An eCommerce website is also called a shopping cart, online store and even a web shop.
An eCommerce website is a website that is specifically for selling products. Many businesses not only have a website to advertise their products, but also sell them online at their eCommerce site. With one third of consumers spending three hours a day or more online, an eCommerce website is a must have for any product sales business.
Many Americans begin their purchasing experience by doing online research to compare prices, quality, and the reviews of other shoppers.
Even if they end up making their purchase in a store, they start their fact-finding and decision-making on the internet.”
- Jim Jansen - PEW Research Center
More and more businesses are going online these days, and if you run a business, then you have probably at some point considered going online. Let’s look a little closer at what an eCommerce website is, why you would want one, and what is required to keep it up.
Some things to consider with an eCommerce website are:
- Shopping Cart – This is the software that drives your online store. It is the groundwork that the eCommerce website design is built on and your product is added to.
- Taxes – With current US tax laws, it’s not very often you will be accepting taxes in all states.
- Payment Methods – There are numerous ways to accept payment online. PayPal is one of the more common and easy to set up methods. Google checkout, MoneyBookers, eCheck, ACH, check and money order are others. If you take credit cards, the merchant services’ payment gateway will need to be compatible with your shopping cart.
- Security - Special measures have to be taken to make sure that your data is secure as customers will be sending money and personal information, like credit card numbers, to you.
- Shipping – Shipping costs can be added by weight, product, number of items and other criteria. Shipping methods can be USPS, UPS, FedEx and more. For downloads, you’ll want a secure download method with a link that either expires or randomizes so your download link can’t be abused by posting it on the internet.
- Manufacturing – Even digital downloads are created somewhere. Physical products will have to be manufactured, stored and shipped.
- Inventory Tracking – The higher end shopping carts will allow you to track inventory and various stages of shipping.
- International sales and shipping – This will vary depending on the countries and shipping costs.
- Marketing – Web marketing and SEO for an eCommerce website is very different from a standard business website.
- Affiliate Sales - Selling your product through affiliates is becoming mainstream. Some shopping cart systems have this option built in.
- High End Hosting – Shopping cart software is pretty hefty and can really strain your hosting account. Shared hosting is not recommended at all for a website this size. Dedicated hosting is your best option for speed and security. We have a server set up specifically for these robust types of websites.
Here are a few of our eCommerce website designs:
After you get your eCommerce website, it will require maintenance on your part. An eCommerce site, much like a brick and mortar store, has to be continually maintained. You need to keep your product catalogue updated, make sure that your website is kept up, and fulfill the orders that you get from your eCommerce website. The advantage of an eCommerce site over a traditional store is that you can maintain a website from the comfort of your own home.
Contact us today to get a quote. We will get you set up with a well-designed, search engine optimized eCommerce website and let you do what you do best–running your business.
