Do you want to open an online store?
Do you know the costs you will have to bear and the necessary investments?
If it is true that there are platforms on which it is possible to create the first skeleton of an e-commerce site for free, it is also true that you need to make updates or add features. The features that allow us to offer a complete and not “sketchy” shopping experience are not always accessible; on the contrary. Here’s why and what budget to foresee for starting a new e-commerce.
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Like everything related to the web, you need investments to obtain effective and satisfactory results to keep an electronic commerce project going. In addition to choosing the most suitable CMS among the various e-commerce platforms available, the intervention of a web designer who customizes the front end must also be considered for the website and, therefore, of a good programmer who knows how to transform graphic PDF files into a beautiful and easy to navigate site, are essential for a quality result. The programmer will also always handle technical aspects, security, and commerce.
Selling online is not easy due to the competition, which has been operating on the web for longer than we have. Furthermore, search engines, without a brand awareness activity that takes advantage of social networks and a bit of SEM on Google, do not index e-commerce that is not made visible by paid activities.
If you want to open an online store, you must follow a bureaucratic procedure to create your company. In fact, even for an online shop, it is necessary to open a VAT number and communicate to the Revenue Agency and INPS, then register with your municipality’s Chamber of Commerce and SUAP (One Stop Shop for Productive Activities).
Once your company has been registered, you must comply with a series of rules and requirements for your e-commerce. Make sure you comply with the European Directive 2011/83 regarding compensation. The deadline for returning goods is 14 days; your users must know this, and above all, they have the right to do so.
Suppose you have to apply any return costs to the user. In that case, you must specify this in advance, i.e. at the time of purchase or on a specific e-commerce page, so remember to foresee this eventuality.
While you define all these aspects and prepare the ground for your e-commerce, a preliminary activity that we recommend you do is create your own contact database. To study your market and the people you want to speak to, and above all, to whom you want to direct the sale of products, try creating a simple landing page, i.e. a landing page focused on a type of product or an entire category where give interesting content in exchange for an email contact.
For example, if you intend to open an e-commerce site for light bulbs for children, create a page with a short 30-second video in which you show how the light bulbs work. In the video, you will show the level of light they provide and the colours available and ask them to enter the email address of the person watching the video in a contact form. In exchange, you could offer a small ebook, a guide or an infographic with the five secrets for sleeping for little ones. Store the emails in an email marketing tool, and when your e-commerce is ready, send a newsletter to all contacts with a discount code to purchase your products.
To open e-commerce, you need to proceed step by step.
The first step is purchasing the domain, the address your online store will have. It is always best to purchase both .it and .com and possibly the others included ( .store, etc). This is an annual cost, which for the first year could be very low by promotions that sites such as Register, Aruba, Server Plan and others grant.
The second step is purchasing a hosting service provided by a hosting provider, the costs of which range from 50 euros for shared hosting to 1000+ euros for dedicated hosting. For an e-commerce, it is advisable to choose the second solution, i.e. Dedicated Hosting, which will only host your site. If you have a technical resource capable of managing the configurations and maintenance of the servers independently, you can choose this option; otherwise, with a managed plan, the provider’s technicians manage the dedicated servers.
The next step is the choice of the technical platform with which to create the store. Opening e-commerce with the available open-source platforms is relatively easy, but it is very limiting. Prestashop and WordPress are valid free alternatives, but it is necessary to consider the possibility of a more extensive customization intervention made possible only by purchasing a paid plan payment or implementing plugins and extensions.
Alternatively, you can evaluate rented platforms that allow, in exchange for the payment of a real periodic rental, the creation of an e-commerce site with a package of services (but pay attention to what this package includes). Finally, the most expensive solution is to create a proprietary website designed by a graphic designer, who creates the layout of each page and is developed by one or more programmers who build it based on the chosen graphics.
When you create a brief for the online store project, you must carefully evaluate the cost of the site. This is not unique, nor can we give an indicative figure because many variables are at play.
The type of e-commerce you intend to create certainly influences the project’s cost. Depending on the number of products to manage, you will have to opt for one platform rather than another: for example, Magento is the ideal solution for e-commerce with several hundred products, and the investment it requires is undoubtedly essential.
Suppose the e-shop you intend to open is small or medium-sized. In that case, the recommended intermediate solution is represented by Prestashop, a free CRM. Still, it allows the customization of the site template or the addition of modules, i.e., extensions that include many features. It presents an official marketplace, PrestaShop Addons, with many options. The open license allows constant modifications and updates by users, who constitute a vast community offering assistance for the most varied problems. In short, it is a turnkey solution to be immediately operational, but it allows you to go a long way with customization.
Starting e-commerce means investing and, as such, requires careful analysis. It is not enough to open an account on a free open CMS: it is necessary to identify more performing servers and hosting, add extensions, plugins or addons that complete the project and provide a digital marketing plan that includes paid ads on social networks or on Google.
If it is true that anyone can open an e-commerce today, it is also true that it is necessary to have a budget that will bring more results the more intelligently it is spent. This does not mean you will obtain greater revenues with more significant investments, but a zero investment will certainly bring 0 results.
Also Read : How To Set Up An Online Store For Coffee Shops And Cafes
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