Create An ECommerce Site From Scratch: Explained In 7 Simple Steps
By: Emma Jhonson
Tags: Ecommerce Web Development, Ecommerce Website Design, Website Development, Ecommerce Solution, Online Store

Entrepreneurship has become a most sought-after dream for almost everyone. And! With the growing usage of the internet, people are exploring more business opportunities. One of them is the eCommerce business, as a most revenue-generating stream for startup enthusiasts.

And! Why not? Establishing an eCommerce business is a flood gate to revenue, as the internet has a full-fledged customer range who are eager to grab the best deal online. But! For this, eCommerce website development is the most critical ladder that every startup enthusiast has to step on. Probably, you would also be planning to step on this ladder to relish the buzz of final success. So, do you want to develop an eCommerce website from scratch to kick-start your businesses?

YES!

But don’t know HOW??

Don’t fret! We will get a complete understanding of eCommerce website development in this article. So, stay hooked with me here.

How To Make An eCommerce Website From Scratch?

#1. Choose Brand Name & Get Logo Designed

Your first task is to decide what your brand name is going to be. Your brand name would be the identity of your business for both today and the future. So, you need to pick it wisely. Moreover, you need to ensure that your brand name and domain name should be the same.

Thus, research for available domain names should be done at the same time. You can explore available domains on websites like Wix, Godaddy, name.com, InstantDomainSearch, and many others

Take a glance at some aspects that you need to consider while deciding the brand name.

->Think about the product you are going to sell, suppose you are selling clothing then, you think in that way. Consider your business niche while deciding on the brand name.

-> Pick a catchy, unique, meaningful, distinctive, and easy brand name that connects with people.

->Articulate your brand heart in the name by considering purpose, mission, and values.

Once you have picked the brand name, you need to get your logo designed.

Suppose you have a very tight budget and can’t afford to hire a designer to get your logo designer. Don’t fret! There are so many free online tools that you can use to create a logo on your own such as Canva, Logomaker, LogoGenie, and more.

While creating a logo, ensure that you must define your brand through visuals. If you can invest a bit, I recommend you to hire a designer. Moreover, if you have hired an eCommerce web design company, then the designers can design an attractive logo.

#2. Buy Website Domain & Decide On Platform

It happens many times that businesses pick their brand name and get the logo designed. But, when they go online to buy a domain for the same, they find the domain isn’t already sold. So, what you need to do in such a condition.

Well! Doing some changes in spelling or getting an acronym domain can save you from this problem. But! You can get it done, only when you are lucky. Thus, it’s better you do domain research before deciding on a brand name and getting the logo designed.

For this, you can use brand name generator tools that tell unique brand names with available domain names such as Shopify, Oberlo, WebHostingGeeks, and more. Over these platforms, you can easily search for a logo name.

Once you sort out the website/brand name and purchase the domain. Now it’s time to decide on which platform you would create your application. Actually, there are several application development platforms that allow you to create an eCommerce store from scratch with ease, such as:

Magento, Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, Wix, and more.

No matter that you choose Magento or Shopify, you would have to go through the same processes, such as template selection and template optimization. These platforms are available with pre-defined eCommerce application themes that you just need to optimize as per your requirement.

If you can’t decide, you can check the given comparison among these platforms.

Once you decide about the platform, let’s get into eCommerce website development from scratch.

#3. Pick The Theme

Whether you have chosen Shopify, Magento, or woo-commerce, picking the right theme is the most critical aspect because the theme would make up for the user experience of customers to your store. Thus, you need to ensure that you pick a splendid and pretty looking theme suitable for your product display.

For eCommerce software development, both paid and free themes are available over these platforms; you can pick the one convenient for your budget. Let’s know which themes are best over these platforms.

Best Themes on Shopify:

Free Themes: Boundless, Pop, Supply

Paid Themes: Symmetry, Reach, Mr. Parker

Best Themes On Magento :

Free Themes: FreeGo, UB Trex, Bizkick

Paid Themes: Porto, Claue, Rubix

Best Themes On WooCommerce:

Free Themes: Neve Shop, OceanWP, Storefront

Paid Themes: Outfitter Pro, Nozama, Hestia Pro

Once you have picked the theme now, it’s time to install it. Here we will see how you can do this in Shopify.

If you have a free theme, then you need to click on “Add Theme” on the theme page. This will apply automatically to the dashboard to begin optimization.

If you want to buy them, then you need to click on “Buy Theme” after finishing the buying process, your theme would get installed, and you would be able to continue with optimization.

The process of theme installation is almost the same on every platform; you just need to keep your eyes open to see available options.

#4. Optimize Theme Setting & Add Images

Great! You are doing it pretty well in creating an eCommerce web solution. Now the next is optimizing your store theme setting to change its user experience as per need.

So, click on “Settings” (In Shopify) a panel will appear on the left-hand side, just like WordPress.

Begin with general settings where you can change your store name, store address, and email address. Moreover, you would need to change the time zone, unit system, currency, and weight unit to use the platform to calculate price and other aspects like order time, weight, etc.

Now go toward the taxes section.

Here you can set parameters for including taxes on your price or infuse theme post customer checks-out.

Here take a look into the Shopify setting dashboard.

I believe it is always best to be transparent and upfront about pricing. Think of it this way:

When a user adds an item to their cart, they are mentally prepared to pay that amount, and not more than one percent. It is like an anchoring effect.

Nobody likes to erase their credit card for a $50 purchase but to let them know at the last minute that the additional tax and shipping charge equals 20%.

Then see your payment providers.

First things first: All new Shopify stores are set to automatically accept credit card and PayPal payments.

But, you have to set up your account before you can join hands-on what you have earned from your store.

Here take a look into the Magento setting dashboard.

Instead of stating which bank you use and your account number, you will need to provide the employer identification number (EIN) of your business, which you will get when you register your business.

If you have not registered your business (and do not wish to do so for some time), you will need to enter your social security number and run as a sole proprietor. Find more information about registering business here.

one last thing

If you wish to accept alternate payments, including:

Bitpay, Payer, GoCoin, EPay / payment solution, Alipay Global

You can also set these on the same page. Scroll down, select from the list of alternative payment providers, and configure your settings accordingly.

Here are your notification settings.

Here you can change all the automated emails that encourage your customers, including:

->Order certificate

->Order canceled

->Shipping certificate

If you have some more time, I recommend you to work on your abandoned cart email. Try to inject humor and creativity into them!. For this, you should hire eCommerce developers as the process is a bit technical; doing it on your own can be a bit problematic.

A Glance at checkout dashboard in Magento

Now let’s get into changing the setting for customer checkout. For that, you need to think about:

The user will check out as a guest or as a registered member.

What information you will collect in sign up/checkout forms

Would you use the default shipping and billing address of the customer?

Ensure to have a seamless and streamline checkout process; otherwise, users can abandon the cart.

Most of the website lets users create an account, but some allow them to check out as a guest. Guest checkout doesn’t have many fields. Once you complete with checkout settings, clicking on the “Generate” buttons rest will be handled by the platform.

#5. Infuse Your Products

Now once you are done with the general and check-out setting, it is time you create your catalog. Pick the “Products” on the panel and click “Add Products.”

It will direct you to the page where you can integrate your product name, description, image, and set category.

Fill out your product details, upload images. Copy-paste options would work here.

Have a unique and SEO friendly product description.

Now you can see an option for “Edit website SEO.” There you can make your product SEO effective for better ranking by tweaking page title, meta desc, and URLs.

Once you complete it, all your products are ready to go live.

#6. Optimize Your Pages

By now, you have completed almost 80% of eCommerce store development. Now let’s set up the main page, which will be a major point of interaction with users.

While you would have too many other pages on your site, all will have hyperlinks on the home page.

Integrate header with navigation to other pages like Contact Us, About Us, Shipping & Returns, and T&C. Moreover, you can also integrate pages like blogs, FAQs, etc.

To set up the application, click on “Online Store” and then choose “Pages” -> “Add Pages.”

Add up all the pages and infuse content to those pages. Don’t forget to have a proper CTA for conversion and page interlinking.

#7. Check Payment and Launch Your Site

Now once you have infused all pages, it’s time to make a test payment. Yes! Test all the payment methods you have infused. This way, you can ensure that your platform is available with seamless payment options.

Magento payment gateway setting and test :

So, check out all payment options you have infused by making payments via all channels.

Payment test settings in Shopify are below:

Once your tests come up with a positive outcome, and you are assured that payments are seamless and secured. You are ready to launch your website.

But before launching, you would have to unlock the platform for that (in Shopify), click on “online store,” and click on “Preferences.”

If you are using a free trial, you’ll need to pack a plan to disable your password page. So, simply pick a plan and remove your password to bring your store live.

Wrapping Up

This is a simple explanation to create an eCommerce website from scratch, and you will find that the processes are the same in each platform, whether WooCommerce, Magento, and Shopify.

Moreover, I would recommend you pick the best eCommerce development service to create an online store as sometimes you can encounter technical issues that experts can resolve only.