Do you want to build an E-Commerce website? If yes, here you’re in the right place. In this article, I will be briefly explaining about what is an eCommerce website and how you can build one. Let’s start.
What is an eCommerce website?
A website built with the purpose of an eCommerce business is an eCommerce website that can sometimes also be referred to as a WooCommerce site. eCommerce websites are online portals that facilitate the online buying and selling of goods and services. It is a place where users can showcase their goods and products to inform the customers and make online purchases and sales
There are various kinds of eCommerce/WooCommerce websites and each website is built with different objectives to meet the need of their online business types. Initially, the eCommerce business was done with Emails and phone calls but has evolved with the use of websites in the progressive structure.
There are four types of eCommerce websites on the basis of the function they fulfil. They are:
Business-to-Business(B2B)
Electronic Transactions of goods, services and products between two or more than two different companies.
Business-to-Consumers(B2C)
Electronic transaction of goods, services and products from businesses and consumers.
Consumer-to-Business(C2B)
Electronic transaction of goods, services and products between consumers where consumer offers products to different businesses.
Consumer-to-Consumer(C2C)
Electronic transactions of goods, services and products between two different consumers.
In order to build any kind of website, you need a platform where you can create a website and run your eCommerce business to sell goods and services.
Among, all the platforms, WordPress is one of the best and it provides a WooCommerce facility that makes your website making journey, a piece of cake.
Why use WordPress and WooCommerce?
WordPress is one of the largest and most popular formats for creating any kind of website. It offers tons of features and functionalities, high-quality themes, plugins (both free and premium), support, tutorial and much more to help you create a stunning website with ease. It also has a lot to offer to individuals and help them grow their business website.
Further, WordPress has SEO recognition to make your pages rank on the first page of Google. It also provides a plugin for specific features on your site. There are thousands of themes for eCommerce businesses loaded with tons of features. One can start with free themes and plugins and gradually move to premium as per the improvement in their business.
Along with that WordPress also allows the use of the WooCommerce plugin that has become a must to create a highly responsive eCommerce site. It is the perfect platform for any kind of eCommerce website. The tool has all it takes to build a fully responsive and highly functioning WooCommerce website. It makes it easy for you to showcase your products, provide detailed information, use full functionalities, add missing eCommerce related features and much more.
WooCommerce support in WordPress websites is the perfect combination. First of all, it is very easy to use, second of all, it is widely used by thousands of eCommerce businesses to establish a trustworthy website capable of targeting the required audience and convert them into their customers.
With the use of WordPress themes and WooCommerce plugins, you will be able to create an alluring website with rich and responsive features in no time.
How to build an E-Commerce website using WooCommerce and WordPress?
In order to start your eCommerce business, it is necessary that you create a website that represents it. A website allows you to perform your transactions electronically giving a choice to your visitors to select suitable goods and products. In order to create a website using WooCommerce and WordPress, there are few steps you need to follow. Here, I have listed the steps and the easy to perform them. Let’s have a look!
Step 1: Select a Web Hosting Platform and Domain Name
As a first step to create a WordPress eCommerce website or any other WordPress site, you need to select a web hosting platform and a domain name.
A domain refers to the web address of your website. It is the name that represents your eCommerce business. There are various domain providers that help you to get a unique domain name of your eCommerce business and make it possible to run it on the web. They provide a reasonable price for a domain name.
A web hosting is a location for your website data to be stored. It is the internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients offering them the required facilities to create a maintain a site. It makes the site accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web hosting services are referred to as web hosts are very important for your website.
Nowadays, you can get both web hosting and domain name as the same service. Some of the most popular hosting and domain service providers for WordPress are Bluehost, Siteground, Hostgator, Barn2, Kinsta, WP Engine, InMotion, FlyWheel, and many more.
Be sure to view all the hosting and domain services in detail and select the best one for your website.
Here’s a detailed article tutorial on the Excellent Hosting Providers for WordPress.
Once you select the suitable one for your website, it is now time to buy it. Follow this video tutorial on ‘How to Buy Hosting and a Domain Name’?
Step 2: Installing WordPress
Usually, your hosting providers allow you the option to install WordPress on your website within a few clicks. However, you can install it manually or as per the service provided by the hosting service. In order to install WordPress with any of the hostings, you need to follow few steps. Here is a tutorial guide on ‘How to Install WordPress using Bluehost?’
In a similar way, all the web hosting providers have a detailed tutorial on how to install WordPress. Here’s the detailed tutorial of the hosting providers Siteground, Hostgator, Barn2, Kinsta, WP Engine, InMotion, FlyWheel. Each of these web hosts provides a detailed tutorial on how to install WordPress. Based on your hosting provider, select the tutorial option.
In the case, your hosting providers don’t provide the option of doing it directly, you can also do it manually. Follow this tutorial guide on ‘How to Install WordPress on your computer (manually)?’
Step 3: Installing WooCommerce Plugin in WordPress
Once you’re done setting up your WordPress website, it is now time to install and activate the WooCommerce plugin to make a step further in the creation of an eCommerce website. You can install the plugin from the plugin directory or upload the zip file to your plugin panel. Follow the tutorial guide on ‘How to Install WordPress Plugin on your website?’
- Activate the plugin.
Next, you’ll be asked to set up the plugin usage by configuring various sources. In order to get started, click on “Let’s go!”
Page Setup
There are various steps mentioned in detail:
- Shop: It is the place where all your products will be appearing.
- Cart: In this, the customers will be modifying their order before proceeding to purchase or check out the page.
- Checkout: It is the place where your customers select the delivery method and make the payment for the purchase they’ve made or products brought.
- My Account: In this place, your registered customers on the website can view their past orders and manage other details as per necessity.
Store Locale
Once you create all the required pages, click on the ‘Continue‘ button to head towards the next. On the next page, you’ll see the option to set up your eCommerce business location, currency, prefered units, and other such information.
- Fill up the necessary fields and click on the ‘Continue’ button.
Shipping and Tax
On the next page of the configuration, you’ll be asked if you’ll be shipping physical goods or not. If you check the box, WooCommerce will pre-set the remaining shipping-related details in the settings.
In the next step, check the main tax box if you’re going to charge sales tax. A new set of boxes will appear if you check on the box and notify you about what’s going to happen next.
- Click on the continue button to proceed to the next step.
Payments
In the current business market, PayPal and Stripe are the most popular payment options. You can select one of the options, but, we suggest you integrate your website with both the option.
- Fill out the necessary details.
Once you’re done, click the ‘Continue’ button to proceed.
The next is the confirmation page to verify all the information you entered are correct and you would like to continue with the WooCommerce setup.
Here, your blank eCommerce store is ready with WooCommerce making it the end of the third step.
Step 4: Install and Activate WordPress Theme
The next step is to select a suitable eCommerce WordPress theme for your website. A theme is one of the most important components of the site as the layout, appearance, design, responsiveness and many other factors depend upon the theme you select.
You need to be very careful with the selection of the theme and make sure to select the best WordPress eCommerce theme that best fits all the needs of your WooCommerce site.
One of the top-selling premium WooCommerce/eCommerce WordPress themes – Oshine can be the best option.
Oshine WordPress E-Commerce/WooCommerce Theme
Oshine is a popular and modern premium WordPress theme used and trusted by 30,000+ users o create their website. It is a perfect business WordPress theme that fits the need of many websites including eCommerce businesses by providing WooCommerce themes. The theme has a high-quality design with an intuitive fully visual page builder. It consists of 52 demos with 100’s of pre-built sample pages. You can simply import the demo content with one click. One provides infinite layout possibilities and complete control over fonts and colours. You can create a responsive and professional eCommerce site with this business theme. In all, it provides a great performance to help your site build as a whole.
Major Features of Oshine:
- High-Quality Design
- Intuitive Fully Visual Page Builder
- 52 Demos with 100’s of pre-built sample pages
- One-click demo installer
- Top-notch customer support
- Infinite Layout Possibilities
- Complete control over fonts and colours
- Compatibility
If you have a limited budget, then we suggest you use the free WordPress theme and move on with the premium as per the growth and improvement of your website and business. There are thousands of free WordPress eCommerce themes available on the WordPress repository.
After selecting the best theme for your website, you need to install and activate the theme on your website. Follow our tutorial guide on ‘How to Install WordPress Theme on your Website?’
- Activate the theme after the installation.
Setting Up WordPress Theme on the Site
Now that you have installed the necessary theme and plugin on your website, it’s now time to set up your eCommerce website. As a first step, you need to select the template that best fits your eCommerce business need.
Here’s a tutorial guide on ‘How to Setup Oshine Theme and Import a Demo.’
After you’re done setting up the theme and importing a demo, your website has all the necessary content.
- Go to WordPress Dashboard
- Select Appearance>>Themes and select an eCommerce template
- Import the content
Once the importing of the data and content are all done, you will see the Launch Site button.
- Click on the button to view the newly imported site.
Adding Product to eCommerce Website
After your site is ready with all the necessary data and content, it is now time to add a product!
In order to display your first product, follow these steps:
- Head to WordPress>>Products>>Add New.
- Add the Title of your Product.
- Provide a detailed description of the Product.
- Select the category of the product.
- Define the price details
- Set the image of the product.
- Add additional images of the product to showcase it in detail.
- Provide a short description of the product.
- Add tags on the products to organize your database products better.
- Once done, click on the ‘Publish’ button to make your first product live.
In the same way, you can add as many products as you want to your website.
If you’re having a problem, there is a tutorial guide on ‘How to set up the shop pages in Oshine’
This is it, now your eCommerce website is all ready for business.
Conclusion
Creating an eCommerce website for your business has no fixed way. One can create a website using WordPress or any other platform. Whatever be the platform, WordPress has lots to offer that makes your website creation journey simple and fruitful.
Ecommerce is a growing business form that has a huge scope in the present as well as in the future. Some of the richest people in the world own an eCommerce business. It is a widely recognized business form that has a lot to offer if done in the best way possible. Coming up to the end of the article, I hope you are clear about the concept of eCommerce, eCommerce business website and the way to create it.
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