6 Steps to Build a (Powerful) ECommerce Website in 2023

Today, eCommerce encompasses the entire process of operating a business online and goes far beyond the simple act of buying and selling goods. With nearly 2 billion digital consumers worldwide, creating an eCommerce website is still a smart business move. Creating an e-commerce website might be easier than you think. The majority of the work can now be done for you by ecommerce platforms, but you still need to know what is available and what your website requires. If you do your research, you can make choices that result in an excellent site that expands and scales alongside your business over time.

If you need support in building the same, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Top ECommerce development company in Chennai. We’ve compiled the characteristics of a successful eCommerce website as well as a few crucial considerations:

Online retailers can manage their websites, sales, marketing, and operations with the aid of an eCommerce platform. Order tracking, payments, refunds, and replacement processes are handled by these platforms. Additionally, it gives you sales profit and loss reports on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. Some of the best eCommerce platforms are listed below,

Shopify is a subscription-based service, with its basic plan costing $29 per month. It is simple to set up and use. You can set up the store and go live within a day using Shopify. Several payment methods are available for a store, including PayPal, Meta Pay, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. The platform has a great variety of pre-built themes and is simple to integrate with apps for various functionalities. The platform has an incredibly quick loading speed, and any e-commerce built on it loads in just a few seconds. It also provides staff management, smart inventory management, check-out, products, customers, reporting, and marketing.
Shopify offers a complete package for a business owner to set up an eCommerce store.

WooCommerce is an e-commerce plug-in for WordPress. WooCommerce is the leading online shopping platform in terms of sales and accessibility . This is the best option if you have a WordPress blog/website and want to sell your products online. WooCommerce is a free and open-source platform. In order to improve the functionality of your site, you can either incorporate commercial extensions or make a custom design for the store. By using the features that are already built-in, you can sell physical, digital, and affiliate products. Ajax shopping cart and geolocation-related support, a flexible design, tax, and shipping calculation, Google analytics integration, and SEO optimization are some added advantages.

All these technicalities might sound complex, but these make WooCommerce one of the best choices for eCommerce development for small and medium-scale businesses.

Magento is one of the best platforms for large-scale enterprises due to its scalability and customization options. It can hold and handle a large number of data and transactions seamlessly.

Magento has a wide range of integrated features. You can add coupons, produce in-depth reports, alter the language and currencies, and offer discounts on particular goods or to loyal customers, among other things. Additionally, a wide variety of extensions and templates are available with Magento Open Source. You can create multiple online stores with Magento and manage them from a single administration panel.

Choose the right platform based on your requirements and start setting up your store. If you are confused about deciding which platform would suit your needs, you can reach out for a free consultation with us.

The way your eCommerce store is designed, the customer journey, clicks to buy, etc. matter a lot when it comes to user experience. But, creating and implementing a design differs from platform to platform and it is important to be aware of the differences and their implications.

To start with, Shopify does allow a custom design, however, the preferred method in Shopify would be purchasing a pre-built theme. The theme is then integrated with your website and all your products/pages are created in the store. Purchasing a pre-built theme is the easiest and can help you set up the store quickly. However, if you still wish to go ahead with a custom design, for your business is very niche or you couldn’t find a theme, you can do so. Once the design is made, a theme is built based on that and implemented on the site.

With WooCommerce, there is an option to choose a pre-built theme, however, the platform offers the best customization capabilities. Hence, if you are building a store with WordPress and WooCommerce, the best approach is to go for a custom design. If you are looking for design experts who can help you with your WooCommerce store, we can help. Contact our experts today to get a view of our previous designs.

Magento offers the most flexibility when it comes to design. As stated before, Magento is a platform used to build enterprise eCommerce stores. This would be most suited for niche businesses whose work doesn’t fall under any of the general industry categorizations. In this case, a screen-by-screen custom design is the best option for your business and such design and development are highly feasible with Magento.

Also, it is important to ensure that the color scheme of your website goes well with the goods you’re selling. For example, Green, yellow, and purple color schemes are good for food-related eCommerce because they pique the appetite. Additionally, there needs to be a lot of white space so that the food items and website design don’t clash. Understand your industry and choose a theme/design accordingly. An expert eCommerce design team can help you in this regard.

A catalog is a vital component of marketing online because it informs your customers about what you have. Information like color and size options, size grids, materials, country of origin, and in-depth product pictures or videos are all included in e-commerce product catalogs. Also included is a price breakdown for each good or service that you offer. The customer will respond better if you provide them with comprehensive images, descriptions, and prices of your products.

With more knowledge of your audience and their journey, you can build catalogs for them. For each customer profile you have identified, you could create a unique product catalog that only shows items that are pertinent to their interests. Your catalog should also provide extensive filters that would help your customers go through and search your products seamlessly.

Providing multiple payment options on your e-commerce website is crucial, as customers may decide against making a purchase if they can’t use their preferred method. Offering a variety of payment options also fosters user credibility and builds trust, which will encourage people to buy right away. Additionally, the ease with which users can check out may encourage higher transaction amounts.

You should make the appropriate investments in the right tools to make accepting payments on your store or website as simple and frictionless as possible. You can give your customers exactly what they want in a short amount of time by using a proper and flexible payment gateway. Some of the best payment gateway integrations are,

1. CashFree
2. Paytm
3. RazorPay
4. IppoPay
5. PayU

Your brand’s shipping method is crucial for success; if customers can count on quick delivery, their preferred options, and excellent customer service, their trust in your company will grow. Customers’ delivery experiences can also be improved by the following ways:

• Online tracking that is precise and clear. Despite the fact that many couriers will inform you that an order is out for delivery, tracking options that provide specific information like expected delivery times are much more helpful.
• SMS notifications can be very useful in this situation. Some couriers, for instance, give customers updates on anticipated delivery slots or offer the chance to make changes.
• Effective communication when issues arise. Maintaining open lines of communication with your customers is essential.

These days there are multiple integrations available for all eCommerce platforms that offer the best shipping options (in terms of pricing) and experience. All you need to do is integrate one or multiple of these shipping integrations into your store. From printing labels to tracking, to bulk order processing, everything is possible. Some of the best shipping integrations for India are the following,

1. Shiprocket
2. NimbusPost
3. EasyPost
4. EShopBox

Your e-commerce strategy will benefit from having great delivery options because they will help with customer service and retention.

Despite the fact that many small businesses worry that bad reviews will hurt their reputation, accepting criticism can actually help your company, especially if you deal with issues quickly. You can enhance your brand’s reputation and begin to develop trust by providing customers with a platform to express their opinions. To become more credible to potential customers and the general public, every online business needs product reviews for e-commerce. If you incorporate these reviews into your website, there are a tonne of opportunities for brand expansion and financial success. For your website to perform better and generate more revenue, it is advised that you understand the opportunities presented by reviews, where to find them, and how to use review widgets to display them.

Since e-commerce offers so many advantages for online sales and the promotion of your products and services, it has emerged as one of the most successful marketing strategies for small businesses worldwide. Hence, you should have effective eCommerce websites if you want to succeed online. You should make developing an eCommerce website a top priority by working with some of the best custom eCommerce development companies in Chennai or at least DIY initially and get started. This not only benefits your company but also increases the visibility of your brand on a global scale. So, start your online journey today.