Thousands of e-commerce sites come online every day. They range from established brick-and-mortar businesses opening the digital frontier to new startups each with their own strengths and challenges. However resources are one of the areas where startups fall short. They usually have smaller budgets They need to manage efficiently and if their e-commerce site eats up most of their budget they may not have enough money for other business growth elements. If this question bothers you too learning how to create a low-cost e-commerce website should be your top priority.
3 options to create a low-cost ecommerce website for your startup If
If you're looking for the most affordable way to create an ecommerce website you basically have three options.
1. 'DIY' ecommerce site – Build and launch your own ecommerce site without using an ecommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce. The cost is small but requires more effort.
2. Use an ecommerce platform to build and host your website - this option comes with ongoing costs (monthly subscription) but is easy to build a website and lots of support. Depending on the subscription plan you choose it might be considered a low-cost option but it's usually the cheapest Expensive option of the three.
3. Outsource the creation of your ecommerce website – you can have a professional create your website in one go and you can maintain and update it yourself. This is a really low-cost ecommerce website option.
1. The DIY eCommerce Website Although
Although this option is the best if you are familiar with computer programming thanks to the wealth of educational resources and step-by-step guides available online almost anyone can have enough time and dedication to build an e-commerce website. Proceed as follows:
Choose Your eCommerce Website Builder You
You can use an open source headless ecommerce solution (like Medusa which is considered a Shopify alternative) but it's for those who are more tech-oriented. If you don't have the right technical knowledge and don't want to spend weeks researching technical terms Just to get your ecommerce store up and running it's not the right choice for you.
Then there are options like Wix - one of the most widely used website builders for beginners - which allows you to create an ecommerce website for free using drag and drop. However when you publish your website and start accepting payments you need to buy a Monthly subscription.
Using the WooCommerce plugin to create your e-commerce site on WordPress is another common and free option (even if it's not the best option). It allows you to add e-commerce functionality to any website. There are other free plugins that allow you to further customize your eCommerce website and add more options.
Choose a host plan and domain name if
If you're building a DIY ecommerce website hosting plans will be the only real cost. In addition to cost factors such as reliability reputation uptime speed security etc. must also be considered.
WordPress' own top recommendations are Bluehost and DreamHost but you can also check out Hostinger and Host gator. Hostinger offers the most affordable starting plan at $1.99 per month while Bluehost offers the most expensive plan at $4.95 per month.
Your domain name can (and should be) your business name or a variation thereof if raw matching is already in place.
Choose the right theme/template and customize If
If you're using Wix it offers over 500 free themes for ecommerce sites. WordPress also has its own collection of free themes many of which are aimed at e-commerce sites and integrates easily with WooCommerce. The right theme will be easiest to shape for your ecommerce business. It will have The right visual appeal has essential features like ease of navigation and mobile friendliness.
Add your product/service to the website When
When adding products to your e-commerce site you should:
. Write clear and concise product descriptions. The richer the description (rather than the sale) the more impactful it is likely to be. Provide the necessary information in the correct order to make it easier to navigate.
. Use professional photos of your product.
. Add information about the product SKU and manufacturer code. This allows people to search for that specific manufacturer code on Google (or other search engines) to find the product on your website.
The goal is to make the process of choosing the right product for consumers as easy as possible.
Set Up Payment Methods and Shipping Most
Most ecommerce website builders and plugins offer multiple payment options such as online payments like cash on delivery through multiple payment processors. Each method may have its own cost processing time and ease of use considerations.
Again the correct shipping options need to be set. Free shipping is one of the main reasons many people buy online. But that's not an economically viable justification in all cases.
Test and Launch Your eCommerce Website You
You must rigorously test your e-commerce website. You should be able to correct most errors before the site launches. The rest comes from user experience and reviews. An important test is how well your website performs on mobile as this is most E-commerce traffic comes from today.
Pros and Cons of the DIY Approach
Pros
. Most low-cost ecommerce website creation options Offers
. Offers many flexible tools and plugins You
. You can maintain and modify your website yourself saving time and costs Cons
Cons
. Takes a lot of time and effort This
. This is a difficult choice for people with minimal technical knowledge
2. Build and host your website with an e-commerce platform
Ecommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce allow you to build and launch an ecommerce store/ecommerce website using their platform and they take care of everything including hosting and maintaining the website. All of these costs are added to the monthly subscription which makes them The least effective low-cost ecommerce website option for startups.
Shopify and BigCommerce have very similar minimum subscription fees — $29 per month and $29.95 per month respectively.
The process of creating a website on these ecommerce platforms is relatively easy as all the theme tools and plugins of the website builder are specific to ecommerce and the respective ecommerce ecosystem. Even when loaded with Plugins and Additives. Shopify offers over a hundred themes and templates while BigCommerce offers about 170.
Pros and cons of using an e-commerce platform
Pros
. This is significantly easier for individuals without any technical knowledge
. Create and launch a website in a fraction of the time Managed
. Managed maintenance and integrations are included in your subscription plan
. 24/7 support ensures you can quickly resolve issues with your ecommerce store rather than tripping yourself up
Cons
. The higher cost Developers
. Developers still have a learning curve
3. The creation of outsourced e-commerce website development In
In a way outsourcing gives you the best of both worlds. With the right developer/development team not only can you get a quality product at a really low one-time cost; you can also save a lot of time. All this time can be better spent growing your ecommerce business.
While outsourcing creating an affordable low-cost e-commerce website for your business does get you out of the creation stage that doesn't mean you can't control the final product especially when compared with the right e-commerce from a quality and cost perspective When the development team works together. You can choose a theme to convey the format and style you want (according to your brand image) and any other details you need in your ecommerce site.
When you outsource make sure you get all the functionality your ecommerce site needs at least in the short term. The whole point of outsourcing the creation of an e-commerce website is that you can go live with minimal effort and time. But if the final product is incomplete and You don't have enough knowledge to add the necessary functionality which may cost more (in time) than paying for development in the first place.
The warning is that you need to learn how to add or remove products from your site and how to analyze your traffic.
Pros and Cons of Outsourcing
Pros
. This website is developed by experienced professionals
. "Time to market" may be short Significantly
. Significantly smaller learning curve You
. You can see your ecommerce business is up and running before you choose to invest more time and effort to improve your website (and decide if it's worth it)
Cons
. You have relatively limited influence over the minor details of your low-cost e-commerce site The
. The success of this option is largely dependent on choosing the right development team
Conclusion
It's not only possible to create a low-cost e-commerce website; it's easy and you have options. However it is not advisable to solve this problem only from a cost perspective. Your investment of time and effort and the customers you may lose while experimenting A DIY approach should also be considered. But all of these can pay off nicely if you follow the best practices for each option such as choosing the right ecommerce web development team.