An eCommerce website is a website on the world wide web, that allows customers to purchase products that a business sells. In enables sales on a desktop, mobile or tablet device, and can even be set up as a mobile app.

It used a payment gateway to enable transactions, and a ecommerce platform like WooCommerce or Shopify to enable selling.

An eCommerce website is most generally done by an eCommerce website designer, but can also be created by anyone with the knowledge of how to. 

It is generally advised to make use of professional web designers to set up your site to ensure you can start selling immediately, and effectively.

eCommerce websites are more expensive than regular websites, as there is more functionality to develop and put in place.

A good eCommerce website can start at R6000 for a very basic website, and also price over R100 000, depending on the business need, functionality required, or hours needed to create the vision the client has.

If you want to know the difference between WooCommerce and Shopify pricing, have a look here.

Before settling on a price, be sure that you know what all the functionalities are that you require your website to be able to do. If you are not sure, do proper research, as a low price usually equals little to basic functionality that does not allow your business to grow online.

it could take 3 days, it could take 6 months. The variables needed to understand how long it takes to design an eCommerce website include:

1. The functionality you need
2. Your budget
3. The platform you are using
4. Business goals
5. Readiness and availability of assets and elements

This is a much debated topic, with no right answer, and only subjective opinions.

There are so many eCommerce website builders: WooCommerce, Shopify, Ecwid, Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly and many more.

Each of them exist because they offer different use cases. Which one you choose depends on what you want to use it for, how you want to use it, and your available budget.

For us it always comes down to either using Shopify or WooCommerce. Most of our clients opt for WooCommerce, as it is more affordable, has better functionality accessibility and can scale and grow with our clients. Here is a comparative study on the costs between WooCommerce and Shopify.

Shopify – use when you are doing it yourself, and have budget to spend monthly on a platform. Use if you do not mind paying for every extension and added functionality.

WooCommerce – use if you are a little bit more technical, and can find your way around basic editors similar to Word and PowerPoint, also if you do not want to spend money on the platform (just to access it) monthly. Also use if you are looking to add functionality to your site from thousands of free plugins.

Ecwid – use if you have monthly budget to spend. Using the free plan limits your ability to add automations, newsletters or social accessibility your site, minimizing the experience for your customers.

Weebly/SquareSpace/Wix – use if you do not care about the platform, and just want a quick and easy solution. Please note that you will be limited to upgrading, and functionality addition, unless you want to pay for each extension or development through a developer. Most people who have come to use from Wix requested a complete store overhaul in the long term, as their SEO and customer experience did not live up to expectation, and their stores could not grow with them.

This is a vape eCommerce shop: www.clickvape.co.uk in the UK. 

This is a local eCommerce jewellery store: https://bigdogsteel.co.za/ 

This is an online marketplace: https://www.takealot.com/ 

Yes. An app can also start as a website (called a web app).

These are the basic steps:

1. Decide what you want to sell
2. Get a URL
3. Get hosting
4. Setup your website and eCommerce functionality
5. Do marketing
6. Sell your products

That is the very much simplified process, there is a lot more that goes into it though. It’s also because people think it is easy, and this simple, that many eCommerce stores are failing. 

eCommerce website design is website design and development specifically to develop a website that can sell online, that is set up to target the ideal customers for that specific business, and that can optimised for user experience and the selling and customer service journey.

This is also a subjective question. An experienced and good website designer charges anything from R550 per hour and upwards.

Most website designers and developers cost project hourly. It is worth it to ask your designers how many hours are dedicated to the setup of your website. This will help you understand their hourly rate, and their level of skill and technical ability.

Some eCommerce website designers to charge a full project fee. A project fee usually comprises an estimate of hours needed to build a website according to the customer’s exact specifications.

You can either do it yourself, or get a web designer to do it. Want more info? Contact us now.