Starting an e-commerce from scratch: what to know.

Your own platform or a marketplace?

Selling on Amazon or Etsy gives immediate visibility but makes you dependent on someone else’s rules and commissions. Your own e-commerce takes more care at the start, but the shop — customers, data, margins — is yours. Often the right answer is: both, with your own site at the centre. A marketplace can be a great channel to get known and test demand, but building everything only there is like renting a house instead of buying it: the rules can change, commissions eat into margins and the customers, in effect, belong to the marketplace. Having a shop you own at the centre, flanked by external channels, gives you control over prices, data and the relationship with whoever buys.

Payments, shipping and returns

These are the operational heart. You need secure, familiar payment methods, clear shipping costs (surprises at checkout are the number one cause of abandoned carts) and a simple returns policy. An e-commerce that works is, first of all, well-managed logistics. It’s worth deciding in advance how to handle packaging, delivery times and couriers, because these very details build (or destroy) trust after the first purchase. A customer who receives the parcel when promised and, if there’s a problem, can make a return without a fight, comes back and recommends you: well-managed logistics is marketing that pays for itself.

Product pages that sell

Professional photos, descriptions that answer the customer’s questions, visible reviews. The product page is your shop assistant: if it doesn’t reassure and convince, the visitor leaves. It’s worth more than a thousand promotional banners. It’s worth investing time above all in the customer’s implicit questions: sizes, materials, compatibility, timing, warranties. Every doubt the page leaves unanswered is one more reason to abandon the cart or open a competitor’s tab. Real photos from several angles and genuine reviews, then, often do more than any discount.

SEO and content from day one

An e-commerce is born with hundreds of pages: categories and products must be structured to be found on Google. Adding a blog with useful guides attracts visitors even before they’re ready to buy. Structuring categories, filters and URLs well from the start avoids having to redo them months later, when the catalogue has grown and every change risks the ranking you’ve already earned. A blog with guides, comparisons and usage tips, meanwhile, catches those who are still researching and brings them to your site well before the moment of purchase.

B2B: e-commerce isn’t only for consumers

Reserved price lists, recurring orders, minimum quantities: business-to-business selling happens online too. A dedicated B2B area can simplify your resellers’ orders and free up valuable sales time. For many companies, business-to-business selling is the real leap: the reseller orders on their own when they need to, sees their price list and order history straight away, and the sales team no longer spends days transcribing requests received by email or phone. It’s an e-commerce that looks more like a management system than a shop, but one that genuinely frees up time and reduces errors.

Start on the right foot

An e-commerce is an investment that pays off if built well from the foundations. We design online stores you own, fast, secure and optimised to sell — with no commission on sales. Tell us your idea. We always start from your product and your real customers, not from a ready-made template: only that way does the shop come with the features you actually need and no useless weight. And since the site is your property, you pay no commission on sales: the initial investment works for you on every order, instead of rewarding an outside platform.