How to Build an E-commerce Website: Your 2024 Guide

For an e-commerce business, your website is a virtual storefront for your customers. Like a store you'd visit in real life, your e-commerce website should reflect the tone and voice of your brand. You'll want to make sure the user experience is intuitive.

The e-commerce landscape has ample space and opportunity for e-commerce giants like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy and emerging brands that want to participate in the e-commerce space. A website displays your product offering and brand identity, linking to social media and digital content to boost sales.

Dive into this guide to building an e-commerce website to explore ways to create a site that best suits your product or service.

How to build an e-commerce website

From entering your site to purchasing items, your customer’s e-commerce experience should be enjoyable and seamless. The following offers a step-by-step guide on how to build a website.

1. Define your e-commerce business model.

Consider your business. Perhaps you’re pivoting from a brick-and-mortar store. What do you sell? Who is your target market?

Begin by defining your business model:

• Business-to-customer (B2C): The business sells products or services directly to consumers. 

• Business-to-business (B2B): Businesses sell products or services to other businesses.

• Customer-to-customer (C2C): Online marketplaces that connect consumers to exchange and sell goods or services. 

• Customer-to-business (C2B): Individuals sell their goods or services to companies. 

And consider how you plan to ship your products, if you have any:

• Direct-to-consumer (D2C): Sell your own products directly to customers without the help of wholesalers or retailers.

• Drop shipping: Set up a storefront (website) so customers can pay by credit card or PayPal, sourcing from a supplier that manages inventory and packaging. Drop ship businesses are quick and inexpensive to start.

• Wholesale: Purchase products in bulk at a discounted rate from a retailer.

• White label: Put your name and brand on a generic product you purchase from a distributor.

• Private label: Hire a manufacturer to create a product for you to sell exclusively.

• Subscription: Deliver products, such as pet food or fresh vegetable boxes, monthly or weekly to loyal customers who prioritise convenience.

2. Choose an e-commerce platform.

Next, you'll want to choose an e-commerce platform to host your website. The following lists three popular e-commerce website builders to consider:

• Shopify: Shopify is the most popular software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform because it's robust and easy to use. You can access many add-on tools and features that allow for dropshipping and omnichannel selling so that you can sell through your website, on social media, and beyond.

• Wix: Wix has an easy drag-and-drop method that offers many customisable templates and design features. To use it as an e-commerce platform, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan. Wix has all the features you'd need, such as tracking orders, omnichannel selling, and add-on tools.

• BigCommerce: Enterprise-level software companies often use this e-commerce platform. It offers plenty of customisation options to suit your needs and enables powerful features such as SEO tools and international selling.

3. Start customising your website.

Now, choose a template for your website. Different template styles, colours, and font styles will affect your customers' experience of the website, so keep this in mind as you design your site. You may want to hire a web developer or graphic designer to build your site to achieve the most professional aesthetic and functionality. However, this often costs much more than building a site yourself.

It might help to use a pen and paper to draw out your wireframe or a detailed overview of your website’s navigation. Consider including these elements in your roadmap:

• Homepage (what customers will see first)

• Category pages, including a product page for browsing and selecting

• Shopping cart and checkout pages

• About us (who you are, what you sell, your brand’s mission)

• Contact information

• Search engine within your site

• Email subscription form

• Legal information, such as terms and conditions and privacy policy

Research your competitors' websites for inspiration. When you feel comfortable, experiment with the platform to customise your online store. You’ll want to make sure users can navigate your virtual store easily as they learn more, register for an account, and add items to their shopping cart.

4. Set up your online store.

It’s time to load your products onto the page. High-quality product photos and brand-consistent product descriptions will help your products stand out. If you have a broad offering, you may want to separate the page into product categories, such as by colour, design, or product type. You may want to allow customers to sort or filter by price, new arrivals, or rating.

Assuming your initial launch products are ready, you’ll want to prepare shipping and payment methods to ensure accurate and convenient customer service. Your inventory should match what’s available on the website, and the payment method should be connected to your business bank account. You can easily set up a payment processor on sites like Shopify or with external add-ons like Square or Stripe.

5. Launch your website.

After you’ve finalised your website, it's ready to launch! Experiment with digital marketing to attract customers. Create social media platforms to post lifestyle images of your product or service. This is your chance to share what you've been creating with the world.

A launch promotion using sponsored posts or ads can help boost your brand awareness and penetrate your target audience. Google and Facebook Ads can help your business gain traction and exposure in its early days, while content marketing (such as emails and newsletters) can build a following.

How much does it cost to create an e-commerce website?

Creating an e-commerce website doesn’t have to be expensive. You can build a simple site first and then later enhance it with a designer or developer. To start, you’ll need the basics, including the following: 

• E-commerce platform: A basic Shopify plan costs ₹1,499 per month (in Indian currency) and may offer an even lower price for your first month. It has everything you’ll need to launch your online business [1]. With these all-inclusive platforms, you can create a fully functioning website in just a few hours.

• Domain and name hosting: Some platforms include the domain name and hosting option, while others require them to be purchased separately. A domain can cost as little as £0.79 if you can catch one of GoDaddy’s promotions [2] while hosting can range from one pound to £500 per month.[3].

Once your business starts selling and becoming profitable, you may want to upgrade your branding designs, switch to a regular Shopify plan, or work with a developer to design a fully customised website from scratch. However, plenty of plug-ins are available to enhance Shopify for free.

E-commerce website tips

As you prepare to sell products and services through your site, remember these tips to maximise your online store's potential.

Display customer reviews.

Make it easy for customers to post reviews on your site so new visitors can make informed purchase decisions. Product reviews can improve your brand's reputation and increase your sales.  According to Big Commerce, 72 percent of customers say they trust a business more when they see a positive review, and 50 reviews on a product listing can lead to 4.6 percent more sales [4].

Make use of stock images.

While product images can help potential customers gauge the attributes of a physical product before making a purchase, you may find that using stock images can enhance your e-commerce website. In addition, high-quality stock images can be an affordable way to convey your brand's aesthetic, values, and mission without hiring a professional photographer.

Include white space in each webpage.

White or negative space refers to space between or around design elements or content on a webpage. Including white space can improve your site's readability as visitors scroll pages, establish a visual hierarchy among elements, contribute to a modern aesthetic, and help users process information more easily.

Improve your e-commerce SEO.

E-commerce SEO practices, such as using keywords strategically throughout your site's copy or improving its architecture, can help your site rank higher in internet search results without using paid ads. In addition, e-commerce SEO enables you to draw more visitors to your site and lead them to purchase.

Build a robust online presence.

In addition to your e-commerce site, you'll need to build an online presence to increase visibility and brand awareness. Building your presence can include developing social media accounts, connecting with influencers and affiliate marketers, hosting events related to your offerings, collaborating with other brands, and engaging in online communities.

Stay abreast of e-commerce trends.

At all points along your e-commerce journey, it's a good idea to monitor trends in e-commerce so that you can update your site to reflect what consumers are looking for. Trends include new e-commerce technologies, better user experiences, more effective marketing strategies, and more sophisticated use of data to make decisions.

How to start an e-commerce business

E-commerce is an important consideration for the future. It's becoming crowded with many businesses competing for customers' attention. As an entrepreneur or business leader, you'll want to make sure your e-commerce business stands out using digital marketing and other targeted marketing strategies.

Learn e-commerce with Google

Statista's 2023 data shows that the United Kingdom’s e-commerce market is one of Europe’s most sophisticated, with almost 60,000 users [5]. Starting your e-commerce journey begins with a great idea, but success requires more effort. Consider taking the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate to launch your business and start selling products online. You’ll learn about building a website and gain essential tools for marketing your e-commerce business.