FAQs

Plain-language answers for Australian ecommerce owners planning, launching, selling, and improving online stores.

What is ecommerce?

Ecommerce is buying and selling products or services through digital channels including websites, marketplaces, social commerce, and apps. Australian sellers still need clear business details, safe payment handling, consumer-law compliant policies, privacy processes, and reliable fulfilment.

What is the difference between B2B and B2C ecommerce?

B2C ecommerce sells to consumers, so product pages, checkout, delivery promises, returns, and customer support must be simple and clear. B2B ecommerce sells to businesses and may need account pricing, quotes, purchase orders, approval workflows, tax invoices, and integrations with inventory or accounting systems.

Which ecommerce platform should I choose?

Shopify is a strong hosted default for many new and growing stores. WooCommerce suits WordPress-first content sites where the owner can maintain hosting and plugins. BigCommerce suits more complex catalogues and integrations. Adobe Commerce is normally reserved for larger or more complex enterprise requirements.

What is a shopping cart?

A shopping cart is the part of the ecommerce system that holds selected products before checkout. In practice, store owners should test cart updates, discounts, delivery options, payment methods, tax display, abandoned-cart behaviour, and mobile checkout before launch.

What is a payment gateway?

A payment gateway securely passes payment details between the customer, store, payment provider, and bank or card network. Australian stores commonly compare platform-native payments, Stripe, PayPal, Square, and in-person payment tools by fees, settlement timing, fraud controls, refunds, subscriptions, and accounting reconciliation.

What is an online merchant account?

An online merchant account or payment-provider account lets a business accept electronic payments and receive settlements. The practical decision is not just approval; it is whether the provider supports the store platform, refund workflow, chargeback handling, reporting, and the payment methods customers expect.

What legal pages does an Australian online store need?

At minimum, prepare clear contact details, shipping information, refunds and returns information, privacy information, payment security notes, and terms that reflect Australian Consumer Law. Use official ACCC, business.gov.au, OAIC, ATO, and product-safety guidance as starting points, then get legal or accounting advice where needed.

What should an ecommerce privacy policy cover?

A privacy policy should explain what personal information the store collects, why it is collected, how it is used, how it may be disclosed, how customers can contact the business, and how privacy requests or complaints are handled. Review this before adding analytics, email marketing, account features, reviews, chat, or support tools.

What is an SSL certificate?

An SSL certificate supports HTTPS, which helps protect data in transit and is expected on any ecommerce site. It does not make a store secure by itself, so also use strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, updated software, careful app permissions, and regular backups.

Is Sendle still recommended for Australian ecommerce shipping?

No. Sendle stopped accepting new parcel bookings in January 2026, so current shipping guidance should use alternatives such as Australia Post business shipping, Shippit, Starshipit, ShipStation, carrier-direct accounts, or a 3PL depending on volume.

What is a 3PL?

A 3PL is a third-party logistics provider that stores stock, picks orders, packs parcels, and manages dispatch for a seller. It can help growing stores, but compare storage fees, pick-pack costs, carrier options, return handling, integration quality, service-level reporting, and minimum volume requirements.

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping is selling products that a supplier ships directly to the customer. It can reduce upfront stock costs, but the store still owns the customer experience: product quality, delivery promises, refunds, support, and Australian Consumer Law obligations must be managed carefully.

What is content marketing for ecommerce?

Content marketing uses buying guides, comparisons, product education, category advice, FAQs, email content, and customer proof to help people choose and trust products. It works best when content answers real buying questions and links naturally to products, policies, and support information.

What is social media marketing for ecommerce?

Social media marketing uses platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube to reach customers with product stories, education, proof, and offers. Treat it as a channel with a schedule, creative testing, audience learning, and clear links back to product or email journeys.

What is a sales funnel?

A sales funnel describes the path from discovery to purchase and repeat order. For ecommerce, this often includes search or social discovery, product-page evaluation, cart, checkout, post-purchase email, review requests, returns handling, and repeat-purchase campaigns.

What is SEO for an online store?

SEO helps product, category, and resource pages appear in organic search. Ecommerce SEO depends on useful content, clean URLs, crawlable pages, product data, internal links, fast mobile pages, schema markup, reviews, and avoiding thin or duplicated pages.

What is keyword competition research?

Keyword competition research compares the search terms customers use with the strength and intent of the pages already ranking. Ecommerce stores should prioritise terms that match product demand, category intent, comparison intent, and practical questions customers ask before buying.

What is Google Merchant Center?

Google Merchant Center helps stores manage product data for Google surfaces including Shopping-related experiences. Product titles, identifiers, images, availability, shipping, returns, and policy compliance affect whether product data is useful and eligible.

What is conversion optimisation?

Conversion optimisation improves how many visitors complete the next useful action, such as viewing a product, adding to cart, completing checkout, joining email, or contacting support. Start with mobile usability, clear product pages, trusted payment options, shipping clarity, returns information, and fewer checkout surprises.

What should I track after launch?

Track checkout conversion, payment failures, delivery issues, return reasons, support questions, product margin, best sellers, slow movers, and repeat purchase. Those signals show where the next improvement should be made.