E-Commerce Website Development: Everything You Need to Know

Almost 15% of sales are made online, and that percentage is rising as e-commerce continues to dominate the global retail industry. It is imperative that you have a strong e-commerce website if you want your small business to ride this new wave.

A well-designed e-commerce website has more to offer than just eye candy. If done right, it will simplify the ordering process for customers and create brand equity that can help your business grow, which will translate into actual sales and profits for your e-commerce company.

To help you get your online business off to a great start, we'll provide you with a step-by-step guide on E-commerce website development  in this post. Let's dive straight in.

What is e-commerce website development?

E-commerce website development refers to the process of creating an online platform that allows businesses to sell products or services over the Internet. It involves a combination of web design, web development, and business strategies to create a digital storefront that is user-friendly, secure, and efficient. E-commerce websites enable businesses to reach a global audience, operate 24/7, and streamline the buying and selling process.

E-commerce website development is a dynamic process that requires collaboration between web designers, developers, and business stakeholders to create a comprehensive and effective online shopping experience.

How to develop an e-commerce website

A successful e-commerce website development process involves several steps varying in scope, from articulating your company’s identity in a digital context to building the site itself.

Establish your brand 

Brand establishment in an e-commerce context involves making several determinations. To start, is your internet company a business-to-business (B2B) or a business-to-consumer (B2C) venture? 

You’ll want to determine your target audience and tailor your e-commerce project to meet their needs and tastes, from the style of photography to the level of detail in product descriptions. The last step is to create a catchy company name that accurately conveys the goals of your brand. This should be something memorable and distinctive.

Buy a domain name

You may also want to consider domain name availability when choosing your e-commerce business’s name. An easy-to-remember and eye-catching URL can drive traffic to your e-commerce site, and increase brand awareness, so you may want to check to see what URLs are available before settling on a company name. 

Choose a hosting platform

Once you purchase your domain, you can get your website up and running by choosing a website host (preferably one with an e-commerce platform) to host your site as well. 

Certain hosting providers provide basic website building and design services, while others offer pre-made website designs that are optimised for both desktop and mobile devices.

Design your site

Beyond a memorable logo and eye-catching colour palette, your website design should effectively communicate your business’s goals. 

Pay special attention to designing a navigable Online store creation, with easy search and filtering options, as this is your e-commerce site’s core functionality. Loss of sales and a deterioration in the reputation of a brand can be caused by a disorganised website design or an unpleasant checkout process.

Determine how orders will be fulfilled

Which e-commerce fulfilment strategy will you opt for? In-house fulfilment, dropshipping (ordering items directly from suppliers on customers’ behalf), or third-party logistics (fully outsourced fulfilment processing)? 

These will influence your ordering capacity and, in turn, the way your website is designed. Make sure your advertisement copy clearly tells customers when to expect their shipment, especially if you're depending on a third-party logistics service and they have a standard delivery time window.

Build and launch your website

You may wish to save on web development costs and use an e-commerce website builder to create your website in a prefab method—dropping pre-coded content blocks and image placeholders into a site-building interface. 

You can still use a hosting platform like Shopify, hire a separate developer to create your website, and then move the website over if you have a little extra money to spare.

It's time to launch your website after it has been built. However, you should fully test it to make sure everything functions properly before you do. Test all of your e-commerce website features, loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and the checkout process before launch.

Establish tracking using Google Analytics or a comparable tool. In this manner, you may keep an eye on the functionality of your website and make data-driven decisions to gradually improve it.

Maintain your site

Your e-commerce website will need to be regularly updated to reflect changes in your stock and product line and any promotions you’re running. 

You might discover that certain features of your website's design aren't functional for you or your clients, or that elements need to be altered in response to input from users. Unlike brick-and-mortar shops, e-commerce sites can be changed with a click of a button.

Qualities of successful e-commerce sites

There are several key elements any successful e-commerce website should contain—from the back-end coding and security to its clickable features and checkout flow.

Good UI/UX

A successful e-commerce website will have an excellent user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design. The basic requirements of good UI/UX in an e-commerce context include filters that allow customers to identify their desired product or range of products efficiently, a search bar, a clean design, and a legible copy. 

Good online security

Because you are handling sensitive financial data, like credit card numbers and mailing addresses, belonging to your customers, the security of your online store and any data it processes and/or stores is critical.

E-commerce security best practices include adequately password protecting your site and all other sensitive accounts (don’t use easy-to-guess passwords) and employing “transport layer security” (TLS), “secure sockets layers” (SSL), and HTTPS authentication—programs that authenticate and encrypt links between customer computers and your site. You can also make sure that antivirus and anti-malware software is installed on every device used by the business.

Great mobile experience

The amount of time spent on phones by internet users is increasing. Consequently, a greater proportion of online shoppers' browsing time is now spent on mobile devices.

Using responsive design, which automatically resizes your desktop website for a mobile screen, is a great way to optimise your site's mobile experience. While most DIY web design platforms, such as Squarespace and Wix, come with responsive design by default, any web designer you work with in 2023 should be able to provide this functionality upon request.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) enhances your products’ visibility and ultimately sales (known as the conversion rate) by causing your site to rank higher in search engines. 

In order to do this, you can use a variety of content strategies and techniques. For example, you can rank higher than your competitors' websites in product-related search results by including specific keywords in the copy of your website or the product descriptions.

Quality product photos

Customers primarily see what you're selling through photos. They improve the shopping experience and aid in establishing the credibility of your products, both of which can boost sales. 

Consider that the same product is being sold at comparable prices by two internet retailers.

Store A uses smartphone photos that are grainy and dimly lit. The product lacks clarity in its details and does not allow for multiple viewing perspectives.

Now think about Homeick's Store B, which displays its candles with lovely product images. The Barbie Dreamhouse Candle product page for the Homesick brand.

The product's features are highlighted by the ideal lighting. Clients are able to examine the product from various perspectives and observe the finer details.

If you lack the knowledge or tools necessary to capture images of a high calibre, you might want to hire a product photographer. They can assist in showcasing your goods in the most effective manner.

Smooth checkout flow

Sales can be lost as a result of an unpleasant checkout process. Customers may give up on the purchase completely if they are required to go through drawn-out, difficult sign-up procedures before they can make their purchases. Think about including a guest checkout option, which enables users to make purchases with less information and input from them.

If customers have already registered on your website and have their credit card information stored (securely!), you may want to think about implementing a one-click checkout option to speed up the process even more rather than using the more labor-intensive loaded shopping cart development method.

You can also incorporate third-party payment processors such as Apple Pay or Shop Pay, or let users sign up quickly by connecting their Google or Facebook accounts.

Conclusion

It is not a task to be taken lightly, creating a successful e-commerce website is one of the most important aspects of developing your e-commerce business.  By carefully considering each of these aspects, you can build a robust and successful e-commerce website that not only meets your current business needs but also has the flexibility to grow and evolve over time. 
With a focus on creating unique, cutting-edge solutions catered to your particular business needs, we at u492383997_GiwVH Solutions offer a wide range of web development services in the UK. The areas of expertise for our team are creating and designing e-commerce platform that boost revenue, foster client loyalty, and raise customer engagement.