Building an online store is often necessary as there has been a colossal surge in online commerce in recent years. The truth is you really need to be there and more importantly you really need to be there properly.
One of the most important aspects of creating an online store is how should I build it. There are many platforms out here, some better than others and it also really depends on your needs and also budget. I would like a Ferrari but guess what I can’t have one.
When assessing your platform one really important element is to see beyond your nose. By that I mean what may be suitable for you today may not work for you in 6 months and result in extra expenditure. You may even need to rebuild the whole website. We often get companies contacting us looking for new features and it’s not possible because the platform they choose does not allow it.
So here’s our tips for choosing the right eCommerce solution for you.
Considerations when Creating your Online Store
1. Hosted Ecommerce Solutions
Hosted solutions can often be defaulted to by business owners and amateur web designers as they are generally the simplest to create and often cheap. In many cases with drag and drop you can even design your own ecommerce store without any real website knowledge. When I say you can that doesn’t always mean it will look good. Hosted Ecommerce solutions such as Shopify and Volusion are good services and provide aesthetically appealing, functioning websites. With that said, all hosted solutions have their limitations. This is so because they work online via templates, which can hinder both the design of your site and it’s functionality. Though hostage solutions can work well, they ultimately limit what your site can do.
2. Open Source Solutions
Open source solutions allow much more freedom versus their hosted counterparts. Open source solutions such as WordPress can offer you templates, similar to that of hosted solutions, but more importantly, they grant you the freedom to design your site to be unique. Open source solutions have a vast array of possibilities and do not confine your site. Generally speaking, open source solutions are a better option for online stores as they allow a wider range of functionality and give you the opportunity to make your site distinctive, thus stronger in the mind of your consumers. On a platform like WordPress your developer has free rain to build you whatever he likes in most cases. There is a very good Ecommerce Platform called WooCommerce which serves many SME’s very well.
3. Lightweight vs. Robust Product Range
The last main consideration for designing your online store is your product range. Generally speaking, Magento and WooCommerce are the 2 good options for your online store. In deciding which one is better than the other depends on your needs. WooCommerce is fantastic for online stores with lightweight product ranges and the backend CMS is very easy for store managers to run. If your product range extends to over 700 or 800 or maybe a bit more then WooCommerce will work but maybe you may need to assess another options particularly if you want to grow the range over time. Magento is designed to take the heavier product load. Magento allows you to host a robust, extensive array of products on your site without compromising the site’s efficiency. It can actually take up to half a million products effectively so you properly have room for manoeuvre. Thus, if you have a medium-small product range, WooCommerce may be the perfect choice, where as if you product range is large then Magento may the option for you.
For any other queries or to learn more about eCommerce websites with The Digital Department then visit our site.
This article was written by Alan Brogan MD of The Digital Department. TDD specialise in eCommerce solutions and stores for small and medium size business. We work across all platforms from Magento to WooCommerce to a several more.
To learn more about creating your online store you can click here – How Your Ecommerce Development Company Should Plan Your Ecommerce Website?