How To Start an E-commerce Website?

Starting an e-commerce business is very exciting and challenging. With the rise of online shoppers, the demand for having an e-commerce site has increased; it is an effective way to reach the customer. Digital Innovations has worked with various e-commerce startups and established firms; we are sharing our experience here, which may help you.

1. Choose the products and the right model. 

Nowadays there are various e-commerce models like drop shipping, multi-seller marketplaces, self-inventory-based stores, quick commerce, etc. So the first step is to identify the right e-commerce business model and product. This is a business decision that always depends on the founders. You should do proper research on the right product and target market. 

 2. Branding Material Finalisation

Once you are ready with the business plan, then in the next step you should create your branding material. There are various things you need to do:

• Select a business name and logo.
• Select your branding colour and take help from any expert. 
• Select your domain name (website name). 

 3. Choose the Right Technology 

IT companies help the clients in choosing the right technology. Choosing the right technology and tech infrastructure is very important. Basically, on a technical level, there are two ways to discuss this here. 

First way—the first one is to go with a CMS like WordPress, OpenCart, Shopify, Magento, etc.

Second way: The second way is to have a custom-developed solution on any tech stack like Node.js, Python, Java, etc. 

While selecting a technical platform, depend on budget, business scalability, and your goals. 

Which one is the best: a prebuilt CMS-based or a custom-developed solution?

It is a very common question that comes up; let's have a quick comparison of both. 

CMS-based solutions—

Pros: In CMS-based solution development, costs are low and can be prepared quickly. 

It is something plug-and-play. 

It reduces your development cost and time.

Cons: The disadvantages of CMS-based solutions are not scalable. 

Mostly businesses use the CMS approach as an MVP. But later on, scrap the CMS solution and develop it from scratch. 

Another disadvantage is that when you go into complex customisations, it goes more complex in CMS, as you have to carry the whole CMS dependencies, so you lose your initial low-cost approach. 

Another thing you have to pay for is plugins, licenses, and membership fees. For example, Shopify charges a yearly fee, and WordPress requires paid plugins. Magento is an open-source solution, but on a large scale, it requires an enterprise license.

Custom Developed Solution 

Pros: There is no doubt custom solutions are best. Can be customised easily. 

It is your own technology; you get some value from the intellectual property. You can scale as you want.

Cons: It takes time in development.

The development cost of a custom-made solution is high compared to CMS-based. 

4.Next Step: Design E-commerce Website 

Once you have selected the technology stuff, you need to design your website. You can hire a web development company. When creating a website, just focus on its user experience. It should be good, mobile responsive, and SEO friendly. 

5. Product Listing 

Once your website is ready, you need to list products. In case you are working in self-inventory mode, then you need to list your products. When running a dropshipping business or managing a platform with multiple sellers, proper product listing management is crucial for success. 

During product listing, product listing There should be proper product images, product briefs, and SEO-friendly content. 

 6. Website Testing and Deployment 

The next step is website testing. If you are planning for a large marketing campaign and expecting huge traffic,. Using testing is performance by development agencies, but when you are assigning them a contract, make sure they follow it. Common testing practice -

• Manual testing—this is performed manually by the testers on various devices and user roles. Various test cases are performed in it. 
• Automation testing: There are various testing tools to perform automation testing.
• Performance testing—load testing and stress testing—is another advanced level where you want to make sure your website can handle a number of users.
• Security and Penetration Testing—This is performed to make sure your platform is secure and reliable.

Once testing is done, then the next step is to go live on the production server. 

 7. E-commerce Website Development Cost in India 

The development cost of the e-commerce website varies depending on the service provider, feature requirements, and technology stack that is used. But on an average level for startups. 

Basic CMS websites: These cost normal websites around INR 1 lac to INR 2 lacs. 

Advanced CMS websites cost INR 2 lacs to INR 5 lacs. 

Custom-developed websites:

Basic websites cost INR 3 Lacs to 5 Lacs.

Advanced websites cost INR 5 lacs to 15 lacs; enterprise solutions cost INR 30 lacs to INR 50 lacs.

This is just an idea about the cost; it may be more or less depending on your needs. 

So it was a guide about e-commerce websites; hope it helped you. Thanks for your time. 

Contact us for Ecommerce Website Development: 

Digital Innovations Gurgaon - 

Mobile Number: +91 92896 32810

Email: sales@dgtlinnovations.in

Contact us: https://dgtlinnovations.in/contact 

Visit our portfolio: https://dgtlinnovations.in/portfolio