You need an eCommerce or E-business Web solution,
that is, a means to bring your products to customers via the World
Wide Web. The Internet itself does not do this for you. It does not
present the goods in a showroom or catalog form that allows browsing
nor can customers ask for assistance, place orders or pay for merchandise.
The WWW does allow all that and more via a Web site built around an
eCommerce Web solution. This means a decision that combines a
bunch of electronic (online) factors to facilitate selling online.
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Components
of a Web Solution |
- Display the Products and options
- Customer search, select and
order
- eBusiness receives and processes
and acknowledges order information
- Billing & Payment
- Order Fulfillment
- After
Sale Service/Follow-up
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The choices are simplified by realizing
that you can:
- Buy an off-the-shelf product that closely
matches your specifications.
- Rent space at a networked eCommerce
solution that will attract your customers.
- DIY, Build (Do) it yourself - build
with components and from scratch, exactly matching your specifications...and
you will still need experts and consultants.
- Hire
a Consultant - $200 to $12,000 or more
- DIY,
but with Specialists to help with specific design and content
(Graphic Artists, HTML Coders, Programmers, Photographers, etc.)
The following components are the minimum requirements
according to Daniel Amor in his book THE E-business (R)EVOLUTION..
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Minimum
Requirements of an Online Web Solution |
- Database - the product information,
including variations (e.g. size, color, etc.) and prices
need to be stored in a database, that is, separate from the
Web page layout information. Otherwise updating and changing
it will be much more time consuming and take multiple entries
in multiple places.
- Interface for Applications -
the solution must interface with other applications such
as a payment processor and ordering system. They must 'talk
to each other."
- Payment - the solution should
support multiple payments models for differing customers,
business models and user preferences or you will lose sales.
- Reporting -
customer wants and interests should be trackable through
reports generated by
the solution and your Web host archives.
- Search Engines -
Customers should be able to find a particular item with one
or two mouse clicks.
- Shopping Cart (Basket) - a tool
for collecting the customer order while they are onsite and
making decisions regarding products. The customer must be
able to review it as they go as well as change their mind
on items or altogether.
- Terms and Conditions - In order
to make a contract legal it is necessary to display the terms
and conditions including prices, costs, taxes, shipping,
refund policy, etc.
- Web Design Template - the solution
should use templates to aid the design process and allow
easy changes and updates for the business.
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How do I know I have chosen the right Web Solution for my eCommerce
business?
When shopping for
a websolution you will often find yourself comparing apples & oranges...in
other words, choosing between barely comparable and very diverse
choices aples and tomatoes (are they both fruit? they
are both food). Below are some ways to generally judge whether the
solution works for you.
- Does it do the Job? Does it provide the functions and features my
customers want and my business needs. Know these functions and features
first,
before making comparisons and shopping
- What's it cost? What is the up front cost, other fees, total costs
and ongoing costs.
- Can
I "test drive" it? Can you see sample sites; have a free trial
use, etc.
- Can I maintain it? After it's bought or built will you be able to
make it work and keep it working?
- Does it work from templates? Is it built from common elements, (templates,
library items, objects, symbols, etc.) that allow you to easily change
content, edit content and upgrade the site without having to edit every
page that needs that change.
- What if I grow?
IS it scalable & Extensible?
- Scalable - can it handle large increases in workload, users,
orders, order sizes, etc.
- Extensible
- can it be expanded to add functions & features
- Do I need several solutions? - reach other customers or markets,
create more ways to find you.
Hopefully, you will look at this as a business
decision, not an ego decision. It is easy to make the wrong decision
if you lack experience, knowledge or if you listen to ads. Well,
you can listen to ads - you can't help it - but you better have enough
knowledge to interpret what you are hearing. If you talk to an expert,
get a second opinion as well, from a different kind of expert. And,
never listen to an expert that does all the talking. That expert
is selling you a concept that is really one-size-fits-all and probably
is no expert beyond being expert on what they have to sell and how
to make you fit it.
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| Specificfunctions & Features |
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What specific functions and features should you look for in your web
solution? Again, this depends upon your customers needs, your business'
needs AND technology, particularly the server you'll need to host it on.
Shopsite's Features http://www.shopsite.com/scpro.html
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| Types of Web Host Servers |
User Tasks for Server
Info |
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DNS Servers
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- Database servers for naming servers and websites on servers and
finding them
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Webpage
Servers
(aka IP Servers)
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- Catalog
Inventory and related Info - products, price, sizes, availability,
etc.
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Secure
Servers |
- Process real time payment systems
- Store encrypted information
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Database
Servers |
- Store & Retrieve
Order Info
- Track
Orders and order status
- Customer History
- recognize customer, shopping cart info, past pages visited, customer
delivery and
order data,
etc.
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FTP Servers |
- Transfer large files on the Internet but don't open
and display the files
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Email
Servers
- Pop = outgoing
- SMTP (or Mime) = Incoming
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- Suggestive
Selling - coupons, discounts, communications, autoresponders, etc
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Chat
Servers |
- Customers exchange information
- IT Site support
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Usenet Newsgroups
(aka
Bulletin
Board Servers)
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- Customers post
and respond
- Website information
posted
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Listserv Servers
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- Website distributes Newsletters
- Coupons
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Applications
Servers
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- a
server computer in a computer network dedicated to running certain
software applications, CGI scripts, Sun Microsystems J2EE platform,
etc.
more
information
|
| DNS Server |
Assigns
temporary IP Addresses to ISP customers that logon for their Internet
connection; Directs operater/client commands for URL's and files
to the proper server/web host on the Internet. |
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Specific
Web Solutions should do much more than the minimum requirements stated in the table above. The following
information will guide you in assessing your decisions.
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Fast -
most steps need to be automated except decision making |
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Be able
to track users |
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Internationalization-
language & currency conversion, calculate shipping, taxes
http://www.xe.net/ucc/ |
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Compatible
with logistics partners for order fulfillment |
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Include
auto-responders, chat, newsgroups, site-search engine |
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Automatic
search engine submission option in the setup process |
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shopping
basket/cart - add, remove, change amount of items |
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Check-out
functions - list all items, price totals, include shipping & taxes |
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Multiple
payment methods - credit cards (SSL), etc. |
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Automated
order, payment processes, billing, and order acknowledgement |
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Customer
privacy and security in transmission and storage of data |
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Cross-selling
and cross-promotion |
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Repeat & high
volume customers receive automatic quantity discounts |
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Check order
and account status anytime |
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Automate
inventory control and restocking |
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Change
and test site offline then upload to server |
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Database
quality assurance (verify content, set limits on price & quantity |
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Staging
area - exact duplicate site for testing changes before uploading |
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Work with
existing company databases or easily convert to one database |
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Interface
with other backend applications - accounting, order processing,
etc. |
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Integrate
with existing inventory system |
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HTML
presentation on online shop done with templates/storable variables |
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Marketing
can add, delete or change product information |
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Divisible
into departments by merchandise or functions |
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Reporting
of customer patterns readable for management |
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Customizable
reports with different perspectives (e.g. time, product, person) |
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Scalable
- handle small and large orders; few to many products |
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extensible
- grow in volume/size for content/bandwidth, customer and load
demands |
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We Are Your Web Solution:
Many companies advertise with the claim that they are the complete
e-commerce or Web solution for you. Often the claim includes attractive
pricing information that sounds too good to be true. It usually is! (too
good to be true.)
An ad running on
the radio since November, 2001 and through the summer of 2002 claims
that Microsoft's "be central dot com" has everything
you need to get your business on the Web, up and running for $24.95 a
month. They list services as including web-hosting, promoting your site,
and I thought I heard e-commerce and Web solution as well. Let's see:
http://www.bcentral.com/ |
Here are some off-the-shelf
products and rental sites to review:
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Visit the sites
below. All have advertised themselves on the radio as "Your complete E-Business solution." Fill
in the chart.
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