WooCommerce is a customisable, open-source eCommerce platform that integrates with WordPress. Our development of the Jigoshop eCommerce plugin in 2011 (a business we later sold but which formed the basis of the now world-leading WooCommerce) gave us a competitive advantage increasing our understanding of the online shopping journey and experience.
All of our eCommerce sites are built using the industry-standard, open-source plugin WooCommerce. With hundreds of quality plugins available to add extra functionality we find it’s the perfect solution and easily meets our client’s needs. They love it too.
The team has thousands of hours of experience building beautiful eCommerce websites. It’s part of our culture, it’s part of what makes us unique.
Benefits of eCommerce
- Global reach, sell and ship your products across the world
- Not just 9 to 5, earn money when you sleep. Open 24/7
- Much more cost effective than a physical shop and no business rates
- Scaleable and future proof
- Monitor sales and manage all you products in one place
Benefits of WooCommerce
- The Global leader - 5+ million stores
- Pricing - Woo Commerce is open source and free
- WooCommerce is owned by WordPress so constantly being improved
- WooCommerce has a vibrant developer community - with thousands of plugins and extensions available
- Includes powerful analytics, reporting and stock management
- Its a complete ecommerce solution that is fast, easy to use, and can adapt to the needs of your growing business
eCommerce Web Design
Over the years we’ve crafted eCommerce websites for every size of business from small startups to multi-nationals to enhance their customers’ experience and satisfaction.
As one of the leading eCommerce development experts in the UK, we have all the knowledge to deliver and help with your eCommerce strategy, migrations, and support you every step of the way. Nothing is off-the-shelf with the eCommerce stores we create. We are so much more than a web design company.
Our approach to eCommerce web design
We produce a detailed proposal and scope of work for the project first. Once approved and we are all clear on the process of designing and developing your online store.
A clean contemporary style with intuitive navigation will ensure the user journey is as smooth as possible from homepage through to checkout. The page load speed is important as well because if this takes too long – customers could leave the page meaning you’ve lost out on business. We want to reduce abandoned carts on your website where possible!
Your conversion rate is crucial. And we have successes such as Case Station, Clothspot, and Online Ceramics that prove we can deliver for an eCommerce store and create the best design you can imagine for your target audience and product. The website design services we offer will really bring you reliable and cost-effective results.
Clothspot
Cambridge Ceramics
NABBD
Payment gateway integration
A secure payment gateway is your company’s way of protecting your customers during any transactions on your website. It allows your business to take payments online (and in person) whilst ensuring any data is encrypted and safe.
Each bespoke platform development we build comes with a range of popular payment gateways to choose from, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Stripe and Opayo.
Types of payment gateways
Hosted
Hosted payment gateways will take your customers away from your store to complete the purchase. Once the transaction has completed, it will redirect users back to your site to confirm the order has been placed. This is a great option for smaller businesses and in most part the way PayPal operates.
Self-hosted
This type of payment gateway is where a user’s information is entered on your website and past securely via a feed to the payment gateway. If you own a small-to-medium eCommerce website, the user stays on your site and this will help make the checkout process feel seamless.
Non-hosted
Typically for larger brands and enterprises, a non-hosted payment gateway is where the merchant collects and processes payment data on-site. This requires continuous development and top level PCI compliance to ensure there are no flaws or security issues during the sales process.
API integrations
A custom eCommerce website development build wouldn’t be complete without a range of powerful API integrations to choose from. API integrations help automate tasks between applications to third-party services to improve the service offering for your users.
API development can help streamline processes throughout the chain of communication between websites and external vendors. Each digital application will talk to each other which collectively groups the features presented during the purchasing cycle.
API integrations are incredibly reliable and performance won’t be a worry as there’s rarely any downtime. Improved site speeds mean improved customer retention, engagement, and better conversion rates on your key product pages.
Custom Platform development
Every online store owner has a product or service which is unique to their brand. By tailoring your store’s design and services to a powerful eCommerce platform, you’re able to accelerate sales with predictable growth.
Our eCommerce solution will always be tailored to what your brand needs to stand out from the crowd. There isn’t another eCommerce development company that can scale and design eCommerce websites like the team at Jigowatt. We believe in a ‘bespoke approach’ when it comes to the services we deliver to our clients.
You’ll have complete management of your website’s back-end, your content, and products (great for SEO). This level of freedom means you’ll be able to customise your website based on what’s ranking in the search results over time.
No restrictions or limits for your online store or design.
FAQs
eCommerce is the process of buying and selling online. Whether that's a physical product or a service, your customers can purchase goods with you online from the comfort of their own homes. There are multiple different eCommerce models and types such as B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer), C2C (consumer to consumer). Platforms such as Etsy and eBay are what you would consider a C2C eCommerce website.
Whether you're in the process of creating a new startup business or want to expand and develop your existing eCommerce business - a bespoke eCommerce platform may be the missing piece to your online expansion. No matter how big or how small your current goals are!
It's not always a straightforward or easy answer. Businesses will have different functionality requirements, size of inventory (products), the country they operate and sell in and, different API integrations. Potentially with in-house systems such as ERP and CRM that need to link up with your online eCommerce ordering system.
For a small business with a handful of products or services to sell online, you can expect to budget at least £5,000 for a custom eCommerce platform. However, for global, international brands with millions of products in their online catalogue, the cost of development could exceed £100,000.
Custom eCommerce websites can dramatically change your online business. From being able to incentivise your target audience, to building a seamless checkout process to increase your conversion rate. It's why investing in eCommerce development during a time of expansion, could bring you a huge ROI on your spend
eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Salesforce and, Zyro are all great for small online stores. They come as a pre-packaged website with hundreds of themes and templates to choose from; making the entry-level into selling online easy for everyone!
However, with any pre-made design, it comes with its own limitations which could hinder your sales in the long run. A lot of clients that choose to work with Jigowatt, have migrated away from using these eCommerce solutions as they are restrictive and end up hindering conversion rate optimisation and their overall digital marketing activity.
Some of the most common challenges with these eCommerce platforms are limited functionality and features, lack of control over the back-end of your site, restricted website design without existing coding knowledge and little control over SEO (search engine optimisation).
A great user experience is what Google loves about a website. Being able to highlight the key features and benefits of your products to your customers before making a purchase is what builds trust with search engines. The key thing about custom website development is flexibility. Your choice of design, domain name, services, and how content is shown on your eCommerce website. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the highest-converting promotional and marketing channels for retail sales. eCommerce development services
Interested in talking to the team?
We'd love to hear from you! We just need a few details first such as your name, phone number and email address. We offer services to companies worldwide so, don't let the fact we're based in the UK stop you from reaching out; no matter where you are in the world.
Case studies
Online Ceramics
Founded by fellow artist Peter Ward, Online Ceramics is a Peterborough based company that Jigowatt have helped develop from a small “start up” to a vibrant and fast growing business.
Manfood
Based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Manfood have created a delicious range of pickles, chutneys, sauces and other condiments. The idea for the business started in the creator’s (Andre Dang) home kitchen after his husband was bored of bland condiments.
Blenheim Forge
In the heart of London’s bustling metropolis, a story of passion, precision, and unparalleled craftsmanship unfolds at Blenheim Forge. Specialising in the creation of Japanese-style chef knives, this highly regarded manufacturer merges traditional techniques with modern flair, carving a unique niche in the culinary world.