eCommerce Web Design
What is an eCommerce website?
When we talk about an eCommerce website we actually mean online shop or retail website. If you have ever been to a website that has Visa or Mastercard logos somewhere on the website or it takes credit card payments, that is an eCommerce website. There is always a shopping cart on the website where online shoppers will add their items. You will also find that there are many different eCommerce websites selling different products. And also something you won’t see from a client or viewer point is that these online shops are built on different platforms or software. Some are built using CMS opensource software which is the common option and others are custom built which is much much more expensive.
What do I need to create an eCommerce online shop?
When thinking about getting your first online shop up and running you will need to do a bit of homework like:
- What platform will work the best for me?
- Where will I host this website and what domain name should I register?
- Would I need a security certificate to make sure the website is secure?
- How will the credit card payments work and what payment gateway or merchant should I use?
These are only a couple of things you will need to consider before starting an eCommerce online shop. But lucky for you, we can help you set this up when you decide to start your online shop.
Our hosting servers which are based in the USA supports most award winning eCommerce applications such as OSCommerce, WordPress, Joomla which uses Virtuemart. Our server also has a 99.9% uptime rate which assures you that your website will always be online. Our hosting prices for eCommerce shops starts from R155 per month. We also offer domain registrations from R100 per year.
Security certificates are optional as we don’t store any credit card information on our websites. The application that we use to develop eCommerce websites uses a 3rd party payment gateway such as PayGate, MyGate or MWEB.
What is a merchant account and how do I go about setting this up?
A merchant account is a special bank account that you setup with your bank to receive major credit card payments. This account works along with online payment software that is supplied by a number of companies in South Africa which also integrates with your online shop software. This software is also called Payment Gateways which enables you to handle credit card transaction securely through your website.
Here are a couple of companies that supplies this software:
Paygate – www.paygate.co.za
LinQPay – www.linqpay.co.za
MyGate – www.mygate.co.za
MWEB – www.mwebbusiness.co.za
NetCash – www.netcash.co.za
Or alternatively you can email us at francois@icreatemedia.co.za.