Building an e-commerce site is more complex than a standard business website. There are payment systems, product databases, shipping logic, legal requirements, security standards, and performance benchmarks that do not exist in simpler projects. Most first-time shop owners underestimate this complexity — and pay for it after launch. This guide covers what you actually need to know before you build.
Platform comparison
| Platform | Best for | Monthly cost | Flexibility | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Custom built | Unique requirements, max performance | Hosting only (~€10–30) | Unlimited | Excellent |
| WooCommerce | WordPress users, content-heavy shops | €10–50 + plugins | High | Good (with optimisation) |
| Shopify | Fast launch, limited technical knowledge | €29–299 | Limited | Good |
| Wix / Squarespace | Very small shops, DIY | €17–35 | Very limited | Poor |
Must-have features for every online shop
- Secure checkout with SSL — HTTPS is non-negotiable. Any shop without it will be flagged by browsers and immediately lose sales.
- Mobile-first product pages — the majority of product browsing happens on smartphones. Product images, cart buttons, and checkout flows must work flawlessly on mobile.
- Fast load times — Walmart found that a 1-second improvement in load time increased conversions by 2%. Product images must be optimised; Core Web Vitals must pass.
- Product search and filtering — beyond 20 products, customers need the ability to filter by category, price, size, or other attributes.
- Abandoned cart recovery — email sequences triggered when a customer adds to cart but does not purchase. Recovers 5–15% of otherwise lost revenue.
- Multiple payment methods — minimum: credit/debit cards via Stripe and PayPal. In Austria and Germany, SEPA bank transfer and Klarna are commonly expected.
- Legal pages — Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Right of Withdrawal, and Impressum are legally required in the EU.
What to prepare before development starts
- Product catalogue — all product names, descriptions, prices, variants, and SKUs in a spreadsheet.
- Product photography — clean, consistent product images on a white or neutral background. Minimum 1000×1000px.
- Payment processor account — Stripe and PayPal accounts need 1–3 business days to verify. Start this before development.
- Shipping rates and zones — which countries do you ship to? What are the rates by weight or region?
- Legal texts — Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and return policy ready or obtained from a legal service. In the EU, selling without compliant terms opens real legal risk.
- Brand assets — logo in SVG or high-resolution PNG, brand colours, fonts.
The shops that launch on time are the ones where the client arrives with everything ready. Product catalogue, photos, payment account, legal texts. Development takes weeks. Waiting for content takes months.
Common e-commerce mistakes
- Launching without product photography — blurry, inconsistent, or low-resolution photos destroy conversion regardless of how good the site looks.
- Ignoring mobile checkout — a clumsy checkout on mobile loses the majority of your customers. Test on a real smartphone before launch.
- No post-launch SEO strategy — product pages need keyword-optimised titles, descriptions, and structured data (Product schema) to rank on Google.
- Underestimating legal requirements — EU consumer protection law is strict. Selling without compliant Terms of Service opens legal risk.
- Choosing the cheapest hosting — shared hosting that puts your shop on a slow server with hundreds of other sites will fail under real traffic.
If you are planning an online shop, start with a free conversation. I will help you understand exactly what you need and give you a fixed price with no surprises.