consumer.

With the help Shopify, Wix and BigCommerce platform, you can buy
a great domain name in around $10-$20 per year.
Here are some tricks and tips to select a correct domain name for your
eCommerce solution:
• Country code: Picking a correct country code is crucial. If you plan to sell
your product to only international clients, use a dot com (.com) domain. If selling
to a specific county, then you can use their code. Like Amazon has both .com
for US and international consumers and .in for selling just in India.
• No brand name: Avoid using brand or product name in the URL as it can
get you into legal troubles.
• Unique: The domain name should be unique, but not so weird that people
find it hard to look on a search engine.
• Integrate a keyword: In the domain name, add a term that resonates with
your business. The keyword will help you to have a higher rank in search
engines which will ultimately get you more traffic and sales.
If you already have a domain name, you can link it with your online store or
cancel that agreement.
5. Pick template for your website
Templates also known as themes make your site appealing. Most e-commerce
platform lets you design and develop your own site too, but that requires coding.
So, if you want to avoid that, use these templates.
Here are some tips for choosing the right template:
• Features you want in your store: Features are the key to a good
website. So, brainstorm and decide which feature is more important for your
store. It can be mapped, about us page and so on. Make a list of features and
use it narrow down the template.
• Homepage style: Homepage is the first thing consumers will notice about
your e-commerce site. So, make sure that the chosen template does justice to
it. Based on your business goals, decide what you want more videos, sliders,
single image and so on.
• Smooth navigation: The navigation of the website should be simple and
helpful. A potential customer will surf through the site for 10-20 seconds if the
template’s navigation feature is weak; it means that they won’t find what they
are looking for easily. It will amplify bounce rate of the website.
Other than that, check out the font and color of the template. It should go with
your brand image and should not be offensive.
6. Customizing the template
After choosing the template, the e-commerce development tools allow the user
to customize it. For customization, you will have to go to the store’s admin
panel. You can modify anything according to your will.
• Text Size, Color and Font
• Color of the theme
• Use of images
• Product’s position and so on.
7. Time to add the products
Once you have customized your template, it’s now time to add products to your
website. There is a button that will guide in adding your products. You must add
these details to your product to make it more alluring consumers:
• Name of the product and name of the brand (If outsourcing)
• Price of the good
• Category
• Weight for physical things
• File (For eBooks and all)
All the platforms have a different policy when it comes to a number of products,
product description and variation you can add.
A product description is crucial to get the attention of the consumer along with
images and category.
Check out these pro tips for the description:
• Don’t use a long sentence to describe the product. No one has that much
time.
• Don’t use cliques or technical jargon while describing a product.
• The description should also be SEO optimized as it will help you rank
higher and get more traffic and sales.
For product image:
• The images used should be high in quality and must not be blurry.
• The size of every image must be the same.
• The photos of the product should be taken with a piece of good quality
equipment.
• The image should be visible from every angle, so a 360-degree option is
necessary.
• The image should have a zoom button.
• The images used should be optimized so that they don’t slow down your
website’s speed.
For product category:
• Price range so that people pick products that they can afford.
• Option to filter the product using price, size and so on.
8. Payment methods
Online stores will be incomplete without payment gateway. It is a crucial step in
converting a consumer into a buyer. E-commerce development tool makes
integrating payment methods of all kinds into the site easy.
They connect the user directly to PayPal, Apple and Google Pay, Credit/Debit
cards, Master or Visa Cards for paying. The option to pay on delivery is also
available.
Payment option:
There are three popular payment options:
• Merchant account and payment gateway: In this option, you partner up
with a bank and they accept payment on your behalf. After this, they transfer the
amount to your business account.
• Payment gateway packages: In this option, software integrates all the
option into one and processes your card payments.
• Credit card payment: In this option, the payment method is integrated
with the store’s cart which means you don’t have to leave the site to complete
your payment.
Tips to apply the best payment method for your online store:
• To find out which payment methods work for your site, keep these things
in mind:
• Figure out the estimated number of total sales
• Customer details are also crucial. Find out, where the customer is from so
that you can have a payment getaway preferred by everyone.
• The payment method should also go with your store’s purpose and needs.
Security measures:
Customer worries most about security as they share their private details online.
So, making the site secure should be your priority, and it’s also easy to do so.
The website building tools use SSL certificates to secure the website. Secure
Socket Layer encrypts user data and optimizes user experience while online
shopping secure.
SSL is inbuilt in the tool. If not, it will be available as an add-on.
What is the cost of these Payment Options?
• All the different payment methods have different charges. Since, it comes
bundled with other features, de-tangle them. Figure out how much you are
paying and for what? Keep the following points in mind:
• You cannot avoid the credit card fee. The provider sets the fee which is
passed on by the platform.
• The charge on using payment processors varies from 1%+ 10p to 3% +
30p per transaction.
9. Shipping settings
The next step is to set up the shipping settings so that you can deliver the
products on your website.
Different e-commerce platforms have different options, but to set up this tab,
you will need these details.
Address of the shipping office:
• Include the address of the shipping origin to calculate taxes and all. It also
makes printing labels and asking for quotes easy.
• Address of shipping origin office is required when products are not shipped
from the main office.
• Shipping zones you want to cover:
• Shipping rates vary between countries and Zones. All development tools
allow the user to charge different rates from consumers based on their zones.
• The admin page shows your shipping zones and the individual rate of
shipping for each zone.
• Different shipping options are:
• Here is how you can ship products to different zones:
• Free shipping: If you sell a luxury product and can afford it, this is the best
option. Also, set the option of free shipping after a certain value. If your online
store sells products that are affordable, then don’t pick this option as it won’t be
profitable for you.
• Flat rate: In this option, you use the same amount for shipping any
product. It is a great marketing tactic, and you can cover the entire country or
some district in one price range.
• Real-time price: The shipping charge depends on the product’s weight,
size and so on. It is good for products that are expensive to ship for free.
• Pickup by a customer: A great option is to ask the consumer if they want to
pick the parcel from a local store or the office.
Different shipping services:
• The online store building tools allow you to provide different shipping
options to your consumers. It includes paying more for a one-day delivery and
so on.
10. Settings for the store
Your online store needs to run properly every single minute and this needs
proper settings. You can do this by filling out your preferences for each of the
following in the store setting section of the tool.
• Language: Select the language that the customer will see on the website
• Currency: The currency you want to deal in
• Time zone: To track the orders, set up your time zone.
• Address: Contact information and address of the main and local office.
• Store Name: Name of the store that you want on the title, homepage and
other pages and online searches.
• Contact Details: A public phone number and an email address
• Setting for the order: In this, you set the option of adding tax to your
product or not
• Product settings: In the product settings, you can decide what details
about the product you want.
You can take help from the tool’s support team to figure out all this.
11. Test the whole site and then publish it
The last step before publishing your site is to test it. You need to make sure that
every section of the e-commerce site works perfectly. Any issue can dampen
the user experience and sales of your site, so be careful.
Here are things that you should monitor while testing your site:
Checkout process
• Make sure that the checkout process works by making sure:
• All payment methods work against an order
• Shipping charges, price and category, and other details are visible.
• Discount and coupon codes are there or not.
• Whether the taxes on the product is visible or not.
• Refund policy on the product works or not.
• The best way to check all this is by ordering a product and refunding it.
Functionality:
• Make sure all the links and buttons like zoom in button works or not. If any
of the functionality of the sites doesn’t work, it will make you lose customers.
• Content:
• Whatever content you use on your online store, should be free of errors
and should be original.
• Mobile optimized:
• Make sure that your website works on all mobile devices as people prefer
their Smartphone devices more.
• Different browser:
• Make sure that the website is easily accessible on all web browsers.
Check the loading time and speed and fix any issue before launching.
Take some time to check these things before launching the site as there is no
room for errors in this stiff competition.
Conclusion
The development process of an e-commerce site takes some time and
research, but the end-result will be satisfying. With the help of this guide, you
can easily use any of the e-commerce website development tools and start
creating your online store. Always double check your work and make a detailed
plan before executing it.
In-House Ecommerce Solution
Yep, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Having an in-house solution means your
company invests resources into building an ecommerce solution for use exclusively
within your organization. Your team is responsible for its regular maintenance but the
system is built specifically to meet your current needs.
The Pros of Having an In-house Ecommerce Solution
Complete customization — One of the perks of moving your ecommerce operations
in-house is that the solution is geared specifically to meet your business needs. Let’s
face it, no one knows your business better than you do. An in-house solution is built
specially to meet the needs of your organization, without any extra features to bog
down your operations.
Readily accessible staff — Having a dedicated team to maintain your ecommerce
platform means that your company can troubleshoot issues as they arise. If
something awry happens, your business has the opportunity to correct the problem
internally without having to worry about time-zones or remote workers.
Keep costs under control — An outsourced agency can mean big bucks, especially if
you’re just getting your footing. It’s possible that you can’t afford to use an outside
agency, particularly if you’re not going to see an immediate return on your investment
for their services.
The Cons of In-house Ecommerce
Time-consuming — There’s a lot of merit in “going about things on your own.” But is
your business spending your time wisely by building your own in-house ecommerce
solution? Managing an online store requires a significant investment of developer
time – a key resource that could potentially be better allocated towards improving
your core business and product offering.
Lack of expertise — Ecommerce can be complicated, especially if you’re thinking
about extending your operations overseas. Proper Tax/VAT compliance, chargeback
management, and payment processing are all key areas that need to be properly
managed to ensure that your entire ecommerce operation runs smoothly. Failing to
do so will often result in legal issues and costly fees that may undercut your revenue
potential. If your company does not already have in-house talent that can already
handle this, you’ll have to focus on bringing in talent that can.
Security issues — Data breaches at huge corporations such as Anthem and Target
have spurred customers to take a greater interest in how merchants handle their
payment information. Companies selling digital products and software online must be
sure to comply with proper PCI standard (PCI DSS) to protect cardholder data.
Outsourced Ecommerce Solution
Outsourcing your ecommerce solution means that you’re putting your ecommerce
into the hands of a team of experienced professionals who aren’t within your
organization, but are putting their expertise and knowledge to work for your company.
Let’s break down the pros and cons of an outsourced ecommerce solution.
The Pros of Outsourcing Your Ecommerce Solution
An extensive knowledge base — An outsourced ecommerce solution team spends
their days on one thing and one thing only: ecommerce. Compare that to your in-
house team, who all too often are squeezing your ecommerce solution issues in
between product development and business management. A reputable outsourced
ecommerce solution team will have the know-how to take your organization to the
next level. They could even help you scale your operations globally too!
Time-saving — Reduce your time to market and start achieving your revenue
potential faster. Partnering with a full-service ecommerce platform like FastSpring can
enable you to configure your online store in minutes, all without having to invest
considerable time creating your own ecommerce solution.
Security solutions — Complying with payment security standards and local laws is
easy when you have an external partner handling compliance on your behalf. Give
your customers peace of mind when they shop using FastSpring’s secure checkout
and reduce costly chargebacks with our robust fraud management services.
Access to a variety of payment methods — Your customers aren’t confined to one
geographical location, so why should your business? Allowing shoppers to pay using
their preferred payment method is one way you can eliminate friction during checkout
and boost the conversion rate on your online store. FastSpring’s ecommerce platform
comes fully equipped with support for over 20+ currencies and a variety of alternative
payment options – allowing you to collect global payments effortlessly.
The Cons of Outsourced Ecommerce
Finding the right partner — How can you be sure that the outsourced ecommerce
solution will do what they promise they’ll do? It’s important that you carefully assess
any agency or solution prior to signing on with them. You’ll want to be sure that your
new partner has the skills and technical capabilities to support your business needs
and keep up with the latest ecommerce trends.
Budget constraints — It’s not uncommon for companies to overspend on an outside
ecommerce solution. However, if you’re proactive about sharing your concerns with
your agency from the start of your relationship, and judiciously choose where and
how you want their assistance, it’s possible to get the help you need at a price that is
more in-line with your budget.
You’re not their only customer — Unfortunately, if the ecommerce solution is really
great, it’s unlikely that you’re the only company they’re servicing. If you have a small
issue or a question, understand that it may take some time for these requests to be
handled. Again, it’s important to check out the agency’s customer service record.
Determine how committed they are to aiding you quickly and efficiently before you
sign on with them.