This is a vast subject but I will keep it simple and only cover a small part of setting up an online store.
Reading through some posts on this site I appear to start the most recent ones with “A friend asked me this week how” but this post is different it wasn’t this week it was last week.
So a friend asked me last week how to or what to use to set up an online shop for her website. It was to sell artwork through and she didn’t state what platform she was using –
So I had a look and this is what I found and suggested as software to set up an online store
As an example I suggested this one Rokcart which is for Joomla and the example here is the one from my site – I don’t use it but it works and looks pretty good. It is easy to add inventory and you can control the layout and look.
Have an extensive inventory
Moving on to some more generic advice – It is better to have as much listed and available to buy through your online shop. It makes great reading for those little google search bots but also if everything is for sale then have it available online. Categorising your stock is important so that visitors who wish to ourchase form one category don;t get confused with another category and distracted – high price goods v’s low price goods. Have goods well categorized so pin badges are not next to your high priced fine art.
Here are some examples of the WordPress plugin called eshop
Another good idea is to use a catalogue which you make available via Issuu.com only so that people can peruse it and then by online. You don’t have to print copies simply send people to an online version. See this article for a bit more information on Issuu.
If you have any suggestions for plugins or ways to improve setting up an online shop then the comments are open please let me know.