Definition of Ecommerce and Online StorefrontThe definition of ecommerce is the buying and selling of products and services on the internet. But when most people think about how they can make money being online , their first thought is to sell products through an online storefront . Other people think of Ebay and other net auction sites. While this can be a very lucrative online business, there are a few things to consider before going this route. Sign up for the Internet Strategies Hot List. Get tips on hot products that will help you build your online business plus a bonus download in every issue! Click Here for Back Issues Definition of Ecommerce: Niche and ProductsWhat type of niche do you have and what kinds of products will you be selling? This depends on what type of content you are going to provide on your website. Remember that content is king; you won’t have visitors to your website if you don’t have good content.The products in your storefront should be a natural progression from your niche and the content on your site. If you have a passion and knowledge about baseball, then baseball products will naturally follow. Don’t make the mistake of finding a great supplier for a certain type of product and deciding to build a site around that product. You’re setting yourself up for failure.
Concentrate on your strengths of being a
local business
and the customers you’ve already established. You already know a lot about your products if you’ve been selling them from a “bricks and mortar” business. So capitalize on that strength.
Definition of Ecommerce: Product SourcingWhere will you get your products? If you aren’t already a “bricks and mortar” business with product suppliers already in place, you need to find a good product source and establish a business plan for your store.Most wholesalers won’t sell to a start-up online business because the volumes you order won’t result in a sufficient profit for their business. The solution is to find a product source who can negotiate with multiple wholesalers to serve multiple online storefronts. Once your business starts to grow, you can begin to find wholesalers on your own. Many ecommerce businesses that are just starting out will use dropship companies that will ship to the retail customer directly. You need to have a good combination of product sourcing that has the ability to expand as your business grows. Are you more interested in selling items through net auctions like Ebay? Download a copy of this free ebook,
"Make Your Net Auction Sell"
. It's a zip file that you can save to your computer and read when you're ready. Make sure you extract the contents after saving it. (Tip:Save it to your desktop so you can easily find it later.)
Definition of Ecommerce: How Will You Get Paid?If you’re going to sell hard goods online, you have to have a way for your customers to pay for their items on your site. You need a system that allows for payment by check, or debit and credit cards. It also needs to charge for shipping, handling and taxes, in some cases. The term for this is a “shopping cart”.A low cost shopping cart solution for those who are just starting out is Paypal . They provide everything you need to accept checks, debit and credit cards. All you do is set up the code on your site. You do pay per transaction so there is a cost to using Paypal. But until you can afford to get a merchant account of your own, you can build that cost of doing business into your product price. These are just some things to consider when you are establishing your online storefront business plan. Along the way, you’ll be confronted with other decisions that are concerned with the nitty gritty details of your product lines and marketing. But there’s one other very important detail you need to take care of before starting your online storefront. Definition of Ecommerce: Avoiding Get Rich Quick ScamsProtect yourself against get rich quick scams on the internet. There's a list of free ebooks that may be of interest to you listed at the bottom of the page.
Get Legal!In order to become an online retailer, you must file the appropriate paperwork with your government authority. Each country has their rules but for the United States, you need to first file your business name within the state you are doing business and you must get a Tax ID that allows you to collect sales tax within your state.No real wholesaler will do business with you until you can supply them with the proper legal paperwork. There are people who call themselves wholesalers but are really middlemen between you and the wholesaler. They will tell you that you don't need a tax ID to do business with them but in reality, they are buying from the wholesaler, marking up the price to cover their fees and then selling to your customer. Your profits will be eroded by doing business this way. Make the effort to do the necessary paperwork so you can build a successful online storefront.
|
