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How Complete is Your E-commerce Solution?

Once upon a time, the budding entrepreneur was often stopped in their tracks due to the lack of financial resources needed to invest in the traditional brick and mortar store.  This no longer has to be the case as both the internet and e-commerce are in full swing, providing companies of all sizes with an opportunity to move up several notches on the competitive ladder.  However, finding the right e-commerce solution is never as easy as it sounds.  A countless number of companies claim to have exactly what you need, but the harsh truth is that you can never be certain until giving it a try for yourself.  Unfortunately, the trial and error approach can turn out to be very risky, especially if you are trying to establish a business online.  To help in your search efforts, we have a compiled a list of some features that must be present in order to make up a complete e-commerce solution.

Compatibility with Existing Systems - Launching an e-commerce site is a tremendous process.  Therefore, you should not make it even more complex by setting yourself up to encounter technical problems.  Whether it is a shopping cart or payment gateway, make sure any e-commerce component you plan to integrate is compatible with your existing hardware, operating system and applications.

Ability to Support Existing Data – An ideal e-commerce solution is one that allows you to easily import data from one location to another.  This becomes a must for large stores that maintain databases in environments where it could be complex and costly to manually transfer large amounts of data into a new system.  Keep in mind that this feature is usually included in high-end enterprise solutions but may not be included in cheaper, entry-level systems.

APIs with Linking Support – Integrating inventory management and finance systems is one of the most challenging aspects of e-commerce.  If this is something you wish to do, you may want to look for a solution that offers flexible APIs.  Short for application programming interfaces, these APIs enable developers to write code that will connect your legacy system to your e-commerce server.

Functional Shopping Cart - The shopping cart is the most obvious and important feature of any e-commerce solution.  You need to put special emphasis on this application as it will allow visitors to browse your store and purchase the items they want to purchase.

Diverse Payment Systems – Most consumers prefer to shop online with credit cards or third-party services such as PayPal.  On the other hand, a complete e-commerce solution goes that extra mile and supports additional payment options.  This will give you the opportunity to maximize your profits by catering to a broader range of customers.

The features listed in this article are just a few that must be obtained to form a complete e-commerce solution.  This means you need to keep your eyes peeled for several more qualities.  Despite how insignificant some of these features may seem, each is equally critical as they will determine the failure or success of your venture with e-commerce.

Introducing the nopCommerce Shopping Cart

Though you will not find it on too many store shelves, open-source software is a major hit in the internet world and the web hosting market is solid proof.  These applications are highly capable of powering websites and all the complex operations that come along with them.  Some of the most widely used open-source software programs are e-commerce shopping carts as they allow just about anyone to open up their own web-based store.  There are several carts on the market but few of them are as unique as nopCommerce.

What is nopCommerce?

nopCommerce is a stable, fully customizable, highly usable e-commerce system.  What makes this open-source application stand out from all the rest is the underlying technologies.  Unlike most similar carts scripted in open-source languages such as PHP or Perl, this one is written in Microsoft’s proprietary ASP.NET 3.5 and thrives off a MS SQL back-end database.  This gives nopCommerce the best of both worlds has it is extremely powerful and very cost effective.  In fact, the shopping cart is totally free to use.

nopCommerce Features and Capabilities

The nopCommerce software is easy to use and perfectly suited for online shop owners who have outgrown their existing systems.  How easy to use is it?  nopCommerce can be installed, setup and maintained by virtually anyone possessing the basic computing and website administration skills.  A secure and scalable e-commerce platform, it offers a user-friendly interface and administration tools that allow you to effectively manage your online storefront and customers.  You have control over features such as discounts, coupons, wish lists, tax options, shipping methods and much more.  nonCommerce is capable of handling multiple languages and supports most of the popular gateways including Authorize.net, 2Checkout, Google Checkout and PayPal among others.

nopCommerce provides a catalog frontend and allows complete administration on the back-end, delivering everything you need to quickly set up a fully functioning professional storefront.

This e-commerce solution comes integrated with a variety of great features that are easy to use for the new and inexperienced user, yet powerful enough to suite the needs of seasoned merchants with the most demanding operations.  Offering a built-in shopping cart, easy catalog management, shipping calculation, credit card processing, template customization and a wealth of other powerful tools, there isn’t much you can’t do with this amazing e-commerce system.  The nopCommerce package comes with access to a well organized base of resources, technical support and valuable information provided by a fast growing community.

A Solid Choice for Open-source

The fact that you will not find too many open-source programs boasting the ASP.NET tag makes nopCommerce something truly special.  This flexible e-commerce system is growing rapidly in popularity, making it easier to land a web hosting provides that offers support for the application.  Because the software is relatively new, it remains to be seen whether or not nopCommerce can hold a candle to well known open-source shopping carts such as osCommerce, Agora and Cube Cart.  However, the software has generated a lot of buzz in a very short time and as of now, industry reviews are indicating that this e-commerce platform is all good.

Do You Need a Merchant Account?

When it comes to e-commerce, businesses large and small require a method that allows them to collect and process credit card payments.  If this sounds like your business, then you need a payment gateway which is generally provided by a merchant account.  Finding a merchant account provider can be somewhat of a challenge yet anything can be overcome when doing a little research.

How Much Will it Cost?

For the most part, merchant account providers will charge you a fixed rate per month along with a certain percentage for each sale.  Keep in mind that there may be other fees as well.  When dealing with a reputable provider, these fees will be for maintaining your shopping cart, verifying customers, processing monthly statement, etc.   Having a merchant account is vital in the realm of e-commerce as most consumers today prefer to shop online with their credit cards.  If you can’t accept this form of payment, you may as well not even open up a storefront.

How Can I Get One?

When searching for a merchant account, you will find that most providers are pretty reasonably priced.  The catch is that you must qualify.  Some of the qualifications for a merchant account include background checks, credit checks and proof that you are actually running a legitimate business.  Additionally, some will require that you commit to their service for a certain amount of time and charge cancellation fees for breaching the contract.  Others do not have stipulations and will allow you to part ways at any given time without taxing on fees.  This is why it is very important to look into a particular merchant account provider before deciding on a service.   As with most web-related processes, it is best to find a company that is in good standings and has been in the industry for a while.  This gives you better assurance that the provider will be around and won’t cause you to miss out on crucial sales.

What Should I Look For?

When comparing merchant account providers, don’t hesitate to grill them with hard questions.  One thing you definitely want to known is the estimated time frame for depositing funds into your account following a sale.  Retail sales generally do not take long to process, therefore, there is no need to wait an ungodly amount of time for your money.  You should look over the merchant account contract with a fine-tooth comb because the sooner you get paid, the better.  Always keep your eyes peeled for all the standard charges such as monthly fees, setup fees and cancellation fees if they apply.  You also want to look for any hidden fees that might deduct from your bottom line.  After all the fees have been tallied, you should then calculate the overall cost of service to find out if this solution actually works for your business.

A merchant account is a vital tool in the world of e-commerce and when signing up with the right service, you will find that it can save you noteworthy fees in comparison to a service like PayPal.   The key is finding a reliable provider that is going to be around and won’t try to nickel and dime you to death.

The Essentials of E-commerce

You may have been proficient at getting customers to buy products from your store in town, but online business is an entirely different game.  Similar to the traditional business, you must literally build your store yet take a different approach towards drawing in customers and accepting payments.  The essentials of e-commerce should go a long way in helping you succeed with your online business endeavors.

Building the Site

Obviously, creating your website is the first essential step.  There are several tools available to help with this process from simple web building programs to dynamic programming languages.  While a piece of cake for the experienced webmaster, this could present a huge challenge for someone who lacks web design skills.  In this case, you should strongly consider hiring a qualified designer to build your site.  A costly investment?  Perhaps, but look at it from this perspective – it will cost far less than paying the architecture and construction company to build the facility for a traditional storefront.

Collecting Payments

Whether you’re dealing in goods or services, you need a way for customers to select items and take them to checkout.  To accomplish this your e-commerce site will need a shopping cart.  A quality program will allow you to add different products and categories, add taxes and shipping options, accept payment in various methods and more.  When it comes to shopping carts you generally have to options: you can purchase a commercial product or go with an open-source solution.

Open-source shopping carts like osCommerce are widely available and may be offered at no additional cost with your web hosting package.  Such a program will provide all the features you need to set up an online storefront.  The disadvantage of open-source shopping cart is that some are not easy to customize and don’t cater to inexperienced users.  Additionally, stores created with open-source software tend to look very similar to one another.

Commercial solutions are generally easier to customize and offer more features.  This type of shopping cart will provide the uniqueness that allows you to standout from all the other store owners on the web.  The downside here is that a program like Miva Merchant carries a high-end price tag that ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars.  You also need to make sure that your web host supports the software so it can be easily incorporated into your e-commerce platform.

Selecting a Payment Gateway

In addition to the shopping cart, you will require a payment gateway that enables credit card payments to be transferred to your banking account.  To accomplish this task you can either sign up for a merchant account or use a third-party payment processor.  Merchant accounts have setup fees, transaction fees and strict qualifications.  However, the transaction fees are lower than using a service such as PayPal.  In either instance, the overall cost are typically less when your monthly sales are over $1,000.  Keep in mind that you will also need to secure the payment environment and protect your online transactions.  The best way to ensure this security is with an encryption protocol known as SSL.  You may have to purchase a certificate with a merchant account while PayPal takes care of securing your transactions.

Bringing in Customers

After creating the site and setting up the store, it’s time to generate some traffic and sell your items.  There are many ways to go about this including advertising, getting your visitors to sign up for a newsletter, pay-per-click campaigns and specially crafted landing pages.  Succeeding with e-commere is no easy task, but when laying a solid foundation, you can give yourself a much better chance of making continuous sales.

What You Need in E-commerce Hosting

E-commerce is a term that has become synonymous with online business as millions of people are opening up their own storefronts on the Internet.  As the web is now populated with more business sites, the demand for professional E-commerce solutions have emerged.  Thousands of web hosting companies are powering business owners with all the tools they need to succeed online.  Web hosts have made it possible for businesses across the globe to focus on the core of their operation while maintaining all the technical aspects in the background.  Some of the Internets biggest commercial names have taken advantage of powerful E-commerce hosting solutions including sites such as eBay and Amazon.com.

Aside from great features and marketing tools, your E-commerce site needs to be reliable and most importantly, secure.  This includes at least a 99% up time guarantee to ensure that your store will be available at all times along with support for security mechanisms that protect the integrity of your business.  Security is very essential as online shoppers are concerned about the protection of their credit card details.  With tight security and the backing of a reliable hosting service, you can assure secure transactions 24/7.

The E-commerce Checklist

The internet is a huge marketplace and offers great opportunities for small businesses and large enterprises alike.  If you are looking to benefit from the emergence of E-commerce and profit online, there are several things you need to look for in a provider:

Around the clock support: Some form of customer service and technical support should be available via phone or email.  It also wouldn’t be a bad ideal to find a host that offers support through live chat, support ticket system or online documentation.

Full automation: In order for your E-commerce venture to be a success, you need access to powerful tools that automate various critical tasks.  Keep your eye out for applications that display comprehensive charts of your website statistics along with an automated backup utility to restore your data in case something out of the ordinary should occur.  These tools can generally be found in a good control panel application.

Shopping cart software: This is one E-commerce feature you simply can’t do without.  A reliable program will allow customers to checkout and automatically calculate shipping costs and process the transaction for you.

Flexibility: A solid web host should be able to support your requirements as the business grows.  If your traffic load gets heavy, you need easy access to additional resources such as bandwidth and disk storage.

Add-on Support: Today’s internet is fierce with competition and the average website usually doesn’t cut.  You can make yourself stand out from competitors with support for various add-on software programs and server-side programming languages.

Security: As mentioned above, security is one of the most important elements of E-commerce hosting.  When searching for providers, look for features such as anti-virus protection, spam filters and other mechanisms to keep your business data secure.

By covering all the essentials your E-commerce business can get off to a good start, allowing you to build a strong presence on the web and achieve financial success as an online business owner.  While this is no easy task by any means, more average people are proving that it can be done.