High street shops closed and no way to generate revenue? A web shop could be your only solution. But how do you set up an online shop when you want to do as much as possible yourself, but have little to no relevant expertise? These brief instructions are intended to help companies get their web shops up and running.
Created on 06.04.2020
How to set up your own online shop quickly
Given the current situation, an online shop can be vital for a company's survival. But how can you set up a web shop quickly, easily, and without much previous expertise, in a way that allows your customers to shop using the most commonly accepted payment methods?
Define which products and payment methods you want to provide in your web shop.
Think about which of your products are best suited to an online shop and how you can handle their packaging and transportation. And consider which payment methods you want to offer your customers.
Define the domain from which you want your online shop to operate
Define the domain name for your web shop (i.e. the Internet address used to access your shop). At The link will open in a new window nic.ch , you can check whether the domain name you want (ending with .ch) is available. This step is not necessary if you want to integrate the web shop into your existing website. In this case, clarify whether the desired web shop solution can simply be integrated into your existing website (using a plug-in).
Compare the different web shop solutions
To get started quickly, it makes sense to use ready-made solutions that do not require you to deal with the technical side – and sometimes not even the hosting. For web shop solutions of this kind, you can choose from various design templates in which you enter your products yourself. You usually also have the option to offer your products or services at the touch of a button on Facebook, Instagram or Google Shopping, and to use SEO tools to increase your visibility online. And last but not least, you can easily integrate payment options that are commonly accepted in Switzerland.
In cooperation with wallee, we present a small, non-exhaustive selection of web shop solutions. All of them allow the following payment methods:
- PostFinance Card
- PostFinance e-finance
- TWINT
- Credit card
- Invoice
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Shopify is a well-known and easy to implement web shop solution. The online shop operator can choose between a complete solution (monolingual version only) or the Shopify Buy Button, that can be used to offer individual products for sale. The button is easy to integrate into an existing website.
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Lightspeed eCommerce also offers industry solutions (e.g. gastronomy). Standard payment methods for Switzerland can be integrated via partners such as wallee or the demo version of lightspeed.com.
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WooCommerce is a shop solution with no fixed monthly operation fee. It is a WordPress plug-in that requires little technical expertise. You have to organize your own hosting.
Bring your web shop to life
- Choose an appropriate software solution and integrate it into your existing website, or create a new URL from which you wish to operate your online shop. You can find out more about the web shop solutions described above at wallee.
- Enter your products with high-quality images and descriptions. Further tips on how to set up a successful online shop can be found in this blog article
- Now set up the payment methods. With PostFinance Checkout All-in-one, for example, you get the PostFinance Card, PostFinance e-finance and TWINT payment methods, as well as Visa and Mastercard®, all in one package. Detailed instructions are given in every web shop solution where PostFinance Checkout is available. The payment methods can then be used within five to ten working days.
Good luck with your online sales!
