Create an online store in 2019: these are all the options you have

Reportage

In this report we are going to take a look at the main options to create an online store in 2019.

Things to keep in mind

Creating an online store is not the same as creating a website. It is not enough to design it, and post it on the Internet. Buying and selling have implications and responsibilities that must be addressed, if we do not want to get into trouble.

Fiscal and tax liability

The moment you use the Internet to earn money, alarms go off in Social Security and the Treasury. Even if you only dedicate yourself to selling the crafts you create, you have to register as self-employed, and obtain the necessary permits, depending on the product (some do not require anything, others do).

If you sell abroad, again, depending on the products, you may need import/export permits and other documents. Find out well before opening the online store.

Register a domain

Most online store platforms offer you a generic address for your website, something like: creatutiendagratis.com/tienda343. At the image level, it gives a sensation of amateur commerce.

You must register a domain that does not exist so that your store has a URL of the type Tiendademagia_Lopez.com

Payment gateway

Every online store needs a payment method. You can accept transfer or use Pay Pal, which are simple and cheap methods to implement, but your clients will require you to be able to pay with a bank card or similar. Almost all store building services offer a credit card payment gateway, so that's no problem. But you must assume that you will have to hire one.

Customer Support

If your store works relatively well, sooner or later you will start receiving calls and questions about product questions, returns, shipping problems, etc.

You can take care of yourself, but if the store is just a complement to your work or the business management itself consumes all your time, you should consider asking for help or hiring someone to serve customers.

Social media

Today opening a store on the Internet is not enough. You also need a presence on social networks. You will have to create an account on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., and maintain them, if you want to attract new customers.

Specialized platforms

First of all, we are going to take a look at the services specialized in the creation of online stores. They only do that, so they offer a lot of store building options, covering all variants.

They have many templates to customize the image of your business, and dozens of addons or additional extras that you can add to your store. From animations to professional creation of logos and advertising videos, payment gateways, website translation into other languages, etc.

They also advise you, if you do not have much idea of ​​what you have to do.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the largest and most complete ecommerce platforms in the world. It has so many built-in features, including payment platform and inventory management and unlimited catalog, with over 100 templates and third-party app support for shipping, that you can create a store from scratch and have it up and running in just a few minutes. It also integrates with Facebook, to sell your products through the social network.

Against him, that a good part of his tools are in English, and that he charges a commission for the sales you make.

The basic plan costs about 25 euros per month, but you can try it for free for 14 days.

Sign in to Shopify

jumpseller

Jumpseller is a fast growing ecommerce platform in recent years. It is already used by more than 10,000 stores worldwide.

Their stores offer many interesting features. They are focused on sales worldwide, and from mobile.

It offers translation into several languages, sale of products through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp, use of coupons and promotions, and calculation of shipping costs based on customer data.

It also allows you to sell digital products (music or video files, for example), not just physical products.

Jumpseller has plans starting at 8 euros with unlimited products. You can try it for free for 14 days, without the need to give a credit card.

Go to Jumpseller

PrestaShop

The main hook of PrestaShop is that it allows you to create a free online store. Unlike most of the competition, it is not an online or cloud application, but a program that you must download and install, to create your store.

It offers a translation into 65 languages, and versions of the store optimized for mobile and tablet. It has more than 600 native functionalities, so you can customize your business to your liking.

Although creating the store is free, it only offers basic features. The most interesting and practical modules cost money.

More than 200,000 online stores use PrestaShop, a sign that it works really well. It is one of the most mature and secure platforms.

Access to PrestaShop

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free plugin for Wordpress, the popular website creation platform. You create the skeleton of your online store with WordPress, and with WooCommerce you add the products, payment gateways, etc.

28% of all online stores in the world use WooCommerce, which gives us an idea of ​​its potential.

It is very flexible and easy to use and offers many options, and you don't need to pay fees if you don't want to. The only problem is that the design gets complicated when you want to fully customize your store. And only the most basic options are free. As soon as you want to add more professional templates, more payment services, shipping management, etc., you already have to pay.

Today, it is one of the most complete options. Keep in mind that it is the platform used by other services that we include in this report.

Access WooCommerce

Palbin

If you want to create an online store quickly and easily, Palbin is a Spanish platform that has won awards for innovation.

It offers the creation of a professional online store to sell on the Internet, Facebook and Instagram. With an option to create a payment gateway with your bank, receive mobile orders, and positioning in the Google search engine. An interesting functionality is that it allows customers to make product reservations.

Palbin's basic plan costs 20 euros per month, but you can try it for free for 30 days, without a credit card or permanence.

Access Palbin

Other platforms that are worth it

Hosting services and generic domains

Here we collect platforms that are dedicated to hosting and cloud services associated with web pages. Online stores are just one option among many, in your product catalog.

They don't usually have as many options as specialized platforms, but in return you can directly negotiate aspects such as buying domains, email accounts, etc. with them.

1&1 Ions

1&1, one of the world's leading hosting platforms, has teamed up with Ionos, a company specializing in cloud services.

1&1 Ionos stands out for its click & build philosophy: you can build your store in a few easy steps. The templates are almost minimalist, but very functional and modern, very Apple. They are also easily integrated into Amazon and eBay.

It includes free SSL encryption, and all kinds of payment methods for the store, including credit cards and PayPal. A personal advisor offers you solutions to your problems and ideas to improve your store.

The Essential pack, the most basic, costs €10 per month, and includes the store editor and basic payment systems.

Access 1&1 Ions

hostelia

If you plan to sell to the whole world, Hostalia can be a good solution. Their stores are translated into multiple languages, and are mobile friendly.

It uses a simple WYSIWYG editor that shows the changes you are making in the store in real time, and you can use more than 300 templates with 50 different fonts. Payments can be accepted via PayPal, Servired, 4B, Sage Pay, RBS WorldPay and HSBC, with features such as order alert mailings.

You can also easily add products to the store, through a simple Excel list. From the application itself it allows you to generate invoices and delivery notes.

Hostalia offers five plans, the cheapest being the Basic Store, which costs €9.95 per month. Although you can try 3 months for free. With this plan you can create catalogs of up to 200 products, and use 10 email accounts. Of course, the translation of the store requires a more expensive plan.

Go to Hostalia

WIX Stores

WIX is a very popular service for its free hosting, but it also has a versatile online store platform.

It stands out for its very colorful product galleries and the elegant mobile version of the store.

Accept multiple payment options, including PayPal and credit cards, and you can create custom shipping rules and tax payments for each country.

It also includes an option to create discount coupons.

WIX allows you to create an online store from 16 euros per month.

Access WIXStores

Arsys

Arsys is one of the oldest and most popular hosting companies in Spain. By having the servers and IP addresses in Spain, local SEO (search engine positioning) is assured.

The Arsys online store stands out for its numerous payment options, and the possibility of sending via SEUR, Packlink, MRW and other local agencies.

If you want to sell abroad, translate the website into 15 languages. It adapts to mobiles and tablets, creates stores on Amazon and eBay, and has numerous marketing tools, including coupons and newsletters.

The basic Arsys store costs 7 euros per month, with a catalog of 200 products, offline payments and PayPal, one language and one currency.

Access Arsys

Siteground

Siteground offers a quality online store proposal, through the Wordpress WooCommerce platform. It has the advantage that with the templates it is easy to create an online store, and since WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin (a website creation platform), creating the store is free. You only pay for hosting and additional services, such as encryption, gateways, etc.

The downside of WooCommerce is that if you want to customize more than the templates offer, you'll have to resort to more WordPress plugins, and it can get a bit tricky.

Siteground offers plans starting at 3.95 euros per month, with space for about 10,000 visits per month, free domain and email, and daily backups.

Access Siteground

Other online store hostings that are worth it

Sales platforms

Many major sales platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Rakuten, etc., offer the option of selling your products through them. Although you have to submit to their rules, you have access to their customers, you maintain the independence of your store, and you can even let them take care of aspects such as the payment gateway, storage and shipping, thus saving you a lot of logistics problems. .

amazon

Amazon allows third-party stores to sell through its storefront. You create an online store and add your products to the global Amazon catalog.

The advantages are numerous. Stores are little more than simple catalogues, so they are very easy to create and no one has an advantage over another. Your products are accessible to millions of Amazon customers as they appear alongside those sold by Amazon itself.

Also, paying extra, you can store your items in Amazon warehouses, and let them ship them. And your customers use the Amazon payment platform, so you are freed from managing the collections.

The basic service costs 39 euros per month.

Access Amazon

eBay

eBay was one of the pioneer platforms in allowing individual customers and stores to sell through it.

You simply create the store with a small header, and add your products to the catalog. Like Amazon, eBay adds them to its global catalog, with the same category as eBay products, or professional stores.

You can use eBay's own payment platform, and even send packages through Packlink.

eBay doesn't have monthly fees, but you do have to pay a small amount for each item listing, and it does take a commission on each sale.

Sign in to eBay

Facebook and Instagram

Both Facebook and Instagram have added the possibility of selling your products or creating your own online store within the social network.

It is carried out from your own user profile. For example, on Facebook you have to enter your profile, activate the Shopping template, and enter the Store option. From here you can create the store that will appear on your wall, with options to include products in your messages.

Most of the platforms that we mention in this report include an option to automatically create a store on Facebook.

free solutions

There are numerous services that offer you the option of creating an online store for free, that is, without monthly fees. They usually offer few customization options and a basic design. Any extra you need (from payment gateways to shipping integration, chats, etc.), you will have to find your own. Some also have advertising.

They are limited options, but it can help you if you have a low budget and what you need to start selling.

ecwid

This curious proposal allows you to create a conventional online store, but it also works as a complement to any website.

If you have a conventional web page or a blog and you want to integrate a small store there, or a box with the sale of your products, with Ecwid you can do it, without having to create a separate website.

The free version only allows you to sell 10 products, but it offers hosting, mobile access, unlimited bandwidth, and integration with any website.

Access Ecwid

Strikingly

Due to the features of its editor, Strikingly works best if you only need to sell a product, or a brand. Although it also operates as a conventional store (paying)

It boasts a modern and very attractive design, one of the simplest web editors we have seen, and options such as Google Analytics, forms, social networks, etc.

Access Strikingly

Mozelle

A very interesting proposal, which starts from a zero cost, to which functionalities can be added.

It promises to create a free online store in 20 minutes, with personalized delivery options, marketing and SEO, product catalog, mobile adaptation, and translation into numerous languages.

The free version has thousands of templates, 0.1 GB of photo storage, a catalog of 10 products, in exchange for a link to Mozello on the cover.

It also has payment plans, starting at 6 euros per month with a catalog of 30 products, a free domain and 50 GB of storage.

Access Mozello

Other free online stores

We have seen the best options to create a website in 2019.