Why Should we build an Online Shopping site for our business?
The trend of online shopping has been on the rise for several years and, lately with Covid-19, has become even stronger. As a result, many online shopping sites are popping up daily as they allow a business to sell their products worldwide.
Having an online shopping site is important for establishing a business brand and for effective marketing. That’s why so many store owners decide to build one.
Many businesses think that they can spend less and save money by opening an online shop on Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Etsy, Facebook, Instagram and so forth.
This decision is often shortsighted since, by doing this, they have chosen to give up ownership and settle for renting digital space. While this option may save money in the short-term, the real meaning is that when one chooses to open a shop on one of these platforms, that online shop doesn’t belong to the business and can be shut down at any moment. Clearly, these businesses haven’t always thought everything through or considered all the consequences.
The bottom line is: building an online shopping site will be a good investment in the long run and an asset that will make a lot of money for the business over time.
Before building an online shop, one must understand the different platforms that are available for development of online shopping sites. After careful consideration, one can then make an informed decision.
For this reason, we have decided to concentrate on the three most popular options with a list of the pros and cons for each one.
1. Building an Online Shop with WordPress-
WordPress is the most widely used content management platform in the world. Its major advantage is that it’s based on open code which allows one to design a custom made website. As a result, one doesn’t need to base his online website on a pattern and can design and develop the shopping site in a way that will make his visitors become paying customers. In addition, the operation of the system is very simple and allows the admin to add articles and edit content and products easily.
2. Building an Online Shop with Wix
Wix is an Israeli company which provides business owners with a platform to build their own website alone, eliminating the need for a designer or web developer. It allows one to choose from many patterns and has its own admin panel. Basically, it’s based on a “Do It Yourself” model. The major disadvantage of this option is its limited ability to interface with other systems such as online credit card and payment clearing ,emailing systems etc.
3.Building an Online Shop with Shopify
Shopify is a platform used to build e-commerce websites only which means one cannot use it to build corporate websites. Shopify has some advantages. Unlike eBay, Amazon, AliExpress etc. Shopify allows one to build a website that one owns. In addition, Shopify, like Wix, is based on a “Do It Yourself” model which allows one to build an e-commerce site without having any knowledge of website design or development.
However, Shopify has a few limitations. First, one must remember that after the trial period of 14 days, building on Shopify will cost money. Second, Shopify is customized in English only. So, if one’s website is in a different language one will have to check the consequences before starting. Third, Shopify also has limited interfacing with other systems like online bank clearing, emailing systems etc.
