Create an Online Shop

:: Introduction ::

Selling products and services online can have major advantages for businesses, leading to increased profitability and lower costs.

This guide tells you about the advantages of selling online, what you need to consider when creating an online shop and the consequences of getting it wrong. If you choose to work with a third party to build your online shop, this guide will help ensure you ask them the right questions.

The guide also explains some legal requirements and the pitfalls that you should be aware of, as well as how to make sure that customers can find your shop on the web.

:: Benefits of Selling Online ::

Selling online has a number of advantages over selling by conventional methods, including:

* Making savings in set-up and operational costs. You don't need to pay shop assistants, rent high-street premises, or answer a lot of pre-sales queries.
* Reducing order-processing costs - customer orders can automatically come straight into your orders database from the website.
* Reaching a global audience, thereby increasing sales opportunities.
* Competing with larger businesses by being able to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
* Being able to receive payment more quickly from online transactions.
* Attracting customers who would not normally have investigated your type of high-street outlet.
* Improving your offerings using the data gathered by tracking customer purchases.
* Using your online shop as a catalogue for existing customers.

Online selling will work best for you if you have:

* well-defined products or services that can be sold without human intervention in the sales process
* fixed prices for all types of potential customers
* products or services that can be delivered with a predictable lead time

Many businesses can run pilot e-commerce sites without significant investment. However, a fully automated online shop tailored to meet your precise requirements could be expensive.

Whatever form of online shop you choose, take a strategic view. If you launch a website that disappoints your customers or is overwhelmed by traffic, you risk damaging your reputation and losing sales.

:: A basic online shop ::

The requirements for building a basic online shop are fairly straightforward. A simple setup allows you to sell a small range of products, providing photos, descriptions and prices as well as accept orders online.

The equipment and facilities you will need are a computer, Internet access, email, a website and hosting services. Using a broadband connection as opposed to dial-up will ensure fast connection to the Internet. However, the "always-on" connection means you may be susceptible to unauthorised access. Having a firewall will prevent this occurring. A firewall is sometimes included as part of your operating system.

You will also need a hosting package for your shop. It's important to study the service level guarantee and the type of technical support on offer. You should be looking for round-the-clock support.

Most customers shopping online will want to pay by debit or credit card. You can create electronic mail-order forms, using one of the various web authoring software packages on the market.

These order forms let customers email their orders to be processed offline. If you already have a website, software can add e-commerce functionality. Some companies offer this free, on the condition that they receive a cut of future transactions.

A basic website site is low cost and easy to create for a limited product range.

:: A sophisticated online shop ::

A sophisticated online shop offers a huge range of options, including cutting-edge design and functionality, personalised pages and product news. As such, it can provide your customers with a rich, interactive shopping experience.

However, customers should not have to navigate their way past distracting graphics and animations. If they do not find it quick and easy to buy your products and services, they will shop elsewhere. Don't ask for personal details too soon. Most customers will not be prepared to fill in forms until they are ready to buy.

Having a sophisticated ecommerce shop can also make the running of the business smoother. Software can be integrated to trigger order confirmations and automatically dispatch goods and replenish stocks.

However, you should be aware that you may need the help of a design and development company to define your technical requirements and integrate the website with your existing systems.

For details on Website Design City and how we can help create your perfect online shop, using specialised ecommerce software, please visit our 'Ecommerce Page' or conatct us for more details.

This guide has been taken from Business Link; for more information, please visit: Business Link