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On-line commerce is attracting more and more customers, sweeping profound changes in consumption patterns. Since the start of this year, the e-commerce sector has accounted for over 10% of retail sales worldwide. This phenomenon is compelling companies to reinvent themselves to meet the challenges of the digital age. More mature and secure, e-commerce now comes in a myriad of forms to meet the needs of the market.
On-line commerce is synonymous with new unprecedented opportunities for those seeking to embark on the adventure. We see, for example, the rise of drop shipping. Drop shipping enables selling products on the Internet without actually owning any inventory. Simply select products from a supplier, and then write test articles and sales pages with your own enticing product sheets. Customers directly receive their purchases at home without the products ever being physically handled by the seller. This flexibility, made possible by the supplier, is making drop shipping an increasingly popular practice.
Get up close and personal with your customers
The Internet is bringing about new consumer habits: the customer is king on the Web. Consumers start by looking for information about what they want to buy on the Internet, then compare prices, and even read customer reviews before even walking through the door of a brick & mortar store. The ability to sell over the Internet is therefore crucial in getting to know your customers. This trend is perfectly illustrated by the success of click & collect. Major retailers have adopted this system, offering customers the means to buy on-line, then pick up their order at the store without having to check out. Here again, the importance of offering an on-line solution is demonstrated.
The Web provides opportunities for all.
E-commerce does away with national borders, making it possible to offer one’s products or services to the whole world. From this perspective, a niche business can take on an unexpected scale. All types of scenarios are conceivable. It is possible to start off small, and then successfully increase your business over time. This is exactly how so many e-commerce “success stories” began.
Create an e-commerce website
Fortunately, the time when one had to invest astronomical amounts of money to develop an on-line store is over. With a good content management system (CMS) and free SSL certificates offered by Infomaniak, you can create a powerful, secure e-commerce site in less than a day.
The best CMS for creating an e-commerce website
WordPress with WooCommerce
WordPress is the most widely used content management system in the world: it gives life to 30% of all websites. The reason for its popularity is undoubtedly its power combined with its ease of use. Thanks to its large user base, this CMS has an incredibly rich ecosystem of plugins (extensions) expanding even further its possibilities.
WooCommerce is the ultimate WordPress plugin for creating an on-line store. It provides all the necessary features for creating a powerful e-commerce site. It is highly recommended for all those familiar with WordPress as well as for beginners who want to go it alone.
WordPress and WooCommerce benefit from a perfect seamless integration with Infomaniak’s hosting and can be installed in one click.
PrestaShop
Designed directly for e-commerce right from the start, PrestaShop is a complete CMS that provides a vast plugin ecosystem. Its ergonomics is akin to WordPress and it natively supports multiple languages. Its basic features are expanded. For instance, it is possible to fine-tune the catalogue, the products, as well as the shopping cart.
PrestaShop is the CMS of choice for large-scale e-commerce projects, especially multi-boutique projects. Nevertheless, a certain understanding of the technique is required for advanced configurations. PrestaShop is able to support a sizeable product catalogue along with multiple users. This is why Cloud Servers are so popular with our e-commerce customers who use PrestaShop. These professionally hosted websites, with 100% dedicated resources, provide perfect modularity to manage high traffic or additional loads on a site with a single click.
Magento
Also designed for e-commerce, Magento is the most powerful CMS of its category. It is built to handle very large on-line shops. When installed on a professionally hosted website, it is capable of accommodating tens of thousands of users. Magento provides extensive technical possibilities, but it is rather difficult to master. In order to deploy its wide array of features, proven technical skills are required. For this reason companies rely on specialised agencies or recruit in-house developers to carry out their e-commerce project. Magento is a CMS suited to projects expecting to generate over €200K at least.
Recommended domain extensions for an e-commerce site
Choosing the right domain name plays a key role in an on-line store’s success. It serves both as the gateway and the business card of the site. This is why domain names are under heavy competition on the Internet. In terms of e-commerce, it is strategically important to reserve your domain name as early as possible.
Dominated by .COM,the extensions assigned to e-commerce experience strong demand as they offer great potential. With the new extensions .SHOP, .STORE and .BOUTIQUE it is now possible to choose a domain extension that perfectly describes and reflects one’s on-line business.
To indicate an e-commerce site in a universal, intuitive way, the .SHOP extension is a wise choice. If one wishes to evoke the idea of a brick and mortar store having a presence on the Internet, then the .STORE extension is preferable. Finally, the .BOUTIQUE extension is perfect for points of sale (POS) that offer a more refined, human-sized experience.
These new domain extensions represent a great opportunity since they allow making a distinction, while offering both meaning and consistency to the domain names of on-line businesses.
As a leading domain name registrar, Infomaniak provides its services at the lowest rates on the market. Check the availability of your domain name to register it at the best price and receive a free unlimited email address.
Obtain assistance from a professional
Would you like to entrust the creation of your e-commerce site to a Web professional? Infomaniak’s partner platform enables you to submit your project in just a few clicks to nearly 1,000 professional website developers selected according to your criteria. You will rapidly receive, free and without commitment, various quotes that you can compare before selecting the best Webmaster for your project.
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