So, if you are interested in online commerce, you decided to work in this direction, first of all, you need to complete three steps: define a goal, choose a niche and develop a strategy. Today we will talk about creating a platform for your online business.
The largest market players usually order the eCommerce app development of online stores and other e-Commerce platforms on a turnkey basis. If you have a new and not too large-scale project, you can use special platforms. It’s easier, faster, and much cheaper. Let’s take a look at several sites where you can create an e-commerce site.
Shopify
Quite a simple platform for creating your own online store with a huge number of themes and templates. You don’t need to know the intricacies of web development to work with the builder. There are clear instructions and almost ready-made solutions.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a popular open-source custom e-Commerce platform built on WordPress. It has more flexible settings and features than Shopify but is more difficult to master. Requires specific hosting skills and minimal web development experience.
Magneto
Magento provides even more flexibility for working with the site, customizing it, further modernizing and scaling. Unlike previous platforms, the site management system is used by world-famous companies, including Gap, Lenovo, Olympus, Samsung, and others. The main drawback of Magento for the RU segment is the lack of developers who work with this system. In the West, the situation is much better.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a lot like Shopify, but it has a much larger set of tools and settings and an intuitive backend. Great for business scaling. One of the interesting and useful “tricks” is the ability to sell through Facebook.
E-commerce marketplaces The e-commerce industry is huge. The number of sites for its maintenance is incalculable. For example, let’s note the largest ones:
- eBay – initially the platform was focused on the C2C segment, but now more and more B2B and B2C transactions are being carried out there. The site is actively developing and scaled up year after year.
- Amazon is a site where you can buy everything. According to statistics, about $ 90,000 is spent on Amazon every minute. And this amount is increasing every year.
- Etsy is a truly unique platform. They sell handicrafts, gifts, vintage items, and the like. In this segment, Etsy is the undisputed leader.
- Alibaba is a true Chinese e-commerce giant. It is a huge platform for manufacturers, suppliers, exporters, buyers, and anyone involved in trade processes. A colossal supplier base and very affordable prices have made Alibaba a world-famous resource.
And these are only the most significant market players. The competition in e-commerce is fierce. Who knows, perhaps in the near future there will be a new platform that will supplant all of the above.
How to promote e-Commerce on the Internet?
We figured out how e-commerce works. But there is another important point: how to promote your project on the Internet. We recommend you follow the best mobile design practices and primarily focus on the following areas.
- SEO
SEO promotion is an opportunity to get maximum organic traffic to the site and build a good reputation on the Web.
- Aggregators
The presence of your goods and services on aggregator sites also contributes to the growth of brand awareness and helps in the promotion. Major players rarely use this direction.
- Contextual advertising
Contextual advertising is an excellent solution if you need to make yourself known as quickly as possible and not wait for the site to reach the top of search results for key queries.
- Social networks
Brand presence on social media is important. It is most convenient there to communicate with the target audience, notify it about new offers, increase loyalty and promote your products, services, and services. In some cases, social media even becomes the main platform for sales.