New to E-Commerce

[JV22]

Hi there,

I am new to getting started with an e-commerce shop, so I am going to need a bit of advice on being pointed in the right direction! I have my niche that I would like to sell and I just need to know where to start, whether to use shopify etc.. what I will need to get me started really!

any advice is muxh appreciated!

Many Thanks,

Jack

 

[Mark_Taylor_]

If you post more info then i (and many others) can help.

Things like expected volume of sales
Number of SKU's
what kind of functionality you will require from the site
approx budget for website (self build or using professionals)

There are many factors in choosing the right ecom platform and it's better to get it correct beforehand.

You have the main ones such as shopify, magento or woocommerce / wordpress and each of these 3 have very different pro's and con's

 

[JV22]

If you post more info then i (and many others) can help.

Things like expected volume of sales
Number of SKU's
what kind of functionality you will require from the site
approx budget for website (self build or using professionals)

There are many factors in choosing the right ecom platform and it's better to get it correct beforehand.

You have the main ones such as shopify, magento or woocommerce / wordpress and each of these 3 have very different pro's and con's

Hi there Mark,

Thanks for the response.

Expected volume of sales is hard to say at the moment in time, im hoping maybe 10 per week? I haven't had chance to figure this out yet.

The functionality of the website will hopefully be the main page, a few other pages such as about us, contact us tabs. FAQ's, testomonials etc. potentially 5-10 pages/tabs.

And the budget for the website is hopefully going to be $0 as I will be building it myself/ help off friends.

Many Thanks,

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

If you wanted a low-cost/free hosted solution then you could look at the likes of FreeWebstore or ECWID as options to consider. Both offer free hosted ecommerce websites up to a certain number of products. You will need to register a domain for a small fee but other than that it would just be your own time depending on the number of products. There are of course many other hosted platforms (Shopify, Sellr etc) and open-source (WooCommerce, OpenCart etc) platforms to choose from and most will offer free demos to aid your decision.

Best of luck with the venture Jack

Simon

 

[ryedale]

I'd add OpenCart to Mark's list - we find clients get to grips with it easily and there is a substantial third party extension market.

 

[Mark_Taylor_]

I'd recommend looking into wordpress / woocomerce for your needs, as its easy to use and has a ton of modules both free and paid for.

Wordpress hosting can be cheap and easy to find, as are designers, developers and 3rd party modules.

 

[antropy]

And the budget for the website is hopefully going to be $0 as I will be building it myself/ help off friends.

What experience do you have building websites?

 

[Mark_Taylor_]

What experience do you have building websites?

My thoughts exactly, as i mentioned on a different post, there is a world of difference between a DIY website and a one written by experienced web designer. If you have very limited budget, you'd be best off buying a good quality, lightweight responsive theme / template for your chosen platform. Make sure to read the customer reviews for the theme and check if the theme dev's update it regularly and offer any support.

Similar for SEO, sure the on page SEO is stuff that most people could make a decent job of, but off page SEO, PPC campaigns etc requires a fairly in depth knowledge.

 

[antropy]

My thoughts exactly, as i mentioned on a different post, there is a world of difference between a DIY website and a one written by experienced web designer.

Well exactly.

Personally I think if you want to keep your initial costs low, which is sensible if you're testing the water with a new venture, pay for the cheapest Shopify package.

If you want to spend even less than that, get some $1 hosting and install OpenCart, which is pretty easily done if the host has Softaculous as described here:
https://www.antropy.co.uk/blog/what-s-the-quickest-way-to-install-opencart/

 

[JV22]

What experience do you have building websites?

At this current moment in time not a lot, a few months? Unfortunately don't have any examples at the moment. I am in the process of being taught/self teaching code but I would still class myself as a beginner.

 

[antropy]

I am in the process of being taught/self teaching code but I would still class myself as a beginner.

Well, OpenCart was written so that the code was simple and understandable, especially compared to Magento:
https://www.antropy.co.uk/blog/the-lure-of-magento/

Your best bet might be to get OpenCart installed and start having a play with the code.

 

[Paul Norman]

I have been in E commerce for a LOT of years.

I am both intrigued and concerned that no one else has mentioned this but your choice of platform is of tiny significance in the potential success of your adventure into E commerce.

All the major platforms, and many others, will do the job, and do it well.

E commerce is exciting, and vibrant. It is also hard work, and you are completing with people with a lot of experience and skill. And money.

All of which can be overcome if you have the right products, and the right marketing. And the difference between platform A and platform B to your chances of success?

About zero.

It will make more difference that you have the right people working with you, or, if initially you will go it alone, the right information and skills.

 

[antropy]

And the difference between platform A and platform B to your chances of success?

About zero.

Absolute nonsense.

If you go to a web agency that uses their own bespoke system and ties you in to a long contract you may end up with vendor lock-in massive fees, no ability to add new features and great difficulty moving.

If you go with a big hosted platform like EKM or Shopify, you will have on-going monthly fees and limited ability to change how your shop works, but this may be ok depending on your needs.

If you go with a self-hosted, open source platform, you will either need to be ok with a bit of web development or have access to a good freelancer or web agency.

For example, a start-up with a limited budget of a few thousand pounds might be crippled before they begin if they decide to spend £10k to design and build plus £300/month to host a Magneto site. A larger company might end up with their hands tied and needing an expensive re-platform if they went for a hosted solution but then needed some functionality that the platform doesn't allow.

So I'm afraid the platform you choose does matter. The other things mentioned above by @Paul Norman matter too but it's like asking "On a bicycle, what's more important, the wheels or the handlebars?" Obviously you need both to be successful so don't underestimate the affect the platform has on your venture.

 

[Paul Norman]

Absolute nonsense.

If you go to a web agency that uses their own bespoke system and ties you in to a long contract you may end up with vendor lock-in massive fees, no ability to add new features and great difficulty moving.

If you go with a big hosted platform like EKM or Shopify, you will have on-going monthly fees and limited ability to change how your shop works, but this may be ok depending on your needs.

If you go with a self-hosted, open source platform, you will either need to be ok with a bit of web development or have access to a good freelancer or web agency.

For example, a start-up with a limited budget of a few thousand pounds might be crippled before they begin if they decide to spend £10k to design and build plus £300/month to host a Magneto site. A larger company might end up with their hands tied and needing an expensive re-platform if they went for a hosted solution but then needed some functionality that the platform doesn't allow.

So I'm afraid the platform you choose does matter. The other things mentioned above by @Paul Norman matter too but it's like asking "On a bicycle, what's more important, the wheels or the handlebars?" Obviously you need both to be successful so don't underestimate the affect the platform has on your venture.

Antropy.

Absolute nonsense?

Which of course, is an opinion to which you are entitled. I think you talk mostly bollocks too.

Of course, in both cases, we are just speaking from our own experiences.

I have been doing this a long time. Successfully. I do, of course, still learn. But I shall not be changing my platform. And I stand by my comments.

 

[antropy]

Absolute nonsense?

Mostly, with the tiniest grain of truth.

I think you talk mostly ******** too.

Give me a specific example.

I have been doing this a long time. Successfully.

As have I.

But I shall not be changing my platform. And I stand by my comments.

I don't know what platform you use and haven't suggested you change it.

 

[Paul Norman]

Mostly, with the tiniest grain of truth.


Give me a specific example.


As have I.


I don't know what platform you use and haven't suggested you change it.

I stand by my advice.

And you will stand by yours.

You think mine is absolute rubbish. I think yours is.

I suggest therefore that the opening poster stops faffing around on pointless forums where all the advice conflicts with all the other advice and gets on with running their business.

I am completely comfortable with having my advice squished. I hope you are too.

 

[antropy]

I am completely comfortable with having my advice squished. I hope you are too.

There are big differences in the pricing structures, ease of use and support, and what's possible with various platforms. To say that's absolutely irrelevant to an online-business is dangerous advice indeed.

Of course a good ecommerce platform is not everything, but to say it's absolutely irrelevant is obviously incorrect.

 

[Paul Norman]

There are big differences in the pricing structures, ease of use and support, and what's possible with various platforms. To say that's absolutely irrelevant to an online-business is dangerous advice indeed.

Of course a good ecommerce platform is not everything, but to say it's absolutely irrelevant is obviously incorrect.

Obvious to you, and obvious given that you have not engaged with me, or the context and detail of my response.

Your opening comment was not to do that, but to say 'absolute nonsense'.

Which is the thicko's approach to reasoning.

So let's drop the whole thing. I am a real person - not an anonymous nickname with a made up picture, and I stand by my comments.

You should do the same, perhaps.

But there is some context here. I am not trying to advocate a platform from which I make my living. I make my living by selling things online using other people's platforms.

 

[antropy]

Obvious to you, and obvious given that you have not engaged with me, or the context and detail of my response.

I have engaged with the content - I've said it's correct to say that there are plenty of very important things to get right when running an online business, but to say the platform has zero relevance is wrong.

This is a forum where we try to get to the facts, and if something that I don't believe is true is posted, I'll correct it, and if I'm then shown to be wrong by facts, I'll admit it.

So let's drop the whole thing. I am a real person - not an anonymous nickname with a made up picture, and I stand by my comments.

Sure, and me neither, that's me top left, anonymous screen names with no online identity are annoying indeed:
https://www.antropy.co.uk/meet-the-team/

But there is some context here. I am not trying to advocate a platform from which I make my living. I make my living by selling things online using other people's platforms.

Two points here:

1. Although we specialise in OpenCart, I recommended Shopify in this case.
   
   
2. You have this backwards - the reason we advocate OpenCart is not because we work with it, it's the other way round - the reason we work with it is because we did a thorough review of the most popular open source ecommerce platforms and found it to be one of the best in many areas including code quality, speed, simplicity, community, ease of use etc.

 

[leabradley]

You can follow the shopify platform for the creation of ecommerce stores because shopify is a trending CMS’s nowadays. Shopify have advanced and safe features as compare to other CMS’s.

 

[Alex Watkin]

I think shopify is great, but quite expensive for what you get. I personally swear by wordpress and woocommerce. I have been able to built very large (30k products) ecommerce stores using wordpress, and a dedicated VPS. I was able to create plugins which connected data feeds from retailers to the woocommerce store, which imported thousands of products and tracked conversions.

 

[Andrew1789]

Hi Alex. Was your e-commerce store a dropshipping store? I'm looking into e-commerce but I'm not sure which route to take:

1. Dropshipping
2. Private labelling- ordering from China and keeping stock at home to fulfill, or sending to a prep centre which is linked to my Shopify. So when an order is placed, the prep warehouse gets the details and they package and deliver to the customer.

Which of the two above would you advice is best for a starter?

Thanks!

 

[WebshopMechanic]

Hi Alex. Was your e-commerce store a dropshipping store? I'm looking into e-commerce but I'm not sure which route to take:

1. Dropshipping
2. Private labelling- ordering from China and keeping stock at home to fulfill, or sending to a prep centre which is linked to my Shopify. So when an order is placed, the prep warehouse gets the details and they package and deliver to the customer.

Which of the two above would you advice is best for a starter?

Thanks!

Hi @Andrew1789 and @JV22

Not sure if you're still looking for advice so thought I would answer anyways.

OK, Shopify is a great solution to get started. No, it's not the cheapest but it is the fastest growing e-commerce platform at the moment and it has a ton of great apps with some very clever functionality that drives sales (Check out FOMO for example).

Shopify also plugs into a drop-ship app called Oberlo. That actually provides drop-shipping direct from Alibaba sellers in China so you could drop-ship directly from there, provided your customers can deal with the lead time of 10-20 days delivery (not impossible).

I've used quite a few e-commerce platforms and Shopify is by far the simplest to use. It's also very secure because it's a hosted solution on Shopify servers which are extremely fast and well-maintained.

I've worked with companies that I've launched on Shopify and others that I've helped who have revenues in excess of £1 million. It's simple, scalable and just works. Uploading products, editing them and creating content is also very easy.

I am also a fan of Wordpress and Woocommerce. Wordpress runs 23% of the internet so it can't be that bad.

The problem with being so popular is that hackers go after it to try to find vulnerabilities and they sometimes do. The main reason is that people launch it on a shoestring budget and scrimp on servers. If you go for low-cost hosting on crappy servers then you run the risk of being hacked.

I'm not saying you will be targeted but you need to make sure you or your developers are on top of all the security patches, hosting updates and updates for all the plugins. They also need to make regular back-ups. There are many best-practice security measure guides for Wordpress out there.

In terms of extra features, both are fairly affordable if you need bespoke development. Wordpress is probably cheaper and there is usually a plugin for everything. Shopify can be a bit expensive if you start loading up on the apps. Yes, they are nice to have and they work but most charge a monthly fee which all adds up.

Just set your budget (possibly more than zero), keep things tight, make a bit and invest back in.

I hope that helps.

Matt

 

[Coari]

First decision to make is to choose between hosted or self hosted solution.
I prefer hosted as there is no ongoing fees (of course there will be hosting costs) and you got full access to your website.
Out of self hosted solutions you have (in order from easiest/cheapest to complex/expensive) main 3 players like: Woocommerce, Prestashop and Magento.

Magento - for Majority of people Magento is an overkill, developers charge a lot, hosting needs to be very good and thus expensive. Most people will never need such a complex solution.

Prestashop - easier, a lot of functionalities, multishop option, integration with marketplaces in my opinion one of the best choices from medium-large business - for some reason less popular in countries with English as main language. Maybe because you don't like French who created Prestashop?

Woocommerce - easy to set up and use, inexpensive. BUT - lacking a lot of functionalities out of the box - even such a basic thing like invoice generation need to be installed as additional plugins. If you want nice shop with a lot of functionalities costs will add up anyway and it won't be much cheaper than Prestashop.

 

[trucdev88]

I have just set up a small business. My product is clothes. Can you share with me some experience which you have during doing business. Thanks so much.

 

[Coari]

What questions do you have? If you don't want to ask just pm me.

 

[Yaali Inventory]

Try MultiChannel Selling with shopify and other ecommerce marketplaces

What is a Channel?

A channel is a place through whom you sell your product. A channel can be a brick-and-mortar business, private agency and online business portal etc.

What is Online Multi-Channel Selling?

Online Multi-channel Selling defines the way of selling in other Marketplaces and E-commerce platforms like Amazon, Ebay, Shopify, Etsy, Magento, BigCommerce etc,.

Benefits in Multi-Channel Selling -

• Enhance Product Visibility across major marketplaces and e-commerce platforms
• Increase in your Revenue Growth
• Acquire new Customers

Increased visibility means Increased Revenue Growth.

• To increase the visibility of your product, it should be seen by every visitor. So to drive a large number of visitors to your website, it definitely costs more. As a cost effective strategy, you can add your product to the marketplaces which already has a large number of visitors.
• By selling in different Marketplaces and E-commerce platforms you shed light over your product for the customers who're in need of it.
• Each and every online selling platforms has unique type of visitors, who're in need of various products with a quality and worthy enough to buy.
• By Selling in multiple marketplaces, your marketing expenses reduce while revenue growth increases

Increased Customers means better relationship with customer.

• Focus on the customer whom you’re selling to, learn the ideology to satisfy customer with what they need and what they request, so they get their requirements fulfilled.
• Retaining Customers are the main sales driving customer, so once the customer is retained to purchase a product from you again, as the product has good quality etc. then the level of customers will boom.
• So to retain your customers, focus especially on the sales driving customers and provide offers, discounts to them for much larger purchase, so their need of product purchase from you might get a hike and as well word of mouth will also increase.

Kind Suggestion -

If you're a startup and willing to sell in other Marketplaces and E-commerce platforms, then we are here to help you and guide you with order and inventory management specifics and marketing strategies.

Thank you

Best Regards,

Yaali Inventory Management Software

 

[effie9]

Congrats! I am sure you will manage to create a good e-commerce store. By the way, I have found something for you. There is a detailed description of sales settings and distribution channel opportunities. For example, there are service suggestions for direct sales, advantages & disadvantages of the indirect sales etc.

 

[bijutoha]

You can consider WordPress, and some social media platforms to start selling right now. You may take squareup, bigcommerce as the trial, too.

 

[pelparc]

I might be wrong (and normally are) but it looks like your putting your toe in the water, having a go and see what happens. Exactly as i did when i started and looking back on my first site it was shockingly bad. All of today's ready built options are fantastic and you really need to be nitpicking to condemn them. Just pick one, that you can customise yourself and really try and spend as little as possible. Spend your time and effort on great images and detailed content. Then once your venture takes off you will have an idea of what you want and need from your eCommerce system, that's when you need to consider spending money to get exactly what you need. Until you know what direction you will be taken in there is very little point in investing large amounts on time and money on your web-store platform, particularly as all of the current offerings deliver a similar customer experience. So as Paul Norman says it will make zero difference at this stage which platform you choose. Good luck

 

[Christopher Day]

Shopify, Shopify, Shopify

 

[antropy]

Shopify, Shopify, Shopify

Might be worth explaining why so that your post is useful to others.