Starting Out in E-Commerce.

Electronic Commerce seems to be everywhere these days. It’s nearly impossible to open a newspaper or magazine without coming across an article about how Electronic Commerce is going to change all our lives. Businesses of all sizes are bombarded with adverts that seem to imply that any company not investing in E-Commerce will be left behind.

The problem for many small businesses is that while they appreciate the potential of doing business on the Net, it is difficult to determine the best way to start off. In this feature I’ll highlight resources on the web which will be of use to companies, of all sizes, which are about to take their first steps in electronic commerce.

First of all, for those requiring a basic overview of  the subject, The E-Commerce Guidebook is a good introduction.

Beyond that, actually doing business on the web can be broken down into five main requirements.

• On-Line Store
  The obvious requirement is an on-line store, or commerce-enabled web site where goods or services can be described and selected.

• On-Line payments
  While it is possible to run an on-line store without accepting on-line payments, this is cumbersome and rarely successful. Accepting on-line payments is therefore essential – and at the moment this means credit cards.
  
• Shipping/Order Fulfillment
  OK, so you’ve made your sale and now you’ve got to deliver the goods. Just package them up and ship them off. Easy – except what happens if you get dozens or hundreds of orders a day?
  
• Customer Service
  Support, Complaints, Returns –  the biggest complaint about E-Commerce is the poor level of customer service in the event of problems.
  
• Promotion.
  The big one! Even if you do everything else right, without successful promotion your on-line business will fail.

There is no right or wrong way to start up an E-Business, but any business plan, even if drawn up on the back of an envelope, should address these five topics. With this in mind, here is a selection of sites to get you started on the right track. 

E-Commerce on a Budget

So you have a great product or service to sell, but very little money. Is it still possible to set up an effective E-Commerce site? Of course it is. Check out the following sites.

http://www.freemerchant.com/
Free Web Stores. ( Really free - no catches - they make money through the banner ads. )

http://www.icat.com
Web stores. OK it's not free ( starts at $9.95 per month ) but it is cheap.

http://www.hypermart.net/
Free business hosting.

http://www.affiliateadvisor.com/
An impartial and informative look at affiliate programs.

http://www.bigmailbox.com/
Add web-based email to your site - generate repeat traffic and build customer loyalty.

http://foreverweb.com/
Free Internet marketing course.

Small/Home Businesses

Small or home businesses have a huge range of sites and services to help them get started. Some useful examples are as follows.

http://www.ispcheck.com/
The search engine of web hosts and ISP's.

http://www.imagecafe.com/
ImageCafe Serves Hot Websites to Go!

http://www.impulsesoftware.com/index.html
Website creation and E-Commerce ( with real-time credit-card processing)

http://www.buycentral.com/noframes/affiliate.html
Interesting affiliate scheme for sites with 1000 hits per day.

http://www.sitematic.com/
E-business for small businesses.

Larger Businesses.

Commercial E-commerce sites and software now provide for almost every conceivable requirement.

http://www.merchandizer.com/
Create sophisticated on-line stores with this highly-rated product.

1st American Card Service
Accept credit cards in 3 easy steps.

http://www.opensite.com/
Host your own on-line auctions.

http://www.catalogmaker.com
"A web browser and catalogMAKER is all you need to create a business on the Internet."

http://mypage-products.ihost.com/usa/en_US/
IBM cover all types of  "e-Business". This is the entry-level offering.

http://www.fulfillmentamerica.com/services/
Various services within the fulfillment process.

I hope this selection of sites proves useful. Just a year ago it was possible to recommend perhaps half a dozen essential E-commerce sites which would cover most of the options for small business. Now the problem is that the number of choices available makes it difficult to keep track of the best options. Perhaps you could help? If you have had any good (or bad) experiences of E-commerce software or services, why not pay a visit to the E-Commerce Bulletin Board and share your experiences with the rest of us.

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