Building An eCommerce Website: 6 Steps On How To Do It Right

www.namify.tech

4 min readJan 17, 2020

Whether you are an apparel manufacturer or a retail brand, building an eCommerce website for it is always a great idea. And if you are a retail entrepreneur looking to find out if your business needs an online store, then you’ve come to the right place.

With bullish statistics backing the eCommerce industry, it isn’t hard to fathom that global eCommerce sales are at an estimated value of 3.46trillion for 2019.

That’s almost an 18% jump as compared to the previous year! Offline retail still holds the lion’s share of overall sales of 21trillion for the same period. But it is interesting to note that the bulk of the growth came through online channels.

All of this, while internet penetration is still at a modest 16% worldwide.

As an increasing number of consumers from developing countries get access to the internet, it is anybody’s guess, that they will eventually shop online. This does not mean the death knell for offline businesses, because people will continue to shop offline.

But it does mean that almost every business needs to open a storefront at the most convenient location for the customer — his/her mobile device.

An online storefront is not only about making your business future-ready but it also serves as many opportunities rolled into one.

Why You Should Consider Building an eCommerce website?

1. Augments Sales

Building an eCommerce website is known to increase sales. And this is one reason any entrepreneur or business owner will find convincing. Even with a roaring offline business, taking your business digital can help add to your company’s revenues.

A great brand offline is bound to do well online with loyal brand customers wanting your products even when they cannot make it to your store.

2. Expansion

Another advantage of building an eCommerce website is accessibility to the digital world. You can take your business places without physically being present in those locations.

With a great logistics partner, you can send your products to different corners of the globe and increase your sales many times over.

3. 24/7 presence

Building an eCommerce website means taking your online presence a lot more seriously. While physical shops stay open only during the day, your website is accessible through day and night.

This helps in generating leads, introducing your brand to customers, and helping potential customers make decisions even while you are sleeping.

There are other logical reasons for taking your offline business online such as low starting up costs and building a better reputation.

6 Easy Steps To Building An eCommerce Website

1. Be clear about your goals

It is absolutely vital to know the true reason or purpose behind why you wish to build an eCommerce website. You need to clearly map out the goals you have in mind and how your online store will help to fulfill them.

Are you looking to add an online storefront to an existing offline retail business? Or is it service based? Are you starting a new venture and will be listing manufacturer products on your website? Or probably you are looking at selling digital products?

There are many questions to be answered before you start building an eCommerce website. They are linked to product storage, distribution, delivery and geographies that you plan to target.

Also, your overall eCommerce marketing and growth plan will depend on the kind of business you are in and the ultimate objective and goals.

2. Choose a domain name

Choosing the right domain name is a critical component as it sets the tone of your online identity. While it’s important to find a domain name that is short, meaningful, and memorable, it’s equally essential to pick a domain extension that is relevant and descriptive of the nature of the business.

This is where the .store domain makes for a great choice. Since the word ‘store’ has long been associated with a place where a business sells something, the .store domain conveys the same meaning.

When someone comes across a domain name with a .store suffix, there’s no missing that the website is indeed an online store. This is probably why even Emirates used www.emirates.store as their merch store URL to demarcate it from their primary global business website.

While you can read up on do’s and don’ts about picking the right domain extension, here’s what you should keep in mind when picking a domain name. Pick a name that is:

Short, easy to type, and easy to remember
Unique, relevant, and meaningful
Clean, crisp, and uncluttered (free of any lingual or grammatical errors)
Descriptive of what you sell and the industry you belong to
The name of your brand or product