Building an ecommerce website like Amazon is very well achievable when you have got the best ecommerce website developers on your side. If you are thinking of starting an online store and looking for ideas for the best ecommerce platform to use, this article will shed some light on this.
eCommerce websites have been hugely successful, owing to the one idea they brought into the market – take your products to the customer, rather than the other way around. Shopping sites like Amazon, eBay and Alibaba were the first to implement the idea of e-commerce sites and their success drew a herd of start-ups to follow suit.
Considering the fact that you can buy or sell any kind of product or service through your e-commerce site; and that you can depend on factors like digital marketing to popularize your e-commerce site, investing your hard earned cash to start an e-commerce site is a great idea to generate a steady flow of revenue. Below is a complete guide on how to build a website like Amazon or eBay, while preserving its customer-centric nature.
eCommerce Websites Growing in Popularity
Back in 2012, a European Union survey data revealed that, out of the 820 million people who live in Europe, 250 million are e-shoppers and that ecommerce websites like Amazon contributes 3.5% of total internet economy to the GDP of EU.
5 years after, the figures have peaked due to the growing influence of mobile and social media marketing. With a steadily increasing number of buyers, the Asia-Pacific region tops at 654 million e-commerce buyers in 2017 and looks like the best market to start your e-commerce site. So, it would be a much better plan to focus on these products when you start an ecommerce website like Amazon. This will help you to reach a break-even point faster.
Implementing Your eCommerce Website
It’s crucial to follow a process while implementing your ecommerce website, as it gives you room to regress and improve.
✔ Choosing the right platform for your e-commerce website is one of the first things you would have to do. You can select one from a range of open source ecommerce development platforms like PrestaShop, Magento, etc. when you are planning to develop an advanced shopping website like Amazon.
✔ Have a team of ecommerce website designers, developers and testers ready at your disposal to develop the website and materialize your ideas into effective web based applications.
✔ Host and test your ecommerce website once it’s ready. Testing helps you sort out any bugs and improve the performance of your website.
✔ Once your ecommerce website is ready to roll, launch your website to a target audience. Make use of direct and/or influential marketing at this stage.
Building Profitable E-Commerce Business Website
To run a smooth and profitable ecommerce business website, an effective infrastructure must be in place from the inception of the site. Also, important features of store design attract more customers while keeping the existing customers happy with your service.
✔ User Interface: Having a interactive and user friendly website is important so that your customer can easily find the product they’re looking for. While it will definitely help in bringing traffic to your ecommerce website, user interface also plays a major part if you plan to expand to mobile platforms in the near future.
✔ Support: A quick and dedicated CRM team will prove to be of advantage while addressing the queries and concerns of customers. Whether it’s a matter of late delivery or a faulty product, a prompt and assuring response should be made to the customer.
✔ Security: A customer would need to share their personal information like bank account details for payment procedures; and not only do you have to establish a secure website, you also have to make them feel secure as it helps in building trust and confidence. Secure payments options are a key factor when building a shopping site like Amazon.
✔ Logistics: Logistics is an important pillar of operations in an e-commerce website. Choose operators with a good track record and extraordinary last-mile delivery.
✔ Product Data: The products in your website must have enough product data which include adequate product descriptions and specifications in the need of text, images and if the products demands, then a demo video. If sellers fail to provide enough data for their product, it’s still your responsibility to furnish enough information about the product on your website.
Essential eCommerce Website Features
Here is a collection of the basic features which needs to be in an eCommerce store:
| Social Login | Advanced Reports | Shipping Methods |
| Multi language | SEO Friendly URL | Tax Management |
| Multi Currency | Google Analytics | Invoice Management |
| Unlimited Products & Categories | Automated Newsletter & Email | Responsive Themes |
| Easy Checkout | Stock Management | Admin Dashboard |
| Reviews & Rating | Customer Management | Commission Calculations |
| Order Management | Categories Management | Product Comparison |
| Product Comparison | Super Deals | Seller Dashboard |
eCommerce Website Redesign & Upgrade
One of the most overlooked aspects while building an e-commerce website is leaving room for future expansion. Having a vision for the future of your e-commerce website is important to stay up-to-date and note fade into the horizon.
Once your website generates a substantial revenue from its operations, it’s time to expand your e-commerce website to mobile and social media platforms. Many multivendor ecommerce websites like Amazon, Alibaba and eBay invest hugely into mobile platforms to reach the customers more easily and conveniently. It’ll be those features that your future customers will be looking forward to. Social media serves as the right place to interact with your customers on a regular basis and draw more customers with attractive marketing campaigns.
Also, multivendor ecommerce websites like Amazon have their own in-house products like AmazonBasics. On similar lines, having your own signature product should also be part of your long-term plan if you’re going to battle it with shopping websites like Amazon or eBay.
There may be many who would want to operate a flourishing e-commerce business. But what really matters is how you run an e-commerce website to achieve success and if you follow these guidelines in an appropriate manner, then success is all yours.
Neologix is a leading ecommerce web development company with offices in San Diego, Sharjah and India. For any ecommerce website development related queries please visit our website or email us at info@nlindia.com
