E-commerce systems such as your website can be used to market and sell to customers, and to provide after-sales support. E-commerce can also be an important part of strengthening relationships and improving the efficiency of your dealings with suppliers and other key trading partners.

This guide looks at the key issues to consider when planning for the introduction of e-commerce. It provides advice on how best to identify the opportunities for e-commerce within your business and the solutions available. It also emphasises the need to plan for the ongoing development and maintenance of any e-commerce system at the outset.

Identifying e-commerce opportunities

There are several different ways you might use e-commerce in your business.

Direct sales

Many businesses use e-commerce for the direct selling of goods or services online. For some businesses such as those selling software or music, the actual sale and delivery of goods can be made online. However, for most the supply of goods will continue to require a physical delivery.

If you plan to sell online, you may need to rethink many of your business activities. This is because you will fundamentally change the way in which you interact with your customers - for example, if customers place orders online instead of talking to a salesperson. You will also need to work out how every aspect of a transaction is handled - including order confirmation, invoicing and payment, and deliveries and returns. 

Pre-sales

You can use your website for pre-sales activities - exploiting the widespread use of the Internet to generate sales leads. At its most basic this can be through the use of "brochureware" - having an online version of your promotional materials on your site. Other options include email campaigns or online advertising to attract visitors to your own website where you can promote your products.

Post-sales support

You can also use the Internet to automate aspects of your customer support to reduce the number of routine customer service calls. This can be achieved by using your site to answer the most frequently asked questions, or by putting technical information online.

However you decide to use e-commerce, it is important to define your expectations from the outset. What level of sales are you hoping to make? How many sales leads are you looking to generate? What percentage reduction in customer telephone calls are you expecting to achieve? Ensure that targets are put in place so that you can measure the success, or otherwise, of your e-commerce facility.

Making an e-commerce site easy to use

The ease with which a customer is able to use an e-commerce site is an important part of its success. It's also an important part of your online brand image.

There are three elements of the shopping process that influence how easy and enjoyable the customer finds it to shop on an e-commerce site - the shop front, shopping cart and payment software.

Shop front

The shop front is the interface presented to the customer. This often incorporates an online catalogue that enables them to browse for products and identify those they wish to purchase.

Customers should be able to find the product they are looking for quickly. An eight-second guideline is frequently cited; if customers are unable to find the product within that time, they are likely to go to an alternative site.

The design of the shop front should make shopping intuitive, with the customer knowing at all times what stage of the buying process they are at.

Shopping cart

This is the software that facilitates easy selection and payment for products purchased by a customer from an e-commerce website. Once the goods have been selected, the customer should find the checkout clearly signposted, so that they can proceed to pay for the goods.

The system should process the order speedily and provide you with a summary, including any packing and shipping requirements. It should also generate a printable receipt and allow you to send a confirmation email to the customer. For more information on shopping cart packages please visit at www.zeennet.com

Payment software

Most customers will wish to pay for their purchases with credit or debit cards. There are three options for accepting such payments - you can:

Trading partner relationships

As well as offering new ways of doing business with customers, e-commerce also provides new ways of building closer links and improving business relationships with key trading partners.

These Internet-based technologies and processes also allow you to improve your own business efficiency. Some of the key technologies are listed below.

Intranets

These are private internal company networks that use the same browser-based technology and network protocols as the Internet. Intranets:

Extranets

This is a shared intranet that allows users to share key trading data such as inventory levels and sales trends. Extranets can:

• be made available to selected external partners, such as vendors, contractors, suppliers and key customers
• be used for exchanging data and applications, and sharing specific business information
• improve supply chain management

Supply chain management

The concept of supply chain management revolves around having the right product in the right place, at the right time, and in the right condition.

The key aspects of supply chain management include the ability of businesses to:

• exchange information on stock levels
• fulfil orders more quickly
• minimise excess inventory
• improve customer service
• use a networking infrastructure to ensure good response times and speed

E-marketplaces

There are many online exchanges that enable suppliers, buyers and intermediaries to come together and offer products or services to each other, according to set criteria. Buyers and sellers work interactively with bids and offers. When a deal is made, it is a match between the buyer and seller on variables such as price, volume and delivery costs.

Reverse auctions are buyer-controlled events and are used to attract bids, with the lowest bid winning. Buyers post details of the goods they want to buy and suppliers compete to provide them.

Implementing e-commerce

The key tool for delivering e-commerce services is the business website. This must be specified, designed, hosted and maintained.

Specification

The website specification should clearly identify what the site is trying to achieve and how its various components will contribute to this. An understanding of the intended user audience is required for both technical and marketing purposes.

Domain name

Domain names are an enormous help in the branding of a business. Your domain name should be easy to remember and spell, and should show what your business is all about. If not, then potential customers will surf elsewhere and possibly find your competition.

Website hosting

If you purchase your own domain name you can either host your own website or have an Internet service provider (ISP) host it on your behalf. If you choose to host the website yourself, you will require a fast Internet connection and a suitable PC. However, ISP hosting is relatively cheap and straightforward.

The type of Internet connectivity and the available bandwidth will be an important consideration, irrespective of which hosting solution is selected. Most businesses choose some form of broadband connection.

Software options

An important early decision to consider is whether to use a "shop" package or build the software from scratch.

Shop packages allow you to configure product information and the look and feel of the shop. However, they can provide limited opportunities for tailoring them to your back office processes.

Alternatively you can get a third party to build the software for you, or develop it yourself.

Recognising the ongoing commitment

Even in the planning stages of an e-commerce project, it is important to understand how the website will be maintained on a day-to-day basis. There are also various marketing and security issues that need to be taken into account.

Site maintenance

Changes in product details, product ranges, special offers, up-to-date advertisements and sales information will all need to be maintained throughout the life of the site. In addition, you should consider redesigning the site on a periodic basis in order to improve the features offered to customers and keep the site looking fresh.

Customer feedback

It is important that the site evolves to meet the needs of your customers. There are a number of actions you can take to encourage customer feedback, including carrying out surveys and putting feedback forms on the site.

Marketing

No matter how well designed your e-commerce site is and how competitive your products and prices are, if the customers are unaware of its existence then you will fail to exploit its potential.

Popular methods of promoting a website include:

• e-mail advertising campaigns
• web adverts
• digital coupons offering discounts

Don't forget to take full advantage of search engines by ensuring that they pick up all of the key terms that you think your customers will use to find your site.

Security considerations

Using the Internet for business purposes is fraught with risks to security. Hackers can attack systems at any time. Whatever your business, there's a real risk that your system may become the target of an attack that could affect your organisation.

You should recognise the need for effective security controls to prevent your site from falling victim to hackers or fraudsters.

Contingency planning

The more successful your e-commerce service becomes, the more reliant you will become upon it. You should consider what risks and threats your e-commerce site might be open to and have contingency plans to ensure that you can continue trading should anything go wrong.

Who is involved in an e-commerce project?

E-commerce impacts upon almost every function within a business. Externally, a variety of suppliers will also need to be involved within an e-commerce project.

The range of specialist skills required will be dependent upon the scale and complexity of the proposed e-commerce system. However, these skills are likely to include experience of:

• servers - Microsoft, Sun, Linux etc
• firewalls and security
• graphic design and production
• HTML and XML coding
• programming languages
• database technologies

The interested parties within a business include:

• board-level management
• purchasing
• inventory management
• manufacturing
• service provision
• direct sales
• sales channel management
• fulfilment
• post-sales support
• marketing and PR
• accounting
• training
• legal

External parties with a potential involvement in an e-commerce project include:

• existing hardware and software suppliers
• specialist Internet hardware and software suppliers
• programmers, web designers and consultants used on an "as required" basis
• Internet service providers
• domain name registrar
• telecommunication providers
• major suppliers
• major customers
• advertising/marketing design agencies
• specialist business media
• accountants/auditors
• solicitors
• training companies