E-Commerce – Picking a Solution
Now that you know the basics about e-commerce, there are a number of things to consider when you are deciding what type of e-commerce solution you need.
• What are you selling? Your online store may be selling physical products that are shipped by the postal service or a courier to the customer after a completed purchase. Or it might be selling products that are delivered electronically, such as e-book downloads, MP3 music or software. Donations and subscriptions are types of transactions to consider as well.
• What functionality should you offer? Will you be selling only one item, or do customers need to be able to add multiple items to their carts? Do you need to offer options (size/color?) Do you need categories to make shopping easier? Do you need tags to link related items? Do people need accounts and tracking ability?
• How will you take payment? Paypal, Google Checkout and Amazon Payments are easy to use and are easy to integrate into your site. Merchant accounts allow you to accept credit card payments directly, though you’ll need an online merchant account. Payment gateways take users to a secure pay page on the gateway’s
server or take their payment information to the gateway. Many of these options protect you form liability of your customer’s information security.
• How will you handle delivery? You’ll need to charge for delivery (is it a static cost or determined by the order?) What about shipping out of country? Will you be selling a digital product (via email or download)?
• Will you allow customers to track sales/shipping? Will they link to other systems like the post office or UPS? Will you control stock through the site? What if items are out of stock after being ordered or only partially shipped or shipped to multiple addresses? Will invoices be automatically generated through the site?
There are a lot of variables to consider when you are creating an e-commerce site. Finding the right content management system and getting all the right programming is essential to a successful e-commerce site. Let Alphabetix help you find the right solution.
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