Advice Line | Bob Lewis » Starting an eStore

November 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Starting an eStore

TAGS: General

Dear Bob ...

I want to open an e-store but I don't know the first thing about building websites and maintaining them. I would like to find a company that does this kind of work. How do I find a good one and approximately what kind of expenses am I looking at?

Thanks for your help - your advice is always good reading.

- eBuilder

Dear eBuilder ...

The answer to the question you're asking is pretty simple, so I'll answer it last. Before I do, I'll answer the two questions you should have asked first. You've probably asked and answered them both already, but just in case ...

Imagine your e-store is up and running. That means you're presenting and describing your products, accepting orders, and processing credit cards. That leads to the possible missing question: Have you set up all of the systems and processes you'll need so you can keep track of the orders, ship products, and manage your inventory? None of this is part of your website, but it's emphatically part of running an e-store.

You'll make your life a lot easier if you get all of this up and running before you put up your website than if you decide to muddle through for awhile, for a very simple reason: Once you're selling product and handling your backoffice the hard way, you won't have any time left to set up your operation. The result: You'll pray for failure so you can get some sleep.

Here's a second question: Once you find companies that do this kind of thing, how do you screen them to find the right one? Here's a shortlist of criteria. It's far from complete, but it should get you started:

* Does their system let you easily add and edit content, add and replace pictures, and update prices?

* Does their system use standard, off-the-shelf shopping cart software, or do they custom-code? (Custom coding is the wrong answer - a warning sign.)

* Do they provide a full merchandising toolkit that includes searching, the ability to assign products to multiple categories, and to associate different products so your website can suggest "upsells"?

* Do they support multiple shipping methods and handle the calculations for shipping costs?

* If you're planning to ship internationally (and remember, Canada isn't part of the United States), do they support international credit card processing?

* What kind of testing facilities do they have, and what kind of testing methodology do they use? Remember that you always test your website. The only question is whether you catch bugs before your customers find them, or whether your customers do your testing for you. (Having customers find your bugs for you is the wrong answer.)

Now it's time to answer your question: Visit the websites of every e-tailer you can find that's located in your vicinity. Keep track of the ones you like. Somewhere near the bottom of each homepage you'll generally find the name of the company that put it together. Those are the companies you want to call.

And you do want to work with a local company. The ability to drive to their location and discuss what you want face to face, drawing diagrams on their whiteboard and marking up layouts with markers is invaluable - far more effective than even the best remote collaboration tools.

There's certainly more to think about ... you are, after all, starting up a complete business from scratch (I assume). For example ... how you plan to provide customer support ... but this should get you started.

- Bob

Posted by Bob Lewis on November 28, 2006 09:06 PM

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