Building an ecommerce website that web visitors and users find attractive and appealing involves a lot of effort and investment. This is because your website is the first impression an interested buyer or potential customer has of your brand. Therefore, it has to be the best among the competition.
If you’re looking for how to achieve this, what if we told you that you can use a template ecommerce website? Yes! There are ecommerce website templates that are a great option for entrepreneurs looking at designing the perfect online store for their business.
In this article, we will explore the ten reasons you should use ecommerce templates for designing your online store.
It’s Cost-effective
Using a template ecommerce website is usually more affordable than hiring a web designer to create a custom website. This is because customized websites are more pricey to develop which makes website developers charge high fees.
And when you are just bootstrapping your business operations, it might be difficult to cough out a huge amount of money for a website. The most important thing you should be focused on is getting a professional-looking and user-friendly website for your online store. And an ecommerce website template can get you this at a far cheaper cost.
Sometimes also, a good ecommerce theme can be gotten for free which makes it easier for you to get running as quickly as possible. Even better, you can update your user interface as many times as you want at a cheaper cost too.
It Comes With a Quick Setup
A template ecommerce website can be set up quickly, allowing businesses to start selling online faster. This is because website templates don’t require you to have extensive coding experience.
If you’re also looking for a website template with a lot of built-in functionality including several plugins, widgets and other options, you will get one conveniently without having to take longer hours to code.
As long as you have your product images and content ready, you’ll have an up-and-running website in no time. This is compared to custom-designed websites that can take months to create because of how complex they can be.
However, you can get a custom-designed website at your earliest convenience even if you are just starting out in ecommerce. All you have to do is subscribe for a fee to the NEXT BASKET software as a service ecommerce platform.
The team of professionals at NEXT BASKET are on standby to ensure that your website is ready within just 72 hours, saving you a lot of time that would have been spent on learning to code and design your interface by yourself. You also get extensive integrations, boosted online presence for your website through organic SEO, and ready-made design themes that enable you to manage your ecommerce website effectively.
You Can Enjoy Customizable Design
Templates can be customized to match a business’s branding and unique needs. No matter the type of business you run, it is easy to find all the features and functionality you require already embedded into a website theme. However, if you need to add or remove features, you can do this easily because most themed templates are quite flexible enough.
Therefore, if your business is new or growing, you don’t necessarily need an outsourced technical team to add a few customized features to your ecommerce website template. It’s great to bear in mind that the right template should have easy customization options including after sales support especially in this digital era.
With customizable templates, you can adjust the colors, fonts, layouts, and other design elements. You can also add or remove sections, customize headers and footers, and rearrange content blocks to create a unique and tailored website for your business. Therefore, you don’t need extensive coding skills or technical expertise to make changes.
The fact that you can customize your template design also means that scaling your business becomes easier without having to start all over again. Adding new pages, incorporating extra functionalities or changing the overall design to fit your evolving branding strategies all become seamless.
Essentially, you get the best of both worlds of convenience and creativity when you go for customizable ecommerce website templates. This helps your website remain rock solid in the face of emerging trends and stiff competition.
Template Websites are User-friendly
Template ecommerce websites are often designed with user experience in mind, making it easy for customers to navigate and make purchases. Your visitor’s shopping experience should be top-notch and only a user-friendly website with easy navigation can make this your reality.
Ensure that you categorize your products well enough so that it is easy for your customers to search for and find them. For example, if a shopper is looking for dresses, categorize all the dresses you sell together so that they are easy to browse through. This is a feature that comes with most template ecommerce websites, helping your online shop have a tidy and professional look.
Overall, with ecommerce templates, you get a feel of the navigation of your site to help prioritize user experience and make your website easy to use.
Your E-shop Is Guaranteed To Be Mobile Responsive
Many templates are mobile responsive, ensuring that the website is optimized for mobile devices. In case you didn’t know, mobile-friendly websites experience a 40% higher conversion rate than non-optimized sites and 62% of top-ranking websites are mobile optimized.
This is because more younger people among the millennial and generation Z are shopping online daily on their phones. Therefore, your website must be flexible enough to adapt to different screen sizes and dimensions seamlessly or else you risk losing them to the competition.
Using a template ecommerce website for your business is a great way to enjoy this advantage with zero effort involved.
Modern E-commerce Platforms are SEO-friendly
Templates are often optimized for search engines, making it easier for businesses to rank higher in search results.
When you are thinking of SEO-friendliness and your mind goes first to content, you are not capturing the full picture. This is because your website also plays a major role in determining your ranking chances.
Therefore, the design of your website will enable you to stand out as well. You can’t rely on only high quality content if you want your ecommerce website to rank on the search engine results pages.
The technical aspects of your site must also be good. And to achieve this, you must choose a website template that has a proper hierarchy. This will aid navigation for both the search engine crawlers and your users.
Fortunately for you, most website templates come with built-in SEO friendly features and parameters. This can boost your brand awareness and attract more visitors to your website. Website templates are so good that you won’t need to spend a lot of money on SEO services separately for your ecommerce business.
You Will Have Hundreds of Up-to-date Features
Many templates include the latest ecommerce features, such as product reviews, social media integration, and secure payment options. If you want your shoppers to land on your ecommerce website and have a seamless experience with the payment options and reviews section, then go for ecommerce website templates.
First, potential customers love to see that other users have bought and reviewed a product that they are interested in because it convinces them that your business is trustworthy. Therefore, product reviews and ratings are an essential feature that must be integrated into your ecommerce website.
Social media integration also helps to increase your visibility because your customers may prefer to sign in through their social media accounts. With a good social media plugin that comes with most ecommerce website templates, you can as well display your products directly on your social media pages and posts.
Social widgets can further boost your conversion rates because widgets allow easy sharing on social media to enable users to discover your products and start conversations about them. They also enable you to show the number of likes or comments on your social media platform, influencing the purchase decisions of your customers.
Third, you’ll also need to ensure that your customers can pay quickly and securely on your website. Most templates can integrate seamlessly with popular ecommerce payment processing systems to enable you to receive payments faster and more securely.
You should expect that your ecommerce template will offer your customers a great browsing experience in addition to multi-browser compatibility and a responsive design. Overall, the templates that are well-designed for ecommerce businesses come with all the features you need to run an online store successfully.
From online payments integration to live chat support and order processing, these templates are packed with the up-to-date features that can help you have a smooth experience as you launch your online store.
You’ll Receive Prompts Technical Support
Many template providers offer technical support and updates to ensure that the website runs smoothly. This is very important because you might run into challenges as you use your preferred theme or template for an online store. There could be a glitch or a bug which you might not be able to resolve on your own.
The technical support that comes with most ecommerce website templates can help you to resolve any issues or problems as quickly as possible. Even when you have any doubts whatsoever regarding your website as you build using templates, you can always reach out to the technical support team to help you out.
There are usually tutorials, forums or a ticket system that help to resolve your complaints. You can even get direct support at an extra cost from some template providers.
You should always remember that it’s not difficult to build your online store using website templates and even when in doubt, there’s reliable support to help you out in troubleshooting the problem. Your template provider’s technical support team should also be able to continuously provide updates for regular better performance of the template.
The Community Support Will Have Your Back
Many template providers have online communities where businesses can get help and advice from other users. This is useful because other users can easily share their knowledge and experiences. And as a beginner, you will find them valuable especially when you encounter challenges or have questions.
Even if you are an experienced user, you may need to get information about a particular feature and this is where community support comes in. There are usually community forums, discussion boards, and social media groups dedicated to each website template that serve as platforms for users to exchange ideas, seek advice, and share solutions to common issues.
The collective problem-solving capabilities of the community can help users experiencing technical problems or challenges. Solutions to common issues are often discussed in the community and community members may provide step-by-step guides or code snippets to address specific problems.
In addition, an active community shows ongoing support and development for the template. Regular updates, bug fixes, and improvements are more likely to be available in templates with a thriving user community. The community can also contribute to the evolution of the template by suggesting new features, reporting bugs, and participating in discussions about future updates.
When you join a community, you also enjoy networking opportunities. For example, merchants and developers can connect with others in similar industries or with similar business needs, fostering collaborations and partnerships. This can lead to the sharing of business strategies, marketing tips, and insights into industry trends.
Community support also allows for quick responses to emerging issues or changes in the ecommerce landscape. This can help users to stay informed about security vulnerabilities, compliance requirements and other critical updates that may affect their online stores.
You Will Save Time
Using a template ecommerce website can save businesses time by eliminating the need to build a website from scratch, reducing the time it takes to launch a fully functional website.
Many ecommerce templates are also designed to be responsive. This means that they automatically adapt to different screen sizes and devices. This removes the need for manual adjustments and testing, saving time in the development and optimization phases.
You must also know that ecommerce templates are typically created with clean and optimized code. This is beneficial for users who may not have extensive coding or technical expertise. The templates simplify the development process, allowing users to focus on their business rather than dealing with complex coding issues.
You get to save time on even testing and troubleshooting because ecommerce website templates are usually designed to have cross-browser compatibility which would have been time consuming if you were to do it manually.
Overall, the time-saving aspect of ecommerce website templates can be seen in their quick deployment, pre-built features, customization options, and overall streamlined development process. This allows business owners and developers to focus on business strategies and customer experience rather than spending excessive time on the technical intricacies of website creation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which platform is best for an ecommerce website?
There are many options for you when considering a platform for creating an ecommerce website. One of them is NEXT BASKET.
NEXT BASKET is a next-generation SaaS ecommerce platform for the creation of online shops. With 24/7 technical support, top SEO for search engines, and 75+ features, you can get your online store fully completed in just 72 hours.
Do I need a website for ecommerce?
The answer is yes. You need a fully functional website to engage in ecommerce as an online business owner. While you can choose to have a presence on online marketplaces such as Jiji, Jumia, or Konga and even sell on social media platforms, it is not enough.
A standalone website for your ecommerce business can help you develop a strong brand presence, give you total control of your layout and design and enhance your marketing strategies to include SEO, content marketing and email marketing.
What is the difference between a website and an ecommerce website?
A general website is a collection of web pages and multimedia content that provides information about a person, business, organization, or topic. It can serve various purposes, including sharing information, promoting products or services, showcasing a portfolio, or offering educational content. A standard website can be static, displaying fixed content that rarely changes, or dynamic, regularly updated with new information or blog posts. It may include features like contact forms, image galleries, and interactive elements.
An ecommerce website, on the other hand, is a specialized type of website designed specifically for buying and selling goods or services online. Its primary function is to facilitate online transactions, allowing visitors to browse products, add them to a shopping cart, and make purchases securely. Ecommerce websites incorporate features such as product listings, shopping carts, secure checkout processes, and payment gateways. They are equipped to handle online transactions, manage inventory, calculate shipping costs, and provide a seamless buying experience for customers. Ecommerce websites can be dedicated online stores, like those of retail businesses, or they can be integrated into an existing website to enable online sales alongside other content.
Is ecommerce profitable in Nigeria?
Nigeria is the 42nd largest market for ecommerce with a predicted revenue of US$6,765.7 million by 2023. Revenue is expected to show a compound annual growth rate resulting in a projected market volume of US$1,735.6 million by 2027.
The ECDB recognizes seven markets within the Nigerian eCommerce market. Electronics is the largest market and accounts for 25.2% of the Nigerian eCommerce revenue. It is followed by Hobby & Leisure with 22.7%, Fashion with 19.1%, Furniture & Homeware with 11.2%, Care Products with 8.6%, DIY with 8.1%, and Grocery with the remaining 4.9%.
Ventsislav Kirilov