Opening an online shop is easy. Making it sell is another trade. Modern platforms let you put a store online in a few days, which makes it feel as though the hard part is done. In fact the hard part starts there: turning visitors into buyers. One figure frames the stake: according to the Baymard Institute, 70.2% of e-commerce carts were abandoned in 2025 (checked on 15 June 2026). The technology behind the shop matters less than the buying experience. This guide sets out what genuinely decides sales, and the traps that send buyers away at the moment of paying.
The checkout is where it is won or lost
On an e-commerce site, most sales are won or lost in the final steps: the product page, the cart, the payment. That is where abandonment concentrates, and therefore where the recoverable money sits. The good news is that these abandonments are mostly design problems, not price problems: Baymard estimates that fixing usability flaws in the checkout can lift conversions by up to 35% (checked on 15 June 2026).
In practice, you hunt down the known reasons for abandonment: delivery costs that appear too late, a forced account creation, an endless form, a lack of reassurance at the moment the card comes out. Every friction removed turns into sales. The subject connects with our dedicated guide to the conversion funnel.
Mobile decides most sales
A dominant share of e-commerce traffic is mobile, and that is also where abandonment is highest: around 80% on mobile against 66% on desktop, according to Baymard (checked on 15 June 2026). A checkout designed for the big screen and simply squeezed onto a phone loses sales quietly. Mobile payment has to be as simple as paying at a counter: few fields, payment options that suit, buttons within thumb reach. The logic is the same as for any site, covered in our mobile-first good practice, but here the financial effect is immediate.
What moves the budget
The cost of an e-commerce site depends on what you put in it. Four variables explain most of it: the number of products and how complex the catalogue is, the payment and delivery methods to integrate, how far the design and the checkout are customised, and the connections to your other tools (stock, accounting, logistics). A simple shop and a platform with fine-grained stock management and a customer area are not in the same league.
The brief before the brief. Before choosing a platform, write down what you sell, to whom, and how the buyer pays and receives. Choosing the tool before framing the buying journey means paying for functions you do not need and missing ones you do. The shop is designed around the sale, not around the technology.
Beyond the sale: traffic and trust
A handsome shop with no visitors sells nothing, and a site without trust does not convert. Selling online therefore means attracting qualified traffic (SEO, content, advertising) and earning trust (reviews, visible security, clear terms, responsive service). The technology of the shop is only a third of the subject: you also need the traffic and the trust for sales to follow.
FAQ: e-commerce website
Is building an e-commerce site difficult? Putting it online, no, modern platforms make that quick. Making it sell, yes: the challenge moves to the buying experience, not the technology.
Why are so many carts abandoned? At 70% in 2025 according to Baymard (checked on 15 June 2026), mostly because of friction in the checkout: late costs, a required account, complicated payment, a lack of reassurance. Most of it is fixable.
How much does an e-commerce site cost? It depends on the catalogue, the payments and deliveries, the design and the integrations (stock, accounting). A simple shop and an advanced platform are very different budgets.
Is mobile really the priority? Yes. It carries a dominant share of traffic and concentrates the most abandonment (around 80% against 66% on desktop, Baymard, checked on 15 June 2026). Mobile payment is the first job.
Is a good-looking site enough to sell? No. You also need qualified traffic and trust. The shop is only a third of the subject, alongside acquisition and reassurance.
Before you ask for a quote
An e-commerce site that sells is recognised not by its catalogue but by its conversion rate: the share of visitors who complete the payment. Frame the buying journey before the tool, look after the checkout and mobile, measure abandonment. Technology follows the sale, never the other way round.
To get started, we frame your buying journey, your payments and your target, then design a shop built to convert, not only to display products.
