosmetics, and other items.
Gadgets, IT accessories, peripheral devices, audio/video equipment, and so on.
Video, music, eBooks, online classes, or digital services such as video/image editing are examples of digital products.
Give your e-commerce website a name
Your E-commerce website's name is made up of two components. First, it will be given an official name, which will appear in all official communications and registrations. The second element is the brand name, which is what the outside world, comprised of consumers and prospects, will perceive. It is vital to designate both the official business name and the brand name for paperwork purposes.
There are companies that have distinct brand identities and legal names. For example, you may be familiar with the brand names Old Navy and Athleta, but did you realise that they are legally owned by Gap Inc? When it comes to naming your online store, your imagination and originality are limitless.
If you change your business name too frequently, your consumers may become confused about who you are. In addition, depending on the business name, you will need to build brand presets for the website logo, stationery, and much more. As a result, altering the brand name is a significant process that will require a lot of money and work.
Design the website layout
The virtual storefront for an E-commerce website is the shop layout. It should be visually appealing, entice prospects to investigate more, and prompt them to make a purchase choice as soon as possible. This necessitates that the website layout be as intuitive and convincing as possible. It is generally advisable to develop a prototype of the website before adding finer elements and media such as photographs and carousels.
Select a website builder for e-commerce
Until recently, developing an E-commerce website included hiring an E-commerce development firm or assembling an in-house team. Both of these choices were time-consuming and costly. It was also tough to make adjustments to the E-commerce website since there were so many players engaged.
However, a new breed of E-commerce website builders has emerged, making it simple to create websites. They provide drag-and-drop components that do not require any coding or prior development experience.
1. Shopify
The most popular E-commerce website builder, including features such as order management, staff management, and customer management. Shopify has a plethora of free and paid applications that help improve the operation of your E-commerce store. Our blog post here discusses seven of the top Shopify applications.
2. E-commerce Wix
Wix began as a website builder but has since evolved into a trustworthy E-commerce website builder. It has over 500 templates that you may utilise to create E-commerce websites quickly.
Publish your online store
Pushing your E-commerce website online is the final step in the process. It may appear to be a simple procedure requiring the press of a button. On the contrary, there are various inspections you must perform before going live with your E-commerce website.
Before going live, make sure you perform these tests.
Is the shop properly loading on mobile?
Is the product page successfully linking to the checkout page?
Is the shop navigation functional? Did you accurately connect all of the sub-pages?
Is the website accessible and functional in all browsers?
Does the checkout process go as planned? (A few sample transactions might assist).
These tests should verify that there are no undetected flaws that might jeopardize the performance of your E-commerce website after it is launched.
That concludes our extensive step-by-step instructions on how to create an E-commerce website. We hope you now have a better understanding of the requirements for creating an E-commerce website, and if you want to learn more, keep an eye on this space.