When you decide that your community or business is ready to go online, a key technical dilemma arises: what should you build your virtual office on? E-commerce offers dozens of options, but for an entrepreneur it is crucial to strike the right balance between total cost of ownership and functionality.
Analysis of Popular Solutions in Ukraine
Prom.ua online store: This is a “city within a city.” Its main advantage is the internal marketplace catalog. Customers often come not directly to your store, but to Prom.ua—and find you there. This model is ideal for products with broad demand (auto parts, clothing, household goods). You do not need to worry about attracting your first customer—the platform does that for you.
Shopify store: The choice of those who value aesthetics and plan to enter international markets. It is a premium website builder with excellent design, but it requires a monthly subscription in foreign currency and sufficient English proficiency to configure advanced features.
Specialized website builders: These allow you to create an online store for free (or for a symbolic fee) at the initial stages. This is a good “sandbox” option for testing business hypotheses before scaling.
The Philosophy of Systemic Growth from Big.U
As noted by Yevhen Barsukov, Chairman of the Board of Big.U:
“Choosing a business platform is like choosing a foundation for a house. You can build a small hut on sand, but when a rain of orders comes, it will collapse. True expertise lies in seeing your business three to five years ahead. Will your platform handle a thousand orders a day? Can it integrate with your CRM? At Big.U, we always emphasize: don’t be afraid to start small, but plan big. The real question is not how to open an online store, but how to scale it without losing service quality. Those who invest in automation at the start save years of their lives and millions of hryvnias in the future.”
How to Grow Your Online Store After Launch
The technical launch is only the beginning. To ensure your store does not become a desert on the internet, you need to:
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Work with content: High-quality photos and video reviews can increase conversion rates by up to 40%.
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SEO optimization: It is critical that your products can be found on Google.
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Logistics service: In times of war, delivery speed and the availability of safe pickup points become critical competitive advantages.
Study your competitors’ experience, read professional marketing literature, and remember: successful e-commerce is 10% inspiration and 90% daily work with data and customers.
