There’s a big world out there

May 6 2008 by Carole White, The Journal

E-COMMERCE now plays an important role in the way in which we buy our products and services. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown massively since the spread of the internet.

As a business wanting to trade in this way a good e–commerce site can be used as a tool to market your goods globally, sell to your customers and to provide after-sales support. It can also be an important part of strengthening relationships and improving the efficiency of your dealings with suppliers and partners.

If you plan to sell online, you may need to rethink many of your business activities. This is because you will change the way in which you interact with your customers – that is, customers will be placing orders online instead of talking to a salesperson.

The ease with which a customer is able to use your site is an important part of its success.

There are three elements of the shopping process that influence how easy and enjoyable the customer finds it to shop on an e-commerce site – the shop front, shopping cart and payment options.

The shop front is most likely to be an online catalogue. Customers should be able to find the product they are looking for quickly. The design of the shop front should make shopping easy, with the customer knowing at all times what stage of the buying process they are at.

Once goods have been selected, the customer should find the checkout clearly signposted so they can proceed to payment. The system should process the order speedily and provide you with a summary, including any packing and delivery requirements. It should also generate a printable receipt and let you send a confirmation email to the customer.

However you decide to use e-commerce, it is important to define your expectations from the outset including:

:: What level of sales are you hoping to make?

:: How many sales leads are you looking to generate?

:: What percentage reduction in customer telephone calls are you expecting to achieve?

Finally ensure systems are put in place so that you can measure your success. There is a big world out there – go get it!

Carole White is Building up Business Manager, TEDCO