| E-commerce is gaining pace! Research firm eMarketer | | | | wantto spend a fortune in your first endeavor, you |
| predicts that | | | | should thinkabout making your online presence by |
| 2003 will see online sales reaching US $58.2 billion | | | | choosing one of theavailable, on the Internet, Web |
| excludingtravel. According to Forrester Research, | | | | Store services. There areenormous advantages of |
| another reputable researchcompany, business to | | | | using these services: |
| consumer e-commerce will hit US $230 billionby the | | | | - You can build one for a fraction of the cost, needed |
| year 2008. While offline retail sales are staggering | | | | to create an e-commerce website. |
| andwill continue to do so in near term, online retail sales | | | | - You can choose the design of your web store from |
| willshow a hefty 19 percent consecutive year over | | | | numerous available templates. |
| year growth! Andby the same year, two third of all US | | | | - Simple editor allows you creating your web store all |
| households will buy somekind of products and services | | | | by yourself. |
| online. In 2003 alone 97 millionconsumers will make | | | | - You can be up and running within days. |
| some kind of purchases through the Internet. | | | | - You can choose a merchant account from the one |
| If you are selling products and services offline, you | | | | offered by the service provider. |
| shouldseriously consider hopping on to the | | | | There are many Web Store service providers on the |
| e-commerce bandwagon, or riskloosing significant | | | | Internetlike Yahoo! Store, Bigstep, Rusbiz, etc. Compare |
| portion of your business to your moreproactive | | | | and choosethe one, which best suits your requirement. |
| competitors! | | | | As an addedadvantage, some of the Web Store |
| Is it difficult to start selling products or services online? | | | | service providers willintegrate your store with a |
| May be, in the beginning of Internet era, this was a | | | | shopping mall or e-marketplacefree of charge. This will |
| dauntingtask, but today, with proper planning it is fairly | | | | instantly expose your web storeto a large targeted |
| easy. | | | | prospective customer audience. |
| - Choose the products or services that are viable to | | | | Create an online catalog |
| sell over the Internet | | | | If you sell only one or couple of products and do not |
| - Build an online presence | | | | addproducts or services often, you don't require an |
| - Create an online product catalog | | | | onlinecatalog. However, if you have a product line of |
| - Choose payment methods | | | | over 10products and you constantly add or change |
| - Promote | | | | products, youshould consider a web store with the |
| Select products or services to sell | | | | facility of an onlineproduct catalog. This feature of a |
| Although, some products are easier to sell online, | | | | web store service allowsrapid developing and |
| contrary topopular believe, most of the products and | | | | maintaining of you electronic catalogwithout spending |
| services are, actually,marketable on the Internet. At | | | | large sums on creating one by yourself. |
| present, books, electronics,information and travel | | | | Look for a web store service provider who offers |
| related products are selling better online. | | | | wizard orform base product adding method to the |
| But, that does not mean that there is no room for | | | | electronic catalogand use some kind of standard |
| other productsor services. As a matter of fact, you | | | | product classification codes. |
| can sell just aboutanything over the Internet! It depends | | | | At later stage, if you choose to sell products |
| more on the market segmentyou choose, and how | | | | throughe-marketplaces, this will allow you to integrate |
| good you are in marketing. As you know,traditional | | | | yourproducts to e-marketplaces and make sales |
| items that you can get in nearest grocery storewere | | | | offers with ease. |
| not doing very well on the Internet. However, that | | | | Choose a payment method |
| isgoing to change very soon! According to Forrester | | | | If you are planning to sell ebooks, reports, whitepapers |
| Researchmany of today's slow categories are poised | | | | etc. |
| to significantgrowth as oppose to early online sales | | | | I would suggest you to consider using clickbank's |
| leaders like traveland electronics, which will experience | | | | marketplace. |
| market maturity andslower growth. Prediction is: | | | | That way, you don't have to worry about getting a |
| Food and beverage category will grow at a rate of 49 | | | | creditcard merchant account. |
| percent,reaching $18.2 billion by 2007. The home | | | | Around 90 percent of all sales transaction occur online |
| products categorywill grow by 42 percent over five | | | | areby credit card payments. To accept credit card |
| years, from $7.3 billionin 2002 to $42.0 billion in 2007. | | | | payment overthe Internet, you must first have a |
| Flowers, cards, and giftswill grow by 41 percent, from | | | | merchant account. Amerchant account allows a |
| $951 million in 2002 to $5.3billion in 2007. | | | | vendor to process credit cardtransactions. If you built a |
| That's not all! By the year 2008, today's best selling | | | | web store online with one ofthe web store service |
| product:books will have a mere 3 percent share of | | | | providers, you will see that theyoffer gateways to one |
| total business toconsumer online sales. | | | | or several merchant account providersand have |
| So, if your products and services can generate offline | | | | partnership with them. In general, you get a betterdeal |
| salesthere should not be any problem in selling these | | | | with them. However, as charges vary significantly |
| items online. | | | | fromone merchant account provider to another, make |
| Build online presence | | | | sure you shoparound before committing yourself to |
| You can choose to build an e-commerce website | | | | one. |
| either yourselfby hiring required experts, i.e. web | | | | Promote you site |
| programmers or byappointing a website developing | | | | To sell your products through your site, you must |
| company to do the job foryou. In both of the cases, | | | | drawtraffic. There are number of ways of promoting |
| you have to be prepared to spenda significant amount | | | | your siteon the Internet. This includes: |
| of money. E-commerce site is a verybroad | | | | - Search engine submissions |
| terminology! Depending on you demand, it can cost | | | | - Adding your site to different online directories |
| youfrom a modest US $800 to any where over a | | | | - Opt-in email campaign |
| million US dollar! | | | | - Link exchange |
| That's not all! You have to be prepared to spare | | | | - Banner and link ads |
| considerabletime on it, as well. Writing the technical | | | | In you effort to promote your site, you should combine |
| scope, choosingthe appropriate design for your site | | | | asmany offline and online promotional methods you |
| and creating propercontent for your site will take a lot | | | | can comeup with. The more traffic you can generate |
| of your time. Andthere is no guarantee that you will do | | | | the better chanceyou have of selling more products |
| everything right! | | | | from your Web Store. |
| That's why, if you are new to e-commerce and do not | | | | |