A brochure website presents your business: who you are, what you offer, where to find you and how to get in touch. An online store also lets people buy from you, with a catalogue, a basket and payments, but it needs constant work on products, orders, shipping and customer care. If customers buy from you in person or ask for an appointment or a quote, a well-made brochure website is usually enough; if you want to sell products to people far away, you need an online store.
What a brochure website does.
It’s the website that tells the story of your business and gets people to contact you. It doesn’t sell directly: it informs, builds trust and brings in calls, messages and bookings.
- Who you are and what you offer: services, products, price lists or menus.
- Where to find you: address, map, opening hours, closing days.
- How to reach you: phone, contact form, WhatsApp button, online booking.
- Why choose you: real photos, real reviews, frequently asked questions.
It’s the natural choice for restaurants, B&Bs and holiday rentals, professional practices, beauty salons, artisans and anyone who sells services or works by appointment.
What an online store adds.
An online store does everything a brochure website does, and on top of that it lets people buy without leaving home.
- A catalogue with a page for each product: photos, description, price, variants such as sizes or colours.
- A basket and online payments, by card and other methods.
- Shipping or in-store pickup, with clear costs and delivery times.
- Terms of sale: in the EU, selling at a distance to consumers comes with mandatory information and, as a rule, a 14-day right of withdrawal.
The work you don’t see.
An online store isn’t just a bigger website: it’s a second shop to run every day. Before you open one, ask yourself who will take care of all this:
- Products: photos and descriptions for every item, prices and stock always up to date.
- Orders: packing, shipping, handling returns and exchanges.
- Customers: answering questions, delays and complaints.
- Traffic: an online store doesn’t sell on its own, people need to hear about it through social media, ad campaigns and Google.
How to tell which you need.
- Do you sell products that can be shipped? If you sell services, experiences or made-to-order work, a brochure website is almost always the right path.
- Are your customers far away? If most of them come from your area, being easy to find and contact matters more.
- Do you have the time and people to handle orders? If not, an online store risks sitting idle.
- Does the price depend on the job? If you send quotes, you need a good contact form, not a basket.
A middle ground to start with.
You can have a brochure website with a product catalogue but no basket: visitors browse photos and descriptions, then message you through a form or on WhatsApp, and pick up in store or arrange things with you directly. A digital price list or catalogue with a QR code is another simple way to show what you offer. It’s also a way to test demand before opening a full online store.
With Aleryc, both paths.
Aleryc builds custom brochure websites for local businesses and professionals, with the features that really matter: one-tap buttons to call, WhatsApp or email you in every package, a contact form, booking calendar and newsletter sign-up from Standard, and multiple languages if you need them. To sell online, we build online stores with Shopify, with prices from €1,162: the Shopify account and payments are in your name, the revenue goes straight to you and we never handle your money. If you’re based in another European Union country (we only work with clients who have a VAT number), any taxes or mandatory costs for that country are shown in your written quote, before you sign. You create the Shopify account, and the subscription, along with any paid apps, is at your expense (you add us as collaborators and we set up the theme and the website); we take care of the custom design and uploading the products. Write to us (in English, by email or WhatsApp) and we’ll help you figure out which of the two paths your business really needs.