Thinking about an ecommerce solution but not too sure what it all means?  Cozy Digital have put together a quick check list of the key factors to look out for………

Do You Need An Ecommerce Store?

Ecommerce means electronic commerce and generally means conducting business over the internet by selling products or services.  The first question is do you actually need the added expense of creating an ecommerce store?  If your business is more tailored towards advice, information or a brochure site then the answer is probably no.

Sell Your Products 24/7

However, if you have products that you are willing to ship then ecommerce will allow you to sell all over the world, all day and night (even when you are sleeping your shop can be making sales) and it can be run at a fraction of the cost of offline businesses.

Secure Server For Credit Card Processing

Compared to a normal website there are a few more considerations when building your online store.  You need to ensure a secure server is used so your customers feel confident in using their credit cards, this will usually mean a more costly hosting service but means you and your customers are protected.  You also need a merchant account number and depending on your industry your bank may charge a high rate for this.

It’s more likely your credit card details can be stolen and used in a regular shop than online but a high proportion of the general public are still wary of online shopping so you must take all the appropriate steps to alleviate their concerns.

Of f The Shelf V Bespoke Design

Due to the complexity of the scripts used in ecommerce development you need to source a good web programmer to deliver a store to work to your requirements.  There are lots of off-the-shelf solutions and options out there but these generally fall down as they usually use a template based design, which means your store will look like thousands of others.  Also because these packages are “one size fits all” it makes it difficult to find one that will deliver your needs and recoding these are complex to do.

Content Management Systems

CMS – A good Content Managed System will help you keep costs down by allowing you access through a secure online back office to update and edit your products as you don’t need to pay webmaster costs each time and this is a must for online stores as it allows you to easily react to the ever changing online retail world.

Search Engine Optimisation and PPC

80% of online business is conducted through the companies on the first page of the major search engines and unless your business is well marketed online don’t expect to do any business.

The top 2 methods of promoting your online store is PPC (Pay Per Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) which both focus on getting that vital first page placement and finding you new business.

Building Your Customer Base

It’s also important to use other areas such as building up a community and using newsletters to stay in touch with your customers, offer deals, let them know about special offers etc and a good ecommerce solution will be able to offer tools to make this easy.

If you would like to discuss how Cozy Digital can help you get ahead of your competition with an Ecommerce store then contact us now.