For people who have run a physical shop for years, the idea of selling online can be both exciting and daunting. There’s certainly a lot of mistakes to be made – but a lot of money to be had. In the late ‘90s, at the height of the dotcom boom, lots of small businesses rushed online under the belief that having a virtual face would be some sort of miracle cure, or at least a vaccination against certain failure.
Of course, it didn’t quite work out that way. But don’t let those crazy times turn you off – selling online could still open up a whole new area of customers for you. There are some great reasons to sell online – and some reasons to be wary as well.
1. Conquer New Territories
One of the biggest advantages of e-commerce is breaking free from geography. Most consumers and small businesses deal primarily with businesses in the same city. However an increasing number of shoppers are turning to the web to get the best deals; find that hard to get item; or simply avoid braving a crowded shopping centre.
Once you are online, it matters little if the shop you are buying from is next door or across the country. If your business isn’t online, you could be missing out on this growing set of increasingly sophisticated shoppers. Even if you aren’t in the retail segment, many companies are increasingly using the internet to find their suppliers and streamline their purchases.
2. Discover New Marketing Opportunities
There are now some great new business models which are only possible online. Affiliate programs for example are growing in popularity, and with good reason. An affiliate program is where you offer other websites a commission on every sale from a customer sent to your site. For many online businesses, affiliate marketing can be a great way to have others out there promoting their products and selling for them.
Some shopping cart packages such as E-Commerce Templates allow you to do your site configuration using Microsoft FrontPage which is easy to learn if you are familiar with other Microsoft Office products. By using this shopping cart software and FrontPage you can set up an affiliates program quickly and easily, and start having people selling for you.
3. Help your Customers Help Themselves
Another great reason to be online is to reduce those customer questions. A normal website can include the basics such as your contact details and opening hours. With an online shop, customers can find out whether you carry a particular item, how much it costs, its availability, detailed product information and much more - all without any effort from you. Your existing customers might appreciate having this information available even if they still want to talk to you when they place the order. If your shop is listed in the major search engines, there’s a great chance to pick up new customers who are searching for just the product you are selling.
Things to Watch Out For
Selling online isn’t just a matter of sitting back and waiting for the money to roll in – there’s some downsides as well. Here are a few points to consider before rushing headlong into your online adventures.
1. Budget for Set-up Costs
The most obvious downside is the time and expense of setting up. The cost can vary enormously. For example, if you already have a website your current website hosting company may offer e-commerce facilities for free. Be careful with this though, what they are offering may be very limited – after three months you could be ripping your hair out with frustration and having to start all over again.
The safest way is to use the services of a web design company. From a small company, you should expect a bill of a few thousand dollars for a basic set-up, and climbing rapidly as your complexity increases. Make sure you ask to see some previous shops they’ve set up. The people who set-up your existing website might not be specialists when it comes to online shopping so it could be time to look for a new supplier. You should also allow a fair bit of time for yourself, or an employee, to help with all the content and data entry which is usually a part of setting up an online shop. Also talk to your bank – accepting credit cards online isn’t cheap and you may get a significant bill to set up this ability.
2. Keep an Eye Open for Fraudsters
An unfortunate truth of selling online is the rate of fraudulent credit card transactions is higher. There are some simple steps you can do to reduce credit card fraud. Certain areas of the world, in particular Eastern Europe and Africa, have an extremely high rate of fraud, so any new customer orders from those areas should be treated with caution. Many credit card processors will have sophisticated fraud detection systems in place to help catch any problems. Talk to your credit card processor and see what they can offer you.
You can also apply some common sense. Any large or unusual orders should be checked – the easiest thing to do is simply pick up the phone and give the customer a call. Some shop owners have reported their customers appreciated the diligence and increased their order as a result! Existing customer service skills that you might have developed running a physical shop can give you an edge against your competitors, particularly if they are only online.
3. Take on New Skills
You’ll need to make sure that you, or trusted staff or suppliers, have the skills to deal with this new world. There are certainly a lot of differences between running a physical shop and an online shop so you need the right people for advice.
Fortunately for you, there’s at least as many similarities as differences, and many of the purchasing, marketing and customer support skills you’ve honed over the years will help you turn your online shop into a success.
Also, don’t forget that running an online shop will take additional time. Keeping the site up to date with new products, updating information, processing orders, and answers queries will become part of every workday. Remember, the best and most popular sites are those that are frequently updated.
Mark Baartse is an internet consultant based in Sydney. You can contact him at markb@useyourweb.com.
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