A beginners guide to e commerce

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with world-class IT solutions since 2007. Technousa, an ISO
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with an objective to deliver profitable solutions.
Technousa broadly offers these services - Mobile & Web Application
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Consulting and related Services.

The content on the following slides are excerpts from the article
http://bit.ly/beginners-guide-to-ecommerce
( A Beginners guide to E-commerce )
You may want to read the article in detail.
Or
Proceed further for a quick reading.

Presents

A Beginners guide to E-commerce
The buyer’s decision making process has changed dramatically in recent
times. They are relying more on online resources and going for extensive
online research before opting for any purchase. Ecommerce sales have been
increasing consistently year by year.

A Beginners guide to E-commerce
According to Forrester, B2B ecommerce sales for US to top $1 trillion by
2020, this highlights the growing opportunities for retailers and wholesalers
in the ecommerce industry.
“If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of
business” – Bill Gates
It is now important for all businesses to have an online presence & have a
digital storefront to provide their services & products to the customers
spread all across the globe. In order to get started you need a set of tools to
help you set up, develop and grow your e-commerce business. Here is a
quick guide for everyone who wants to get down into a business via
ecommerce.
continued….

Start with a Plan
Before starting any task planning is very important. You must start by
researching and brainstorming every idea - what is that you want to do? Do
some market research & spend some time thinking about audience you want
to target, and then you need to make goals & form a business plan for your
online business.
continued….

Domain Name
After deciding and creating a plan, the next important step is selecting the
correct domain name. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular
web pages. So what you have to do is to look out for domain names that best
describes your business and are easy to remember. For example, if you want
to open an online store for scented candles then you can look for domain
name as scentedcandlesonline.com. With such relevant domain names it
becomes easier for viewers to find out what they are looking for.
There are many domain name registrar companies like Godaddy, Bigrock,
Hostgator that can make registering or booking domain names fast, simple
and affordable.
continued….

Design a Website
The next logical step is to get your website designed. Getting a custom
ecommerce website developed is the best option as custom ecommerce
website comes loaded with great features and custom design ensures
attractive look and feel of the website, which is very important for an
ecommerce website. But, getting a custom website built can be expensive.
Hiring a freelance web developer or offshore web development company can
solve your purpose. Going for an offshore web/ecommerce development
company has many advantages – lower cost, professional approach/service,
pooled technical expertise and experience, after sales support and more.
continued….

Certain key points to keep in mind while looking for right Web Development
Company:
Price: Look out for few companies, send them your requirements and ask for
quotes. By doing this you will get a reasonable idea how the pricing works.
Price shouldn’t be your first criteria to decide on a web design company, look
at the overall package.
Portfolio: Check out the portfolios and see what the firm has already done for
their previous clients.
Updated with Latest Trends: With a look at their portfolio and the company’s
website you would be able to judge if they are in synchronization with the
latest trends and techniques.
continued….

Clientele List – Check the companies’ clientele list.
Be connected with your web design/development company at every step and
keep tracking their work in order to achieve the desired result.
Another option is to purchase ecommerce website solutions/packages
offered by platforms like Magento, Shopify, Bigcommerce and more. It is to
be noted that these platforms sell ready-made packages which cannot be
customized beyond a point but there are integration services offered by
development companies wherein you can leverage the benefit of both the
custom website and features offered by these platforms as well, for example
–Magento Integration or PSD to Magento Service.
Here are a few examples of these platforms with descriptions.
continued….

Shopify

Shopify is a template based platform with many features that are easy to use
for e-commerce novices. Beautiful template designs, SEO facilities with a
wide range of measurement and reporting tools, Google Checkout, 70+
international gateway payment supported and app store are some of its
distinguished features you can look for.
Shopify

Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce
A hosted, template based platform that is easy to use and is simple. It
offers some great marketing features like daily deals and rules based
promotions and creating coupons for individual discounts.

Magento
An open source self hosted ecommerce solution that offers customizable
online store from the start. It supports high level reporting functionality and
can be seamlessly integrated with other systems.

Shopping Cart
Your ecommerce website would be incomplete without a shopping cart. A
shopping cart enables the users to drop their selected products in a basket,
keep a track of what they have taken and the amount they have to pay.
Shopify, as an example, have an inbuilt shopping cart function where users
one can easily add products to their cart.
continued….

Payment Gateway
The choice of right payment service providers is very important. While
selecting payment service provider check its compatibility with your
ecommerce platforms that it supports various payment mechanisms and
it’s easy to use.
”Payment systems are critically important for overall market stability. On a
typical business day, U.S. payments and settlements systems settle
transactions valued at over $13 trillion”- Henry Paulson
Paypal and stripe are two latest examples of payment service providers for
ecommerce websites.

Paypal
Paypal, a global payment service provider that lets online merchants accept
payments in over 100 currencies and is available in 203 markets all over the
world. The service is easy to setup, convenient to manage and widely
accepted.

Stripe
It allows payments in over 135 currencies. It offers a solid and well
considered framework to adjust the system for their personal needs and
highest standards for fraud protection and security management.

Online Marketing & SEO
After the completion of website development and launch you need to create
and expand the presence of your E-commerce store online. A look into the
methods for creating visibility online:
Follow the latest trends in online marketing strategies & make the most use
of Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and
Instagram. Manage multiple social accounts, schedule posts and come up
with exciting offers and discount to engage more traffic on your website.
Hootsuite is one of the best apps for managing social media activities, it
combines all of your social media account and streams into one user-
friendly dashboard. It lets you perform a wide range of social activities all
in one place: retweet, “like”, share, respond to private messages, etc.
continued….

With effective Search Engine Optimization work, get the rankings of your
website’s pages improved in the Search Engine Listings. Find out key
phrases most suited to your products by doing research of your market &
competitors and get higher listing in the SERPs.
Online Advertising – if you can afford or have a monthly budget for
advertising, there are plenty of advertising options – Google Search and
Display Network, Video Advertising, Facebook Advertising, LinkedIn
advertising, Twitter advertising and more.
If your knowledge of online marketing is limited, you may hire a freelance
marketer or an offshore digital agency for assistance or service. They can
help your business grow without being heavy on your pocket.

Shipping
With an Ecommerce store you need to get a solution for shipping your
products to the customers. Since customers expect timely delivery of their
goods with near real time tracking, put special attention while choosing
shipping vendors. Second important aspect under shipping is the “Free
Shipping” norm which is becoming an attractive prospect & has shown a lot
of potential in increasing shopping experience by customers. You can also
offer free shipping on a minimum order amount initially to establish a
customer base.
continued….

FedEx and USPS.com are two examples of shipping service providers that
offer real time tracking for its customers.
Creating your own ecommerce business is not that difficult. It’s all about
choosing the right products, evaluating viability, planned sourcing and
growing sales. Your hard work, dedication and expertise can help you in
putting all puzzle pieces together to get desired outcome. It may seem
quite confusing at first but by following these resources, you can get a
clear roadmap that can help you built a profitable one.

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A beginners guide to e commerce

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A beginners guide to e commerce