Building an E-Commerce Website

Building an e-commerce website has become very popular not only in the digitalizing world but also in this period when our shopping habits are changing. While many companies, brands and people are now more willing and determined to build an e-commerce website compared to 6 months ago due to Covid-19, it is necessary to impulsive actions. In this article, we will try to explain about the requirements and steps of building an e-commerce website.

I want to build an E-Commerce Website

Nowadays, we have quite frequently come across the question “How to build an e-commerce website?”. We should say that this process is not as easy and simple as it is thought, both in terms of technicality and time. When building an e-commerce website, it is of great importance that we should act as if we establish a physical store and make effort for that. Of course, although both the setup and marketing expenses of an e-commerce website are not as challenging as a traditional store, a considerable effort is required.

Whether an e-commerce website is built for an existing brand with a physical store, or whether it is a new brand that is only accessible in digital environment, the following basic steps should be followed to reduce the rate of failure.

Where should we start to build an E-commerce website?

You can review the basic information and details of which processes and steps you should take when building an e-Commerce Website as follows:

E-Commerce Website and Product Selection

When creating an e-commerce website, it is important that the product is of high quality and should be sought after by customers, as in all types of commerce. Even if the product is not in demand, a marketing process should be organized in a way that the product can be made in demand. We recommend that you should evaluate the product and market first before saying I have a product and I want to build an e-commerce website. “Why should customers choose you or your products?” It is very important that you answer this question quite objectively. Depending on your answer to this question, it would be useful to proceed to the next step.

Technical Systems required for E-Commerce Website

This point is very critical. There are hundreds of alternatives in the market to build an e-commerce website. Ready systems, special software and open source platforms. It is rather difficult and meaningless to tell which one is best or better than the others. At this point, your business model and goals are important to make a decision. Of course, budget will come into play and affect the whole process. If I buy a ready-made system, it may be difficult to expand this system later; if I have special software written, it may go beyond my budget; or do open source systems cause different problems? The answers to these questions will determine what infrastructure you will choose. However, in our opinion, open source systems are the most preferable among these 3 methods in terms of budget and flexibility, as well as your business and your aesthetic perception. Along with the relevant infrastructure preference, a hosting or server where the system will be installed should be chosen. In fact, it is very important that the hosting or the server should be integrated with the system to be installed. For example, choosing a Linux server or hosting for an e-commerce website prepared with ASP.net would be a very wrong decision. What is important here is the possibilities your server system offers you within the scope of legal obligations. Your preference should be based on various items such as keeping the relevant data for a certain period of time, system security, backup opportunities as per the regulations.

Payment Methods for E-Commerce Websites

There are multiple payment methods available for an e-commerce website. Which method you should prefer depends both on the target audience, the target market and the systems you use. Common payment methods for e-commerce systems are;

Cash on delivery,
By credit card,
By EFT or bank transfer

As we mentioned above, it is very important for which target market these payment methods will be made available. Preferably, these 3 models should be included in your system, but you can also take steps gradually without forgetting that each of them will cause different expense items. For example; If you try to enter a country like Russia, where credit cards are rarely used and the rate of cash on delivery is 74%, you should offer cash on delivery option; otherwise, it may take a long time for you to build trust for the target audience and make a profit. Of course, this will also affect your budget. In this regard, it is useful to analyze and decide on the payment methods accordingly.

Documents required to build an E-Commerce Website

After deciding about which infrastructure your e-commerce website will be built on, you have to fulfill certain legal requirements as if you were opening a physical store. Of course, you will need a brand and a business organization. Then, the user agreement, distance sales agreement and confidentiality agreement, which you must present to the user before becoming a member of your e-commerce website, should be clearly communicated to the customers online. Also, the information such as company name, contact numbers, and location should also be clearly displayed on your e-commerce website. If the customer who will buy products from your e-commerce site is a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, it is very important to receive Identification Number of the customer. Therefore, it is very beneficial to take your steps according to legal obligations.

Marketing Methods for E-Commerce Websites

You have built your e-commerce site and everything is fine. You have a fast website, great products, and a team to make sure it’s sustainable. Well, now how will your potential customers know about your products? In other words, the most critical point of marketing. Although it is regarded as very easy by many people, this step is actually the most complex one and must be designed quite accurately. We can list some digital marketing methods below as part of the steps to be taken by the professionals:

Google Ads (Adwords),
Social media management,
social media marketing,
Search engine optimization (SEO),
E-mail marketing studies,
Video marketing

Shipping for E-Commerce Websites

Perhaps one of the most important steps in e-commerce management is the shipping processes. The most important underlying reason is to ensure customer satisfaction. Your products are great, your website is very stylish. Everything is going very well. Still, your products do not meet your customers in a timely manner. Your brand is losing favor with your customers. To avoid this undesirable situation, you should choose your courier company and identify your agreements very well. We recommend that you pay attention to the following items when choosing the shipping method;

Which shipping methods will you prefer?
What are the dimensions of the products you will sell?
What are the packaging processes and costs?
Calculation of shipping fee
Are you going to sell your products including or excluding shipping costs?

E-Commerce Sites and Market Places

Online marketplaces are platforms that bring customers and sellers together on a single platform, and where sellers open their own online stores and sell their own products.

An e-commerce ecosystem does not exist with or without Marketplaces. This expression actually tells us a lot, but it is useful to share some details. The ultimate reason is the commission that the marketplaces receive. Although the rates of commission are quite high, the sales value is paid to you quite late. However, while you can increase your sales with the power of the marketplaces, your own e-commerce website may be get lost in the process. As we said at the beginning of this article, e-commerce is not possible with or without them.

If you decide to sell in marketplaces, the integration of your e-commerce website with these platforms will also provide you with great convenience in terms of workload.