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Planning Your E-commerce
Moving to an Ecommerce system should be as painless as possible. There is no reward for a quick website launch if the resulting system is difficult to use and defies your company's business and processing logic. It is essential to the success of any Ecommerce project that sufficient planning be done in advance. Knowing exactly what you need is key in determining what kind of system is required. Write it out, sketch it on a pad, make a skit, enlist a barbershop quartet. Nothing is too basic for the planning process, and one can never be too informed as to the needs of your company.
Asking The Right Questions
Below are some of the questions you should consider before choosing your commerce system:
1) What kind of product are you selling?
Is it physical, is it a service, is it downloadable data?
2) Are there variations of your product?
Are there categories, colors, brands? Is each product unique? What is the size of your inventory?
3) What kind of shopping process is needed?
Are these direct sales? Auctions? Subscription based services? Should there be some qualification before a purchase is made? How do you deliver your item to the consumer?
4) Who are your customers?
Do you sell to individuals, other businesses or both? Are you industry specific? What kind of sales do you expect in terms of frequency and order totals?
5) Is there a need for integration?
Are you replacing an existing offline system with Ecommerce or are you using offline and online business together?
6) Are there industry standards to which your system must conform?
Should there be any special security in place for online payment transactions?
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