It has never been easier to get involved in e-commerce. In case you are not familiar with this word, e-commerce refers to the practice of selling (or buying) products or services online. Anytime you visit a website which sells something, it is an e-commerce website.
There are several different types of e-commerce websites, such as auctions and storefronts. The basic e-commerce setup consists of a product catalog, shopping cart, checkout, and payment processor. Usually, customers will be able to establish a user account on the e-commerce website too. This will give them access to personal information about their orders and an easy way to contact customer support.
Most businesspeople just choose the storefront option for their e-commerce website because it is more straightforward. It only requires them to advertise their products or services and then place “Buy Now” buttons next to them. If someone is interested in purchasing these things, they can just click the buy button and then proceed to the checkout. From there, it will transfer them to an online payment processor like PayPal to process their payment. There are also credit card processing services that can be integrated into the site too.
All this might seem like a nightmare to set up, especially if you are not a web developer. Do not worry though because there are many free and easy-to-use software platforms which allow you to set up an e-commerce website without needing any programming skills. The two popular solutions are Shopify and WooCommerce.
Shopify is the easiest solution because it requires minimal effort to set up your e-commerce website. Shopify specializes in hosting e-commerce websites and supplying all the tools needed to get yours started quickly. They’ll offer customizable website templates and a simple way to process payments. You just need to pay a minimum monthly price of $29 to get started. It is a very good deal.
Alternatively, if you wish to have more control over your e-commerce website management, then you will want to use WooCommerce. This is actually an e-commerce plugin which is compatible with the popular blogging platform known as WordPress.
Once you install the plugin into your WordPress website, it will turn it into an e-commerce website and allow you to process payments. Meanwhile, you’ll still have control over the entire design of the website. But this will require you to have more knowledge about web design and development, or at least hire someone who does.