We can help with the Planning

We can help with the Planning:

The following questions are just a few of the things you need to consider when starting an e-business. Although they may appear daunting, our experience will help you to sidestep the complications and dead-ends. Our proven track record of successfully delivered solutions has enabled us to become approved members of the Business Link consultants database.

What do you want to achieve? – No one knows your business as well as you ! and no-one knows your customers as well as you! Take a look at competitor web sites. Pick out the features that you like – or dislike about them. Are they quick to load? Are they difficult to use? Can you find what you’re looking for? Do you want to sell online? Do you want to track customer orders? What sales target are you looking for? Do you need to maintain the stock on your web site using an existing database?

Is your target audience online? – With the growth of the Internet, more and more people are using it as a business resource. Is it practical for your customers to buy your product online? .. or do you just want to give them technical specifications?

Can you handle customer service? – Internet consumers are very demanding. Do you have the resources to handle them? Can you despatch orders in a timely manner? Are you able to offer email support? Do you need a freephone hotline? Good news travels fast on the Internet – but so does bad news. If customers are satisfied with your service, they can spread the word quickly and your site traffic will grow. But if they’re dissatisfied, they can spread that information even quicker and dispose of new customers before you even see them!!

What Products are you going to sell? – On the web it’s impossible for customers to taste, touch or smell a product, so you have to ensure that your pictures and descriptions paint a good enough picture to enable online sales. If your descriptions are inadequate, there is always the possibility that the customer will buy the wrong thing, and you end up with a product return. If you need to choose, it is always better to have a small range of products with lots of pictures and detailed specifications than to list thousands of products without explaining them. You have to remember that your web site is a shopfront in the same way as a traditional high street shop. You have to entice customers into parting with their money.

Which countries are you going to supply? – Many UK sites will only supply within the UK. The same goes for many American sites that won’t accept overseas orders. If you are going to be shipping overseas, then you need to be aware of the tax implications and ensure that your business is geared up for dealing in foreign markets. If you’ve not made provisions for handling these eventualities your e-business can quickly become unstuck.

How are you going to handle distribution? – Shipping is an important part of getting the goods out on time. Will you give free or fixed price shipping which is nice and easy to calculate, or charge by the weight? If charging by weight – you’ll need to make the calculations online. This means knowing the weight of all your products and making sure your web site has the details. Are you going to offer different options like next day or Saturday delivery? Do you want your customers to be able to track their order online? And if you are shipping overseas, will you offer different methods based on destination, price and delivery time?

How are you going to handle online payments? – As a business to business supplier, you may want to streamline your existing paperwork and encourage your regular customers to use the Internet. You can set up online accounts with preset spending limits. In this way your customers can order online using a personal password, with orders being channeled into your existing invoice and billing system. If you’re dealing with new customers and the general public you’ll probably wish to take credit card payments. If your business already has merchant status, you can use an online processor to handle your card payments. Datasouth can help you set up an account with a reliable online processor.

There are many solutions – Let us to guide you to e-commerce success.

If you want help planning your e-commerce strategy then give us a call on 08000 926569 or use our contact form.