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6 minute read
Moving “from brick to click” is exciting. More visibility, more sales, smoother service for your customers… but also more questions, decisions, and pitfalls to avoid. The good news? With a structured approach, a bit of perspective, and the right partners, an e‑commerce project can become a powerful growth engine for your business.
At Ciao, we support organizations that add online sales to an existing business model: service companies, retailers with multiple locations, SMEs with both B2B and B2C customers, sellers of “atypical” products like sod or pool maintenance supplies. And we see the same thing every time: solid fundamentals make all the difference.
Here are 10 clear steps to start your e‑commerce project on the right foot, without rushing through the process—and without losing sight of your business reality.
1. Go back to your business strategy
Before talking platforms, themes, and shopping carts, you need to come back to the essentials: your strategy.
Ask yourself a few simple but crucial questions:
- What are your main objectives? Increase sales, expand your territory, improve service, reduce manual tasks?
- What does your current reality look like? One or several locations, B2B sales, B2C, key accounts, seasonal peaks?
- Where is your business model at? Stable and proven, or still evolving?
Online sales are a tactic in service of a strategy. If you’re still defining your offer or validating your market, it may be smarter to consolidate those elements before investing in a full‑blown e‑commerce platform.
At Ciao, we always start with this strategic reset, to avoid building an online store that doesn’t really match your true objectives.
2. Clearly define your e‑commerce project
Once your objectives are clearer, you can define the scope of your project more precisely.
A few points to document:
- What exactly do you want to sell online? Your full offer, or only part of your products/services?
- Who do you want to sell to? The general public, businesses, partners, distributors… or a mix of all of them?
- What is your specific online value proposition? What’s different for your customers (simpler, faster, more flexible, more accessible)?
For example, a company like Groupe Richer didn’t just want to “sell more.” They wanted to handle hundreds of orders per day during peak season without hiring an army of seasonal staff to answer the phone. Their e‑commerce project was designed from the start to solve that operational challenge.
The more concrete your project definition is, the easier it will be to choose the right tools—and to get internal alignment.
3. Choose which products (or services) to sell online
Not everything has to be online on day one. It’s often smarter to start with a well‑chosen selection that’s easy to manage and representative of your offer.
Ask yourself:
- Which products are the best fit for online sales (logistics, margin, popularity, ease of description)?
- What variations exist (size, colour, format, unit of measure), and how will you translate them into the platform?
- Are there products with specific constraints (hazardous, very bulky, regulated, special transport)?
For some of our clients in the pool or landscaping sectors, not everything can be shipped using standard carriers. You need to decide: which products can be delivered, which are pickup only, and how will you explain that clearly in the store?
Starting with a controlled selection lets you test your processes, validate your technology choices, and train your teams before gradually expanding the catalog.
4. Map your business model and processes
This step is often underestimated… but it’s where everything really happens.
Your future e‑commerce site has to reflect your company’s real‑world operations, not a simplified version that leaves important pieces out. To get there, you need to document your current business model and processes:
- Customer profiles (B2B, B2C, sub‑types, regions, account types).
- Purchase journeys: how do customers find you, get information, and place orders today?
- Delivery journeys: which zones, which carriers, what timelines, what exceptions?
- Pricing, discount, and payment rules (volume discounts, special pricing, credit terms, invoicing).
- Existing systems: accounting, inventory, logistics, CRM, marketing tools.
Very often, what feels “normal” in your day‑to‑day operations turns out to be quite complex when you have to translate it into clear rules for a platform. Ciao works with you—in workshops—to model these journeys and rules, and to identify what absolutely must be preserved, what can be simplified, and what needs to be rethought.
That mapping work is an investment that prevents a lot of surprises and frustration during implementation.
5. Define what “success” means for you
An e‑commerce project can succeed in many ways: sure, more sales, but also more efficiency, better customer satisfaction, more flexibility for your teams.
Try to express some concrete targets:
- How many online orders per day or per week would you like to handle in the long run?
- What operational gains do you expect (fewer calls for simple orders, less re‑keying, fewer errors)?
- What benefits do you want for your customers (ability to order 24/7, better inventory visibility, online order tracking)?
- What impact do you hope for on your teams (more interesting tasks, less peak‑season pressure, a better work environment)?
Groupe Richer is a great example: with a well‑integrated system (Addio Commerce, developed by Ciao), they were able to handle a very high volume of online orders, reassign staff to more engaging tasks, and improve both the customer and employee experience. Those are the kinds of outcomes you want to keep in mind, beyond just “number of sales.”
A clear definition of success will guide all your decisions: functional priorities, platform choice, budget, and timeline.
6. Choose the right e‑commerce platform
This is often the first question people ask you… but it should come only after everything we’ve just covered. Once your objectives, products, and processes are better defined, you can look at your options with much more clarity.
Within Ciao’s ecosystem, three big families stand out:
- Standard SaaS platforms like Shopify: ideal for launching quickly with a simple model, with hosting and updates handled for you, but with limits when your business rules get too complex.
- Open‑source platforms like Drupal Commerce: very flexible and powerful, ideal for ambitious projects, but requiring more technical expertise and solid infrastructure management.
- Custom SaaS platform Addio Commerce: developed in Quebec by Ciao, designed to adapt to complex business models while remaining hosted, secure, and scalable.
The right choice depends on:
- The complexity of your business rules.
- Your existing systems and integration needs.
- Your internal resources (IT team or not).
- Your initial and recurring budget.
- Your growth vision.
7. Design a purchase experience that’s simple, smooth… and accessible
Once you’ve chosen a platform, it’s time to think about the people who will actually be using it: your customers.
A good online store isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s first and foremost about a smooth experience that respects your users’ time, abilities, and constraints.
Here are a few principles we apply at Ciao:
- User‑centred design: clear, intuitive, and aligned with your brand.
- Logical structure: well‑organized categories, powerful search, useful filters, complete product pages.
- Optimized purchase journey: as few steps as possible, clear forms, explicit error messages, easy‑to‑understand delivery options.
- Strong performance: fast‑loading pages, especially on mobile.
- Real accessibility: sufficient contrast, resizable text, keyboard navigation, support for screen readers, dark mode, etc.
An inclusive experience doesn’t just benefit users with disabilities—it also makes life easier for everyone, especially busy customers on a job site, in a truck, or between meetings.
8. Organize your operations around the online store
Your transactional site doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It has to work hand in hand with your existing operations.
Here are a few key questions to address:
- Inventory: how will you synchronize stock between the online store, physical locations, and warehouses? Will you show real‑time inventory?
- Delivery and pickup: what options will you offer (carriers, in‑house delivery, pickup points), at what cost, with what rules (zones, excluded products, timelines)?
- Accounting and invoicing: how will online orders flow into your accounting system? Are there specific B2B requirements (invoices, payment terms)?
- Customer service: who handles questions related to online orders? With what tools (email, phone, chat)?
- Platform management: who manages products, promotions, content, and reporting?
Depending on your situation, not every integration will be possible or desirable from day one. Sometimes an intermediate step (manual export, semi‑automated process) is a good compromise. What matters is being realistic about the impact of each decision, both on your teams and your customers.
Ciao helps you determine what absolutely needs to be integrated from the start, and what can evolve in a second phase.
9. Plan your marketing and launch
An online store without visitors is just a beautiful shop in the middle of a desert. Marketing is an integral part of the project—not a line item to add at the end.
A few things to plan:
- Basic visibility: SEO (organic search), relevant content, clean technical structure.
- Acquisition channels: Google or Meta campaigns, newsletters, social media, partners, marketplaces.
- Launch plan: pre‑launch with existing customers, launch offers, clear communication in‑store and online.
- Retention strategy: regular newsletters, product recommendations, loyalty programs, post‑purchase follow‑up.
Again, not everything has to be perfect on day one. But you at least need a realistic plan for:
- How customers will discover the platform.
- How you’ll track results (traffic, conversion, sales, visitor sources).
- How you’ll make adjustments after a few weeks or months.
At Ciao, we work closely with your marketing teams or partners so the platform is ready to welcome traffic—and to convert it.
10. Test, launch… then keep improving
Last step, but definitely not the least: testing and continuous improvement.
Before your official launch, take the time to:
- Test the full journey: search, add to cart, account creation, payment, confirmation emails, order tracking.
- Try it on different devices and browsers: phones, tablets, desktops.
- Have colleagues, trusted customers, or beta testers try out the platform.
On launch day, you can opt for a soft launch (a smaller group of customers first, then wider rollout) or a more public event, depending on your strategy. The important thing is to be ready to:
- Monitor initial results (issues, recurring questions, cart abandonment).
- Quickly fix pain points.
- Add features and optimizations over time based on real data and real‑world feedback.
An e‑commerce site is never “finished.” It’s a living channel that must evolve along with your business, your customers, and your markets.
That’s why Ciao offers support that doesn’t stop at go‑live: maintenance, hosting, technical support, but also strategic thinking, functional evolution, and ongoing optimization.
Starting an e‑commerce project isn’t just about ticking a box in your digital plan. It’s an opportunity to revisit your business model, better understand your customers, improve your operations, and create an experience that truly makes a difference.
With a structured approach, the right questions, and a partner like Ciao at your side, these 10 steps become a clear path from idea… to a high‑performing, sustainable online store that’s aligned with what really matters for your business.
To go further
Do you have a project in mind? Tell us about it!
Not ready to take action yet? Download our practical guide “From Brick to Click: Implementing Online Sales in an Existing Business Model.”