How to Build an Online Store: Step by Step

01Before You Start: Product and Target Audience

The first answer to how to set up an e-commerce website is not technical. Choosing a platform before you are clear on what you will sell, to whom and how the product will reach the customer leads to expensive changes later. The shipping, packaging and return process for a fragile product is very different from that of a textile product.

At this stage, roughly outline your product count, your variant structure (size, color, weight), where you keep your stock and your estimated order volume. Also think about whether you will sell only from your own site or on marketplaces too; this decision directly affects the platform choice.

• Product groups to be sold and estimated product count
• Variant structure and stock tracking method
• Target customer: individual consumers, or dealers and businesses?
• Sales channels: your own site, marketplaces, social media, international

02Company and Legal Preparation

To sell online on a regular basis in Türkiye, you need a tax registration; this can be a sole proprietorship or a capital company. This information is requested for the virtual POS (payment gateway) application, the shipping contract and e-invoice registration. Decide which company type suits you together with your accountant.

Sites that sell to consumers must publish texts such as the distance sales contract, the pre-information form, return and withdrawal terms, the KVKK privacy notice (Turkish data-protection law, comparable to GDPR) and the cookie policy. E-commerce service providers also have an obligation to register in the relevant ministry's registry system (ETBİS). We covered which pages are mandatory in detail in our article on mandatory e-commerce pages.

03Choosing a Platform: the Most Critical Decision

The platform is the system your store will run on every day. Product entry, campaigns, orders, stock, invoicing and shipping all run through it. A wrongly chosen platform multiplies manual work and errors as orders grow, and moving a few years later is laborious and costly.

When choosing, look not only at the starting price but at the total cost: module and plugin fees, commission per sale, extra programs needed for integration and support fees. In Aurora Smart E-Commerce there is no such split; design, integrations and features are offered as a single package, everything included. You can find the details on our e-commerce infrastructure page.

04Domain and Store Design

A domain is your brand's address on the internet; it should be short, memorable and easy to spell. If possible, choose the .com.tr or .com extension that exactly matches your brand name, and make sure the registration is made in your own name.

In design, the goal is sales before beauty. The category page should make products easy to find, the product page should answer questions, and the cart and checkout steps should be as short as possible. A design built around your product structure instead of a ready-made theme sets your brand apart from competitors; at Aurora, every store's design is prepared specifically for the client in the concept design process.

05Payment, Shipping and E-Invoice Connections

Three connections work behind an order: payment, shipping and invoicing. If all three do not run automatically inside the site, you have to log in to other panels and do things by hand for every order.

For the virtual POS (payment gateway), you make an agreement with your bank or with a payment institution such as PayTR or iyzico; card, installment and 3D Secure verified payments are taken this way. On the shipping side, the shipment code and label should be generated automatically with your contracted carrier and the tracking number should reach the customer on its own. For details, see our shipping integration page.

On the invoicing side, an e-invoice is issued if the buyer is an e-invoice taxpayer, and an e-archive invoice if not (both are part of Turkish e-invoicing). At Aurora, this choice is made automatically and the invoice is issued with one click from the order screen; we explained how it works on the e-invoice integration page.

06Uploading Products: the First Impression

The product page takes the place of the sales assistant in your store. The customer cannot touch or try the product; they make their whole decision from the photo and the description. That is why starting with a few complete products in the first upload is better than starting with many half-finished ones.

• Product name: brand, model and a distinguishing feature; close to the phrase people search for.
• Photos: on a white background and in a usage setting, with close-up details.
• Description: benefit, use, dimensions, material, care information.
• Variants: size, color and stock separate for each variant.
• Shipping and return information: visible on the product page.

Photo Quality Affects Sales

Inconsistent photos taken with a phone make even a good product look untrustworthy. A set shot with the same light, the same background and the same angles gives the store coherence. For a professional shoot, you can get support from our product photography service.

07Test Orders and Launch

Before launching the store, shop from start to finish like a real customer. Check one by one that the payment is received, stock goes down, the invoice is issued, the shipping label is created and the customer gets an e-mail and SMS. This test catches most of the problems that could appear after launch.

1. Place one test order each with a card, with installments and with a bank transfer.
2. Cancel an order and check that stock and the coupon are restored.
3. Try the checkout steps separately on phone and desktop.
4. Check the links to the legal pages and the contract consent checkboxes.
5. Measure page speed; LCP should be under 2.5 seconds.

08The First Weeks After Launch

When the store opens, visitors do not come on their own. In the first weeks, submit your sitemap to the search engine, set up Google Analytics and Search Console, and announce the store on your social media accounts. If measurement tools are not set up correctly, you cannot know which channel brings sales.

Your team using the panel efficiently is at least as important as the design. If product entry, campaign setup, and order and return management are learned correctly from day one, less time is lost. At Aurora, this process is included in the package as training and consulting.

If you aim to sell abroad, our article on what e-export is helps you plan the next step, and for a view specific to local producers, our e-commerce guide for local producers does the same.