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If you are thinking about setting up an online store, the first thing you will probably realize is how much work is involved in getting your ecommerce store off the ground! I get a kick out of clients who call for an initial consultation and start asking questions like “Can we get this done in a week?”. More often than not, they are talking about the actual design/development of the online store, but haven’t put an ounce of planning or thought into the whole process of setting up an online store. The actual design and development of an ecommerce website is only a portion of the process of setting one up, this article will give a better representation of the things that you will need to research and plan for when launching an online store.

The Business Plan

Like any brick and mortar (offline) store, an ecommerce store is a business. True, there are things such as decreased overhead, reduced staffing, as well as increased exposure that make ecommerce attractive for business owners to explore selling online. However, just like their brick and mortar cousin, online stores require a business plan before any other plans or commitments are made.

Your ecommerce business plan should define the following key points:
  1. Your customers: Who are your customers? What are they attracted to, how well do you know them, and what kind of sites do they visit. If you can’t answer any of these questions, you really need to research to answer them. Not properly identifying your potential customer base and understanding them can really hinder your launch.
  2. Your competition: What are they doing wrong? How can you improve on their shortcomings and have you identified a gap in their service that you think your ecommerce site can fill?
  3. Financing: Gone are the days where we can launch an ecommerce site with little to no money. Are you self funding the launch of the online store, or have you secured financing?
  4. Timeline: What is the realistic time frame that you expect to have your store online? You have to balance the natural tendency to rush things with the fear of waiting too long and someone else slipping in before you do. The key here is to have established timelines on each stage of launching your online store, and following it to a ‘T’!

The Web Developer

With your plan developed, and your timelines established you need to find a company to develop your ecommerce site. No, I am not going to plug our company here and say that we are the only choice out there, although in my biased opinion we *are* the best one! Seriously though, choosing a competent web-developer is going to tremendously affect how people perceive your online store when they visit it. Moreover, it will directly affect your conversion (sale) rate if your web developer is not well versed in the ecommerce game.

Here are some things to watch out for when choosing your ecommerce web developer:
  1. Experience: Unless you don’t mind being someone’s learning project, read: guinea pig, you definitely want to find a developer who has developed several ecommerce websites. Review their portfolio and make sure you visit the sites in it. Beware of developers who just show you a snapshot of sites they develop without the ability to actually visit the live sites, what are they hiding anyway?
  2. Full Service: Is the development firm you are contemplating dealing with strong in only one aspect of ecommerce development? It’s very common for some developers to be incredible designers, but terrible programmers, and vice versa. You need to find a web-developer with people on staff to handle the design, programming, search engine optimization (SEO) and a marketing person (or two!) wouldn’t hurt either. The biggest joke in e-commerce development is the developer who tries to fill all of those roles himself. Believe me something will give when they try to do it all themselves. As a programmer, just take a look at any site I’ve tried to design and you will quickly catch my drift.
  3. Customization: Is your developer custom developing your site or are they giving you a pre-built site that will hopefully serve all your needs? Chances are that to start those pre-built sites will be pretty cool, and cheaper than a custom ecommerce site. It’s after 5-6 months of running the site, and you are doing some decent volume where you might begin wishing you spent a little more for something that was more expandable. 80% of the redevelopment projects we do on ecommerce sites are because the existing site is just not expandable to handle new features that the client wants.

The Merchant Account

This should actually be planned and decided on in conjunction with picking your web-developer in my opinion. Since it can take several working days to get your merchant account and online payment gateway setup, it’s wise to begin the process just as you are picking your web-developer.

For a primer on what a merchant account is and some of the lingo that you will need to learn, read our merchant account lingo primer.

Now, I can write a whole article on some things to watch out for when you are choosing your merchant account provider, but here are some of the most important ones:
  1. SHOP AROUND (yelling intentional). You really need to find the best provider for your online store. Just because a provider was great for a friend of yours, doesn’t mean they are going to be a good fit for your e-commerce store. Sometimes what you are selling is considered high-risk with one provider, and ‘normal’ with another, with their rates adjusted accordingly. So, make sure you shop around.
  2. Negotiate Discount Rates: Just because the sales guy comes back with a 4.5% discount rate doesn’t mean you have to take it. Make it a point to negotiate based on the fact that you followed item #1 and you shopped around! Statements like “Hey, 4.5% is a little high isn’t it? SoAndSo.com quoted me 2.9% but I would like to deal with your company, what’s your best rate?” work wonders!
  3. Rolling Reserves: Most merchant account providers require some form of deposit to cover any charge-backs. Instead of holding large deposits, several thousands in most cases, request a rolling reserve instead. For a full explanation of rolling reserves, read this

The Marketing Plan

Your site is built, and you are right on track with your established timeline, it’s now time to implement your marketing plan. Unless you are really lucky, or have a highly sought after product in low supply, chances are you are going to have to persuade people to visit your site and purchase something. A whole book can be written on things to consider when marketing your online store, but here are a few to get you started:

  1. Budget: How much have you set aside from your overall finance plan established in your business plan for marketing?
  2. Target: Where will you be targeting your marketing efforts? Locally, regionally, nationally, internationally… how will you reach these markets, and is it within your budget?
  3. Search Engines: How much of your marketing effort will involve search engine marketing? Are you going to focus on Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, or are you hoping to be found in the natural results through search engine optimization (SEO)?
  4. Affiliate Programs: Have you researched if your products or services are a good fit for an affiliate program? Sometimes leveraging other site’s established traffic and user base is a great way to increase your direct sales as well as product exposure to a greater audience.

Is that everything you need to know?

Not on your life! While I’ve touched on some of the major subject areas that need addressing when setting up an online store, I did leave quite a bit out. Things like shipping and fulfillment plans, content writing, and product photography weren’t even touched on. Even with those covered, there are specific issues that arise for every e-commerce sector that need to be addressed specifically, store by store. The best advice I can give is to use the above as a starting point, and be diligent to plan and account for any other issues that might need addressing for your e-commerce store type.

If you would like more help with planning the launch of your online store, contact us directly at http://www.wiredsolutions.ca/contact.aspx