By now, most of us understand how crucial online commerce is for consumers and businesses alike. Thanks to the pandemic-induced restrictions. Over the last year, a dizzying number of new businesses moved online. Companies that already had a digital presence scaled up capabilities. Everything changed so fast that most of us even couldn’t see the changes as they happened. Pressing consumer demands and rapid technological evolutions made this tectonic shift possible in such a short time. Digitization approaches like Drupal ecommerce development helped businesses minimize disruptions.
While the uncertainty is not over yet, businesses are more digitally equipped than ever. And it’s one of the rare positive imprints of the pandemic on the commercial arena. In 2021, medium and large enterprises alike say they’re more prepared to deal with disruptions. And eCommerce, perhaps, has the most prominent role in bringing this change. But some businesses—especially, small enterprises— are still struggling to run efficient eCommerce operations. And this blog post intends to help them. Read on.
How to Build an Efficient eCommerce Website
With the availability of cost-efficient services like Drupal development, building an online store is easier than ever. But you need to the right order of the most critical steps. Below are some tried-and-true tips to make a flawless eCommerce site.
1. Pick a Catchy & Relatable Brand Name
Deciding on a brand name is an early crucial step in your eCommerce journey. Your brand name should be related to the products or services you will be offering. Besides, the brand name will also be used in your domain name. If you have the budget and time, you might like to rope in a branding agency to create the most suitable brand name for your online business. Even if you don’t have the resources to do so, you can create an effective brand name. You just need to be careful about a couple of things.
Before you start thinking about a brand name, conduct extensive consumer research. You need to understand the interests and needs of your target audience to create a name that attracts them. Once you’ve decided on the name, create a business logo. It helps you to build customer trust quickly.
2. Get a Domain Name for your Site
After you have zeroed in on a brand name, it’s time to get a domain name for your eCommerce site. You can buy a suitable domain name from web hosting companies or domain registrars. Some businesses initially only secure their brand name for the domain, which is just fine. You could move your domain to another web-hosting provider whenever you want. The most crucial thing at this point is to secure a domain name.
3. Choose the Right eCommerce Platform
Now you’ve reached the most crucial stage of your eCommerce development project in terms of performance. By choosing the most suitable tech platform you can ensure the desired ROI. You could pick from different eCommerce development models. These include software as a service (SaaS), off-the-shelf eCommerce solution, and custom online store development, such as Drupal development techniques.
For the SaaS model, you could choose from a glamorous range of solutions. Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento are some of the most widely used software-as-a-service platforms. All of them offer ready-to-use eCommerce solutions with advanced capabilities. For small and businesses, however, building a custom eCommerce site is more cost-efficient. Plus, a personalized online gives you immense freedom to your brand.
Services like Drupal eCommerce development have unmatched flexibility in terms of store’s design and functionalities. That means you could be able to build a site with the specific design and features needed. Using such an approach, you can create a long-term online business model with a compelling brand identity. A significant number of new businesses prefer building a custom online store. But keep in mind that you’d need to hire Drupal developers or other professionals to build a personalized site.
4. Web Hosting Service
Your eCommerce website needs a server to run. Most businesses today choose cloud-based hosting services. Cloud environments offer an array of advantages like limitless scalability, easier accessibility, and data protection, among other things.
While choosing a web hosting service, you need to keep a couple of things on top of mind. These include website speed, performance, security, and tech support. If you’re not choosing cloud hosting, make sure the service offers database scalability. You could hire Drupal developers or web hosting experts to ensure the optimal performance of the site.
5. Implement Payment Gateways
Online merchants using SaaS solutions can use the in-built payment channels of the platform. But if you’re building your customized site, choosing the most suitable payment gateways becomes crucial. Ideally, you need to add as many payment options as possible. Services like Drupal development allow you to choose from a diverse range of payment solutions. Make sure that you select all the popular digital wallets, including Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Paytm.
6. Choose an SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate secures the communication between your web server and the browser from which users visit your store. In some cases, however, the hosting service provider itself takes care of your SSL requirements. SSL certificate a wide range of benefits, including protecting customers’ data, securing principal domains and subdomains, and ensuring a standard protocol for web traffic, among other things.
7. Use SEO & Digital Marketing
With a dizzying number of businesses selling goods and services online, reaching out to your target audience becomes exceedingly challenging. Your online needs to stand out and attract prospective buyers. That’s why it’s almost impossible to succeed in digital commerce without strategic SEO techniques. Along with SEO, you also need to run comprehensive digital marketing campaigns, covering the web, social media, and mobile apps.
Wrapping Up
Successful eCommerce ventures start with a market niche, product, or service that you think has the potential to attract online shoppers. And then they follow a strategic path—starting from choosing a brand to store design, development, and deployment. Services like Drupal eCommerce development make this journey predictable and seamless. At Drupal India, we build an online store that reflects your brand’s image and theme in unique ways. We also provide Drupal migration services to move existing sites to the best-in-class framework. Talk to us about creating a failure-proof eCommerce strategy for your venture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How much does it cost to build a Drupal website?
The costs of developing a Drupal website depend on several factors. Design complexity, development time, type of features, etc. play an important role in calculating the costs. Drupal India builds impeccable Drupal solutions at a competitive price.
Q. How long does it take to develop a Drupal website?
There’s no predefined time for developing a Drupal website. It varies widely depending on the features of the solution and its design. The best way to know an estimated time is to consult development experts. We deliver flawless Drupal websites in short development time.
Q. What is a headless commerce platform?
A headless commerce platform separates the backend of an eCommerce site from the frontend. Headless commerce exposes all backend data through a flexible API. This makes it possible to separate all kinds of frontends (“heads”) from the complex codes and processes of the backend.
