I want to try a side project which will be an e-commerce store. Since this is in a trial phase right now, I want to explore the best ways to create basic online setup to start testing the idea. The objective is to keep the efforts and budget involvement as low as possible to create a MVP level setup. I have seen people here setting up sites and related stuff quickly. I am not into software/dev but can figure out things if it doesn’t involve much technical knowledge, particularly coding. 1. What should be the preferred technology/platform and tools - I can work with Wordpress and that’s the only option I know about. Alternate could be Magento, but I’ve never tried it. Or Squarespace ? 2. Where should I look for hosting and domain related services for this specific need? 3. Is there any way to create an online shop without a standard inventory management system at the backend or have minimum level of inventory management involved ? Because there are only limited number of products right now. 4. Anything else that I can try to make my online setup easier and faster, so that I can focus more on the offline aspect it ? If the project works out well, the technology/platform should have scalability option or an easy way to make a switch to the new setup. I’m open for all the suggestions to explore.

Why not just use Shopify, Zepo, Instamojo or 100s of other options?

@crooked-daybreak-310 I agree with @acceptable-flag-71699 If you are okay to spend on SquareSpace, I would suggest you go ahead with Shopify or a similar solution. I believe InstaMojo & even RazorPay now have pages which you can get up and running quickly. Atleast initially. WordPress I have tried with WooCommerce. It is tempting because it seems free but stuff adds up quickly and depending on your store, even some basic functionality might require woocommerce plugin purchases which can add up. Depending on what you are trying to sell, Instamojo & Razorpay may be good options. (I think you can let them track basic inventory as well if needed)

I have first hand experience with Instamojo, really good to get off your feet. Once you scale up a bit RazorPay is a much matured platform overall. Instamojo gets you started very quickly and that's super important in side projects (and all cases)

Why not just use Shopify, Zepo, Instamojo or 100s of other options?

Wanted to narrow down on the selections that fits my current situation. Never heard of Zepo before and it looks interesting. Any more recommendations? @acceptable-flag-71699

@crooked-daybreak-310 Depends on: 1) How many types of products you are selling? 2) How many quantities you expect to sell in the first week, month, 3-months? If you are not selling more than 10-15 type of products and don’t expect to be selling 100s of quantities daily (in which case you are maintaining inventory manually), the HTML + CSS option would be the quickest to get you started. For PrintsToday, I got started on InstaMojo and then switched to RazorPay. I tried WooCommerce but it was getting too expensive quickly. So I settled for WordPress + WPForms (paid plan) which in the end sends me an email. But my product is not visual.

I believe Explara Biz is the latest player in this game.

Don’t have any experience with platforms like Shopify/Squarespace but I like @loud-glass-33663’s idea. Design a simple website/page and just link to product pages hosted on RazorPay. I think that allows for the maximum amount of flexibility.

KPI = profit margin, look at it very very closely... Revenue 6 or 7 figures, but most folks just make 10-15% profit margin off it - be very careful with it, seen so many people fail, it's crazy!

Have you checked out bubble, parabola etc? They help set up such platforms quickly and with no need to code. In case you are looking for tutorials, you can check out makerpad.co

Thank you everyone for sharing these resources. I’m figuring the all out and will update about my selections soon. Meanwhile, keep your suggestions coming.