Implement a webshop in 4 steps

Suppose you start from scratch. Where do you start then? Below is an example of phases and steps that may come your way. Pay particular attention to the analysis. Good preparation is half the job!

Below, in an overview of what each phase entails and which steps you can take. Questions? Contact us

Phase 1: Analysis

In this phase you will orientate how the shop is going to look, what functionalities software etc. you need

• (As a startup) Brainstorm ideas; which products are suitable to go online
  what do you feel with or what do you know a lot about and why.
• Recording it in a business plan is a good idea, especially if investors are needed. Even with an existing company, it is wise to consider the following points against the light:
  • Determine what your goal is for the webshop and who is the target group
  • Determine your budget
  • Determine where to buy products or how to manufacture them, what about delivery times from suppliers, where is the stock.
  • Think about the administration and the link with it
  • (As a startup) think about the minimum income you can live on, insurance and pension. A lot of information is available online
  • Research what the legal requirements are, for example if you are going to work via Drop Shipment, then especially check how the tax views on import/export with foreign countries. Check where the goods come from and which countries you want to deliver to. Who pays for the importation of the goods?
  • Check whether you are entitled to a subsidy, WBSO or European subsidies, municipal subsidies.
• Software choice; are you going for standard software or a custom shop? Then look at the considerations below:
  • Is the software easy to upgrade?
  • How secure is the software?
  • How scalable is the software; it is easy to expand with more shops, languages, currencies, customer assortments, b2b / b2c etc.
  • Which integrations are possible with, for example, the financial or ERP system. Making an integration immediately during the implementation often saves a lot of extra time on setup and maintenance.
  • Are additional apps expensive and of good quality?
  • Is customization possible
  • And check the hosting! Look especially at stability and up-time guarantee.
  • Design – Layout options, does this fit within the budget.
  • Think future-oriented, setting up a webshop takes a lot of time, a shame if it has to be done again after a year.

To promote the shop, a marketing plan or social media plan can help. Think about this in good time well before the launch of the webshop and enlist help.

Phase 2: Implementation webshop

In this phase you will build the concept of the webshop

• Determine the design / layout of the shop
• Settings like:
  
  • Menu structure
  • Product categories
  • Filters
  • Products and product information (text & photos).
  • Fill in other pages, also think of a contact form, frequently asked questions page regarding ordering and returns!
• Make sure that general terms and conditions, AVG privacy statement and Cookie notification are present (if you use Google Analytics you are already obliged to report this!)
• Setup shipping costs, online payment methods and shopping cart process.

Phase 3: Testing / Optimizing

This phase is an important step, you will check and test the complete proces, from choosing a product to buying and delivering (virtual). 

• Test the shopping cart process, login or account process thoroughly by:
  • How does a successful payment / unsuccessful payment work.
  • What does the order confirmation look like?
  • How do you handle the order in the back-end
  • Is there an integration with another system? Then test the entire process and make sure every department in the company knows what they should do. For example if you offer diffrent unit of measures in the shop, please mak sure that the back-end like scanners can handle these UOM’s.
  • Always test preferably on the basis of scenarios, click here for an example (it is in Dutch, lpease import it in Word and you can translate it to your own language)
• Distribute data: Product information is important.
• Make sure in the text that a product contains sufficient information with characteristics such as dimensions, color and other specifications.
• Are the photos clear and take the photos in such a way that it is clear what the size of a product is! This will prevent returns.
• Check the performance of the shop: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?hl=nl

Phase 4: Live/ Maintenance

The go-live: The live process can be different for every software, often the (existing) domain is referred to the webshop in this phase (a DNS adjustment can take 24 hours, keep this in mind when communicating with the outside world) and/ or the password can be removed.

• Google Search Console, Analytics and Tag Manager can be set up.
• Setting e-commerce goals can help to gain insight into, for example, a shopping cart process.
• Promote according to marketing plan / Social media plan
• Build knowledge of the competitor and keep innovating. Analyze where the needs of the customers lie and optimize the shop. Repeat the deployment steps again if major changes are needed.
• Continue to promote the shop by:
  • Social media (in accordance with the social media plan)
    Blogs, the more content you can find on the shop, the better this is for the ranking in Google
  • Ask for reviews: Don’t just post the positive, but also do something with the less satisfied customer. Analyze where the improvement is (see it as a gift that someone takes the time to give feedback).