How to trade online and set up an eCommerce website

Trading on-line: e-commerce

A recent survey claimed that 10 per cent of all UK retail sales - British Pounds 30 billion - are now performed online. Almost everything for the consumer is now sold online, and as e-commerce has become both simpler, safer and more accepted, then taking payment online is obviously the route we will all go. To sell online you will need to operate through a secure server run by your ISP (SSL: look for the padlock sign on your bottom status bar). Few customers will part with their credit card details without it. A painless popular way of learning some techniques is by selling popular items like second-hand books or CDs via eBay, so let's start with them. It would be pointless to repeat what is readily readable on the eBay site, but here are a few compelling points for a small firm:

you will get a unique URL so you can build links and promote the same as your own website;
list and customise the appearance;
allow a search facility within just your shop;
receive payment via PayPal before releasing the goods;
run auction or 'buy now' prices.

Costs are on a sliding scale depending on the amount of money you make. It adds up to 10-30 per cent of gross sale. Bearing in mind you get payment in advance and reach millions of prospects with no extra advertising and marketing costs, the eBay offer is most attractive. The key of course to eBay's phenomenal success is the inherent goodwill generated by the feedback ratings. I have sold and bought a modest 40 items (with 100 per cent record of course) and will move heaven and earth to preserve that record. And prospects know that. We all feel we 'own' part of that community of like minded souls.

Setting up an e-commerce site

If you don't fancy giving 30 per cent to eBay, then the simplest route is probably via a host like Shopmaker that will cost just British Pounds 30 a month. This package offers, amongst other things stock control, automatic shopper e-mail notifications, order tracking, multiple discount options, customisable page and layout options, stock control, post and packing calculations, special offer flagging and a switch to show trade prices when a trader is online. You will of course lose the enormous marketing pull of being within the larger community, but one argument against that is that bidders find it all too easy to compare prices within a list of comparable lines. Bear in mind that something like 80 per cent of prospects get to the shopping cart and then withdraw, probably because post and packing or some other disincentive is only visible at this late stage.

E-commerce website designers are still not all that common or experienced. Check out their past clients. Get a launch timetable in writing and work closely with them. Provide unstinting support with text and product photos. Most ecommerce websites are complex and invariably take far longer to set up than first thought: allow for slippage. If the costs and complexity of selling online dismay you, then as a halfway house you can still show prices and add an order form to be printed off and posted with payment. Not ideal but it may get your toe in the water.

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