How to get started in e-commerce Leave a comment

But there are costs associated with e-commerce. In this article, we'll look at what you need to consider before making a decision and how to calculate your online store costs.

Things to consider before creating an E-commerce website

The actual cost of an e-commerce site is a big part of the decision-making process. However, you want to make sure that you are actually choosing an e-commerce solution that can meet your business needs.

Plus, if you describe what you need now, you won't have to pay for anything more or buy add-ons later.

1. What type of E-commerce do you want to have?

The type of online store you are considering is an important factor in the building process. A store that sells products is different from one that sells services.

If you plan to sell products, approximately how many different products or models are you going to include in your online store? Do you sell to other businesses (B2B) or to consumers (B2C)? Be as specific as possible during this part of the planning process. Certain services or products may have different functionality requirements in your online store.

These needs will help you narrow down the list of e-commerce platforms to consider. For example, will you need a store with multiple languages? Or will you need a store with separate login capabilities?

2. Do you plan to sell your products online? Or do you already have a physical store?

Many brick-and-mortar retailers are adding an online store, especially in 2022. Selling products online in addition to having a physical storefront allows small businesses to go global if they choose and/or provides customers with the opportunity to buy online and collect in-store (BOPIS). Either of these options can expand the reach of a business, but it's also something you need to keep in mind when looking for an e-commerce solution.

Selling products online also means managing inventory and handling shipping. If you already have an inventory management system that works for you, look for an e-commerce platform that will integrate with it, unless you want to use a new solution that is already part of the platform.

3. What is your e-commerce development budget?

Once you start researching e-commerce solutions, it's very easy to get distracted by all the different design options and custom features. This is why it is important to define your e-commerce development budget in advance.

What features do you absolutely need? What add-ons would be nice to have? Create your list and stick to it in order to stay within your budget.

4. What are your shipping options?

It's time to think about the delivery options you want to offer once your online store is open. What is your ability to handle shipping needs? Will you outsource shipping or handle it in-house? Will you have worldwide shipping options? It's up to you to decide what you want to offer. Additionally, you'll want to make similar considerations when it comes to payment options in your online store.

How do you calculate e-commerce costs?

There are many different variables that contribute to the overall cost of building an online store. Typically, some eCommerce stores cost a few hundred dollars to set up while others can cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Here are the items you will need to pay for:

• E-commerce software.
• Domain name.
• E-commerce hosting.
• SSL certificate.
• Payment processing fees.
• Store theme and designs.
• Complements and extensions.

Infrastructure costs

1. Ecommerce Software Costs

The costs of e-commerce solutions vary depending on their out-of-the-box features, the type of software they offer, and their level of service. There are several platforms to choose from, and choosing the right one is an important step in opening an eCommerce store. Let's take a look at some of the platforms you might consider.

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ShoppyDeals is a feature-rich, easy-to-use platform that helps businesses get started quickly.

ShoppyDeals offers a clean user experience that makes it easy to create marketplace-integrated eShops, even if you've never done it before. Once your eShop is set up, ShoppyDeals is also very easy to manage through a simple shop page to add products and manage your customers' orders.

Another potential benefit of ShoppyDeals from a core user perspective is its headless offers. ShoppyDeals has several pre-built plugins for front-end content management systems (CMS) and DXP systems like WordPress, Bloomreach, Drupal and more. This means that if you are already using one of these options to run your website, you can connect ShoppyDeals on the backend and continue to use the system you are already familiar with on the frontend.

ShoppyDeals is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, which means you basically rent the software and hosting from them. SaaS platforms automatically update for you, so you always have the latest version without worrying about maintenance.

SaaS platforms can deliver a high level of performance, so you don't have to worry about switching hosting providers as your business scales. Everything is included in your annual fee.

Magento

Magento offers both on-premises and cloud-hosted options, but many businesses are now also turning to SaaS models as they provide continuous updates, including security patches.

Magento does not come with training wheels. And there are no on-site developers that you can contact to help you build your site. You will need a developer or team of developers to build your site, a hosting partner who can host your site, and someone to integrate your technology stack.

Once you're set up, Magento still has a steep learning curve. Magento's flexibility can also be a liability for new users who are unable to navigate its complexity without considerable difficulty.

Shopify

Brands new to e-commerce can choose to start in a Shopify store. More established businesses, brands looking to grow, and those with complex needs often choose ShoppyDeals for its flexibility and freedom of choice.

Shopify was designed to meet the needs of small businesses looking for a user-friendly way to build online stores. With drag-and-drop areas, it's pretty easy to build a site if you've never worked with code before.

You can set up a simple website and get it up and running quickly. however, if you want to add more advanced features, you will need to add additional apps or custom coding.

2.Domain name fees

Your domain name will be an annual cost unless you are able to pay a few years up front. Buying a domain name usually costs between 2 $ and 20 $ per year, according to GoDaddy. The price depends on where you buy it and what extension you get, like .com or .shop. Buying from a private seller or through an auction will usually be more expensive.

3.E-Commerce Hosting

Once you've registered a domain name, it's time to find a host. Solutions like ShoppyDeals and Shopify are cloud-hosted and offer web hosting as part of the subscription. This means you won't have to search for third-party hosting or the challenges of managing it.

If you want to host your online store yourself, the cost ranges from $80 to $730 per month, as it depends on your store's traffic, your website features, and automated services, such as a backup of site.

4.SSL Certificate Costs

An SSL certificate costs between 20 $ and 70 $ per year. While this may be one of the cheapest parts of your online store, it provides the security on a network you'll need for customers to visit and buy from your website. Sometimes search engines also use an SSL certificate as a ranking factor. Also, some hosting solutions offer this as part of their fees, so keep that in mind.

5.Payment processing fees

It's easy to overlook the costs associated with processing payments, but they can add up quickly. The payment processing fees depend on the type of payment you want to offer during checkout, such as PayPal or various credit cards, the type of currency you will accept, and the regions where you will be selling.

You will pay a fee for each payment gateway you want to offer.

Here's an example of how it breaks down:

• PayPal: 2.9 % + 0.30 $ for transactions over 10 $.
• Stripe: 2.9 % + 0.30 $ per transaction.
• Authorize.net – 2.9 % + 0.30 $ per transaction + 25 $ monthly fee.

This does not include any charges that may come from your bank. Looking at overall payment processing costs, WooCommerce and ShoppyDeals offer the lowest prices overall. They also offer some of the most flexible options for accepting payments.

Design costs

Part of developing your online store is creating a unique user experience with a website design that reflects your brand and keeps customers coming back. Designing your online store comes with some standard costs.

1.Store theme and design costs

All major e-commerce solutions have e-commerce website design themes for you to choose from. Some themes may cost nothing more than what you already pay to use the platform, while other themes may cost between 60 $ and 200 $ each.

Stores hosted on ShoppyDeals have access to a variety of free and premium themes to use. Electrostore is the most popular ShoppyDeals theme, which is optimized for sales and discounts, large catalogs, multipurpose and mobile, tablet and desktop.

2.Costs of Add-ons, Plugins and Extensions.

No matter how hard you search, there is no e-commerce solution that will have everything you need for your online store. This is where add-ons, plugins, and extensions come in, along with their costs.

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With ShoppyDeals, you can select add-ons for free or opt for a premium eShop. A premium add-on can vary in cost and is usually a paid subscription model. ShoppyDeals' out-of-the-box functionality can save merchants around $5,800 to $30,000 per year in app subscription fees, compared to Shopify.

Magento

Magento add-ons tend to require custom development, which can be expensive.
Magento offers thousands of extensions in its marketplace ranging in price from 0 $ to 15,000 $.

Shopify

Similar to ShoppyDeals, Shopify merchants can access hundreds of free and premium apps and these costs depend on the app itself.

How much does it cost to have someone build an e-commerce site?

The cost of having a developer build your e-commerce site depends on the features you need to run a successful e-commerce business. If you're looking for options that aren't out of the box, you might consider hiring a professional eCommerce website development agency to build a site for you.

Development agencies can do the following:

• Back-end web development
• Front-end web design
• UI/UX design
• E-commerce services
• Mobile application design
• Digital strategy
• Custom software development

Hiring an ecommerce development agency may not be a small price, but they will get the job done for less than an in-house developer would cost.

Ongoing e-commerce costs to consider

Some costs of having an online store are only upfront costs, but others are ongoing, whether monthly, yearly, or per transaction. Most likely, you will be able to forecast these costs each month or even each year so that they are not a surprise.

Here are some of the ongoing costs of e-commerce functionality to consider:

• Data Backups: This ensures that all information stored on your site will be kept safe no matter what. Without regular data backups, you could lose money and even customers. Data backup costs generally depend on the file size of your site.
• Inventory management: An online store will be associated with some kind of inventory, as well as shipping costs, even if they are managed by a third party.
• Security: In addition to your SSL certificate, you will need security software to protect your business and its information from outside threats. This is usually a monthly subscription.
• Email Advertising: Regular communication with potential and current customers can help you maintain your revenue stream. Some email marketing solutions may have free plans or a monthly cost, depending on the size of your email contact list.
• Marketing product: Other digital marketing efforts such as SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media will require some sort of budget. Product marketing will help you increase your brand awareness to drive traffic to your online store.

Conclusion

It's possible to launch an e-commerce site for less than 1,000 $, depending on the features you need for your business to succeed. Since there are so many different aspects of an online store, you can choose exactly what you need and only pay for those items.

When you do the work upfront, you won't be unpleasantly surprised by upfront price tags or ongoing costs. Bringing your business online offers great potential to improve your reach and increase your sales. Do the math now and decide if the investment is worth it for your business.

Open your eShop

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