Top E-Commerce Resources
It’s official – if your business involves selling products or services then you need to have an online store. While it’s entirely possible to run a successful business selling in physical stores only, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll see your sales soar if you set up shop online. Think about it, there are over two billion consumers who have access to the internet – wherever you live in the world that’s a vast jump from the number of shoppers who visit your town or city to hit the shops.
Setting up an online store can be intimidating to some but it’s a straight-forward process and there’s no reason why somebody with little tech experience can’t get their virtual shop up and running in a matter of hours, you just need to find the right tools for the job… which is where this post will come in handy.
Before you start building your store, there are a few things you’ll want to consider so you don’t run into difficulty later on:
Who are you going to sell to? – This might sound like a silly question but you need to know your target audience from the outset as this will help you settle on pricing, design and marketing.
Where are you going to ship to? – Will you offer international shipping or only within your country? If you’re going to offer international shipping, will you offer a tracked service or even arrange for customs charged to be covered when people purchase from you?
What is your return policy? – This is something you need to make clear before people purchase. Are they responsible for paying the return postage? How long is your returns period and when will their account be credited?
Which payment methods will you accept? – As well as credit cards and debit cards, will you accept PayPal transactions? Will any fees be applicable for those using specific cards or purchasing from certain countries?
There’s a plethora of apps, website builders and plugins that can help breathe life into your online store and get your virtual customers through the door and it can be overwhelming to narrow down exactly which ones are the best fit for your organisation. To help you choose the cream of the crop, today we’re sharing our top e-commerce resources that can help your online store hit the big time. This time around we’re looking at website builders and one particularly imperative plugin but stay tuned for future posts where we’ll look at themes and apps. Keep reading to find out what we chose and be sure to click on any that take your fancy to be taken directly to the purchase page.
Squarespace
$30/mo
One of the web’s most popular options when it comes to building your online store, Squarespace uses a simple design process to help you create an attractive, attention-grabbing online shop that performs perfectly.
Big Cartel
$9.99/mo
Particularly popular amongst fashion and jewellery retailers, Big Cartel uses simple tools and resources to help you develop an online presence where you can manage and sell your products, engage with your customers and run your business the way you want to.
Shopify
$29/mo
Offering a fourteen day free trial, Shopify gives you the opportunity to test the service before making any commitment. Their ethos is ‘your brand, your way’ and this is reflected in everything they do – from the huge library of themes you can customise to reflect your brand, to the control you have over marketing, payments, shipping and more.
BigCommerce
$29.95/mo
If you already sell your products in other marketplaces but want your product listings gathered in a single place that you have control over, BigCommerce is exactly what you’ve been looking for. The service allows you to seamlessly add any existing product listings to your own site and will even maintain your inventory if you want to continue selling in multiple online locations.
WooCommerce
$0
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say WooCommerce will be your MVP when it comes to running an online store. In fact, almost 40% of all online shops use it! With tens of useful plugins developed to run alongside WooCommerce, this one bit of kit you can’t go without. Best of all? It’s free.
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So there you have it, five website builders and plugins that we recommend for those who want to set up an online shop. Now we want to hear from you – which themes, plugins and apps would you recommend for e-commerce websites? Let us know your thoughts and we’ll be sure to include your suggestions in a future post.
