Ecommerce Solutions * Shopping Carts * Merchant Accounts

• Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week--Available whenever the customer wants to buy.



• Your market expands to the world.  Anywhere there is Internet access, you have potential customers.  This is especially important for specialty shops--there may not be enough of a customer base in a particular geographic market.



• Convenience: your customers can shop at home, at work, at a friend's house.  They don't have to travel to your store.



• Low customer service costs - fewer people are necessary to run and manage compared to a physical store.



• Rent, utilities, etc. are likely to be much less.  For an ecommerce store, it isn't necessary to be situated in the most expensive shopping mall.



• 'Infinite' shelf space - many more products can be displayed on a website.



• Inventory efficiency - Items don't necessarily need to be in stock--can be drop shipped from suppliers.  For companies with multiple retail stores, items for your web store can be sourced from all your retail stores.



• For software, ebooks, and other electronic documents, no physical inventory is necessary, nothing needs to be shipped, and can be delivered instantly.



• Education or advice can be reliably given to your customers on your site.  The bricks and mortar sales clerk may not be able to take the time--or worse, gives incorrect information.



• Online marketing methods like email newsletters, banner ads and affiliate programs are available and can be implemented.

• Inability to directly see, smell, touch and compare goods.
  
  A well-designed ecommerce solution will have multiple photographs, with different views of the products.  A professional ecommerce site will have full descriptions with all aspects of the products explained.




• Bricks and mortar stores allow you to buy a product and take it home today to use.
  
  The best an ecommerce site can do is get something to a customer the next day.  This is only a slight disadvantage in many cases.  Also, many people find that they save time by not having to travel to a physical store.  They can order it at home or work, and have it delivered where they want it.




• Credit card and overall site security.
  
  There is a great deal of fraud and attempted fraud on the Internet.  A properly designed ecommerce solution uses a minimum of 128 bit encryption for all credit card numbers and other sensitive information.  Credit card numbers should not be stored on a server that is accessible by the Internet.  Unfortunately, many ecommerce sites--even major ones--still continue this practice.  For even the most secure computer operating systems, there can always be some flaw that a hacker might discover.




• Distrust of Web retailers and impersonal nature of ecommerce.
  
  The Internet and ecommerce are still in their early stages so it is natural to be hesitant, especially for new users of the Internet.  Therefore, an ecommerce site must be designed to lower the perceived risk to the customer.  A friendly site, with endorsements from chambers of commerce, the Better Business Bureau, etc. should be displayed on the site.  Links to third party rating and ranking organizations are also helpful.  A digital 'site certificate' from a well known issuer is necessary as well.
  
  If you take the time and effort to make your site welcoming or 'homey' yet professional looking, this will help allay the fears of your potential customers.  Your company name, address, phone number, hours of operation and email address should be on every page.  Of course, money-back guarantees, warrantees, and the like will calm fears too.




• Customers are reticent to disclose personal details.
  
  A 'privacy policy' page is a must for ecommerce retailers.  It should usually include a provision about not disclosing any of the customer information to other parties.  In general, it is better to not ask for information, unless it is actually needed.




• Time consuming and/or complex order process.
  
  Unfortunately, many e-commerce sites inherently contain these flaws.  They weren't well thought out with the novice Internet user in mind.  A properly designed e-commerce solution minimizes the steps necessary to buy something, have a simplified layout, and don't lose the 'hard fought' items that the customer has acquired in their electronic shopping cart, even if they need to modify something.  The flow of the process must be logical and natural if you don't want to frustrate and lose your customers.




• Where is the order?
  
  This is one of the biggest, if not THE biggest complaint of online shoppers: 'Where is my order?'.  It is such big complaint that those of us in the e-commerce/e-retailing industry have a short hand term for it: 'WIZMO'.  Many e-commerce sites ignore this obvious problem.  A professionally designed site will automatically send emails at each stage of the process: order placement, order acceptance, & shipment.  The shipment notice email MUST have a tracking number so that the customer will know exactly where their package is and when it will arrive.  By answering these common questions automatically (and before they arise) it saves you a great deal of time, and reassures your customers of your professionalism and integrity.

• Domain name
  
  A 'domain name' is simply the name of your website. Amazon.com, US-Webmasters.com, Ebay.com, are all domain names.  Domain names don't have to end in '.com', but that is the most popular suffix.  You can check here for cheap domain name registration and to see if a domain you would like is available.
  
  Some rules on domain names:
  
  • Can use letters, numbers or dashes "-"
  • The underline character "_", and spaces aren't allowed
  • Can be up to 63 characters total
  • Case doesn't matter: eBay.com and Ebay.com are the same
  • The suffix (or TLD - Top Level Domain), can be .com, .net, .org or many others




• Hosting Server
  
  When someone enters your Web address (URL) in their Web browser, it looks up the location of the computer associated with that domain name.  This 'host' computer then sends the files that make up that particular web page to the person's computer that requested it.  In other words, it's your server or host that contains all the files that make up your ecommerce site.  This Web server or Web host makes your website available to the world.  As such, it should be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (or at least 99.9% of that time).




• Catalog
  
  There should be one page that has all your categories and subcategories.  This way, a visitor can see the complete range of your products at a single glance.  They will be able to very quickly zero in on the product that they need.




• Specials Page
  
  Also essential to a complete ecommerce solution are pages that have items that are on sale, close-outs, etc.




• New Arrivals Page
  
  A new arrivals page will allow frequent visitors to see new items that have recently been added to the site.




• Cross Sell Suggestions
  
  One of the best ways to increase revenues is to display complementary items on each page.  If it's a toy car, then the proper size batteries may also be displayed on that page.




• Digital Coupons
  
  If an ecommerce solution is comprehensively designed, it should allow your your customers to type in a coupon code in order to receive discounts on items that they are purchasing.  You can issue digital coupons in email newsletters, banner ads, newspaper ads, and so on.




• Privacy Policy Page
  
  More and more, people are becoming wary of giving out personal information since it could be divulged to other parties that may bombard them with unwanted marketing offers.  Your privacy policy page should explicitly state that you will not divulge your customers' information to third parties.




• Contact Us Page
  
  Besides having your phone number, email address, hours of operation, and physical address on each page, there should be a separate page that explains in detail all the ways that your customers can get in touch with you.




• Customer Service Page
  
  The customer service page should clearly spell out your policies for the way you do business.  Your returns policies and procedures should be completely explained here.




• New to online shopping Page
  
  If you want to get maximum sales out of your site, you should definitely have a page for novice online shoppers.  By clearly explaining all the ecommerce terms and procedures, you can educate a new user, and give them confidence about your site.




• Search Box
  
  A professionally developed Web site should have a search box on every page.  By typing in a few keywords, a visitor can quickly have a list of all the pages where those keywords are used.  This allows for very fast navigation for those who know exactly what they want.




• Shopping Cart
  
  As mentioned previously, a shopping cart is just software configured to remember the items that a visitor may purchase.  Properly designed shopping cart software lists the quantity and SKU number of each item, as well as the color, size, and other attributes.  It keeps track of the current subtotal amount.  It will be easy to understand and manipulate for the visitors to the ecommerce website.




• Secure Server / SSL
  
  SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer.  It is the technology that allows a secure server to work.  A properly designed ecommerce solution will employ SSL in a secure server in order to encrypt sensitive data traveling back and forth between a customer and the ecommerce server.  128 bit encryption is the minimum encryption level necessary for secure communications.  Usually, the ecommerce site will switch to SSL mode only after a customer is ready to place their order.  The reason for this is that the encryption takes quite a bit of processing by the ecommerce server as well as the customer's computer, so it slows down the process significantly.




• Site Certificate
  
  A site certificate or digital certificate is a computerized means of a well-known and respected firm vouching for your authenticity.  Customers want to know that your ecommerce site is legitimate, and not someone trying to defraud them.  A certificate is issued by a company that specializes in this area.  Its actual form is a file stored on the ecommerce server.  It integrates with the SSL code to facilitate encryption.




• Merchant Account
  
  A merchant account enables you to process credit card transactions.  It is essentially the receptacle for funds that you collect on your ecommerce site.  If you have a good relationship with your bank, they will be glad to set up a merchant account.  Otherwise, we can help you open up a merchant account with a firm that specializes in ecommerce websites.




• Check out
  
  Once a shopper has finally decided which items they want to purchase, they click on the 'check out' button.  This is the point where the site collects the name, address, city, state, email address, and other personal information about the shopper.  Usually it is at this point that the shipping cost and taxes are calculated.  During the check out procedure the customer's credit card number, and expiration date is collected.  As stated above, it's essential that this is done in SSL mode so that the data is transmitted over the Internet in an encrypted format.




• Confirmation email
  
  Once a customer has placed an order, a confirming email should be sent out immediately.  This gives confidence to the online shopper that their order didn't just disappear into a black hole somewhere.  As stated above, it is extremely important to keep your customers informed.  The confirmation email should also let the customer know that once the order is shipped, there will be another email sent to them which will have the final details as well as a shipment tracking number.




• Shipment confirmation email
  
  Once a tracking number is generated, the shipment confirmation email is sent to the customer so that they know their order has been shipped, and when it is scheduled to arrive.




• Order Management
  
  A sophisticated ecommerce solution will allow your customers to log back onto your website and review their account.  They should be able to track orders, confirm shipments, and view a history of their purchases.




• Virtual Terminal
  
  A well-designed ecommerce solution will have this feature built-in.  A virtual terminal allow you to use your website to place orders for your call-in or mail-in customers.  This allows you to integrate these types of orders into the system so that you can manage them in the same way you manage online orders.




• Store Manager Interface
  
  A fully-integrated ecommerce solution would not be complete without an easy to use site manager.  This component of the site should allow you, the store manager to add and delete items, as well as modify prices, descriptions, etc.




• Email Newsletter Mailing list management
  
  To keep your customers informed about events, sales, and changes going on at your site, an email newsletter is essential.  Nearly every serious ecommerce site uses email newsletters to enhance 'top of the mind awareness' with their customers.  Professionally designed ecommerce solutions integrate mailing list management into the overall design.




• Affiliate Programs
  
  Another great marketing method to utilize is affiliate programs.  Affiliate programs are simply paying other websites commissions when they refer someone to your site and a sale occurs.  Ideally, a well thought out ecommerce solution will integrate affiliate programs.

• Credit card


• Debit card


• checks


• money orders


• cashiers' checks


• Internet Draft


• PayPal


• CyberCash

• Fast loading pages


• Fast loading images


• Easy to navigate site quickly--3 or 4 clicks to any page


• Consistent look throughout the site


• Uncluttered appearance


• Bullet points make text quick to read


• Descriptive text, that isn't too wordy or hard to understand


• Enough images to properly show different views, or possibly colors and sizes


• Search box


• Email newsletter sign up (Specials and Promotions)


• Phone number and address on every page

INITIAL COSTS:


• Design = $1,000 (This is a promotional price--may change soon.)
  
• Site Certificate = $200 - $1000
  
• Payment Processor Setup = $200 - $500
  
• Domain name = (annually)
  
  RECURRING COSTS:
  
  
• Hosting = $45 / month
  
• Payment processing:
  
  

  a. 2% - 4% of purchase amount total
  b. 20 - 50 cents per transaction
  c. Monthly fee: $20 - $100