| Internet has opened a new era of business | | | | through your web store, if you must, you can always |
| opportunities. Each day, thousands of new consumers | | | | build an ecommerce site by hiring web design |
| are joining the Internet. More and more companies | | | | companies. |
| are adopting Internet as their primary sales and | | | | If you are still hesitant in starting online business using |
| distribution channel. According to Forrester Research | | | | web stores I would suggest you to read the |
| -The survey of 130 U.S. companies indicates | | | | following eventual benefits that you may have from |
| consumers spent $76 billion shopping on-line in 2002. | | | | ecommerce. |
| This represents a 48 percent increase over 2001, and | | | | Increase your sales & profits |
| projections for 2003 come close to $100 billion, | | | | If you are a brick and mortar company, online |
| representing 4.5 percent of total retail sales. | | | | commerce will definitely increase your sales and with |
| As a business you probably understand that in order | | | | it profits. |
| to stay competitive you must integrate ecommerce | | | | Enhance your company image |
| to your present business strategy. A little research | | | | Today, even small companies understand the |
| will show you that there is an extensive array of | | | | importance of having a website. Planned, |
| technology and solutions for enterprise and web | | | | sophisticated and professional website creates |
| store building available in the market. You also | | | | positive image of the company and help building |
| perceive that ecommerce sites can cost you from a | | | | brand name. |
| mere couple of hundred bucks to hundreds of | | | | Reduce costs and save money |
| thousand of dollars. How to choose something from | | | | If required features are available on the website |
| so many options that will exactly fit your present | | | | practically all business processes are possible to carry |
| need? | | | | out on the Internet, which allows you to reduce |
| Although, this might look like a daunting task, a little | | | | overhead costs, costs incurred due to documentary |
| preparation will definitely help you taking the right | | | | mistakes, document processing costs, etc. |
| decision in your quest for an appropriate ecommerce | | | | Improve customer service |
| solution. To understand your requirement better and | | | | Frequently Asked Questions pages, forums, Internal |
| create a proper ecommerce strategy, you have to | | | | Messaging Service, chat lines, etc. all these features |
| ask yourself a number of questions. Below I jotted | | | | help you effectively running your customer service. |
| down some of the questions that, hopefully, will spur | | | | Become a global player |
| your imagination. | | | | Thanks to the reach of Internet you are no longer |
| - What should be the look of my web store? | | | | confined to a certain geographical boundary any |
| - Do I need a database for my product catalog? | | | | more. You can sell products to any place of the |
| - How should the purchase order generate on my | | | | world 24 hours a day. |
| web store? | | | | Add sales channels |
| - Do I need to handle different pricing system for | | | | By joining e-marketplaces and B2B exchanges you |
| dealers, wholesalers and end customers? | | | | can significantly increase the number of sales channels |
| - How do I bill my customers? | | | | available to you. |
| - How easy can I make my web store to navigate? | | | | Reduce supply chain cycle |
| - How many search options should we have? | | | | If you automate supply chain processes through |
| - Can I show my customers a product comparison | | | | Internet, you will be able to shorten the entire cycle |
| table? | | | | from months to days. You will be even able to |
| - What should be my merchant account gateway | | | | eliminate certain phases of your supply chain process. |
| system? | | | | Market products and services |
| - Finally, how much should I invest to build my web | | | | There are numerous ways of getting traffics on your |
| store? | | | | site and popularize your products. In fact, you can |
| If building an ecommerce site from scratch feels too | | | | get more people in your web store than it is |
| overwhelming to you and you are a small business, | | | | physically possible to accommodate in a |
| my suggestion is - to build a web store with one of | | | | bricks-and-mortar shop. |
| the providers similar to Yahoo, Bigstep, Rusbiz etc. | | | | Compete with large companies |
| The web stores that you can build directly on the | | | | On the Internet you may successfully compete with |
| Internet have all the necessary features like shopping | | | | the behemoths of your industry and even curve |
| cart, product catalog and payment gateway as any | | | | market shares out of them. |
| regular ecommerce site. In most of the cases, you | | | | Low start-up costs |
| construct web store online from templates and | | | | Normally, starting a brick and mortar business requires |
| easy-to-use editor and you hardly need to know html | | | | significant cost involvement. On the Internet - |
| or other script languages. | | | | opposite is true! To start a business online you hardly |
| You can order your Web Store from Rusbiz right | | | | need any major investment. |
| now. | | | | No entry barrier |
| The benefits of using a web store that you can build | | | | As you know, many businesses in real world are |
| online are enormous. | | | | tightly controlled by certain groups. On the internet |
| Quick to build: If you have all the materials handy, | | | | there is no such barrier! Anybody can start any |
| you can build a web store within a day. | | | | business of his choice. |
| Easy in use: You don't have to be a rocket scientist | | | | No need to close existing sales channels |
| to build a fully functional ecommerce site. Step by | | | | By adopting Internet as a sales channel you do not |
| step procedures of making pages from templates | | | | loose anything as your web store only complements |
| allow anybody to create a professionally looking web | | | | existing sales conduit. |
| store in no time. | | | | If you are new to ecommerce world, I would advise |
| Affordable: Although, some of the providers charge | | | | you to go slow! First create a plan with long term |
| commissions on your sales, as Yahoo does, in most | | | | and short term objectives. Try implementing your |
| of the cases your expenses are less than US$ 100 a | | | | plan gradually. Make sure that you do not spend too |
| month to have a good web store. | | | | much money on your initial ecommerce project. |
| The only disadvantage you have with this kind of | | | | Remember! Over 80 percent of all software projects |
| web stores is you might not be able to give the | | | | do not finish in time within the budget; and do not |
| customized look and feel to the site as you intend to. | | | | work as planned! |
| Then again, once you start generating enough sales | | | | |