Build your online store from £6.90/mo

An online store does quite literally what it says on the tin: it's a store that sells goods and services online, compared to a traditional store that sells goods in a brick-and-mortar venue.

Often referred to as eCommerce, this term refers to selling and buying products or services online. An eCommerce website is where all the activity happens – it’s an online store.

You can have an eCommerce website that sells to individuals, or your business could sell to other businesses. There are online stores for just about anything, depending on your business model and target market.

With platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, it can take anything from a few days to a couple of weeks to get your store up and running, depending on your level of experience.

With Zyro’s simple store builder features, however, even people with no design or coding experience can get ready to sell online in a matter of minutes.

First, you need to have your products available either at your own warehouse, dropshipping, or another fulfillment provider.

Next, you want to think about what you find useful during online shopping. Photos, prices, descriptions, sizing information – add it all into your store, and you’re good to go.

Use Zyro’s dashboard to track inventory, and offer a range of payment and shipping methods, from credit cards to PayPal and DHL to USPS and beyond.

We want you to avoid the heartbreak of a customer abandoning their shopping cart at the checkout by giving you access to a robust payment gateway that accepts all major credit cards and shipping solutions.

Zyro can calculate the best shipping rates for your shoppers, and help find the best-priced handlers based on your preferences.

The entire delivery process can be tracked on your dashboard, so all you need to do is get on with business and print shipping labels.

No, the profit you make from your online store is all yours. Unlike some other platforms, Zyro is a website builder that takes zero commission and doesn’t charge transaction fees on top of the monthly fees of your website plan.

This means that you can focus on keeping your pricing strategy competitive while still covering shipping costs and other expenses.

The beauty of a modern online store platform like Zyro is that you really don't need formal training to get started with online selling. Sure, it's going to help you in the long run if you read up on how to run a business online and the ins and outs of managing an eCommerce website.

But an online store builder like Zyro makes it very easy and intuitive to start building a small business and a strong online presence. From writing the best product descriptions to choosing the right eCommerce plan with the payment gateways for your needs, you'll get all the tools and guidance you need to boost sales and attract new customers.

That depends on the type of eCommerce site you want to create. With a WordPress site, you need to take into account how much web hosting or WordPress hosting, various security measures (that keep your site secure from malicious phishing attempts, like SSL certificates), individual plug-ins, and themes will add up to every month.

On the other hand, store builders include all the technical aspects of running an online store into their monthly fees, making the process of setting up small businesses faster and easier.

Zyro is by far the best online store builder for beginners, with its in-house developed grid technology, well-rounded payment gateway, 24/7 friendly customer service, and unbeatable prices. All of Zyro's store templates are also fully responsive, making it easy to sell to mobile users, too.

This depends on your target audience and overall niche. We recommend doing market research before selling a few products that you personally like. This way, you'll be able to understand what's currently trending, and which products are in demand, making it easier for you to position your brand uniquely amongst the competition.

Instead, consider attracting people to shop online at your store by offering them something that they can't get elsewhere, or at a price they simply can't ignore. If you're stuck for ideas, we've done the heavy lifting for you and compiled a list of some of the trending products that are having a moment online right now.

Even if you're already selling on online marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon, there are still many pros to running your own eCommerce site. Things like search engine optimization (appearing at the top of search results of search engines like Google) and seamless integration of social media accounts becomes a lot easier and more impactful when you have your own online store.

You'll be able to make your product pages stand out from the competition, something that's a lot harder to do when you're working within the framework of sites like Amazon and eBay. Your own store with its own URL also helps you build and scale your brand, and come across as someone serious and professional.

You can use your website not just to sell online, but also to offer exclusive business details about your store through a dedicated blog and optimize your store for mobile phones and other mobile devices. With Zyro website builder, you can have a blog completely free of charge with all website and online store plans.

Short answer – yes, compared to running a traditional store. Since your eCommerce store exists online, you won't have to worry about costly monthly fees from things like electricity, water, and the physical rent of your store property.

You won't also be restricted by your geographical location or set opening hours, as your store exists around the clock and can be accessed from all corners of the globe. The chances are that you also won't need as much staff, meaning that your overall operating costs are lower.

This means that you'll have better profit margins overall, making eCommerce stores a profitable addition to any business plan.