How to Add Ecommerce to the Website: 6 Best Ways

Do you want to scale your retail business and reach an international audience? Find the best ecommerce development firm.

If previously retailers had delayed entering the online space for whatever reason, the pandemic has demonstrated that this is the only way to keep it going.

• There’s no denying that online shopping is popular these days. According to Forbes, 20.8% of retail purchases will be online in 2023. By 2026, that figure will rise to 24%.

Ecommerce is a great way to grow your business and expand your reach in different regions.

In this article, GetTrusted experts will tell you how to add a store to your website and which platforms and extensions to use.

Add Plugins to Ecommerce Site

In this section, we propose considering some of the most popular CMS engines and their plugins.

WordPress

This is probably the most convenient and easy-to-use platform for opening a site related to ecommerce. 

Installing plugins is recommended to manage sales, control and optimize processes as efficiently as possible. They expand the possibilities of your online business.

The best and most valuable:

• WooCommerce enables you to organize your work in a practical and versatile way.
• WP eCommerce helps to perform navigation and manage your products more efficiently.
• Cart66 Lite allows you to add and edit shipping methods and control orders, considering factors like total amount, quantity, date, status, and other attributes.

Wix

This is a well-known platform for creating aesthetically pleasing and presentable sites. Its functionality allows you to make unique web resources without being a webmaster. 

Most websites require you to install different plugins to extend their functionality. With Wix, it’s a little different. With this builder, you can add ecommerce to a website with a drag-and-drop editor. Users are also offered a wide range of easy-to-install apps rather than plugins.

The most popular:

• Tidio Live Chat: an app that lets you see who is visiting your website, send automated messages to visitors and provide mobile support.
• Site Search: a powerful search system that lets customers find products, texts, and images instantly.
• Visitor Analytics: an app for gathering information about customers, such as where they are coming from and important statistics that help optimize your business.

Joomla

Joomla is a popular free and open-source CMS that allows you to create different types of websites. The functionality of the basic version is extended by installing free and paid modules and plugins.

The most common ones include:

• EShop: an excellent plugin for shopping/ecommerce. It offers many useful features, including a mini-cart, product image pop-ups, support for coupons/discounts/gift certificates, multilingual capability, over 60 payment gateways, and much more.
• Joom Donation: an extension for collecting donations. It can be used for charitable purposes and memberships, sponsorships, and bill payments.
• J2Store: an ecommerce extension with a built-in shopping cart. Its flexible pricing, shipping, and catalog settings will significantly enhance the functionality of your online store.

Drupal

It is one of the world’s most flexible, productive, and functional CMFs (Content Management Framework), with open source and excellent engine architecture.

The Framework platform is geared towards professional “coders” and has many modules with which you can easily customize and extend the site’s features.

The most in-demand:

• Views allows you to create powerful database queries to display content on your site in tables, lists, blocks, and other formats.
• Commerce helps you develop online stores, manage product catalogs, place orders, process payments, and more.
• Media provides convenient tools for managing media files on your site, such as images, video, and audio.

Prestashop

This is an engine designed for content management in online stores. It has over 310 standard features to create a fully working website quickly. 

Essential features: many ready-made templates for stores, free access to full functionality, and an unlimited number of products that can be added to the catalog.

The most current plugins:

• The Responsive Prestashop Slider Revolution module offers a wide range of options and the ability to add various effects, making your website visually stunning.
• The Prestashop shortcode feature allows you to create shortcuts for all elements to meet your online store’s specific needs.
• The Prestashop “Request Information” feature activates a feedback mechanism to engage potential customers, making it easier for them to reach out and inquire about your products or services.

Implement the Payment Gateway on the Website

Ecommerce is one of the growing sectors of the economy year after year. It offers great opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

One of the main criteria for its existence is profitable online payment methods, but the payment gateway must be enabled on the site to use them.

• A payment gateway is a set of software tools for payment on the site and automatic transfer of payment information from buyer to acquirer (Google Checkout, Sage, PayPal, etc.).

Compared to payment systems, gateways do not interact with funds. They function only as a linking element and transmit the necessary customer data to the acquirer for processing.

Add Shopping Card

Payment with a credit or debit card is popular. But tying payment systems to the site, in this case, is somewhat more complicated than in the case of electronic money.

Why it’s beneficial to add shopping cards:

• Most people who buy on the Internet own a bank card. This means they can take advantage of all the payment methods available with a card.
• A consumer does not need to register in e-money systems and top up an e-wallet.
• All payments are secure and made in a modern processing center, which works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Integrate Ecommerce with Social Media

Using social media for ecommerce has a lot to gain. First, you’ll increase your company’s visibility and bring in new leads. In addition, you can also invest in promotions on popular platforms to drive sales.

To organize ecommerce using social media, you need:

• Create corporate accounts on social networks that match your target audience: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or LinkedIn.
• Connect your online store to the accounts. Most ecommerce platforms provide plugins or built-in features to connect social media accounts: Smash Balloon, Monarch, Revive Social, etc.
• Synchronize your product catalog with your accounts. It will allow you to showcase and sell your product directly on social networks.
• Create attractive content and publish it regularly. It is essential to emphasize the benefits of your products and share relevant information. 
• Add social media sharing buttons on product pages and on the blog. This lets visitors easily share your products or content on their accounts, increasing brand awareness.

To track the results of your efforts, we recommend using the analytics tools that social media platforms provide.

Create Standalone Ecommerce Platform

You can make a separate website to use exclusively for ecommerce. Place a link to it on an existing platform. It’s essential to keep the exact same design and user interface so that visitors can recognize your brand.

You can add ecommerce to an existing website with the help of any constructor or by using the services of a developer.

The Best Solutions to Add Ecommerce to the Website

There are many quality solutions available to add a store to a website. However, choosing the right one for the specific needs of your marketplace is not easy. Let’s take a look at the most popular ones.

Snipcart

Snipcart is a professional toolkit that allows you to turn your site into a full-fledged online store. It is a service with easy integration, flexible and convenient for developers, and easy to use for customers.

With a comprehensive set of tools, you can track abandoned carts, sales, orders, customer behavior, and more.

Selz

Selz is an ecommerce platform that allows users to start and grow their businesses online. Its apps and integration solutions fit various company goals and needs. Vendors who want to expand their advertising capabilities can use the ad management service.

Shoprocket

Shoprocket is a full-featured ecommerce platform. It’s good for digital products, supports multiple currencies, and allows you to integrate a virtual marketplace with third-party apps. You can add a shopping cart to your website or let ShopRocket host your storefront.

Ecwid

Ecwid is a multifunctional ecommerce platform. Its main features include a free unlimited tariff and the possibility to embed an online store into any existing website that allows embedding HTML code.

RomanCart

Roman Cart is designed for those who want to accept online payments without problems. It allows you to create a “Buy Now” button and add it to any site. Also, you can receive payments through Roman Cart in any convenient way for you.

You can edit the shopping cart using HTML and CSS to make it look exactly like your web resource. This makes it an easy solution for those who want to start selling online.

FoxyCart

Foxy offers a unique approach to creating an ecommerce site. You can sell your products to any customer through your device or website. It has powerful features, including managing multiple stores. It allows you to run multiple online stores from one control panel at no extra cost.

How to Add Ecommerce to Your Website with Ecommerce Platforms

You can add ecommerce to your website with the help of special platforms. There are quite a few of them in today’s market. Some offer a package deal where you get everything from hosting to help from ecommerce website developers for a monthly fee. Others present cutting-edge tools for building websites using self-hosting and a more developer-oriented interface.

Let’s consider the most popular ones:

Shopify

Shopify is an ecommerce platform that works online and offline, so you can add ecommerce to your website. It is designed to work professionally, including payment processing, marketing, and web design.

Magento

Magento is an open-source ecommerce platform. It has an extensive catalog of management tools, marketing, and search engine optimization. It is considered one of the best on the market today.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a scalable and user-friendly platform. Unlike other solutions, it has all the built-in features you might need to build your online presence. You don’t have to worry about implementing plugins and add-ons to expand functionality.

OpenCart

OpenCart is a professional platform that allows you to add a store to your website with minimal effort. The user can create an online store of any complexity and focus using the platform’s functionality. The CMS engine for the site helps to organize payment acceptance, manage and process orders, and customize shopping carts. And all this even with basic functionality.

Salesforce

Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform that helps automate and optimize your business and increase sales. It’s a good opportunity to take customer service to the next level to motivate repeat purchases.

Conclusion

Having your own ecommerce website opens up new opportunities for your business growth. It serves as a tool for interacting with customers, allowing you to increase customer acquisition and average order value while reducing the number of rejections.

You can add ecommerce to a website using different types of CMS. The choice of a particular option depends on your budget, the size and type of your online store, marketing strategy, etc.

GetTrusted professionals know how to add ecommerce to your website and empower your online business. 

Why should you entrust the creation of an ecommerce website to us?

• Our team will make a clear and detailed TOR and help reduce development costs.
• There are no freelancers who can disappear, delay deadlines, or do poor-quality tasks. We use only verified IT companies and agencies from the USA, Germany, Ukraine, and Poland. 
• We will choose those matching your time zone, culture, and standards for free.
• With our Escrow Service, you get guarantees that all obligations under the deal will be fulfilled.

We will find professional developers to find a suitable solution for you and implement your ecommerce project within optimal timelines.