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“Follow the plan outlined here and you can create your own website from scratch without writing any code for less than $300.”
Flipkart is one of the largest eCommerce stores in the world.
If you want to launch your own website like Flipkart, you may have a couple reservations.
First of all, they have an entire team of developers working on the site and keeping it online 24/7. You may not have the resources available to do the same.
Furthermore, is it even possible for an individual or small team to create an eCommerce website like that?
Can you make a site like Flipkart?
I’ve got some good news.
Not only is it possible to create a gorgeous eCommerce website similar to Flipkart on a tiny budget, you don’t even need to write any code.
The tools I’ll share with you in this post will allow you to build your own eCommerce store capable of processing thousands of sales every year without the need to hire any developers.
By the end of the guide, you’ll know exactly what you need to make the site.
How much does it cost? Building a website like Flipkart with the products recommended here will cost $118.40 with an annual cost of about $69.40/year after that.
The site you’ll create
Here’s a sneak peek at what your website will look like:
The design already looks a lot like Flipkart, plus you can customize every aspect – colors, fonts, layouts, etc. The screenshot above shows off an electronics store, but you’ll be able to sell any products you want.
How to create a site like Flipkart
Creating the site isn’t so complex. It can be broken down into five steps:
- Pick an available domain name
- Get hosting
- Install WordPress
- Install & configure Electro
- Launch your site
I’ll walk you through these steps and then it will be up to you to customize your site exactly how you want it and get your first customers.
What you need
There are a few options available for building eCommerce stores, but these are the best tools available for creating an eCommerce store like Flipkart.
Ultimately, there are three things you need.
A WordPress site
The first step is to create a website with WordPress. These days, creating a new site with WP is incredibly fast and painless. I’ve got a complete guide on making your first WordPress site you can follow along with.
Click here to create your first WordPress site
You’ll learn a few tips for picking a domain name, how to get hosting (and get your domain for free), and how to install WordPress.
The Electro WordPress theme
WordPress themes allow you to completely change how your site looks. I recommend the Electro theme because it has a similar design to Flipkart, it comes with a huge amount of features, and it’s gorgeous on mobile devices.
It’s also completely compatible with WooCommerce.
WooCommerce
Themes change how WordPress sites look while plugins change how they work.
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that adds all the functionality you need to run an eCommerce store.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a small piece of software just because it’s a plugin. It’s used by hundreds of thousands of sites and is the most popular eCommerce solution on the web (based on the top one million sites).
The basic version is free and has everything you need to run your shop, and there are also hundreds of paid extensions available if you want to add additional premium functionality.
Why you should use WordPress
There are quite a few other site builders available. For instance, instead of WordPress, you could use:
The problem with these other tools is that they don’t have the massive developer community that WordPress has.
Why does that matter?
Because WordPress can be extended and customized to do anything, and since there are so many developers making themes and plugins, there are solutions available for any kind of site you can dream of.
I’ll say it now – building an eCommerce store with the same functionality as WordPress + Electro is not possible with any of the aforementioned site builders.
Not to mention, once you know how to set up a WordPress site and use the interface, you can reuse it over and over again for any other sites you make in the future.
Why you should use Electro
Electro has a gorgeous design that is modern and professional. It also adapts beautifully to mobile devices which is becoming more important every day for eCommerce sites.
In addition to the design quality, Electro has a crazy amount of features. Some of these features include:
- 6 different header styles
- Hundreds of fonts
- 5 types of homepages
- Detailed customer review forms
- Product image carousels
You can visit this page to see everything Electro is capable of.
How to setup Electro
Once you get your hands on a copy of Electro, you’ll have a zip file that you can upload to your site through the WordPress dashboard. If you’re completely new to WordPress, you can follow the steps on this page to learn how to install Electro.
The developers behind the Electro theme have made things easy and created a ton of tutorials on using the theme.
You can access all of the documentation for Electro here.
The documentation is incredibly detailed and there are hundreds of screenshots to take you through any customization you want to make to your site. Of course, Electro is a supported theme so you can always contact the developers if you need assistance with anything you can’t figure out.
Alternatives to Electro
While the Electro theme is awesome and a lot like the Flipkart site design, it’s not the only eCommerce WordPress theme worth checking out.
Here are two other excellent themes to consider for your website.
Porto
Porto has a clean, practical design for an eCommerce store. It comes bundled with a page builder plugin and a plugin for creating image sliders worth over $70. It’s massively flexible as you will see from all of the demo sites the developers have set up.
Aurum
If you want something a bit more minimalist, Aurum is a perfect choice. It has a more subdued style but has just as many customization options available as the other themes here.
Launch your Flipkart site
Now that you know which tools you’ll need to build your site, it’s time to take action.
The most powerful tools you need, WordPress and WooCommerce, are completely free, and it doesn’t cost much to get hosting and an eCommerce theme too. With the right tools and tutorials to help guide you, there’s not much standing in your path now.
Take things one step at a time, and you’ll soon have your own eCommerce website just like Flipkart.
