Starting Your Own E-Commerce Enterprise

If you are toying with the idea of forming your own e-commerce website you’ll be happy to learn that selling products online doesn’t always require the setting up of an expensive and sophisticated ecommerce solution.

Obviously, huge retail enterprises will build their own websites and spend a lot of time and money in the process, ensuring that the finished article is safe and secure for their customers to use. However, for smaller enterprises buying a tried and tested ‘off-the-shelf’ solution that can give you a secure online presence designed to make you more visible to customers is a great place to start.

If you intend on taking payments for items sold on the web you must first set up a merchant account. One of the most popular ways to do that on the web involves enlisting with the PayPal service which involves paying a percentage of the order value plus a small fixed cost for each transaction.

However, a large number of online shoppers will also want the option to pay directly with debit or credit cards. You can also register as a credit card merchant with a bank, but that requires a set-up fee, plus transaction fees. Alternatively, you could register with a third party who handles payment processing on your behalf. Make your decision based on the most cost-effective solution for your anticipated level of sales.

It is very important that you choose the most appropriate web hosting partner for your site. There are a multitude of companies offering cheap web hosting but cheapest isn’t always best. It is worth paying a premium for reliability and 24 hour telephone support, as every hour that your website may be unavailable represents a potential loss of income.

Shopping cart technology is very important, so choose one that is easy to use and informs customers of every step of the process. If you want to run your own shopping cart scripts ensure that your host allows you to use your own cgi bin.

Secure, encrypted data transmission will be offered by all hosts, but some encryption is better than others. Also, look for a hosting solution that offers fraud screening and risk management as part of the package. This allows credit and debit cards used to place orders to be screened before the transaction is approved and therefore removes the need for chargebacks and all the inconvenience that entails.

Finally, if you are an existing company seeking to go into the online market, and you are a SAGE user, you may wish to use a host that also offers integration of the accounting information with your company system.

Victoria Cochrane writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

Tags: cheap web hosting, e-commerce, ecommerce website, merchant account, online shoppers, paypal, smaller enterprises, web hosting