eCommerce Assistance

Step 1: Find an e-commerce specialist

At the online store of fairy corsets, I find an expert in Os commerce, the platform I wanted to use for our project. Indeed, I am more a referring/a real webmaster marketer/designer, although I have some knowledge. I started to ask for prices here and there, and it was not easy. There are all kind of prices, from the bizarre (really small amount) to the most exaggerated (I did not report any shop for National Purchasing Federation of Managers).

I chose a person who had already made such evidence in the field of magic with a site that I loved long before the creation of this shop. That is why my advice is to always visit the reference book of an expert in e-commerce for what he did in the past and what he can do and already know what to ask! Once the e-commerce solution is chosen, we must develop the site. Here are some essential tips for your e-commerce site:

• Provide secure payments by credit card and also by check. Paypal can be a solution to launch an e-commerce site, but very soon you have to consider offering payment by credit card.
• Owning a domain name .com but not exotic extension (.net, .info) or redirecting Ulimit gender (or fr.st c.la). Of course, a boutique at Zlio shops and other white label are to flee (from a few euros to generate monthly income for a blog).
• Propose a real shop and not a blog: it is recommended to attach a blog to a store to improve the natural search, we must distinguish between the two (a blog is not an e-commerce site). On the other hand it is advisable to make a promo via his blog (banner ads).
• Provide users of clear and complete terms and conditions (delivery times, returns, method of payment, guarantees ...), all with the least possible spelling errors.
• Design Professional : we must avoid the websites made by the cousin who hack every night on your PC but hire a professional.
• Provide professional photos: avoid pictures taken with your old digital 2 Mega pixels camera in the kitchen of your apartment. Take particular care to achieve with a uniform background, with a good cut (no missing heads, bad trimming ), good light. We must have several photos from different angles (for clothing and use a pretty girl smiling).
• Make the phone number clearly visible, and have a person who responds quickly. Of course the person must have a minimum knowledge (training, FAQ ...).
• Be clear in the prices (e.g. for shipping), and state if they are offered discounts for bigger quantities.

Step 2: Find the right suppliers

This is not an easy game if you do not know your business well... I still wonder about my choice of suppliers and their prices. Indeed, in all professions there are careless suppliers (prices increase at the last minute, delivery times are too long, costs very high) which is not very pleasant because it is ultimately your image to be disordered and careless when a client is disappointed.

My advice is to be always looking for new suppliers but when you find a good supplier, do not let him go! The preferred suppliers are those who have a good monitoring of their products that keep you informed at the right time. And on your side do not hesitate to request a meeting / assessment at least every 6 months (or every year) to renegotiate the rates, get gifts etc.

Step 3: Make the shop

The choice of domain name and the name of the site is, of course, essential: it must be memorable, representing the brand and if possible contain the keywords of the products sold to improve the natural search results.

But creating an e-commerce site begins even before the launch of the site. In fact, it is advised to "prepare for the arrival of its e-commerce site by creating first a blog theme to be a part of the referencing places and partly to recruit her first prospects. In the case of the fairy corsets, the only concern was to make people understand that we did not only have the corset and the dress (the subject of the blog created upstream of the shop) but also figures and other goods in the theme of heroic fantasy.

Step 4: The post office!

The post is still the main driver of the vast majority of e-commerce sites in France. Ask for the pro card, and make an appointment with the manager of your post office because he may provide you with solutions set to your needs (such as prices).

Step 5: Sales contracts

We decided from the start to begin with Paypal, to see and avoid a Sale A Distance (more restrictive because it requires to obtain the agreement of a bank and more. I noticed that the information is often very poorly supplied by the banks and their advisers are poorly trained in these new contracts).

As soon as the site has been proven we should make a contract of VAD in the long run because Paypal is expensive and is losing sales (the last screen validation scares away customers, paying non-professional).

Step 6: Stock management

Stock management is a profession, and an e-commerce amateur needs experience very quickly. First, there is the receipt of orders with suppliers for delivery and references for the case of errors, problems. Always check if everything is there, check the condition of the goods one by one. This is important work but it takes long! Then you can classify the products. If you do not want to lose too much time looking for good products, it is essential to adopt a classification (either shelves and rows, or in software through the management of sites). The best is to have shelves of any kind and do regular inventories to ensure that stocks are up to date!

Step 7: Develop an emarketing strategy

There are, of course, the products, their prices and offers making your shop more attractive (introductory offers, special promo, regularly running via banner ads and images), a newsletter, alert promos, a loyalty program and sponsorship.

But that's not all: you must bring your customers to your site. The first thing to do is to make the site easily indexable by search engines, turn the URL rewriting (product name in the address of the product page), do not use frames for the structure of pages, use the least possible flash, optimize your pages (keywords, long descriptions). If you do not have a big budget, it is advisable to develop partnerships with sites on the same topic like you (but not competitors!) and to propose exchange links and / or content.

It is essential to set up a Google adwords campaign, which will allow you to advertise on the Internet at lower cost (e. g. if you have a small budget or the price is high, specify the price of your articles in Adwords advertising to attract hot prospects).

It is also expedient to reference your site on directories but do not waste your time putting your reference on all directories. Focus on the main ones, those that offer hard links, no link back required. Choose a selection of quality directories rather than a host of directories that will not take a lot of time for very few visits. Use also, as far as possible, sites that allow you to make your promotion (repandre.com)

If you submit content, post your RSS feed directories on stream quality, publish a press release (at least on-line to improve your listing), run a free contest, put up the affiliation (manual or through a platform), sign up for the price comparison (if your product or prices are original), sell your products through sales platforms (ebay.fr, priceministere.com, place an exchange campaign link (attention to the quality of ads displayed on your site), hand out leaflets on the street or near traffic areas of your prospects.

If you're creative you can make a video buzz marketing, create an event (e. g. a gift offer for the 1st order, be sponsored by a star), write original articles and add value to your blog site to be known through other sites.

Step 8: Begin to be overwhelmed

After several months of work, orders should normally flow. And you will discover that this is not easy to manage. There is often a little panic (answer calls, place orders to suppliers, send packages and mails on time). But we are really happy when the result of our hard work arrives.. Remember that one must be extremely patient and persevering, and that good things come to those who wait.

Good luck to all for your adventures in the exciting world of e-commerce!