How To Build An eCommerce Website (2024 Guide) – Forbes Advisor

Before you actually start building your e-commerce website, you need to be clear about your business needs for building a website. Here are some reasons why you should sell online.

More People Are Buying Online

Buying online is convenient as well as safe, and during the recent pandemic, e-commerce sales surged by as much as 40% in 2020, the first pandemic year. The easy availability of smartphones also means that you can buy from anywhere, any time of the day. So it’s obvious that people will continue buying long after the pandemic has abated.

Setting Up an E-Commerce Storefront Is Cheaper

When you compare it with a brick-and-mortar store, Setting up an e-commerce storefront is much cheaper. This is partially because brick-and-mortar stores incur multiple fixed costs such as rent, electricity bills, employee payments, infrastructure maintenance, etc.

E-Commerce Website Can Augment Off-Line Sales

It is not necessary that online and offline stores should be mutually exclusive. They can augment each other nicely when you tell people about your brick-and-mortar store on your e-commerce website and install app kiosks in your stores.

For instance, Amazon is now opening brick-and-mortar stores after the runaway success of its online e-commerce website.

Create Unique Customer Experiences

Personalizing experiences and services are much easier online. You can use different media including video, audio, stories, customer reviews and personalized messaging to build an experience your customers cherish and share with others.

Start Selling Immediately

Once you have the website ready, all you need to do is set up payment processing and list your products on the website to start selling. There is no need to wait for new employees, stockpile inventory or generate enough marketing buzz. You are in business the moment you put your website live.

Eliminate Costly Overheard With Dropshipping

When you think of retail, the first thing that comes to mind is sourcing, maintaining and handling inventory. However, if you choose a dropshipping business model, you don’t need to maintain and handle inventory by yourself. You can read all about dropshipping here.

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Bottom Line

An e-commerce website is your online brand identity. You must take care to build it in a way that makes it easier for customers to experience your brand. Also, remember that it is not possible to get everything right the first time. Keep learning from your experiences, be ready to experiment and make changes when required.