TechTalk

18/05/2007 In TechTalk by Brad Slavin

There are significant advantages to having an E-Commerce section on your website which may include greater sales, customer retention and the ability to sell beyond your geographic limitations.

I want to dispel a myth and let you know that an E-Commerce store is not just for companies that sell products but they can and should also be used to promote services and other intangibles. This article will give you a brief outline of the benefits of trading on-line as well as how to avoid some potential trouble spots you may encounter. The goal is to provide you with some basic information that you can use to take your business and your services on-line. I will cover some of the options for creating a store next time, this article will be focused on the benefits and some considerations before you start.

• Most of my clients already have a physical presence and have been doing business for a while so the lure of an online store is great, the fear of the unknown is even greater.
• One great reason to take E-Commerce yourself is the ability to extend the reach of businesses that you can interact with. You are no longer confided to a geographic location. The whole world is a possibility. I have a client who runs a Photobadge.com business that has clients as far away as the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Another client has started providing his Biotech services and some products online at Active Sight
• The ability to accept orders 24/7 can create a competitive advantage.
• By using on-line transactions, payments tend to clear faster and you may be able to eliminate the need for Net Terms. People are used to paying at the time of order.
• Stock control will be easier since you can set up your database to automatically trigger stock re-orders.
• You will be able to monitor sales and can use the data obtained to improve the selection of goods you offer for sale.
• You can use your website as a catalog for new and existing customers. No more dead trees and lots of money saved in postage.

Setting up an E-Commerce site is ideally suited for businesses that have:

• Clearly defined goods or services that do not need human involvement in the sales process
• Standard prices for every sort of customer or software that can handle multiple tiers of client pricing
• Products or services which are deliverable in a specific time

Before you start an on-line shop, you have to make sure that you have the resources and procedures in place to deal with orders. Among other things, you’ll need to decide

• How to get your goods or services to the customers – logistics of shipping and tracking
• How you are going to accept payments
• Tracking customer information including credit card details secure and prove this to the customer
• Publish your contact information clearly
• Are there any regulations on shipping your product or providing your services in another state? How about to another country?

It is important to make sure that your on-line shop is able to deliver what the customer expects. If it doesn’t you risk damaging your reputation and could actually lose sales.
Even from this brief overview, you can see that setting up an on-line shop is not something that you should undertake lightly. You’re probably best to seek professional advice.