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Table of Content
Getting your business on the Web
A trend for businesses in the 21st century is to offer their products and services
electronically, a practice known as electronic commerce, commonly referred to as
"e-commerce". Major companies, such as Nike, Adidas, Future Shop, Sears, and other
major retailers all offer their products online. Their mindset is that this offers
quick, easy, and efficient service. There are advantages to engaging in e-commerce.
First, providing fast and efficient service leads to a competitive advantage, and
presents the opportunity to reach out to a larger target market. With the expansion
of the Internet and a greater thirst for information and knowledge, global competition
is becoming fierce, so gaining a competitive advantage is vital to the global and
domestic strategy of a firm.
There are three steps to analyze when looking at the creation of an online business:
Consideration, Implementation, and Finalization.
Consideration
How does a business know whether they should engage in such a practice? Despite
the obvious advantages to e-commerce, it does not always meet the long term needs
of a company. If the market for the product is quite small, then there is no need
to engage in e-commerce as it will be less difficult to gain competitive advantage
and would only result in unnecessary costs and expenses. Secondly, if the company
wishes to remain domestic and not expand its services, then a company would be better
suited to follow the normal processes of adversiting than participating in e-commerce.
Finally, a company must consider whether the business would even succeed or thrive
in the e-commerce environment. For example, selling food online would not be a viable
venture, as the ultimate costs (wastage, storage, transportation) would outweigh
the benefits.
However, if a company believes that their product has great market potential outside
of their domestic realm, and feel that they can participate in e-commerce, then
some time must be taken to lay down the floor plan for the business. Some aspects
to consider are:
What is the idea for the business?
Is it a product or service?
What is the name of it?
Will you emphasise price, quality, service, or another point?
What is the target market?
Implementation
The key to successfully starting and creating an online business is choosing the
right Web host. Try to find one that offers guarantees, is flexible, responds to
your concerns, and quite simply is one that offers the services that you want and
need.
Once you have found the right Web host for you and created an account, the next
step is start building your site. This is going to be the bread and butter of your
business. Having an attractive yet simple site will have a great impact. Ensure
that it projects the right image and is directed to the right target market for
your product. It should be easy to navigate and have a solid search option. Also
clarify what sorts of policies you will implement, such as return policies, acceptance
or rejection of credit cards, check-out, and any other payment options such as cheques
or money orders. Finding the right merchant account to help you accept credit cards
is important.
If you are selling products, there are many types of software out there to help
you create an effective and efficient ordering system. Look at the features that
you will need for your site and compare them to the software that is available.
Some may be expensive and others will be free.
Finalization
Now that you have created the website and are ready to begin, the next important
step is to market your online business. The options are numerous and can include:
Join a search engine and pay a fee for placement
Contract with affiliate sites and programs
Advertise
Virally market
Use promotions
A key step is developing some sort of PR strategy. Your customers are the most important
aspect of your business. Make them happy. This can include offering links on your
site to answer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), shipping quickly, designing a
system for easy returns, as well as any other type of customer service.
It is also important to constantly change and maintain the freshness of your site.
This includes altering colors and creating new displays. Another noteworthy option
is to include some sort of statistical counter so that you find out where your customers
are logging in from and what they do on your site. Test any advertisements that
you create to see how effective they are.
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