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How to start an eCommerce website in India eCommerce

How to start an eCommerce website in India

  • January 11, 2018
  • 10min read
  • eCommerce business is expected to rise above $100 billion USD in 2020; to start an eCommerce website you need not own a physical store – by building a partnership with different product vendors, you can simply start a business without an investment. An online store has no geographical limits – you can sell anywhere across the globe; any registered user can surf and buy your products in less than a minute. It can save your operational cost, make website maintenance easier, sell your products 24/7, and help the customers to purchase from different product vendors.

Factors to be considered to build an eCommerce website

  • 01

    Choosing a domain

    To invest in an eCommerce store, you need a hosting platform which can be purchased from third-party hosting providers or you can get a free domain from WordPress. But it is recommended to invest in right hosting provider which can help you in payment gateway integration, building a mobile responsive website, logistics, customer service and technical support.

  • 02

    Payment gateway integration

    There are numerous reliable payment gateway APIs available on the Internet — you can choose the best gateway based on your business requirement. Some of the available gateways are — self-hosted PayPal, PayUmoney, non-hosted gateways like Authorize.NET and gateways with local bank integration. Along with online payment option, you can also include cash purchase – as many people prefer direct payment than an online transaction.

  • 03

    Search Engine Optimization

    Search engine optimization is an important factor to be considered while setting up an online eCommerce store – SEO helps in increasing the search engine ranking position of your website, improves the site visitors and drive conversions. SEO is an iterative process which can provide lasting results to your online store and expand your business reach.

  • 04

    Social media integration and marketing

    Integrate social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, among others in the eCommerce store to facilitate users to share your products on their social media profile. Social media marketing helps to create brand awareness, expand customer base, and increase sales.

Shipping/Freight

Shipping plays a major role in your eCommerce success. There are four types of shipping strategy that you can apply in your eCommerce store.

  • Free shipping
  • Variable shipping rates as per the customer purchase
  • Flat shipping rates
  • Combined shipping rates that include free and variable rate

If you are new to eCommerce business, you may have small sales volume where the shipping can be effectively handled by FedEx, Blue Dart or UPS. When the business grows, you need to choose a multi-vendor shipping solution to send your deliveries faster. To enable the shipping services on your eCommerce website, include the shipping API in the website source code to allow the customers to choose the shipping services.

Terms and conditions

An online eCommerce store should have buyer policies to create understanding and build customer loyalty. Here are some of the following terms and conditions should be included in the eCommerce store:

  • Purchasing policies
  • Return or replacement policies
  • Shipping or delivery policies
  • Online payment and security policies

Best CMS platform to build your eCommerce website

  • 01

    Magento

    • More than 21% of online eCommerce store are using Magento
    • Increases online traffic
    • Provides SEO friendly features
    • Enables category based selling
    • Improves the customer experience
  • 02

    OpenCart

    • OpenCart is a free open-source software
    • OpenCart powers around 342 000 eCommerce websites across the world
    • It provides effective store management options to handle order, taxes, coupons and more
    • Free community and commercial support
    • Wide range of extension and themes to enhance your online store
  • 03

    WooCommerce

    • It is best suitable for small eCommerce businesses
    • WooCommerce powers 28% of online eCommerce store
    • It has been downloaded for 35,542,793 times
    • WooCommerce provides hundreds of free and paid extensions for all your eCommerce requirements
    • If you own a WordPress website, it can be easily integrated with WooCommerce where the users can benefit from both website and eCommerce store.
  • 04

    Prestashop

    • Prestashop has more than 310 features
    • Effective product catalog management
    • In-built SEO friendly features, security and payment gateway integration
    • It is suitable for both small and large-scale businesses
    • It includes third-party eCommerce website integration
    • Unlimited categories and facilitates selling digital goods
  • 05

    OsCommerce

    • Secure selling of online goods
    • Improves user experience
    • Cross-browser compatibility and multilingual support
    • Widen customer base through email notifications, newsletters and by showing related products and new arrivals.
    • OsCommerce enables selling of goods for different geographical with multilingual and multi-currency options.
  • 06

    ZenCart

    • Product management features
    • Option for payment gateway integration
    • Effective product or category management
    • Agile reporting
    • Widgets for integrating social media websites, Google map, and calendar

Building an eCommerce website is not a one day process – an effective consultation from expert eCommerce developer will help you in choosing the right hosting provider and CMS platform for building your eCommerce website.

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