Spend More Time Building, Less Time Running Your Business
If you set up your ecommerce business with the right ebusiness software combination, you should be able to automate many of your ecommerce business processes, making it easier to sell more with less day-to-day effort managing the sales process. To do this, you really need an integrated ebusiness software package that can handle not only ecommerce automation, but the entire pre- and post-sales process as well. There are all kinds of tunrkey ecommerce shopping cart solutions that offer these packages at different price points. Do your research to find out which one works best for your specific business needs. Find the right one and you can spend more time building your business and less time running it.
Autoresponder Necessary Part of E-business Solution
Getting the right auto-reponder software is a critical part of your ebusiness software suite. Auto-responder software lets you automatically send pre-written email messages in response to messages sent through your website. Some autoresponder software also lets you send scheduled emails to specific groups, which allows follow-up emails to be sent to clients, or broadcast messages to specific lists. Auto-responder software is available as relatively simple software installed on your PC or as an enteprise-level hosted solution. Which is right for you depends on your needs and wallet. Take time to research auto-responder software and all ebusiness software before you buy.
ASP Ecommerce Shopping Carts
The easiest way to set up an ecommerce shopping cart solution is to go with a web-based ecommerce provider, also known as an ASP (application service provider). Some of the best-known ASP ecommerce shopping cart solutions include Internet giants like Yahoo and Amazon.com, as well as dedicated ecommerce providers. The advantages of an ASP ecommerce shopping cart solution include ease of use and that they require little or no IT services. The main disadvantage is that you are using someone else's software and have to conform to their business rules. ASP e-comerce shopping cart solutions are almost always billed monthly and you can expect to pay out a small percentage of each transaction as well.
How Much is Too Much?
How much should you pay for an ecommerce shopping cart solution? It depends on what you want. ASP ecommerce shopping cart solutions usually bill monthly and run anywhere from about $40 to $300 and more per month. More money usually buys more bandwidth, space and access to tools. You can also expect to pay a transaction fee. Software solutions can come with an initial lower cost, or even free with open-source software. Extra costs will depend on which merchant account/credit card processor you choose to work with. But just about all of them charge both monthly and transaction fees.
Got Tech Savvy? Install Your Own Shopping Cart
An ebusiness software-based ecommerce shopping cart solution allows an Internet shopkeeper to run an ebusiness directly off the merchant's own site, making the merchant his own ecommerce provider. The shopping cart software is installed directly onto the host server where the merchant site lives and becomes part of the overall ebusiness software package. Advantages of a software-based ecommerce shopping cart solution include price -- cheaper and one-time cost -- and being able to customize the cart according to specific or unique business rules. The main disadvantage is that it can take time and specific IT help to install and manage the software.
To Manage, or Not to Manage
Looking for an ecommerce provider? You're going to face some important decisions in terms of picking the right ebusiness software and ecommerce shopping cart solution for your business and your pocketbook. Here's one big one you'll have to decide early on: How much time can you afford to put into the set-up and management of the software? If you have technical savvy, or an IT team to do it for you, you can think about using a software or a custom solution. If not, especially if you're a small or one-person shop, you're better off with a solution that involves ecommerce automation, like an ASP-based ecommerce provider. Thinking about these details now might be critical to your ultimate e-business success.
How to Choose an Ecommerce Provider
Choosing an ecommerce provider is a critical decision toward the ultimate success of your ebusiness. You need to find the right combination of services and price for your business now and in the future. So how do you find the right one? Here are some suggestions:
* If you have a web developer or IT team working for you, listen to their recommendations for ecommerce shoppng cart solutions.
* Look at sites where you think the ecommerce software is particularly good. See if you can figure out who the ecommerce provider is and then do some research on them.
* Look at websites that compare different ecommerce shopping cart solutions and search out reviews of different products that look good to you.
* Make sure you figure out exactly what you want and what you can afford before making a final decision.
Listen to Your Host
Most hosting poviders provide an integrated ecommerce shopping cart solution for their shared hosting customers. Most also don't want to install random scripts on their servers, so you may get stuck using their choice of software or going with an ASP model. If you use a dedicated server on the other hand, the provider will usually allow you to install any ebusiness software you want -- or will install it for you. You can also seek out an ecommerce hosting provider, who specializes in offering various ecommerce shopping cart solutions.
Paypal Grows Up
Paypal, which still is the main method of payment masses who use eBay every day, has grown into a legitimate ecommerce shopping cart solution as well. Paypal now offers a full integrated solution that can accept a choice of credit cards and merchant accounts, as well as the traditional web-based solution that made the company the main choice for extremely low cost ecommerce transactions. This allows a new merchant to start with a simple, low-priced solution and then graduate to more robust packages while staying with the same provider.