Infrastructure for Craven Local Food Market Virtual Storefront

The services I use, In a nutshell.  It doesn’t mean these are the only or the best options, but in building multiple store fronts across my businesses, these are the ones that work for what I need to do, and all work together quite well.

Domain: Godaddy

Use Godaddy.com to find an available domain. Coupons are easily found via a google search.

Hosting & Website building: WordPress

Someone has to be responsible for keeping the website’s data and infrastructure ‘turned on’. Goadddy also offers hosting, but doing it through WordPress gives you a bit more functionality when building the website.

‘How your website looks’ largely depends on the theme and website builder app you choose. I pick a theme first, then add the Elementor page builder app and start building from there.

Storefront backend: Shopify

Lot’s of options here but I stick with Shopify.  It is easy to track sales, set up products and embed them into a WordPress website. You can also get card readers for mobile/face-to-face payments.

Subscription App: Bold Recurring Orders

Purchased through the Shopify App store, this add-on works with your Shopify store to integrate a subscription option. I was able to  have everything set up confidently in a couple days. I don’t list alternatives because I have no experience with them.

Email Contact: Mailchimp

Its free up to a number of subscribers, which is perfect for bootstrapping. You can create easy lnks for building your email list with a submission form on your wordpress website via Mailchimp.