Ecommerce maybe isn’t an unpopular definition. It is considered a lucrative industry for retailers. Ecommerce is one of the industries that have the fastest development speed. The simple and cheapest option for retailers is to take part in an ecommerce system. But owning an ecommerce website is a better choice for businesses if they want to build a brand and reach more customers.    

However, not only cost but also many business owners fluctuate in building ecommerce websites because they don’t know how to do it. Then, this article is for you. 

General Information about E-commerce Websites

What is E-commerce? 

E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business.

What is a website?

In order not to get confused with technical terms, the following analogy could facilitate the approach to the basic structure of the network of networks: 

Imagine you’re at a library looking for a English book. You go to the computers and type in the name of the author or volume you’re looking for. The system shows you where to find the book by giving you its section and code number. You then go to that section, find the book, and take it off the shelf. 

A website is a collection of web pages and related content that are identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Websites are usually dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, commerce, entertainment or social networking. Navigation between web pages is facilitated by hyperlinking, which often starts with a home page.

What is an E-commerce Website? 

E-Commerce websites are online portals that facilitate online transactions of goods and services through means of the transfer of information and funds over the Internet. In the early days, e-commerce was done partially through emails and phone calls.

Now, with a single website, anything and everything that a transaction needs, can be executed online.

What kinds of products sold via E-commerce Websites? 

The digital component of e-commerce allows sellers to offer a wide range of products, some of which wouldn’t be possible to sell in a physical location.

Physical products

Items such as clothing, furniture, food, or supplies are tangible products that can be stored in a warehouse. Sellers display goods on their e-commerce website, where consumers can like, save, or purchase them. Upon purchase, the business ships the item to the customer.

Services

E-commerce sites are also a popular way to sell services, like consultations, maintenance, tutoring, lessons, and more. Whether you want to learn to code a website or you’re looking for an experienced trainer to help fix your dog’s troublesome barking habit, there’s no shortage of assistance available online.

Digital products

Digital products—like online courses, software, podcasts, music, and e-books—are becoming increasingly popular on e-commerce sites as well. The rise of digital products has opened up a new way to learn skills on demand. 

Who needs E-commerce Websites? 

Ecommerce websites are built to connect shoppers to products or services for trading online. On the most basic level, they provide everything we need for online shopping. They work like this: A business builds the website and lists the products or services they sell, along with prices. All businesses need to an ecommerce website because it allows them to reach a wider audience and sell their products or services online. This can help businesses increase their revenue and grow their customer base. 

Startups need an ecommerce website because it provides them with a low-cost way to start selling their products or services online. This can help them establish a presence in the market and compete with larger companies. 

Big companies need an ecommerce website because it allows them to offer their customers a convenient way to purchase their products or services online. This can help them improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Online businesses need an ecommerce website because it is their primary means of selling their products or services online.

In general, E-commerce websites are crucial to all kinds of businesses. 

Why do you need an E-commerce website? 

Here are three reasons why you need an e-commerce website: 

Trend of shopping online: With the rise of technology and the internet, more people are shopping online than ever before. Having an e-commerce website allows you to tap into this trend and reach a wider audience. 

The best way to reach out customers: An e-commerce website allows you to reach out to customers in a way that is convenient for them. They can shop from anywhere at any time, and you can provide them with all the information they need about your products and services. 

Improve customer relationship: An e-commerce website can help you build a better relationship with your customers by providing them with personalized experiences and tailored recommendations based on their purchase history. You can also use your website to engage with customers through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Top E-commerce website examples that fit SMEs

Here are some examples of ecommerce websites that SMEs can take a look at before building their own ecommerce websites: 

Bite Toothpaste Bits 

Bite’s online shop is one of the best examples of an effective eCommerce website. The beautifully-designed homepage grabs visitors’ attention and immediately communicates sustainability as one of its core values, which is also a popular eCommerce trend.

Best Design Elements:

Expandable chat box. A small speech bubble on Bite’s homepage is a great way to encourage visitors to reach out without intruding on their browsing experience. Instead, the icon subtly changes colors each second to grab attention.

Strong messaging. Bite promotes sustainability across various web elements, including its subheadings and testimonials. This is an effective method to enhance the company’s overall branding.

High-quality photos. This fantastic eCommerce site uses product images with intense sharpness and exposure, making them stand out against the soft pastel background.

Notebook Therapy

Notebook Therapy is an eCommerce business selling Korean and Japanese stationery. Since the company is known for its cute designs, this Shopify-built website mostly plays around with pastel images and illustrations to stay consistent with the product branding.

Best Design Elements:

On-brand visuals. From simple hand-drawn illustrations to sticker-like thumbnails, Notebook Therapy’s eCommerce store stays consistent with its brand personality and products.

Emojis. This eCommerce business uses emojis across the site, including for the promotional banner, menu items, and headings. This demonstrates the brand’s fun approach and friendly attitude that matches its target audience.

User-generated content (UGC). Notebook Therapy displays photos from its Instagram followers. This type of content serves as social proof and can promote authenticity 2.4 times more than content produced by brands themselves.

Pitch tents 

Pitch Tents is a London-based company providing a luxurious camping experience, known as glamping, across the UK.

Using the leading eCommerce platform, WordPress, this company has complete freedom to customize the site design. The online store features sophisticated illustrations to visually sell its services and evoke a spirit of adventure.

Best Design Elements:

Illustrations. Pitch Tents personalizes its own eCommerce website and strengthens the product storytelling using cartoon images of the glamping experience.

One-page checkout. Pitch Tents’ singular booking page contains all the elements of a standard checkout process, including the selected package and contact details. Reducing the number of pages and clicks to complete a payment can quicken conversions.

Back-to-top button. Located at the end of each web page, this lets visitors jump back to the top of the page with a single click.

Grainne Morton

Grainne Morton is an excellent example to follow if you want a simple site that can still stand out from the crowd. It uses linework with an earth-toned palette to create a grid layout that highlights the product photos.

Best Design Elements:

Linework. This web design uses visible grids to break up sections and make the page content scannable without feeling cluttered. Grainne Morton puts images and text in rectangles to separate headlines, product photos, and menu items.

Instagram feed. This brand displays its Instagram feed on the homepage to encourage visitors to follow and build engagement.

Side shopping cart. When customers add a product to the bag, their virtual shopping cart will appear as a sidebar. This helps users quickly review their items without having to visit another page.

Potion 

Offering video-making software, Potion’s digital storefront is modern and fun. It uses ample white space to direct readers’ focus toward elements like calls-to-action (CTAs). It also utilizes a pastel color palette with bright tones to emphasize certain words, images, and videos.

This online business website applies parallax scrolling and 3D animations to make the user experience (UX) more engaging.

Best Design Elements:

3D looping animations. Potion’s cat mascot uses claymorphism, a simplified version of three-dimensional elements resembling items made out of clay.

Movable elements. The oval-shaped items on the integrations page are interactive. Readers can move, drag, and rotate these objects.

Graphic Interchange Format (GIF). The usage of GIFs helps Potion grab the audience’s attention and communicate product benefits better than static images.

Advantages and Disadvantages of E-commerce Websites 

Advantages of E-commerce Websites

What will you receive if you spend resources on building an ecommerce website? 

Ecommerce is known as a new breeze in improving user experience. Not only that, the covid 19 pandemic creates even more opportunities for e-commerce to develop. People stay at home more and start shopping online. The e-commerce website offers an extremely convenient online shopping solution for shoppers. However, not only that, but e-commerce websites also bring a lot of benefits to businesses.

Cost reduction when building one from scratch 

For a traditional store, you will not only have to pay the rent but also pay for maintenance costs such as electricity, cleaning, etc. Compared to the cost of renting or buying a physical store, building an e-commerce website is much cheaper. Many e-commerce platforms allow you to build a website for as little as $29.

Unlimited reaching of customers on your E-commerce Websites 

There will be no more geographical barriers when you sell online. The variety of payment methods as well as connections with shipping providers allows you to sell goods abroad easily. Local customers can easily place orders just by visiting the website. This will be something that traditional stores cannot do.

Faster buying process for your E-commerce Website customers 

Customers will no longer have to go directly to the physical stores like the traditional method. Instead of spending hours and hours going to the store and seeing the products, they can now simply visit e-commerce websites, all information about price characteristics,... are available, and they can also order quickly with just one click.

Moreover, ecommerce also has the following benefits

• Flexibility for customers

• Faster response to buyer/market demands

• Several payment methods

• Enables easy exports

• No Opening Time Restrictions

• Higher Margins & Better Cashflow

• Customer Data Insight

• Scalability

• Comprehensive Product Catalogue

Disadvantages of E-commerce Websites 

Privacy and Security Issues Related to E-commerce Websites 

Using E-commerce has a significant disadvantage of compromising your privacy and security. When using E-commerce, you have to provide personal data such as your name, address, phone number, credit card details, etc. This makes you vulnerable to cybersecurity threats such as data theft, phishing, malware attacks, hacking, and misuse. The E-commerce industry is the most vulnerable industry as it experiences 32.4% of cyber-attacks in various forms.

Therefore, an insecurely managed E-commerce website puts every consumer at great risk, which is probably the biggest disadvantage of E-commerce.

Connectivity and Websites Issues 

E-commerce is an internet-based industry that relies entirely on a well-performing internet connection. Any event that cuts off this connection to the consumers can result in huge losses. Moreover, issues like site crashes, slow load times, poorly designed user interface, and lack of mobile phone optimization contribute greatly to the loss of engagement and conversions.

Here’s a statistic that explains this point better: A delay of as little as 100 milliseconds in page response time can reduce conversions by 7%. An E-commerce business must have impeccable connectivity and a well-performing website round the clock. Maintaining this level of performance can be quite a challenge, which is why it can quickly become a disadvantage of running an E-commerce business.

E-commerce Website Comsumers' Inability to Try or Test the Product

Another disadvantage of E-commerce from a consumer’s perspective is the inability to try a product before making a purchase. In brick-and-mortar stores, consumers can pick up the product they’re interested in, feel it in their hands, test it out, ascertain its build quality, and analyze its appearance before deciding to buy it. This tangibility builds trust, and consumers can simply choose not to buy a product if it doesn’t meet their expectations.

However, in E-commerce, consumers are limited to pictures, videos, and product reviews before making a purchase. Even though many stores have money-back guarantees or “return or exchange” policies, it is still a hassle to order something and not find it exactly as it was shown on the website. The consumer then has to spend extra time getting in touch with support and returning or exchanging the product. This can be discouraging for many potential consumers.

Features of E-commerce Websites 

Easy and Simple Website Navigation 

Simple navigation is vital for your productive e-commerce website. This e-commerce website feature should enable your buyers to easily access your website pages. It increases the possibility of their buying from your online store.

Organized product categories and classes enhance navigation. Your product should be listed in structured categories and classes. It forms easier for your customers to browse the products they were looking for. 

A well-designed, tidy and responsive website structure facilitates search engines. It crawls and ranks your website to the first page of search engines. What do you observe at e-commerce websites that rank well? They have a smart and steering structure. This quality ranks them at the highest program listings.

The navigation is additionally essential so as for the visitor to be ready to select their product and check out as shortly as possible and complete their purchase. Not just for checkout, your customer services and pages should be conjointly straightforward to seek out.

User-friendly E-commerce Websites 

Every website should have a user-friendly version by 2017. Listen to Google and avoid SEO consequences. Another main thing about a user-friendly website is that most online consumers are mobile and tablet users. More than 40% of online purchases are made through mobile phones or tablets.

A responsive website with quality content will easily adapt to no matter device is accessing it and provides a user-friendly experience. But to a good shock, most of the websites still do not have adopted a responsive user-friendly version.

High-Quality Images and Videos in Commerce Site 

In earlier days, a product would be displayed with a photo and some points. But now, everything has changed according to time. Consumers want to see the product from multiple angles because people are using the product in different regions. They think that they should focus on and feel the product.

Provide images with good clarity. According to Adobe’s survey, if an image doesn’t load correctly or takes too much time to load, the chances of dropping it off by the consumer are 30 percent, and therefore it increases if not made correct.

Picture sells and not the content. An eCommerce store should provide more photos for each product. The images you provide should be in higher resolution and easily optimized for page load.

Multiple Payment Methods for your E-commerce Website Customers 

One of the many challenges eCommerce store owners face is the aspect of shopping cart abandonment. And one of the causes of high shopping cart abandonment is the lack of a preferred payment method. To boost the chances of sealing a deal in the final checkout process, it is best for eCommerce websites to provide multiple payment methods. The logic here is that different users prefer different payment options, and the unavailability of one would inconvenience them.

Other than just offering debit and credit card options, allow users to use other methods such as PayPal, Stripe, Payoneer, or direct bank transfers. The more payment methods on your website, the higher your chances you can seal a deal with your eCommerce site visitors.

Security Features of E-commerce 

Nowadays, online transactions have become a significant part of our life. Also, online transactions on ecommerce webshops can be the primary target for cybercriminals. It is challenging for online sellers to protect their customers’ data and take steps to give assurance to data.

It starts with a secure eCommerce platform list. With their well-secured features, there is no wonder that WordPress and Magento are the top platforms for sellers.

Some of the other eCommerce security features to consider are given below:

• SSL certificate: It provides an excellent secured connection between the website and the user. Before trusting an online eCommerce website, look for the HTTP and green lock in the address bar before entering your details.
• Two-factor authentication: This two-factor authentication is an extra one for secured transactions. It joins two sections for security by requiring a username & password and One Time Password (OTP) generated by the system.
• Firewall Security: Firewall also provides a gateway between two networks. It allows only authorized traffic and blocks any miscellaneous traffic.
• Privacy policy link: It assures the eCommerce website’s privacy policies and ensures the customer’s information is not shared with third parties.

Type of E-commerce Websites

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Definition: the business-to-consumer eCommerce model is also straightforward. It’s when a business sells products online, or via a mobile device, directly to consumers. Business-to-consumer eCommerce companies are companies that you and I visit online every day to purchase things like clothing, books, makeup, etc. This is the most familiar business model, and involves a retailer selling products or services directly to end customers — individual people. B2C retail is the most common business model, both online and offline, and you engage it in yourself (on the customer side) every time you shop. 

How it works:  Business-to-Customer (B2C) ecommerce websites are built to connect shoppers to products or services for trading online. A business builds the website and lists the products or services they sell, along with prices. Customers can then browse the website and purchase products or services directly from the business.

Example: Top B2C eCommerce companies include giants like Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba. It’s also critical to remember that B2C companies don’t have to exist solely online like Amazon and eBay.  B2C companies can also have a brick-and-mortar store and, if it makes sense, can start an eCommerce website. Examples of this include large fashion retailers like Nordstrom, J. Crew, H&M, and more.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Definition: The business-to-business eCommerce model is structured just like it sounds. It’s where businesses sell products to other companies. Types of products include anything that enhances another company’s business practices. 

How it works: As a business model, B2B differs significantly from B2C, where businesses sell directly to consumers. B2B ecommerce involves transactions between a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer, through an online sales portal. B2B sellers work with: 

Wholesalers

Large retailers

Organizations such as schools or nonprofits 

Resellers

Buyers and sellers can now meet in one digital home, placing and managing orders from their mobile phones and creating new opportunities for businesses to connect with distributors and suppliers.

Example: One of the best examples of a B2B business is a software company. Think Salesforce, HubSpot, or SurveyMonkey. All of these products are for the benefit of a business, and it wouldn’t make sense for the typical mom-and-pop consumer to invest in enterprise software.

Business-to-Administration (B2A) 

Definition: Business-to-Administration (B2A) is an e-commerce category that includes all transactions that take place on the Internet between companies, public administration, or government agencies. B2A e-commerce involves many services, particularly in areas such as social security, employment and legal documents and provides an online service for companies, the public sector, the government, generally through a website. Business-to-administration or Business-to-Government (B2G) is considered a derivative of business-to-business marketing.

How it works: In B2A e-commerce, companies can sell their products or services to public administration or government agencies. This type of e-commerce is also known as e-government. 

Example: A B2A site facilitates electronic exchanges between an organization and a public institution, like the website of a company that designed your city’s web portal, for instance.

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) 

Definition: Customer to customer (C2C) is a business model that provides an innovative way to allow customers to interact with each other. C2C marketing facilitates commerce between private individuals, typically in an online environment. A consumer-to-consumer business model is when one consumer makes and sells a product to another consumer. 

How it works: This type of e-commerce works on all electronic transactions for goods and services that take place between consumers in general. These transactions are carried out by another party, which provides the online platform, where the transactions are actually executed.

Example: One consumer may use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, or eBay to sell products to another consumer.

With online eCommerce tools like WooCommerce, consumers can even set up a C2C store on their personal website.

Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

Definition: Consumer-to-Business (C2B) is a business model in which the end-user or consumer creates products and services that companies and organizations consume to complete a business process or gain a competitive advantage. This is where a consumer, or individual entrepreneur, sells their products or services to businesses.

How it works: This type of e-commerce depends on the consumer, as he sells his own products or services to an institution that carefully searches for these types of services and products. C2B e-commerce is trendy in projects, through which young people work freelance and benefit from this type well.

Example: Good examples of C2B businesses would be a business consultant, a freelance graphic designer, or a social media influencer with a large audience.

Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)

Definition: The Consumer-to-Administration (C2A) is a business model that encompasses all electronic transactions conducted between individuals and public administration.

How it works: Similar to B2A, this type of site allows a consumer to provide information, goods, or services to public administration and governmental organizations

Example: 

Social Security: The distribution of information, making payments, etc.

Education: distance learning, disseminating information, etc.

Health:  information about illnesses, appointments, payment of health services, etc.

Taxes:  filing tax returns, payments, etc.

How to build an E-commerce website from scratch 

How to build an E-commerce website on your own 

We will present 8 steps to building an ecommerce website easily according to the following: 

Select your Perfect E-commerce Platform

As for building a house, to build a website you also need a steady background. Hence, the first step in building an ecommerce website is to opt for a platform. In relation type of website you want to build such as SaaS, Headless, or Cloud,...  you can choose an affordable platform.

You can choose an e-commerce website builder such as Shopify, Wix, or Bigcommerce. These platforms are affordable to small and middle businesses, it also has an affordable cost from $29 per month. On the other hand, you can build your ecommerce website on Magento or use the Woo-commerce plugin for a WordPress website. 

Choose a Name and Get your Domain for the E-commerce Website 

Once you decide on the platform to build e-commerce website, It’s time to come up with the business name and domain.

The domain name will be what customers enter in the search box to be able to go to your website. In addition to choosing a domain name that is short and easy to remember, you should still choose a domain name that is related to your product and industry. This will also help your potential customers know what you're selling. Not only that, this also helps your website to have a higher position on the search results page.

Once you have a few viable domain names, you can use access to some tools to check if it exists and buy it through domain name registrars like Godaddy, BlueHost, Namecheap, Google Domains.

Choose Hosting Package for the E-commerce Website

If you choose to build a website through ecommerce website builders like Shopify or BigCommerce,... you don't need to worry about this. The price packages of these platforms include hosting costs. So you just need to create an account and choose a service package. All are included in it.

However, if you build an e-commerce website on the WordPress platform, you have to find your own hosting provider. Choosing a good hosting provider will help you ensure the operation of your website. Top ecommerce hosting gives you all the knowledge you need to know to choose a hosting provider. You can refer to it to be able to choose the right hosting provider for you. 

Pick your E-commerce Theme

This step will determine how your website will look. Most platforms offer some free websites. You can completely use free themes for your cost-effective plan. However, you can also buy paid themes from the platforms themselves. In addition, websites like ThemeForest and Template Monster also offer a lot of themes for most website builder platforms, you can also choose a theme here.

Some must-have features that you need to consider when choosing a template are responsiveness, ease to customize, SEO friendly, optimized user experience, and support.

A typical feature when using themes in website building is that it is fast and convenient. However, using a theme for your website will make it difficult for you to stand out from the competition. Therefore, if you want your website to have a different design and easily stand out from your competitors, you can consider using a website design service.

Build E-commerce Website Pages 

To be able to attract as well as retain customers you must ensure that the pages are designed to work for them.

The homepage is the first place that customers visit, so the design must make a good impression on users. Not only in terms of design, the speed of interaction and response must also be optimized to avoid customers leaving.

About page: More than just a place to display basic information such as name, address, and contact information. This will help you showcase your portfolio and brand story, it will be a place to help you inspire as well differentiate itself from other competitors.

Blog page: You can use this page to provide useful information to customers such as tips, how-tos, manuals, etc. This is also a page that can help you reach customers through search engines.

Policy page: includes delivery policy, payment policy, privacy policy and policies on exchange and return. Please ensure that the information about the policy is displayed openly and transparently, in addition, it needs to be written in a clear and understandable way.

Contact page: A place where customers can quickly contact you when needed, make sure you can provide at least a phone number, email address, and company address if available, and you as well should clearly note the working time and response time. Providing complete contact information will help you become more reputable.

Product page: You need to provide complete information about the product to the customer. To be able to provide a better experience, in addition to images and descriptions, you can add product video, and a zoom feature. In addition, to improve the reputation of the product, you should set up a feature that allows users to rate the product. This is one of the leading factors affecting the purchasing decision of users.

Add your Products to the E-commerce Website 

The things you need to keep in mind when setting up product displays include clear images, visual videos, and detailed descriptions.

Make sure that the images you provide can show every aspect of the product. In addition, the images must also be of high quality, high resolution, and small capacity, to avoid the product page taking too long to load, causing customers to leave.

Video will allow customers to have a more intuitive feel of the product. Many aspects of the product that images cannot show, but video can do well. In addition, providing videos also helps create a positive impression on customers.

In the description, you must provide full information about the product such as origin, structure, usage, characteristics, material, and size,... Make sure the description is written short and clearly. clear and easy to understand. 

Set up payment and shipping on Your Website

Don't let your customers leave your website and choose a competitor just because you don't offer them a variety of payment and shipping options. Offering a variety of payment options is also a way for you to enhance the user experience. Paypal, credit cards, cash on delivery,... are popular payment methods. You can also set up additional local payments to diversify your payment options.

Besides payment, shipping is also an issue that you need to take care of. The factors of shipping cost and time are both things that customers consider when they choose a shipping method. Make sure that the shipping service providers you work with can ensure that your order reaches your customer on time and at a reasonable price.

Test and Launch your E-commerce Website 

The final step that to ensure your website can function smoothly without receiving complaints from users. Make sure you've checked all parts of the site with no missing a single thing.

After you have finished testing the website. You can already start launching it. However, to be effective, you must have a promotion plan for your website. You can use social networks, and email marketing, where it is easy to reach a large number of customers, or if you have enough resources, you can also use advertising tools of Google and Facebook.

Things don't stop here. You still have to continue to monitor and check your website periodically to make sure it always works stably.

How to choose a web design company

Top 10 Best ECommerce Web Design Companies To Work With In 2022

Web Developer Hiring Guide 

However, building an ecommerce website on your own can be a complicated process that requires a lot of time and effort. It can also be difficult to create a website that is tailored to your business needs.

Don't worry! You can take into consideration of hiring website developers because of its advantages. They can also help you use the latest tools and assets, keeping your website user experience refreshing. Ecommerce web developers play a critical role in making sure that potential customers can easily navigate your ecommerce store, find what they’re looking for and checkout easily and safely. They work with a range of skills, from backend programming to frontend ecommerce web design, and their responsibilities may vary depending on the type of ecommerce website. 

5 Essential Tips to Keep In Mind before You Hire Website Developer

Define your business requirements

The first and most crucial step in selecting a website developer is to describe the requirements of your business. Every web development project is different, and you will need a variety of resources to complete it successfully. 

Depending on the requirements of your business, you may now need to choose specialized developers for your freelancing website development. For a brief web development project, it could be required to hire a website developer for a few days. For a mid-sized or large-scale web development project, it will be necessary to hire a professional website developer on a defined time or project basis.

Hire those that are eager to learn

The second important factor to consider when hiring a website designer is to pick only those that are interested. While experience is vital, a person's natural curiosity determines how eager he or she is to learn new things and how well they will fit into your company's culture. For example, if your office environment requires hard deadlines and devoted work, the developer should be accessible to meet those requirements, or if your working environment is more casual, the developer should be willing to adapt.

Regardless of the circumstance, the best web developer is someone who is eager to research and pick up new skills necessary for web development. When you are a start-up, for instance, hiring a website developer with vast expertise working with big financial institutions is worthless. Hence, to choose the best website programmers to employ, plan ahead and evaluate the developer's skills as completely as you can.

Choose web developers who are flexible

 If you want to move your software to a more secure and next-generation platform in the near future, that developer may not have the exact skill set you require.

That's where adaptability comes in. Hiring a website designer with a strong skill set and a willingness to learn new languages might be quite beneficial to your firm. But how can you tell whether someone is adaptable and eager to learn a new language? Here's how to do it. 

Inquire about all the new languages they've just learned.

What are their preferred venues for learning and exploring new development topics?

What websites or platforms do they read to stay up to date on the newest technological developments?

When you have answers to all of these questions, you will undoubtedly have a better notion of who to choose from among all of the web developers accessible.

Use real coding challenges

The greatest approach to evaluate a developer's skills may be to use real-world coding issues that you anticipate coming into during the web development process. When hiring website developers, businesses usually ignore this aspect and instead pay attention to the developer's credentials and expertise.

There is no questioning the value of expertise and qualifications, but if the candidate lacks a large deal of real-world experience, your project may not be the best fit for them. Hiring a website designer should be your first priority if you're investing in a web development project, and offering real-time coding issues could be a helpful tool!

Don't forget to look for previous work experience

Even though we've covered everything up to this point, selecting a web developer still requires careful consideration of experience. A person may solve all of your development difficulties swiftly if they possess the necessary skill set and level of knowledge. They will guarantee that the web application functions properly and without mistakes and will have answers for any new issues that may surface throughout web development. 

As a result, it's always a good idea to hire web developers from a reputable software engineering organization. You may get all the resources you need from an experienced company for the lowest possible cost. They'll even provide original ideas to assist you in making your web application a worldwide hit. Hence, always hire the best resources for your project by working with a skilled and knowledgeable software engineering company!

And now, if you are interested in finding a website developer, I highly recommend Top Best ecommerce website development companies, in which CMSmart is basically a E-commerce solution corporation that creates high-end technology solutions and assists clients all over the world in improving their businesses. If you're seeking a versatile professional team to help you create your product, send us a message and we'll get back to you to set up a consultation with our specialists.

Top 5 E-commerce Website Builders

WooCommerce & Wordpress

WooCommerce is an open-source platform similar to WordPress and the most popular solution for building an eCommerce website using a theme. It’s currently the most popular technology used for eCommerce. Around 27 percent of all websites worldwide use WooCommerce, which comes around 35,712 websites.

WordPress is an open-source CMS that easily integrates with WooCommerce. With WordPress and WooCommerce, you can create your site the way you want it, depending on the products you’re selling. To add more functionality to your eCommerce site, you can easily install various WordPress and WooCommerce plugins. For eCommerce websites, a premium WordPress theme is a good option as they have good customer support and are even more customizable. So whether you’re planning to start a small or large eCommerce store, WooCommerce gives you all you could ever need for building a high-quality eCommerce store with the power of WordPress. 

7 Reasons why we love the WooCommerce & WordPress combo for making an eCommerce website

• Suits every budget
• Easy to use (especially for people who already use WordPress)
• Hundreds of extensions (plugins)
• Can sell all kinds of goods (virtual, physical, downloadable, services, etc.)
• Works with almost all payment gateways
• Open source – can be customized to suit our needs
• Big community of developers, marketers, and experts

Later in this article, you’ll learn how you can create a website using WooCommerce & WordPress or directly jump to the section: 

BigCommerce 

BigCommerce  is another top option to consider if you’re looking for a reputable and trustworthy eCommerce site builder.

BigCommerce has features like bulk pricing rates, quote management, customer groups, and custom price lists. BigCommerce is specially designed to help larger eCommerce sites scale quickly.

So, if you are willing to start a high-volume eCommerce store which is fully functional and has all the advanced features, BigCommerce will be perfect for you.

BigCommerce plans and prices:

• Standard — $29.95 per month
• Plus — $79.95 per month
• Pro — $249.95 per month

Here we go if you want to have a online store on BigCommerce, this video should be helpful: 

Shopify

Shopify is the most popular eCommerce platform which is used by more than one million online stores worldwide. Shopify is suitable for those who are planning to start a high-volume eCommerce store. Shopify provides 70+ free and premium themes that are easy to use and customize. The Shopify app store contains over 3,200 apps that you can choose from to add features and functionality to your eCommerce store.

Shopify’s plans and prices:

• Basic Shopify — $29 per month
• Shopify — $79 per month
• Advanced Shopify — $299 per month

If you are interest in having your own website on Shopify, the video is absolutely what you need: 

Magento

Magento is the most powerful CMS and eCommerce platform that perfectly suits any business type and size.

More than 190k eCommerce websites are powered by Magento. Magento is an open-source platform and provides more than 3,000 third-party extensions that can make your store unique and adaptable for all situations.

If you’re planning to create a Magento store for your website, be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort. If you don’t think you’re ready or have adequate knowledge, though, turn to HumCommerce.

They provide a full range of Magento development services like Performance audits and optimization, migration services, theme and extension development, UI/UX design, customization services, eCommerce consulting, SEO services, and more.

Highly recommend the following video for those who are newbies on Magento: 

Wix

If you are a beginner, then Wix is the most suitable eCommerce platform for you. Wix is amongst the top and most popular online site-builder platforms.

Wix is easy to use and comes with a drag and drop feature. Wix provides specific plans made for eCommerce websites. All plans have unlimited bandwidth, a free domain for one year, visitor app analytics, and $300 in advertising vouchers.

With the Wix store manager dashboard, you can easily track orders, inventory, and product pages.

Wix eCommerce plans and prices:

• Business Basic — $23 per month
• Business Unlimited — $27 per month
• Business VIP — $49 per month
• Enterprise — $500 per month

If you are new on Wix, the following video is for you:

FAQs

How do I create a free E-commerce Website? 

You can create a free e-commerce website using Mailchimp’s website builder. The website builder helps you easily design, customize, and promote free websites for e-commerce businesses. The best part is that you don’t need design or development experience to create a stunning website to showcase products, attract buyers, and finalize transactions. Instead, you can use various web design tips and landing page templates to build a mobile-optimized website quickly and start selling products immediately.

With Mailchimp, you’ll also get access to several marketing tools. Through our platform, you can purchase a domain for your e-commerce site, create landing pages, set up an online store, build out your social media pages, and more. In addition, with built-in forms, behavioral targeting, and analytics, you can begin tracking the performance of your website and digital marketing strategies as customers move through their journeys.

How can I start an E-commerce Business? 

Starting an e-commerce business may be more cost-effective than starting another type of company. However, it requires research and proper planning.

First, you must choose your product or service. Once you know what products or services you want to sell, you must identify your target audience. Your target audience consists of the customers who are looking for your product as a solution to their problems. Next, you’ll need a business plan that explains how you’ll make your business succeed through product sourcing, marketing, pricing, and goal setting. From there, you can make a website, source products, and start selling your products online.

How do E-commerce Websites Work? 

E-commerce sites are similar to other types of websites in that they provide visitors with information. However, e-commerce websites allow users to make purchases online using payment processors and payment gateways.

E-commerce websites list products, features, pricing, and CTAs that help users navigate the sales process. These websites connect to a product database containing information about the products available, including content and images.

Many e-commerce websites, including B2B and B2C, facilitate transactions from consumers to businesses. Ultimately, e-commerce websites allow customers to purchase products and services online.

What metrics should I track on my E-commerce Website?

Website Traffic

Your website traffic is a straightforward measurement of visitors to your site and the number of people who buy something while they’re there. Traffic often paints a clear picture of the effectiveness of your latest e-commerce marketing efforts.

Bounce Rate

Your bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page or interacting with just one area of your site. If you see a high bounce rate, consumers probably aren’t making many purchases, so it’s important to figure out why they’re leaving. The problem may come down to marketing, pricing, the layout of your site, or a host of other factors.

Visitor Conversion Rate 

The visitor conversion rate captures the percentage of website visitors who become paying customers. Conversion rates are important because they show how effectively you’re able to persuade folks to make a purchase. When you have a low conversion rate, customers are letting you know that something is missing from your business or your marketing.

Cart Abandonment Rate 

Just like in a physical store, an abandoned cart in e-commerce is one that has been filled and deserted by the shopper. While abandoned carts can be frustrating as a seller, they’re not always a bad sign. Many shoppers use their carts as a wishlist or placeholder as they look around for the right product.

Regardless, you want customers to re-engage and buy those items in their cart. You can encourage them to complete their purchase by offering a discount or nudging them with a promotional email.

Email Subscriber Engagement 

It’s easy to track how many people are reading your emails—and how many are becoming customers. Monitoring your email subscriber engagement can help you determine which aspects of your email marketing are effective and what might still need some work.

Mobile Users

Mobile e-commerce has become so prevalent that it’s even earned its own name—m-commerce. This makes it even more critical for you to track the number of mobile visitors to your site. It’s also helpful to pay attention to how many of your mobile visitors eventually become customers.

Time Spent

Looking at the time customers spend on your site can give you valuable insight into their behavior. Are your visitors browsing but not buying? Maybe your website is appealing, but your price point is too high. Are visitors bouncing almost immediately? Maybe your site is difficult to navigate.

Pages per visit 

Another metric that can help unpack customer behavior is pages-per-visit. This measures how many individual pages on your site customers are visiting and can help you measure the effectiveness of your online store.

What should my E-commerce Website do? 

Accept Orders

If you’re running a business that sells a product, your e-commerce site must be able to accept orders from your customers. This process can be more complex than you might expect. For each order, your site will need to:

• Record customer information (name, address, etc.)
• Collect customers’ acceptance of your terms of service
• Calculate any applicable taxes
• Apply coupons or discounts
• Generate order and tracking numbers
• Share delivery details
• Process billing information
• Provide access to a payment gateway

Take payments 

There should be a seamless transition from your website to a payment gateway. Typically, payment gateways allow customers to:

• Select a payment option
• Provide details such as credit card numbers and CVVs
• Use multi-step authentication for secure payments

Handle Shipping and Logistics 

Once your site has handled the order and payment process for a customer, the next step is delivery.

As a seller, your goal is to ensure that customers receive the right product on time and in perfect condition. To help this process along, you can either handle shipping and logistics yourself or use a third-party provider. No matter which method you choose, your website should be able to initiate the process accurately and consistently.

Your site will also need to have a process in place for accepting returned items. Also known as reverse logistics, this process is just as important as shipping outbound goods.

Provide Customer Service 

Inevitably, your customers will need to communicate with you about their order or experience. They may need to correct their personal information, make an exchange, or return a faulty product. Your website is where these customers will turn to get in touch with you. The easier you make it for customers to connect—with a contact form or chat service, for example—the easier it will be to solve their problems quickly. 

Top useful resources when building an E-commerce website 

21 Must-Have Features For Ecommerce Sites

8 key points in building an eCommerce website

10 Ecommerce Website Design Tips to Reach More Customers

Factors to Consider When Designing an eCommerce Website

Build an Ecommerce Website That Keeps Up With Evolving Customer Expectations

Final Words

An ecommerce website is not only a site you sell your product, but it is also a tool where you can build relationships with your customers, increase brand identity, and enhance the loyal of customers. 

Building an ecommerce website is so easy. Website builder tools allow you to build a website quickly and cost-effectively. If you meet some trouble on implement process, Contact us to get worth advice from our professors.

Best Regards, 

Selena

Developer

Mrs. Selena is a highly accomplished professional specializing in e-commerce project development, support, and maintenance. With extensive experience in the field, she is known for her exceptional leadership, strategic thinking, and ability to deliver outstanding results.
As a seasoned expert in e-commerce, Mrs. Selena has successfully led numerous projects from conception to completion. Her expertise lies in developing robust e-commerce solutions, optimizing user experiences, and driving online sales growth. She excels at understanding client requirements, crafting effective strategies, and overseeing the implementation of complex projects.
In addition to project development, Mrs. Selena has a proven track record in providing ongoing support and maintenance for e-commerce platforms. She is skilled at identifying and resolving issues, ensuring smooth operations, and optimizing performance. Her attention to detail and problem-solving abilities make her a valuable asset in maintaining a seamless and reliable e-commerce environment.
Mrs. Selena's exceptional communication skills, coupled with her collaborative approach, enable her to work effectively with cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and clients. She is dedicated to staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends and continuously enhancing her knowledge in order to deliver cutting-edge solutions.
With her comprehensive understanding of e-commerce, strong leadership abilities, and commitment to excellence, Mrs. Selena is an invaluable resource for organizations seeking to maximize their online presence, drive sales growth, and provide exceptional customer experiences.