E-commerce business has boomed in the past few years, and now numerous customers prefer online shopping. Therefore, an online presence has become an effective way of marketing your brand. It allows customization with ease and helps in generating revenue and sales. E-commerce development can help businesses to understand the target market better and engage the users efficiently.
Choosing a suitable platform for your business can be challenging; there are several options to consider, including Shopify, Magento, and multiple other factors that may influence your decision. But as a leading platform on the market, Magento offers a comprehensive solution for internet retailers. 180,000+ online stores use it to showcase and sell their products.
It is a popular e-commerce platform globally. With 500,000 downloads, the Magento website development is growing more and more relevant. As open-source software, it allows users to customize their online shops. Magento developers can create e-commerce extensions and web portals by narrowing the technology gap.
Developing and managing an enterprise-level e-commerce website is seamless with the Magento Website Development framework. Consequently, in this article, we will discuss the easy ways to build an e-commerce website on Magento.
Ways to Build an E-commerce Website on Magento
The process of Magento e-commerce development to build a Magento setup is here. Let’s have a look.
1. Latest Installation Package
Head to Magento’s official website -> Products & Solutions -> Open Source.
The open-source was formerly Community Edition. Initially, download the package to get started with the customization and configuration. Once the download is done, extract the content to:
- Public_html/store/ for the installation package inside a sub-folder
- Public_html folder if you want Magento Installation
2. Upload Magento to Hosting Server
Once the installation process is done, you have to upload all the Magento files to the hosting server. You can now upload the files by accessing cPanel -> File Manager or through your FTP client.
3. Create Databases
The following phases will help in adding a new database and in configuring it for your online store.
- To set up the database server host
- Use localhost, if it is a local database server located on the same host
- If the server is located on a different host, enter its IP address of a hostname
- To set up database access credentials
Set up a username and password for the database. The field of a password is optional, although, for security concerns, it is always suggested to create a password and maintain its privacy.
- To setup Database name and table prefix
The database must have an exceptional database instance as Magneto database tables will have Magneto tables already installed in them. Create a separate table prefix for each table so that it can be identified from one another.
4. Create Categories and Subcategories of Products
The product category is the road sign that helps customers map their journey to the accurate product they want to purchase. Setting up product categories and subcategories are easy in Magento development. It allows you to make as many categories and subcategories as you want for your online store.
The process is:
- Head to Admin Panel -> Catalog -> Manage Categories
- Create a new Root Catalog
- Proceed to add category and subcategory further under the Root Catalog
- Now edit all metadata information like name, image, Active status, description, keyword, and more for the category.
- You can also pinch the display of the subcategories under the Page Layout option
- Once completed, click on a category to launch the new category
5. Configuration of Shipping Method
Magento allows e-retailers to configure different shipping methods for their customers like free shipping, online rates, flat rate, dimensional weight, and more. The method to set up shipping is:
- Setting -> Configuration -> Sales -> Shipping Settings
- Enter origin details where your store is located
- Enable or disable shipping to multiple addresses in a similar section
- Configure the shipping cost based on online rate, table rate, or dimensional weight
- Click save to save the changes you made
- The configuration of the shipping methods will be shown on completion of a new order
6. Configuration of Payment Methods
Magento allows you to set up multiple payment methods for your online store. Therefore, to set up payment methods, follow these steps:
- System -> Configuration -> Sales -> Payment Methods
- Allow the credit card option
- Enable the selection of card choices
- Set up other security options such as 3D secure card transaction, secure code, and more
- Save the setting to finish the payment method configuration
We have mentioned all the easy ways to build an e-commerce website on Magento. However, various other programming and backend configurations need to be done to make your e-store completely customized and market-ready.
Cost of Magento E-commerce Website Development
Now comes the question of how much it will cost to build a Magento e-commerce website as the cost of Magento e-commerce website development is complicated to estimate. Many aspects influence the development cost when building a website with Magento. The nature of business needs, the specific Magento pack needed, and the size of your company.
Based on several editions, including Basic Magento, Community Edition, and the Enterprise Edition, you can choose the right package. So, it is significant to know the difference among all to choose the right one for you. Let’s find out.
1. Basic Magento
Basic Magento is seamless for a simple e-commerce site; it offers excellent functionality without any hassle. The solution is best for small companies because it’s quick to get up and run.
The price for a Basic Magento e-commerce website starts from $1000 to around $40,000. Features that include in the Basic Magento development package are:
- Basic functions
- Simple design or theme
- Access to the Magento website with a robust community of users and developers
- A seamless and easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS)
NOTE: The Basic Magento doesn’t include integration with back-office systems.
2. Community Edition
If you have an online presence and want to order migration services from another e-commerce platform to Magento, then the perfect choice is to customize an e-commerce website on the Magento Community edition.
Custom development of a Magento Community website can cost from $15,000. It includes some incredible features that can take your business to the next level.
- Custom Magneto website design
- Back office systems integration
- Custom product attributes
- Host migration
- Customer groups
- Extensions, plugins, and modules
3. Magento Enterprise
Magento Enterprise is the right choice for larger enterprise-scale businesses. It is an edition that offers the complete suite of Magento features.
The cost of development of Magento Enterprise starts from $60.000. It is the best edition for busy professionals as it enables amazing automation features. This version can control the entire process, from placing an order to shipping. With Magento Enterprise, you can get some incredible features:
- Many built-in modules
- Mobile-friendly website
- Social media integration
- Free client support
- Discount and coupon codes for customers
- The option for hosting through Magento and more.
Thus, choosing the right edition of Magento is the first step in budgeting for custom website development.
Other Factors That Can Influence
If you want to seriously join the Magento community and take advantage of CMS’s benefits, let’s look at extra factors that can influence the development cost.
1. Server
Server cost is the most basic steps to consider to create an e-commerce website in Magento. Now, the question comes where your online store will be installed? As there are multiple options. First, it is best to buy a server for your office, taking on all related costs in-house.
Another option is a shared hosting service that is a much agile route because you can readily scale the server up and down in this way, depending on the current business needs.
2. Domain
While plotting out the cost to develop a Magento e-commerce website, don’t ignore the domain fees. It is crucial to add the price of the domain to the total cost of Magento development.
When you choose or purchase the online shop domain, it is important to check on your primary keywords. The domain name of your Magento website should be closely associated with your business. It can help you to increase sales and reach more potential customers.
3. Theme
A website needs an attractive, clean, and easy-to-use theme. The Magento store allows a great selection of free themes that are fine for many scratches. The other option is to buy a paid theme or develop a custom theme from scratch. It is the last option that is expensive but flexible, and the only way to make sure that your website fits your vision.
Whether you go for the paid option or custom theme, make sure to factor in the price of developing when budgeting the overall project.
4. Extensions
Most of the time, Magento e-commerce websites use plenty of extensions. Like themes, there are both paid and free extensions. Also, the custom development of new extensions is the common one.
Suppose you plan to spend money on improved functionality for your Magento site. Be sure to add the development cost to your list.
5. Development
Development is the last stage, where the bulk of your budget to be spent as you pay the entire team of developers. However, it is significant to the success of any online project. The development team performs development, customization, and implementation of your Magneto online store.
The team uploads images, products, make the categories, and fill in everything else. After launch, the development team also offers maintenance and support to their clients.
The team of development ensures that your online business is successful.
Time Taken to Build a Magento E-commerce Website
Earlier, we have talked about the easy ways to build an E-commerce Website on Magento. Now it’s time to know about the approximate time it can take to build a Magento e-commerce site.
Breaking down the project into sections works great for planning purposes because different teams could have their own rates, depending on their skills and assignments.
So, it starts this way!
1. Initial Interview
Initially, it takes 1-2 days to determine the needs of the client and their business goals. In this stage, we choose the right Magento edition and determine which plugins and extension are needed for the website.
2. Magento Installation
Once we’ve identified the needed software, it usually takes less than 1 day to purchase it and perform basic configuration.
3. Plugins and Modules
Now the Magento platform is in place, and the team will buy any necessary plugins and modules like the search bar, shipping module, checkout module, payment module, a blog, and various SEO extensions. It takes only 1-3 days, depending on the nature and number of modules.
4. Custom Module Development
Each custom module takes at least 1 day to create, depending on the specific needs.
5. Theme
If you have chosen to use the premade theme, then searching Magento archives for the perfect one takes a few hours. However, the development of a custom theme usually takes at least 1 month.
6. Premade Theme Configuration
Once the premade theme has been sourced, setting, and configuring it for your website almost takes 1 day.
7. Custom HTML Layout
If your Magento e-commerce site needs a customized HTML layout, then it can take up to 1 month to set it up to work with all plugins and engines.
8. Custom Theme Creation
Custom theme creation and HTML layouts can take 3-4 weeks and up to 1 month as well.
9. Testing
Testing and QA is the process that completely depends on the complexity of the website and can take from 1 day-1 month.
10. Final Setting and Deployment
Once the Magento site is ready to launch, so it can also take 1 or 2 days.
Consequently, the hourly rate of Magento developers ranges from $65 – $150. It is tough to estimate the precise cost of Magento website development as it is a grey area for both a development company and clients. Therefore, without an in-depth analysis, it is not possible.
Besides, on average, an online store’s development can range from $1K to $50K.
Start Developing Your Site on Magento Today!
Starting an e-commerce business with Magento is not an easy task; however, you can beat the tough competition by using the above mentioned easy ways to build an e-commerce website on Magento. Magento is one of the useful e-commerce platforms that is growing in popularity. Despite, the best development company can also help you to build an interactive online store.
