Starting an ecommerce business where you sell items online as a revenue source is becoming more popular every day for both existing retail stores and new entrepreneurs looking to add another revenue stream. Before diving in head first into an online business venture it is important to understand all the basic building blocks that make a successful online store.
Legal Concerns
First you need to make sure you form the business with proper legal procedures just like you would for any other business. This includes filing a fictitious business name, obtaining a resale license, paying taxes and proper bookkeeping. You must also follow all the legal guidelines for equal opportunity employment if you plan to hire anyone to help out. Remember that starting an ecommerce business has the same legal requirements as opening a traditional business in a retail location.
Product Offering
Existing businesses already have stock for the products they sale which gives a bit of a head start since finding a supplier is not needed to start. New businesses will either need to make their own product which will incur manufacturing costs or may opt to purchase products from an authorized distributor. In order to be competitive you need to get your products directly from the source or as close as possible. A quick way to identify “middle man” distributors is if they charge any type of membership fee. This is a red flag that you are likely dealing with a third party instead of the company you should be partnering with or getting your own account. Note it is common to have minimum order requirements usually based on a dollar amount. Another common requirement is that your account makes a minimum dollar amount of purchases in a given fiscal year.
Payment Processing
One of the most common items that falls to the bottom of the list is how your ecommerce business is going to collect money from customers. There are options such as PayPal and Google Checkout which do not require a credit check or you can opt to go for a normal merchant account that has an online payment gateway. You can obtain this either through your bank, a specialized merchant payment company or via your shopping cart provider sometimes. Other options include using a fulfillment service or affiliate based website that handles all the payment processing for you; the downside to this option is you have less control over the actual purchase process.
Customer Service
Last but certainly not least is determining how you will offer customer service. The cheapest option is usually email but also builds the least amount of customer confidence. You may also want to offer live chat customer service during normal business hours; this eliminates the “business in a garage” ideology some get when purchasing online from an unknown site. Although you may be operating out of your home you do not want to give this impression to your customers. Even though we live in a digital world of email and chat customers still want to be able to pick up a phone to call for support if necessary; especially when giving up their credit card number to a new business (new to the customer). You can boost the revenue for your ecommerce business by offering all three options to your customers. This lets the customer talk to you on their terms which is whatever is the most convenient for them.
There are many other factors that go into starting an ecommerce business such as website design, shopping cart selection, customer management and order management to name a few. The four aspects outlined above will give you a great start and get you thinking in the right direction to be successful on the web.
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