We are taking on a new retail venture.
We are considering trying a website to go alongside with it, to actually sell stuff online not just to advertise.
Now I am aware there are dozens of website building options online, some seem to allow you to DIY but I'm not sure if this would be an option when we need to be able to sell lots of difference categories in a range of sizes and colours. It will also need to be easily managed regarding updating the stock.
Any suggestions of where to start?
Don't want to spend a fortune as we don't know how it's going to go but don't want a crappy buggy site.
Is something like Shopify a good start? Is it worth to paying someone to set it up or is it fairly bomb proof?
Any recommendations where to start?
Play around quickly with:
BigCommerce
Shopify
WooCommerce
See which one you can manage a single t-shirt easiest yourself, taking into account what you said about one T-shirt having:
Multiple sizes
Multiple colours
Put in a help ticket before giving up and see who gets back to you.
If you can manage it yourself in any of them, go with that. If not pay someone else to sort it for you. Keep to the big platforms, don’t build anything bespoke or it will be a pain / expensive to maintain.
Have fun. Let us know which is your best.
If neither of the above work you could try Wix or Squarespace, maybe an few others before giving up.
The t shirt test is good because within 10 mins you should be able to evaluate your main requirement and get a feel for a platform pretty quickly.
I built a basic Shopify site during the pandemic that is still in use. No prior web experience apart from messing about in wordpress. I found it pretty easy to get to grips with and was up and running easily.
I know others who were in the same boat as us who spent thousands paying a dev to build their site (which didn't necessarily do what they wanted either)
Whichever platform you choose there are obviously monthly and transaction fees. At the time Shopify were comparable to the other main ones.
When I get a bit of time I'm going to build a new site in Square which will save us quite a bit in fees and link in with our POS.
Ask ChainReaction/Wiggle where they got theirs. And then go anywhere else.
We use Woo at work.
It's on the back of a custom wordpress themed site. It deals with sales and membership.
It works. Not had any real issues, apart from some head scratching when we wanted to change a few of the standard template pages such as 'thanks for your order', which were all written in horrid informal texts.
The custom theme causes more headaches than Woo does.
Had a Shopify store for 5 years. Never had a problem in terms of its reliability/security and is what you’re really paying for. Never really done any web development before and had to do some specific coding because of the way individual products can be configured. Worth bearing in mind how you plan to promote your online business through SEO or social media and the extra effort required. That said, this’ll probably be my last year online as my business focus is more local now and my average order value has decreased whilst no longer being cost effective to send to EU etc. means there isn’t really a return on the extra effort needed.<br />Worth considering your overall business approach and how you integrate the physical retail + online e.g. in terms of stock control/management if people online are buying the physical stock in your shop?
I've run several Shopify stores including one Plus and won't use anything else.
Had to use WooCommerce and Prestashop in the past and frankly would rather smash my scrotum in a car door repeatedly till all onlookers were crying.
Happy to guide you over DM if you want anything. I'm not running any more but have a good knowledge of set up and any issues you may experience.
Am a pro; we don't do anything with Shopify yet but it is the right answer in almost all cases these days. There's normally free or cheap trials to get you started.
It's dead easy to pick up and a quick standard theme is a way cheaper way to dip a toe into eCommerce than paying a pro to build one in Woo etc. As in, a few quid p/month vs £3000 to £8,000 ish for a custom design and build.
Shopify all the way...
another +1 for shopify
Looks like it will be Shopify then.
Many thanks.
another for Shopify
