How to start an ecommerce website in 2024: Step-by-step guide

If you want to sell products or services online, then an ecommerce store is essential. This means that knowing how to set up an ecommerce website is equally essential.

For many individuals and businesses, this can seem daunting. Fortunately, with the right tools, it’s easier than ever to get started.

Ecommerce website builders provide a platform for people to get online, without the need for extensive technical experience. They offer easy-to-use functionality with a range of built-in features to make the online experience accessible.

In this article, we’ll be guiding you through the essential steps involved in setting up an online store.

Step 1: Define your ecommerce strategy

Before you start actually building your website, it’s important that you understand what it is you are trying to achieve.

Build a strategy that you can use to direct the decisions you make. Think carefully about:

the products you will be offering,
where those products come from,
what makes you the best person to buy from,
who will be buying those products.

Knowing these things before you start will allow you to tailor your website in the right way. If you’re not sure about any of them, then we’d recommend taking a little time to find out more.

Take a look at your competitors, talk to people in your potential audience, and work out what sort of investment you’ll need for your online store to take off. Once you’ve done that, build all of these considerations into your plan.

How you approach your ecommerce strategy will also depend on what sort of business you are, and how far into your journey you are. You might be starting from scratch with no pre-existing brand name to speak of, or you might have a business already and you’re now looking to branch out into the online world. Your approach will vary depending on which of these descriptions matches you best.

A new business will probably need to think more about getting their brand out there, they may need to spend more time and money on marketing, for example. An established business, on the other hand, might need to spend more of their time about how to bring their existing customers along for the ride.

If you haven’t already, then you can visit our page on how to create a business plan for help with this step.

Step 2: Choose an ecommerce platform

Choosing the right ecommerce website builder is important if you want to hit the ground running. There are a range of brands to choose between, and they all offer their own selection of plans.

If you want some help choosing, you can visit our best ecommerce website builder page to compare some of the top brands on the market.

When it comes to choosing between the different ecommerce plans, there are a number of factors to consider. We recommend that, as your first step, you should put together a list of the features you absolutely need, as well as additional features that would be nice to have. Having this list should help you to begin filtering out some of the less relevant brands and plans.

If, for example, you’re launching your business from scratch, you might only want basic online store features that help you get off the ground. Often, the cheaper ecommerce plans will provide you with the functionality you need.

If, however, you are launching an online platform for an existing business, you might want to consider advanced functionality, such as abandoned cart features or email marketing. In this instance, you’ll probably want to start looking at the slightly more advanced offerings.

Of course, the cost is going to be an important factor for you – if not the most important. Consider whether the ecommerce brand you’re looking at charges transaction fees for purchases; some do on their cheaper plans, but offer better rates the more you pay monthly. If you are expecting a high volume of sales from the very beginning, then paying more monthly might be balanced out easily by your savings on transaction costs.

Top ecommerce website builders

The plans below include some of our top ecommerce website builder picks. These options are great for getting your online store started. They all offer a range of ecommerce tools and functions for you to use, with the option for scaling available with each of them.

£ 25 Monthly

Dedicated ecommerce website builder
Up to 1,000 inventory locations
Point of sale (POS) system

$ 39 Monthly

Ecommerce plugin for WordPress sites
Unlimited number of users
Excellent value-for-money

£ 14 Monthly

All-rounder website builder with ecom tools
Incredibly easy-to-use
Up to 50,000 inventory locations

Which of these options you choose will depend on a range of factors.

WooCommerce will be your best choice if you are launching an ecommerce website using WordPress, whereas Wix could be the best option if you want to prioritise ease-of-use. Shopify is an excellent choice if you want to build a pure ecom experience easily.

Step 3: Register a domain name

There are a few things to consider first when it comes to registering a domain name, but the most important one is: do you have a brand name already?

If your answer to the question above is yes, then you’ll almost certainly want to register a domain name that matches it or matches it as closely as possible. This is likely to be most important to established businesses who are moving online; you want people to know that they’re connecting with the same brand they always have.

Do bear in mind though, that the domain you want might not always be available. There are literally billions of sites online now meaning that domain names based on common words or names are almost always taken. Sometimes you can purchase them anyway, but the cost might be higher, or you may need to employ a service to try and purchase the domain at auction for you.

Remember that a memorable domain name is the first building block of a good brand. It should reflect your business values, and it should appeal to your audience.

Once you have a domain name in mind, along with some potential alternatives if your ideal name is already gone, then you can use a registrar such as GoDaddy or Google Domains to finalise your registration.

For tips, you can visit our how to choose a domain name page.

Step 4: Set up your website hosting

Selecting a reliable web hosting provider that offers quick load times, high uptime and increased security is important for any online business, but even more so for ecommerce stores. Of course, if you’re not sure what hosting is, then this might be tricky; fortunately, you can take a look at our best website hosting providers page if you want some help making the right choice.

When you are choosing, you should consider factors like site storage, bandwidth, security and customer support, along with other things like price. There are a range of popular hosting providers on the market, but they might not always be the right choice for you.

If you’re not sure how to proceed with hosting, bear in mind that some ecommerce platforms also offer hosting services as part of their overall package, which could be a real time-saver for someone looking to get online as quickly and easily as possible.

For advice on which brand to choose, you can visit our best website hosting providers page.

Step 5: Select a theme and customise your ecommerce site

Once you have chosen an ecommerce site builder, you’ll want to get started. The first step is to choose a template to use. All of the most popular ecommerce website builders offer a range of professional templates that you can choose from – though some may be specific to more expensive plans.

These templates are usually mobile-responsive and built in a way that should perform well online. This means that they will prioritise site speed and performance as standard. However, it may be worth double-checking this to make sure.

Once you’ve selected a template, you can then begin to customise it. You can change the colour scheme, use of font, layout and navigation to make sure your site appears as you’d like it to and that it works well.

Step 6: Add and organise products

If you’re running an online store then your products are probably the most important thing you’ll be thinking about. With the majority of ecommerce website builders, you can create categories and subcategories, making it easier for visitors to find items and navigate your site.

When you add products, you should make sure to keep an eye on relevant information like price and product description, but should also pay attention to the quality of the images you use to show your products.

Step 7: Set up payment processing

If you’re selling online then you need to be able to make money. To do this, you’ll need to be able to process payments.

Depending on the platform you use, you might have payment processing included in your plan. However, this isn’t always the case. If not, you might consider using a dedicated payment processor, such as PayPal.

With payment processing, you also want to ensure your website has an SSL certificate to provide a secure experience for you and your customers.

Take a look at the articles below for more advice on payment.

What is a payment gateway and how does it work?

What is an online payment? How it works and how it helps

What is an online shop? Definition, types and benefits

Step 8: Implement marketing strategies

Whether you are launching a new business online, or taking a pre-existing business online, you will likely want to drive traffic to your ecommerce website to generate sales or build traffic.

Marketing methods can include search engine optimisation (SEO), social media marketing and email marketing. Of course, you might not want to do all of these at once and may prefer to tackle them one at a time.

Either way, monitoring your data and analytics is the best way to start getting a feel for how things are going.

Step 9: Provide excellent customer support

When you’re running any sort of business, taking care of your customers is key. This is no less true with an online store.

Make sure that you offer your customers communication channels, such as live chat and email, so that they can reach out with questions or concerns. It might be that their delivery is late and they want an update, or it could be that they’ve encountered a problem with their product. In either case, your business will be better regarded if you are prompt and accessible with your responses.

You should also make sure to build robust policies that you can point to if things go wrong. This can help you to manage return and refund policies if you ever need to.

How to set up an ecommerce website: Final thoughts

Setting up an online store requires planning, preparation and solid execution. By following the steps on this page, you’ll be on the right track to success.

Remember to spend time optimising your site based on the data you have access to. Keep an eye on market trends and prioritise your customers to see the results you want.

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.

Ecommerce

Weebly review 2024: Ecommerce web builder features & benefits

Weebly is a well-known and popular ecommerce website builder that offers a full suite of online retail functionality to users and businesses. Owned by Square, a software provider offering tools to help businesses operate effectively, Weebly is a website builder that offers ecommerce functionality for a reasonable cost. Even if

September 13, 2023 No Comments

Ecommerce

Shopify review 2024: Ecommerce website builder tested

Shopify is a leading ecommerce website builder that provides end-to-end online retail functionality to users and businesses. Shopify offers a range of high-quality ecommerce tools, along with professional templates for you to choose from. While it is one of the more expensive ecommerce builders we’ve compared, the range of functions

September 1, 2023 No Comments

Ecommerce

What is a payment gateway and how does it work?

With online payments now a part of everyday life for a huge number of people, the efficient and secure transfer of payments is vital. This is why a payment gateway is important. So, what is a payment gateway? Put simply, a payment gateway acts as a virtual connection between buyers,

August 18, 2023 No Comments

Ecommerce

What is an online payment? How it works and how it helps

If you’re starting an ecommerce store or using a website to shop, you might ask the question, what is an online payment? Whether you’re purchasing a product, paying bills or transferring money to a friend, online payments can offer a convenient and quick option. But there are various factors to

August 17, 2023 No Comments

Ecommerce

How to use Weebly to build a website: Step-by-step guide

Weebly is a popular website builder that offers ecommerce functionality, along with the tools you need to create a functional, attractive site quickly and easily. With a user-friendly platform and a range of easy-to-use functions and features, Weebly is a great way to get online. Offering a range of ecommerce

August 15, 2023 No Comments

Ecommerce

How to use BigCommerce: 9 steps to get started

BigCommerse is a robust and feature-rich ecommerce website builder that can empower businesses of all sizes to establish and scale an online presence. One of the best-known platforms on the market for those looking to build an online store, BigCommerce offers a range of competitively priced plans. Each plan offers

August 15, 2023 No Comments

Table of Contents

Step 1: Define your ecommerce strategy

Step 2: Choose an ecommerce platform

Top ecommerce website builders

Shopify

WooCommerce

Wix

Step 3: Register a domain name

Step 4: Set up your website hosting

Step 5: Select a theme and customise your ecommerce site

Step 6: Add and organise products

Step 7: Set up payment processing

Step 8: Implement marketing strategies

Step 9: Provide excellent customer support

How to set up an ecommerce website: Final thoughts

Bryn Glover