Re: Setting up an online store

From: Joshua Enders <joshua_at_advisorsquare.com>
Date: Wed 21 Jul 2004 08:30:28 -0500

The simplest way to take orders online is an HTML form... however, that
won't get you too far. If you're referring to payment
processing/shopping carts, PayPal, Yahoo! Store and hundreds of
companies are just chomping at the bit to get your credit card
information and charge you whatever their monthly fee may be.

But if you want to make a go of it and be successful with this venture,
there is sooooooo much more involved than finding "the simplest way to
take orders online."

Marketing, media relations, order fulfillment, product sourcing (unless
you're a manufacturer), customer server, customer retention, resellers
and on and on and on... this is what you must be committed to in order
give yourself the chance to be successful online.

If it sounds like a lot (and it is for 95 out of 100 of us), you may
want to consider outsourcing your e-commerce operation to a company that
already has the business infrastructure in place. In this scenario, you
would act as a supplier rather than a distributor or retailer.

We currently provide outsourced e-commerce services to serveral
companies. Our most recent client is www.porcelainbabyshoes.com. Our
supplier came to us at one time and said "hey, I want a website and the
ability to sell online." After we discussed all of the different
elements involved they said "no thanks... too much work." This is when
we told them about outsourcing possibilities. They've never looked back
and either have we. We are on pace to surpass $350K in sales this
quarter and we're less than a year old.

Joshua Enders
www.porcelainbabyshoes.com







Received on Wed Jul 21 2004 - 08:30:28 CDT