Ten questions to consider before setting up a shop e-commerce

Ten questions to consider before setting up shop e-commerce:

There is much to consider when setting up an e-commerce or take an existing line of business, but these are some of the initial areas to consider once you have a basic idea of ​​what you are selling. You may not be able to answer all these questions, but we hope the additional information will help you as well as some of our other items.

1.
Do you have a competitive advantage or unique selling point? This could be something like an exclusive product, a product is not sold online, the products available for you cheaper than the competition? You must have some reason why people buy from you and there are a number of ways you can do this, but it can also be a mixture of advantages not available elsewhere, as the only site to offer a particular product for offer next day delivery and offer gift-wrapping. It could also be something as simple as having a site faster and easier to use than competitors

2.
There is demand for the products you intend to offer, or more importantly, enough demand at a price you can offer to draw? New products can be particularly difficult as they can provide for your own products without carrying out research. The lack of competition can be good, but can also indicate a lack of demand. Another potential pitfall is to research and discover that there is demand for a product, but do not control what people are willing to pay and find your position to make sales at an advantageous price.

3.
How do you promote? Do you want to depend solely on online promotion? Bricks and mortar stores with an online store and will have an advantage over purely online stores because of reassurance in this way, the customers, but the offline promotion can help online shops only seem to be more reliable. The offline promotion will help you reach a slightly different audience. Your decision should depend in part on your target market and of course your budget, promote on-line can be very convenient if you use it effectively, and much of it is purely driven effort.

4.
Will you hold stocks or sent directly depend on which suppliers will send the products directly to your customers? (A charge). Most vendors do not offer direct shipment and direct shipping problems include those expenses which can be expensive, you can rely on suppliers to keep you updated on stock low and the suspension of the product, you may be able to send products on the following day Delivery will need to rely on your suppliers to send products quickly and easy to contact. However there are of course many of the costs to keep a deposit, especially if you only have one e-commerce site, the main costs are the space and have money tied up in stocks there will inevitably be an opportunity cost of this and a risk that the stock can not sell or lose value.

5.
Wants to offer a high level of customer service for at least 9-5 Monday to Friday or try to get away with shorter hours or reliance on e-mail? Having a customer service number gives security to customers online and you may lose sales when customers are the questions I want answers quickly.

6.
Want to sell your land or sell only continent or around the world? Naturally, many e-commerce shopping begins the objective of a country and then expand often starting with large markets like the U.S. or countries with the same language. Many shops in the UK e-commerce will also be sent to Ireland, where the proximity means that shipping costs are not products uncompetitively expensive.

7.
Do you want to use an off the shelf or the web site is designed for your needs? The most obvious difference is price, customized web sites can be very expensive, but a certain level of custom design can be purchased for less than you might think from the designers who re-use part of their code, but you can add to it. A custom website can give some uniqueness and be designed to meet your target market, for example, if you are pointing to a group that is likely to be less experienced users of the web site you might want a very simple. Off the shelf sites do not often have the advantage of free software updates and follow the generally accepted concepts of web design means that the site works so that customers are used to other sites, for most customers is a good thing, of course, and usability should be on top of your priorities in almost all cases.

8.
As a provider of payment you use? PayPal is simple, a well-known and trusted brand, but also quite expensive more to your bank account transfers are slow and you risk having to maintain a reserve on your PayPal account. Your bank is unlikely to provide web services for payment unless you have some history of trade with them. WorldPay is another option as extractions from Google that is similar to PayPal.

9.
Who are your competitors? Some of your competitors can be very obvious, people with the same or similar products. However, these competitors may not be as important as you think if you aim at a different market, for example, you can target products to the gift market where a competitor can point to objects for the home market, is a competitor, but then so is a site selling different products, but also aimed at giving the market especially if they are the same price, with the promotion or similar products suitable for the end user itself.

10.
Are your products suitable for selling online? This is divided into three main issues in the first place will be handy to post? They can be fragile, heavy and large make shipping very expensive, although some products will surprise you from experience, taking into account the potential cost of shipping as a percentage of retail products that are cheap but expensive to send are the biggest problem. Secondly consider the case of products where it is likely that a large number of statements, such as clothes, shoes in particular, may be the reimbursement of expenses including the cost of shipping and you can end up with excess stock especially after Christmas when the items were returned. Thirdly, as is easy to see the product online, some products may not look as impressive impressive line and some products may have more value as tactile rather than visual. Using multiple images, video and interactive 3D images can help in this. The descriptions are helpful, but often if the main image is not impressed: people will not consider the product further.
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Also make sure you are aware of the distance selling in the United Kingdom or the equivalent for your country or area and understand what they need you. Your duty to accept returns for example, may carry the potential costs ....