Your Ecommerce Prep Checklist

Congratulations! You’ve given the green light to implement ecommerce for your small business! Good call; global ecommerce joined the trillion-dollar industry club in 2012.

This number will only go up in 2013 (projected at $1.2 trillion) and a chunk of that is yours for the making. But where the heck do you start? Short answer, get organized. Long answer, read on.

Start with a Spreadsheet

Yes, the dreaded spreadsheet. Where ever your product information is stored (in Quickbooks, on paper or in your head) start breaking it out via data export or a fresh new Excel doc.

Your web developer needs your best and most thorough understanding of your business according to your existing printed catalog or other collateral. All criteria you want assigned to your products online require their own column in the spreadsheet:

• Product Categories and Sub-Categories
•  Unique Product Name/Product Number or SKU
•  Price
• Keywords and Detailed Product Description
•  Product Image Name
•  Sizes & Colors
• Shipping Options and Fees

Remember, your list must be written and structured based on your business and your products or services. Your ecommercesystem needs to fit your business, not the other way around.

 

Organize Your Product Images

Ever comb endlessly and aimlessly through your hard drive for that one family photo you want to print and frame? Nothing is named, nothing is organized, and you’re ready to lose it. Spare your ecommerce developers the same torment.  

Label every product photo that will be part of your ecomm system. Establish a consistent and simple labelling formula of words and numbers. Don’t get too cute or carried away with underscores and hyphens. This isn’t just for the sake of your web guy’s sanity; it keeps your ecommerce project on track and on budget.

 

Getting You Paid

As a small business owner, you’ve swiped your share of credit cards. You know which cards you take and turn away. Your to-do list on the credit card end of ecommerce is a short one:

• Know what credit card associations (Visa/Mastercard etc) you plan to take
• Compile your merchant account info and reach out to your account contact person

If you’re unsure of what you need, your web developer can advise you on the requirements. From there, you just need to make the call to get started.

When you reach out to your account rep, ask them to establish a “payment gateway.” This makes your account person the gatekeeper between your customer and the credit card company in the payment process.

From the Web to the Customers’ Door

Order packaging and shipment is another common occurrence in your small business’ day-to-day. Yet again, your preferences simply carry over to your ecommerce system.

The shipping options you offer customers over the phone are plugged into your ecommerce system. It’s your call, from shipping method (USPS, FedEx, UPS) to delivery time (Standard, overnight, 2-day etc).  

Let’s Get Selling

Considering the potential customers and revenue, you can’t afford to exclude ecommerce to your small business. Think of a successful, profitable ecommerce system as a roadtrip destination. Your web design company is behind the wheel, and you’re supplying the GPS.

There might be some annoying “re-calculating” moments and wrong turns, but if you punch in the correct information, you’ll get there via a relatively smooth trip.  

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Ecommerce: The Next Necessity?

The small business world and its customers are constantly changing, so you are always changing. Your company has kept up with the trends and changes in how customers pay for products and services.  From cash-only to checks to credit cards - you've adapted your business & systems accordingly.

Everything came down to a business decision. Is the money there? Is the timing right? Will this keep my existing customers happy AND bring in new ones? The new question - is adding ecommerce capabilities to your website the next necessity?

Beyond Ebay & Amazon

Ecommerce is a product of economic and tech evolution. In most minds, ecommerce = Ebay and Amazon. As these companies boomed, people started trusting their credit card information to the web. With their popularity, Ebay and Amazon blazed the trail for any product based company to sell online.

Consumer acceptance has now opened the door for service-based companies to add online payments to their repertoire.  Gym memberships, insurance instalments, account / bill payments, donations; now you can accept payments for any service with an ecommerce system.

Keeping Up with Convenience

Our need for convenience set off the ecommerce boom. This accessibility brings benefits to both your company and customer. Ecommerce takes the sales & customer service pressure off your business. The customer in turn controls the buying & payment process on their terms. It’s a win-win:

·         Your win: A crucial selling tool and added revenue.

·         Your customers’ win: Getting what they need, when they need it, on THEIR time.

The Consumer Has Spoken

The trend is clear and the statistics are staggering: US consumers will spend an average of $1,472 per year online between now and 2016. Ecommerce has done nothing but grow in recent years: 

·         In 2011, the total tally of US online receipts hit $202 billion

·         It climbed to $226 billion in 2012

·         Ecomm spending projects to spike another 45% to $327 billion in 2016

·         In 2012, total worldwide ecommerce spending reached $1 TRILLION 

Is Ecommerce right for your business?

There is no better time than right now to weigh your options.  Start by researching ecommerce systems that are specific to your industry.  Look at your competitors' websites to see if they have incorporated online purchasing or payments.  Print up an Accounts Receivables report to see if ecommerce can help streamline the payment process.  Get input from employees & customers.  Ultimately if you determine that now is NOT the right time for ecommerce, it's something that should stay on your radar to be re-evaluated every couple of years if not more frequently.

Ecommerce - Going Beyond the Shopping Cart

When your business first opened its doors, times might have been simpler.  The door chime rang, the customer strolled in, grabbed their items from the shelf and handed you the cash. Have a nice day, see you next time.   Over time things have changed.  You adapted to make doing business with you easier - credit cards, gift cards, phone orders and so on. These became musts for your business. The rise of Ecommerce is no different.

Here at Terrapin providing Ecommerce websites has become a large part of what we do.  At least a few times a month we are meeting with someone who wants to sell something online.  Typically these potential customers know they need a shopping cart, but beyond that haven’t given any thought to how everything will actually work.

Let’s take a look at some questions you should be asking yourself if you are considering an ecommerce website.

Product Catalog

• How many products do you want to initially offer online?
• How often does your product offering change?  How many products typically move in & out of your offering?
• Do you have your product information in a database or spreadsheet?
• Do you have high-quality digital photography of your products available?
• How do you organize your products internally?  Would you use the same categories for your online customer?
• Do your products have special ordering options or are people just keying in a quantity and adding to a cart? i.e Different sizes, colors, etc.
• Are all the information & ordering options the same for all products?

Shipping

• What shipping carrier (UPS, FedEx, USPS) do you want to use?
• Do you want to provide real-time shipping rates (from carrier) or create a fixed shipping cost model?
• How are your products typically packaged?
• Do you have the weights for all your items & packaging materials?
• What is the turnaround time for you to ship an order?
• Does the website need to communicate with 3rd Party shipping system?

Payment Options

• Do you have an existing Merchant Account to accept payments by credit card?
• What credit cards do you accept (Visa, MC, Amex, Disc)?
• Do you want to offer other payment options (check, money-order, purchase order)?

Processing Orders

• Are you currently set up to handle small quantity orders?
• Is the person who manages order processing / shipping comfortable with computers?

System Management

• Will a single person or team of people be managing the system?
• If more than one person, will access to management tools need to be restricted based on who is logged in?

By carefully examining your product offering, the way customers purchase those products and how you process incoming orders, you can develop an Ecommerce website that is built around your business - not the other way around.