Moving your business online
Let’s take a look at some of the statistics. According to the 2008 Australian Commonwealth Bank Investment Trends Business Owners Survey, they found that 42% of business owners had a website, but only 18% of them allowed consumers to shop online. I was very interested in reading this because it shows that there are still more opportunities for business owners to capture their market share online.
Why do business online?
There are many benefits to doing business online and I have outlined the five most compelling reasons:
1. Earn money 24/7. Imagine waking up and turning on your computer to see that you’ve made hundreds of sales overnight! In today’s poor consumer market, we see people shopping online at any time of the day, so having a store open 24/7 can capture sales you didn’t even know about.
2. It is easy for consumers to shop online and no more waiting in lines. One of the secrets to shopping online is to stop waiting in lines to get what you want. Make it easy for consumers to buy from you and they don’t even have to leave their home.
3. Reduce your overhead. The cost of running an Internet business is minimal and once your systems are in place, your customers become your most profitable asset. With no customer service staff and no overtime to pay, your Internet business can be very lucrative. I am an example of this as my dragon boat business is an automated system with only one staff to run it.
4. It allows you to focus on a niche market. Some of the most successful small businesses create a niche market where they don’t have to compete on price alone. This allows them to expand their customer base globally and dominate their niche market.
5. Streamline your systems and improve your cash flow. It is very easy to automate your systems with an Internet business since the technology is so advanced that it can do almost anything. It allows you to feed information into your back-end systems and allows you to control where the money goes. In addition, cash flow will be improved with faster electronic transactions without having to wait to go to a bank to deposit the money.
Getting started with your online business
Once you’ve decided that your business is right for capturing sales online, you’ll want to start planning how to put it together. There are many parts to an internet business and more in-depth knowledge to acquire, though here is a rundown of the components you’ll need:
The front:
* Creation of a website. This is the easy part, and also the presence of your business on the internet. The first step is to register a domain name, choose a hosting company, and create your website.
* The shopping cart. Once your website is set up, you can have a shopping cart integrated with your website or add shopping cart software. They both do the same job, the difference has to do with how much you can afford to spend on the website.
I explain what a good shopping cart includes:
o Marketing information and tools, including cross-selling tools
o Order management tools
o Pricing rules that allow you to offer volume discounts, time-sensitive price specials, etc.
o Stock management tools
The back part:
* Payment gateway. This is important to you and the consumer. It is a secure connection between your website and the bank or merchant provider that will send private transaction details. A consumer will feel safe when shopping on your website and it will provide security against fraud.
* Commercial supplier. This is the financial institution that will validate the credit card details and make the payment to your bank account. This can be your banking institution or an online provider like PayPal or eWay. Shop around to see what is right for your business that will provide you with the best possible package.
* Accounting system. More and more eCommerce systems have an accounting package module built in and also give you the option of exporting data to an accounting system known as Quickbooks or MYOB. Regardless of which accounting software you use, make sure you have it as it will save you time and money in the long run.
There are more components that can be added to both the front and back ends of an Internet business. I have provided a basic skeleton to get started for any business owner looking to set up their business online.