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.
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:
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.
Once your objectives are clearer, you can define the scope of your project more precisely.
A few points to document:
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.
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:
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.
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:
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.
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:
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.
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:
The right choice depends on:
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:
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.
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:
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.
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:
Again, not everything has to be perfect on day one. But you at least need a realistic plan for:
At Ciao, we work closely with your marketing teams or partners so the platform is ready to welcome traffic—and to convert it.
Last step, but definitely not the least: testing and continuous improvement.
Before your official launch, take the time to:
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:
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.
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.”