How to Open an Online Store (E-Commerce Site): A Guide to Starting an Online Shopping Site

As physical stores have moved online, competition in the market has increased, and online stores have become entrepreneurs’ first choice. Naturally, there are many questions about this process: What do you need to set up an online shopping site? How do you open an e-commerce site? What are the legal and technical requirements for selling online? And many more…

Especially over the last few years, e-commerce in Turkey has grown very quickly. The large number of online stores has caught the attention of entrepreneurs and become a focus for anyone who wants to grow their business.

What Do You Need to Set Up an Online Shopping Site?

Anyone planning to set up an online shopping site first needs a business registered as a taxpayer. If you don’t have a company, setting up a sole proprietorship or an ordinary partnership is an easy alternative that can be done quickly and at minimal cost.

How to Set Up a Successful E-Commerce Site in 10 Steps

1. Choose an e-commerce platform,
2. Define your target audience,
3. Give your brand a name and get a domain that matches it,
4. Decide what you will sell or which services you will offer online,
5. Choose between fulfilling orders yourself or dropshipping,
6. Connect a payment provider to your site,
7. Use a sales-oriented design,
8. Build a strong brand strategy,
9. Decide on your business structure,
10. Launch marketing campaigns.

For help setting up a successful e-commerce site, please reach out to me via my contact page — I’m always happy to help.

How Much Does It Cost to Set Up an Online Store (E-Commerce Website)?

The cost varies depending on which features you want on your shopping site. Different agencies offer different e-commerce setup packages and infrastructures. Platforms such as IdeaSoft, ikas, Wix and Shopify can also help you a lot.

What Are the Basic Factors That Make Up the Cost of an E-Commerce Site?

Just as you need to rent a space to own a physical store, opening an e-commerce site comes with certain costs. We can list them as follows.

Domain Name

Owning a domain is not a big expense. Depending on the extension, it costs roughly 10 to 30 dollars. New domain extensions become available every year. If you have the chance, a .com extension is recommended. Your domain is your brand’s identity on the internet.

Hosting Cost

With quality hosting, you can be sure your online sales will rarely be disrupted. It is very important that your site is online 24/7 and that outages are extremely rare over the year. No customer wants to shop somewhere that is hard to reach.

Software Updates

As technology develops, keeping up has become a necessity. Using software with gaps or security vulnerabilities is definitely not recommended, especially for e-commerce sites. Google also prefers websites that run fresh, up-to-date software.

Legal Requirements

The tax obligations every company has also apply to e-commerce. In Turkey, the main requirements are:

• ETBİS (Electronic Commerce Information System) registration is required under the relevant legal communiqué. According to it, all e-commerce companies must register with the system.
• An SSL certificate is technically an encryption procedure. Thanks to this protocol, information transferred between your user and your server cannot be accessed by third parties.
• With an SSL certificate and ETBİS registration, you can set up a virtual POS on your site.
• KVKK (Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Law) aims to prevent data theft and the misuse of data by malicious people.

Since users share private information such as orders, payments and addresses during membership on e-commerce sites, these can be listed as the legal obligations of e-commerce sites.