With the exponential growth in the number of online shoppers, a trend consolidated by the COVID-19–induced lockdowns, the necessity for every retail business to build an e-commerce presence is indisputable. According to statistics, e-commerce retail purchases are expected to rise from 14.1% to 22% by 2023. If you want to improve your sales performance and reach new heights as an entrepreneur, going e-commerce is the only way to achieve these goals.
Professional e-commerce website development is a complex process that requires an increasingly calculated approach, but once all your business processes are established, everything will go right.
First, you need to consider your business niche and develop a business strategy. Then you need to choose the e-commerce platform that is the best fit for your business needs and preferences.
In this article, we will show you how to build a professional e-commerce website with Magento 2. Magento is a powerful open source e-commerce platform from one of the largest software developers in the world, Adobe. The platform is based on the latest digital technologies, allowing a highly engaging user experience, which is what any online merchant is looking for.
The Benefits of Choosing Magento for Building an e-Commerce Website
- It’s an open source system. As you may know, there are 2 main types of e-commerce platforms: hosted and self-hosted or open source. Each type has its own pros and cons. Hosted solutions don’t require coding skills and cost less, but its possibilities are limited; for example, you are unable to select your hosting provider, as this is included in the service. On the other hand, self-hosted website management is more complicated, and usually open source platforms are more expensive, but opting for an open source system will seamlessly allow you to scale your business over time.
- It’s built for sales. Many content management systems are available; however, Magento is the perfect option for retail business. It has all kinds of features to help you strengthen your company’s position in the market and boost sales.
- Customisation. Magento can be customised for any business direction. No matter what your product niche is, this platform is highly customisable, and it will be easy for you to find any module you need from Magento’s extensive feature library.
- Various hosting options. Magento provides the opportunity to choose any web hosting provider.
- Multiple website hosting. Magento has an option that allows you to manage multiple websites from a single admin panel. This is useful if you are going to run separate web stores, each with its own product catalogue and other features.
- SEO-friendliness. This is a must-have element for your digital business if you want to actively promote your brand. Magento was designed with SEO in mind. With this platform, you can easily manage duplicate content, landing pages, page indexing, etc., so there is a higher probability that your website will appear in search engine results.
How to Build a Magento 2 Website
Here is a brief flow on Magento 2 installation process:
- Choose a Magento 2 theme. This is the skeleton for your website. You can choose among existing templates or develop a custom Magento 2 design. The first option is cheaper, but the second may be more effective for your brand recognition. Whichever option you choose, Magento themes are UX-boosters. To find the best theme for your website, pay attention to the following features:
- 100% responsiveness
- Enhanced navigation
- Blog functionality
- Modern slider
- Cross-browser compatibility
- Select a web-hosting provider. Hosting helps you post and enable your future data online. Depending on the capacity, three types of website hosting exist:
- Virtual hosting. The most budget-oriented variant that fits websites with several thousand pages and 1,5 thousand of website visitors per day.
- Virtual dedicated server. It’s rational to choose this hosting when your daily website traffic is nearly 15 thousand.
- Dedicated server. It is a full-package hardware and the most expensive variant. It’s ideal for large stores.
- Install your CMS. At this stage, your Magento 2 website development process begins. Before the installation, you must be sure that your laptop meets all the system requirements. Then you should register and download Magento version 2 from Magento Tech Resources. Here are the main installation steps:
- Check your web hosting readiness
- Upload your files to the server
- Add your database details
- Set a unique path to your website’s admin panel for security reasons
- Choose your web store’s time zone, currency, and language
- Create an admin account
- Click the button “Install Now,” and wait until the installation process is complete
- Configure Magento 2 web-design. Here you should visit the Content section to configure the following elements:
- Blocks
- Pages
- Widgets
- Posts
- Comments
- Upload your first products. Once your Magento store is successfully installed, it’s time to add the first items to your store. Go to Products and then to Catalogues and click the button “Add Product.” It’s easy! You can also configure cross-selling and simplify product management in Advanced Settings.
- Finish up. Before launching your powerful Magento 2 web store, make sure you integrate social networks, your payment gateway, and authentication methods for faster user registration.
Congratulations! Your Magento 2 web store is ready, and a new era in the development of your business has begun. One more thing your need to know about Magento 2 is that it’s an extremely scalable solution. You can start with basic settings and add more advanced features later. Magento 2 excellent performance will allow you to attain business success!
Jane Vishnova, CEO & Co-founder of Dinarys, a fast-growing eCommerce development company, a Magento, Adobe and Shopware Solution partner. My personal experience in management is since 2009 and in the IT field since 2014. An experienced public speaker, participate in local and international conferences. Our team of 70+ eCommerce professionals works with B2B and B2C companies all over the world.
