Ecommerce website development

Key decisions in a store build

Hosted or self-hosted?

Information online sellers must provide

GOV.UK sets out what businesses selling online must tell customers before an order is placed, including the business name, contact details and address, the price including all taxes, how customers can pay, delivery arrangements and costs, and how customers can cancel. It also states that customers must be told they can cancel up to 14 days after their order is delivered, with certain exceptions. Building this information into product pages, checkout and policy pages from the start avoids retrofitting it later.

Specific situations, such as personalised goods or digital downloads, have their own rules; check the guidance or take advice for your products.

How a store is developed

1. 01

   Plan

   Products, platform, payments, shipping and integrations decided.

   Output: Store specification

2. 02

   Build

   Catalogue structure, templates, checkout and policies set up.

   Output: Staging store

3. 03

   Load and test

   Products imported; orders, payments, emails and shipping tested.

   Output: Tested store

4. 04

   Launch

   Go live with monitoring and a support period.

   Output: Trading store

Before launch

Think about running costs early

The cost of a store continues after launch: platform or hosting fees, payment processing, apps or extensions, maintenance and marketing. Estimating these for the first year, alongside build cost, gives a realistic view of whether a platform suits your margins and volume. Cheaper builds on platforms with high ongoing costs can work out more expensive over time, and the reverse is also true.

Structuring the catalogue

How products are grouped decides how easily customers find them. Categories should reflect how customers think, not how the warehouse is organised. Attributes such as size, colour, material or compatibility make filtering possible, but only if they are entered consistently. Planning the structure before importing products avoids rework and makes later additions straightforward.

For larger ranges, good site search that understands product codes and common misspellings is as important as navigation.

Designed for phones

Many shoppers browse and buy on phones. Product images, filters, the cart and checkout must work comfortably on small screens, with large tap targets and minimal typing. Google states that it uses the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking, so mobile quality affects visibility as well as sales.

After launch

A store needs ongoing care: updates, test orders, product data upkeep and performance reviews. Planning who will do this, and budgeting for it, is part of development rather than an afterthought.

Product photography

Customers cannot handle products online, so photographs carry much of the selling. Consistent backgrounds, angles and lighting across the range, with close-ups of details and an indication of scale, help customers choose with confidence and reduce returns.