No need to pull your veins out of body, if you want to start an online store.
Within just 30 days I have been asked more than 150 times about setting up and promoting an online store or eCommerce website. If you are also one of those who want to know about how to start an eCommerce store, then you are on the right place.
Staring and online store is not hard if you know how to start with and where to start. Today I am sharing this complete guide to help you start an eCommerce site.
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There is no doubt that it takes times and patience setting up an e-commerce shop, but all your efforts worth it.
When you offer a product online, it broadens the reach of the product to anyone on internet. Not only more people will discover about your product but also can talk and share about your products with their friends and family. This can happen from social media or Google search also.
No matter you are selling digital goods (such as online courses or ebooks) or physical goods (such as clothes, shoes) en eCommerce site is always helpful to find you more customers.
After the end of this guide you may wants to say thanks to me, but right now you can say Thanks to WordPress. Why? WordPress has made it so easy for you to build an e-commerce site. If you know which tools to use then within few days or hours you will be building an e-commerce store for yourself. Let`s see how WordPress gonna ease your way to create an shops online.
WordPress offers two major e-commerce platforms for creating shopping websites:
- WP eCommerce
- WooCommerce
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If you think that starting an e-commerce website is a headache, then you should start from the basics. First create a basic online store and later on add extra features and plugins to boost the functionality of your online shop.
The Best E-Commerce WordPress platforms:
In this guide to starting an eCommerce site, I am going to discuss about all the necessary platforms for shopping websites. When I say platform that means a tool, plugin or application which you need to run an online shop. You may find hundreds of e-commerce platforms but only few are worthy in long run.
It is always clear that every business owner has some different needs, so it is always important that you understand the need of your business before choosing an e-commerce platform.
WooCommerce:
In 2015, over 78.4% e-commerce sites were on WordPress using WooCommerce.
Woocommerce comes with user friendly interface, excellent features and constantly improving product environment. You should download the newest version of WooCommerce.
WP eCommerce:
Now you may ask that when WooCommerce is doing the job well then why people use WP eCommerce platform. Answer is simple.
WP eCommerce offer some advance features like table rate shipping and advanced checkout for free, but in WooCommerce you have to purchase an extra addon to use such features.
You may find that WP eCommerce is more beneficial for selling process of your website.
Easy Digital Downloads:
Above platforms focus on both digital and physical goods. But what if you need something for Digital Goods only. Then you need Easy Digital Downloads.
It is best for entrepreneurs, authors and artists who sell non-physical products such as music, digital art, ebooks etc.
Easy Digital Downloads makes the process of Downloading online products easy and secure. It even supports repeat and multiple downloads. It also supports payment gateways like Amazon, Stripe and Paypal.
Shopify:
Shopify is the quickest and easiest way to build an online store.
It offers you simple steps to selling in minutes with free hosting. You just need to buy a domain for your online shop and Shopify will place it on internet.
You can use this service on a monthly subscription of $13/month. You just need a basic account to upload unlimited products with unlimited storage and 24/7 awesome customer support.
E-Commerce Payment Gateways
Payment Gateway is the necessary part of e-commerce sites. This makes payments happen. You can do it via Credit card, PayPal or payment services like Braintree or Stripe.
You should look for the features on a payment gateway when selecting a platform. You should know that some platforms needs extra add-ons for some specific payment gateway services, such as If you want to add Google Wallet to your WooCommerce than you need to pay $79 extra.
PayPal:
The biggest and most used payment gateway for e-commerce site is PayPal.
It`s free and anyone can get it. Usually e-commerce platforms have PayPal payment gateway. You can even use PayPal buttons on non e-commerce platforms. On Wordpress you can use many variations of PayPal buttons.
Authorize.net:
If you are looking for a payment gateway for credit card payments without PayPal then Authorize.net is for you.
It allows user to make payment with electronic check or credit card. Amount will be transferred to the bank account of seller.
It supports all major credit cards such as JCB, Diner's Club, Visa, American Express and MasterCard. It even supports Visa Checkout, Apple Pay and PayPal.
Authorize.net offers the fraud prevention technology and automated billing for monthly subscriptions.
After looking at above image you may find it a costly payment gateway. Authorize.net is only for established businesses.
Stripe:
Now if you are looking for a free alternative of Authorize.net than Stripe is here. Stripe allows credit card payments at the flat charge per transaction of 2.9%+30 cents.
Stripe is a free extension so you do not need to go for any subscription.
Remember: To secure credit card information of your customers your site must have an SSL certificate. The major downside of stripe is that it is available for few countries only. You can check the list here.
Gumroad:
With a subscription of $10/month Gumroad is ready to manage sale of both digital and physical products online. It accepts Paypal and all major credit cards.
It even provides a product page so the buyers can see all the products.
In case you have a separate website you can install Gumroad widget to integrate payment gateway.
e-commerce Shop Customization:
WordPress offers hundreds of plugins to look your shop attractive. There are the following things that you should consider to make your shop look awesome.
- Is it organized?
- Is it easy to find products?
- Is everything presented in the best way?
Themes:
There are thousands of themes available for Wordpress e-commerce sites.
Even WooCommerce offers premium and free themes. You can even go to WordPress theme directory to look for the best theme according to your brand image.
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You can even use free WooCommerce's Storefront Theme.
Product interaction:
Products are the real thing that matter for a user on an online store.
You can use plugins such as WooCommerce Image Hover and WooCommerce Image Zoom to offer a closer look of your products. You can even use WooCommerce quick view to show a larger view of your products. You can even use WooCommerce Product Slider to show more products on single page.
You can even use the Customize WooCommerce Shop plugin to overall change the design of your theme including shopping cart pages, shop, checkout option products etc.
How to do advanced customization and use extended functionality
If you want to add some advanced customization and extended functionality then you can add more plugins to your site.
For example you can add customized shipping rate calculator or download button instead of add to cart button or country wise time etc.
Creating an E-Commerce Website
When you setup an online store for the first time, it seems a tedious and long process, but it is an awesome learning experience.
You should understand how various platforms are different from one another. This helps you to create online shop that you really want. The store you create should be easy to navigate and informative at the same time.
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Learning about the as many tools as you can help you to decide which tools are beneficial for your online store. Your end goal should be creating a happy customer experience so that customers can come to you again and again.
Are you an online shopper or an e-commerce entrepreneur? What suggestion would you like to add to this guide? share via comments.
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