What is an eCommerce website? It is a website selling products or services with the help of online data transfer and payment. There are two types of eCommerce websites: the online stores that offer goods directly to customers and the marketplaces that act as intermediaries between multiple sellers and buyers. Whatever direction you choose there are still necessary steps to be made.

1. Conduct a discovery phase (decide what you want)

Everything starts as an idea. Evaluate every idea for its uniqueness and viability. Analyze the market and understand what customers may need. eCommerce is a very competitive area, so you have to offer something truly valuable to succeed.

Without profound business analysis, you risk failing right from the start. What are your goals and objectives, who is your target audience? You need to answer all the important questions to clarify what type of eCommerce platform you are going to make. It is high time to plan your budget and consider possible risks, set your goals and expectations. Prepare a full description of what you are about to create. With such a roadmap you and your team will be aware of what to do.

2. Choose a business model (how you will monetize it)

Your business can’t exist without money so think about your monetization strategy right from the beginning. However, depending on whether you are going to launch an online store or a market place your monetization options will differ.

Here are ways eCommerce marketplaces can make money:

• subscription fee
• store registration fee
• commission for transactions
• paid advertising
• selling extra services for merchants like logistics, shipping, and order fulfillment

Online stores monetization strategies:

• manufacturing your products
• purchasing and selling goods in bulk
• dropshipping for B2B
• selling under your brand products manufactured by third parties

Choose the most suitable strategy depending on your business. Take into consideration what your competitors are doing and what’s important for your target users.

3. Define vital features

Before launching a fully-featured website you can start with MVP, a product possessing only core features necessary to launch it and test users’ reactions.

There are 5 types of MVP and each of them is effective at a different stage of the project. You can even start when you don’t have any product yet. By this, you will save money and get feedback from potential clients. To launch your MVP you need to choose the most essential features.

An online store needs 2 types of features: for customers and admins. Here are some basic features for every eCommerce website:

• Sign up
• Attractive interface
• Search bar and filtersShopping cart
• Push notifications
• Payment options
• Customers support

Standard admin features:

• Dashboard
• User management
• Product categories management
• Order management
• Reports and statistics
• Promotion and advertisement management

In case you are building a marketplace, you also need features for sellers:

• Registration and verification
• Catalog to add and manage products
• Order management and fulfillment
• Shipment management

Sellers will appreciate it if you enable some useful instruments to boost their businesses. At least, think about paid promotion campaigns.

Think about what else you might need for your website to function. Pay attention to eCommerce trends to create something truly eye-catching. For example, you can use chatbots for customer support which simplify communication and solve problems.

4. Decide whether you are going to develop your website from scratch or use an off-the-shelf CMS

You might hesitate what direction to choose because both off-the-shelf solutions and custom development have their pros and cons. Many eCommerce entrepreneurs prefer off-the-shelf options like Magento, WordPress, or Shopify. They are affordable and quick to develop, though only fit standard needs.

However, off-the-shelf solutions may not be enough for every business. If you need unique and complex functionality, then build your website from scratch and customize it. Let’s figure out what is better for you.

An off-the-shelf CMS (Content Management System) is a pre-built solution available for mass use. Such solutions can be open-source (free) or proprietary (paid). There are 3 main CMS types:

• Website builders have a simple editor so that even a user with almost zero experience can construct a website. What is the best website builder for eCommerce? Probably, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and Bigcommerce.
• CMS platforms have basic functionality and offer many add-ons to create what you need. WordPress and Magento are the most popular of them.
• Enterprise-level CMS solutions are multi-featured systems for big organizations which need complex operations. Well-known examples are Adobe Experience Manager and Microsoft Sharepoint.

Custom CMS solutions are built from the ground up using programming languages. This option allows you to create a website tailored to your preferences. Custom-made websites are very flexible and personalized, though it requires more time and skills to build them.

Custom vs off-the-shelf website development

5. Decide if you build a website on your own or hire a team (how to choose)

It is great if you have the necessary skills to develop your website on your own. It will save you money and you will be able to keep everything under your control. However, if you don’t have enough experience, website development will be a very challenging task.

In case you decide to hire people to develop your website, you need to make sure these will be experienced specialists that you can rely on. It is not an easy task, that is why we’ve prepared an in-depth guide on how to choose a development team. In a nutshell, the process will consist of the following steps:

• Understand which specialists are required for your project: engineers, managers, designers, etc.
• Research the market and have a project specification where every stage of the process is documented.
• Decide if you need an agency (search at Clutch, Goodfirms) or freelancers (search at Freelancer, Upwork)
• Filter the most appropriate candidates, conduct interviews, give test assignments.

6. Grow and improve

Of course, not everything will go smoothly at once. But as you start you are always able to correct mistakes and fix problems. Be open to feedback and proceed to work to meet users’ needs and your own goals. Provide a good experience and attract new visitors to your website.