Building an eCommerce Website: Key Considerations and Steps

In the modern digital age, eCommerce is the only way to compete with the biggest brands in the business. For Australia in particular, where the distance between the average customer and the average store is considerable, eCommerce isn’t just useful, it’s essential. The eCommerce sector is the 11th largest in the world according to the International Trade Admission. In fact, more than 40% of this occurs on eBay, Amazon, and Gumtree. It’s clear then that if building an eCommerce website isn’t a major concern of your retail operation, it should be. But there are several key considerations and steps you need to apply in order to be a success.

Step 1. Choose a Platform

The first step is choosing a platform or a host for your website. There are multiple options, ranging from free to subscription models. Often, many of the best features for you and your customers are behind a monetary barrier. As of writing this, the top four contenders for your content platform include:

• WordPress: This is by far the most widespread, and the most customizable. However, to get the most use out of it requires some knowledge of HTML.
• Shopify: Specifically tailored for eCommerce businesses, there’s a lot Shopify can’t do. However, what it does well it does very well.
• Squarespace: A good website builder for beginners with no previous web design experience.
• Wix: Another all-in-one website builder that is easy to use, highly customizable, and tailored for beginners with no previous experience.

Step 2. Set Up Your Website

Once you’ve chosen your platform, you need to set up your website. You can choose to do this yourself or look to engage the services of an agency that specializes in eCommerce web design in Melbourne. Exactly what you choose will depend on your priorities and business. However, most hosts offer prefabricated templates to help you start. If you opt to build the website yourself, you can apply a template and start filling in your website’s content. Include details such as contact information, an about page, and directions to your physical store if you have one. Don’t worry too much about loading your products yet, that step will come later. For now, focus on building the website and figuring out what tailoring or adjustments you want or need to do.

Step 3. Choose a Payment Method

Now we reach the most critical step. Add a couple of products, then select how your website is going to be configured to allow consumers to pay for their goods. Payment Method is more than just selecting whether your website will accept Credit Card or PayPal, while that is an important part of it, there is far more to it than that. There are presently three main payment methods available for you and your website.

The Redirect Approach

A redirect takes the customer to a separate site run by a different company or organization to allow them to process the payment. PayPal is an example of this and is the most widely used. The primary benefit of this approach is that it offloads all security concerns to a dedicated provider, but the downside is that many customers do not like this approach, especially if it’s with a company they don’t recognize.

On-Site Checkout for Off-Site Payment

Choosing this approach allows the website to be used for collecting details and organizing the sale, then holds that information so that the payment can be organized in another way. Although Stripe used to be the go-to example for this, readers may be more familiar with Facebook Marketplace or similar, where the website focuses on connecting buyers with sellers, and then gives them the means to arrange payment in another way.

On-Site Payments

The final option is the one you’ve most likely thought about on your own – on-site payments where every element of the sale happens on your website. This has its pros in that it gives you complete control over the process. Unfortunately, it also puts you in a position of extreme responsibility, especially if your website isn’t designed to deal with volume or is vulnerable to cyberattack.

Step 4. Hire a Developer

If you’ve made it this far, well done! However, building and maintaining an eCommerce website is a continuously growing and changing landscape. Thus, you must focus on product, outreach, and cybersecurity. Although some of the options above will reduce your load, you or someone in your business will need to keep a close eye on it. This is crucial to stay on top of problems that arise or to take advantage of new trends and developments.

An easy way to help you and your business stay on top of everything is to hire web developers and designers who can look after all of the nitty-gritty details while you focus on running the business. As a rule, it’s always best to hire someone who lives and works in the same area as your main client base and thus has knowledge of local trends, so if you’re in Australia, you might want to look for an eCommerce web designer located in Melbourne or look for similar options in the United States, the UK, or the country of your primary market.

Final Words

Remember, when building an eCommerce website, you need to make the decisions that are right for you and your product. Often those decisions will best be made by trained and qualified professionals who are familiar with your product. This article might have shown you the sort of steps required to hire the people you need for the job, or it may have been the first step in making you the professional you need to be to grow and develop your business. Either way, you can confidently say you’ve taken your first steps into a larger world.