Business owners who set up ecommerce software on their websites should be looking for elements that are critical to making the website effective and profitable. Some basic choices to be made up front include choosing between buying the software, using a hosted solution or using a freeware version, and accepting limitations that come with both options. Another factor is finding software that is flexible or turnkey, such that it can accommodate the specific tasks the business requires.

Ecommerce software should also be more of a help than a hindrance to the SEO structure of the site, intuitively assisting its promotion and optimization where possible. And the support provided by the software provider needs to be there to aid a start-up, or especially an inexperienced business whenever problems in the operation or maintenance of the program comes up. Beyond these upfront considerations, however, there are more particular issues that are key to using a suitable e-commerce portal, including:

1) Compatibility with your payment processor.

Any e-commerce program you work with must be able to accept and integrate the payment portal of choice for most of your customers, be that credit card, check or electronic money (PayPal, Authorize.net or others). Due to the prevalence of identity theft, the check out system should be able to encode the purchasing process, and be able to alert the vendor if a suspect transaction has occurred.

2) Does it allow adding pictures, content, reviews to the products?

Providing customers with images of what they are purchasing, and subtle props to buy based on favorable testimonials and reviews is the key to properly pre-selling them prior to sale. Your ecommerce software should be able to add content that will encourage sales conversions.

3) Integration with a drop ship service provider like Amazon Fulfillment or Shipwire?

Depending on the complexity and number of products provided by the business, the software will need to have the facility to seamlessly process the buyer through multiple distribution or fulfillment channels complete a purchase. This is one area where getting a ‘bells and whistles’ program may be the better option, as the software will probably be able to support multiple delivery systems from different companies.

4) How much can the design be customized?

Does the software including editing menu where the functions can be modified to suit the company’s needs regarding maintenance or inventory? Or does a new module or add on third-party program needed to be added to provide the customization?

5) Discount codes

Can the program handle a sale, including coupons, rebates or other discount arrangements? Customer should be able to annotate a purchase accordingly, in a manner that does not add excess time to processing the transaction.

6) Inventory management

E-commerce shopping cart programs should include real-time updates for inventory by keeping track of orders versus stock available, and prompt the vendor to consider resupplying when stock is low. Reports should be automatically generated, or readily available at times scheduled by the owner.

7) Does it have a simple administrator interface?

Will you be able to fulfill orders and add products without needing external help from designers or developers. Affective shopping cart software should have a module that permits owners and selected staff to manipulate operation of the online store and perform admin functions as necessary. From viewing statistics, to managing clients, adding or removing products, and dealing internally with problem orders the interface should make it easy to manually resolve miscellaneous issues without adding or consulting outside support.

Order fulfillment, and the system behind it, is one of the most important aspects of running an ecommerce website. However, your available options for product delivery are directly tied to the type of business that you are running. Because of this, knowing which product delivery options coincide with which types of businesses may be beneficial when you are weighing out your ecommerce business options.

Self-Fulfillment

If you have physical possession of a product, you can ship it to your customers yourself. While this option generally requires the most effort, it allows you total control over how and when products ship. Additionally, it gives you greater control over shipping costs, and allows you to assess inventory counts accurately.

Third-Party Order Fulfillment

If you prefer to let others handle your ecommerce order fulfillment, you have a few different options available. For instance, if you run an ecommerce website that is affiliated with a specific company or manufacturer, you could allow a fulfillment service to ship products for you. Also, you could utilize a dropshipping company. While dropshippers tend to function in the same way as order fulfillment centers, the business model itself is slightly different.

If you prefer to disassociate yourself from the order fulfillment process completely, you can promote products owned by third-party vendors as an affiliate. This option allows you to earn money by selling products, but you are not responsible for any of the shipping or return processes.

Order fulfillment is an integral part of running an ecommerce website. There are plenty of options available, but the options available to you, personally, depend on how you choose to run your online business.

If you do not know it already, setting up and running an ecommerce storefront is not a simple, one-step task. In fact, unless you choose an all-in-one ecommerce solution, it can unfortunately be a complex process from creation of the seed idea to the fruition of your dream — your first sale. To remove some of the complexity from the process, however, here are the basics that you need, and what you need to know, to get your ecommerce store running.

Ecommerce website hosting

Commercial websites have needs that extend beyond those of personal websites and blogs. As such, you need to find a hosting company that understands your needs as an online business owner, and one that can offer the support that you need, when you need it. Choosing the right hosting company for your business venture can mean the difference between success online and devastating failure.

Storefront design

The design of your business site is at the very heart of your business. This is the first thing that people will see, and if you want your store to excel, it needs to be professional, intuitive, and easy to use. Depending on your market, you may be able to skip the flash and flare, but just be sure that your website’s design represents who you are and what you offer.

Way to accept payments

When people purchase items over the internet, they expect to be able to pay for those items using a credit card. Merchant accounts are easy to obtain today, regardless of your credit history. Conversely, non-subscription options such as Google Checkout, PayPal, or 2Checkout are viable merchant account alternatives and work well for many online businesses.

Order management system

Unless your business is very small and has very few transactions on a monthly basis, you will need some type of order management system to help keep your business organized. In many cases, you can integrate your payment processing into your order management system to streamline your business’s transactions.

Running an ecommerce store should not be regarded as a simple, one-step feat. However, with the right elements in place, you can turn your web store into a smooth-running, income-generating system that will pay off for years to come.

Ecommerce hosting companies are a dime a dozen nowadays, and with so many choices available, it’s important for you to understand what you need from your web host of choice to help aid your business’s success. Here are three must-have qualities to look for in an Ecommerce hosting company.

Positive user reviews

One of the best ways to gauge a hosting company’s worth is by reading online reviews about that company. While people are generally quicker to post problems than praise, reputable ecommerce hosting companies will have a solid online reputation backed by numerous positive customer reviews.

True 24/7 support

Websites are backed by technology, and like all technologies, eventually there will be troubles of some form. Whether you need help getting a script to function, your server becomes slow, it goes down, or you can’t get your email to work, if it’s your business on the line, you need support that can respond promptly to your inquiries, not just during normal business hours.

Wide-reaching technology support

Ecommerce websites today utilize multiple technologies — from Javascript to PHP, Perl, ASP, and Python. Unless you know that you only need a particular technology for your ecommerce website, look for a hosting company that provides support for multiple technologies within their website hosting packages.

Choosing an ecommerce hosting company is an important first step in your online business venture. By choosing the right host today, you are helping to build a solid foundation for your business that can benefit you for years to come.

Shopify is a fantastic ecommerce platform that has many advantages. In this review, I’ll be covering why it’s my go to ecommerce system for new and small ecommerce websites. I’ll also be covering what I consider to be significant drawbacks and when it might not make sense to use Shopify.

The term ‘ecommerce’ is abundant online, but to some, it’s a foreign term. Here’s what you need to know about this oft-used but widely misunderstood principal, and how you can use it to your advantage.

Ecommerce – What It Is

Ecommerce, or electronic commerce, is the term used to describe the act of selling a product on the internet. These ‘products’ can be anything — physical goods, services, or even information. Two popular examples of ecommerce websites include eBay.com and Amazon.com, but there are tens-of-thousands of others out there engaged in internet commerce.

Ecommerce is the blanket form of internet-based sales, which includes everything from the well-known business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) models to the lesser-known consumer-to-business (C2B), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), and business-to-government (B2G) transactions.

What Ecommerce Provides

Ecommerce has done two primary things, one of which is that it has expanded the local marketplace exponentially. Instead of a business serving their local market through a local store, or even through a chain of local markets throughout a state or country, ecommerce allows a business owner to acquire customers from anywhere in the world, easily. Primarily, these transactions take place through a website, but sometimes email, which is sent by way of the internet, is a channel for a business’s commercial transactions.

The other notable benefit that ecommerce provides is that is has enabled anybody with even a part-time internet connection to benefit from the global marketplace. Everybody from stay-at-home parents, to students, to established business owners have been given the means to reach the masses from their location and to make a profit.

Ecommerce vs. Non-Ecommerce Websites

While there are over 200 million websites online today according to Netcraft, an internet services company based out of England, not all websites are setup for ecommerce. Arguably, most websites online today are not directly engaged in internet commerce. Examples of non-ecommerce websites include portfolio websites, or ‘brochure’ websites, which highlight a company’s products or services yet do not sell them through the website, and personal websites or blogs that abound online today.

Ecommerce, while it can seem confusing at first, really isn’t. It is a wonderful tool that has been given to all of us, from the stay-at-home parent to the already-established business owner.