Whether you're a single mother from Seattle or a Miami multinational, if you have something to sell, the barriers to gaining entry into the retail marketplace have never been lower. Depending upon your computer literacy and sense of design, you can create an e-commerce-enabled Web site for as little as $99, or go with an existing online storefront for $1,000 to $1,500 dollars per year. On the other hand, you can easily spend $2 million.
Over the last six months, the junk e-mail touting e-commerce-enabling products has flooded my e-mail account. All these e-commerce solutions differ in how they are set up, how they operate, and how much they cost. Some can actually be a drag on your business.
I recently tried to pay for services using a Web site that had been e-commerce enabled by PayPal--an external vendor. When I finally got PayPal to accept my credit card, it informed me that I'd have to set up an online bank account prior to being able to pay! When I e-mailed the site's webmaster, he informed me I was one of eight people who had tried to use the service. Only one of the eight was actually able to execute a transaction. Obviously, this particular e-commerce solution was a dismal failure.
But there are solutions that work and won't break the bank. How can you enable your site so that your e-commerce solution is a benefit rather than a detriment? And how much will it cost? That depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it.
Basic storefronts
Enabling your Web site for e-commerce has never been simpler. If you have average or below-average computer literacy, you should find a vendor to host and maintain your storefront. Depending on the number of items you have to sell and the complexity of your site, a good vendor can get it up and running in a weekend, if not by Saturday night. Plan to spend anywhere from $35 to $125 per month for this type of service.
If, on the other hand, you have passing familiarity with Web technology and a willingness to learn, you can acquire e-commerce-enabling software and do it yourself. If you're up to it, you can probably set it up in a weekend, if not by Saturday afternoon. Several software packages exist, all with price tags below $1,000. Some software is shareware and can be downloaded and tried for free. But make sure you weigh the ramifications of setting up your own e-commerce site. Secured servers, merchant accounts for accepting credit cards, inventory control, and summary reporting are just a few of the headaches you'll face.
For those managing their sites with FrontPage 2000, DreamWeaver, or another standard site-management tool, there are extremely low-tech alternatives. Depending on the size of your site, what you're selling, and the cost, you can acquire or develop a plug-in or similar catalog-enabling add-on. These can be used to at least provide a catalog of your offerings. When users want to buy, they contact the site and arrange for payment using whatever method the business and the customer can arrange.
If all you're contemplating is setting up an online catalog, you can be up and running your storefront in a weekend, if not by Saturday morning.
Complex e-commerce
Genuine e-commerce (the kind required to both review products or services and pay for them via the Web) is an entirely different, more complex process than simply displaying a catalog of items.
The simplest way to get an e-commerce Web site up and running is to use an online e-commerce hosting service. Some good examples include 3Wcorp Inc.'s E-Commerce Hosting solution, and Yahoo! Store, though they are not alone. Using e-commerce hosting services, you can set up your own storefront without having to know any HTML code for as little as $34.95 per month, plus some initial setup fees. You can use online templates and catalog entry forms to build your site and populate it with products. And you can set it up with your own domain name--for instance, www.yournamehere. com--or piggyback onto the e-commerce provider's URL, as in www. ecommerceprovider.com/yournamehere.
The domain name issue begins to expose some of the problems with using an e-commerce hosting service. If your ISP does not offer e-commerce hosting services but you want to continue using your own URL, you'll have to transfer your URL to a different host.
On the other hand, if you don't have a merchant account and are not yet set up with a storefront or the ability to accept credit cards, most e-commerce services will walk you through the process of creating an account. Provided you don't have a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in your past or massive credit-card debt, your site can be up and accepting credit-card transactions in as little as one to three days.
Of course, there's a fee. Rates vary, but most small retailers will be paying an e-commerce provider anywhere from $35 to $100 per month, an additional $20 to $25 a month for the merchant account, plus 20 cents per transaction, plus other potential fees. Read the fine print.
Having someone host your storefront can be an excellent, effective, simple, and inexpensive way to create a retail presence on the Web, but shop around. We found 3Wcorp Inc. and Yahoo! Store notable for their simplicity and explicit identification of costs, but they are not alone. LookSmart Shops, A.M. Stone, and FreeMerchant.com are some other possibilities.
And while the Internet is global when there's money involved, it's always good to be able to settle disagreements face-to-face. Major metropolitan areas are all going to have e-commerce hosting services similar to these providers. If you want to be able to talk to someone in person, investigate the local possibilities.
With regard to small retail business on the Web, just remember there are plenty of charlatans and carpetbaggers. Beware of those who tout free storefront Web sites. Do your research and plan to spend a little time. Nothing in life is free, and nowhere is this truer than in e-business.
In spite of its complexity, there are many Web site owners and managers who are willing to roll up their sleeves and wade into the muddy waters of e-commerce setup and design. For these brave explorers there is some good news.
Navigate to your favorite tech site that offers a library of software/shareware downloads and do a search on e-commerce. If you're researching software you'll find several potential e-commerce software possibilities.
Titles like Commerce.cgi (free), Storefront Web Creator ($187 per year), MyStore ($99), and VirtualShop (approximately $200)--to name only a few--are software applications designed for the do-it-yourselfer. And, perhaps best of all, these titles can all be downloaded and tried for free.
These applications can be used to set up online catalogs, shopping-cart software, secure transaction processing, and all of the other features most people associate with e-commerce. In order to make full use of the features, retailers will still need to set up or have their own merchant account and ability to accept credit cards or other forms of payment.
These applications will also provide users with a variety of summary reporting tools. You can use them to automatically notify you of a new order, respond to the customer, tell you how many widgets were sold during a given day, week, month or other time period, and perform similar summary reporting capabilities.
If you're selling anything or planning to sell, you're facing some interesting choices. Will you offer a simple order form or shopping cart sophistication? Are you going to accept credit cards? Will you join up with an online storefront turnkey operation, or design and set up your own e-commerce site? Never before has it been so easy to enter the retail marketplace. Today's market offers users multiple e-commerce solutions.
Here are the topics we cover computer certification computer careers computer training computer games consulting data recovery data security digital entertainment emerging technology gadget reviews handheld computers hardware reviews home automation home networks home office how-to advice internet linux local companies local news local profiles macintosh mp3 players network security online music online security open-source small-business technology soho software reviews technology books technology dictionary vpn web site reviews wi-fi windows wireless technology tech articles tech news press releases tech dictionary education resources career solutions create your personal blog upload your videos become a writer usergroups special interest group SIG 3com cipts adobe adobe certified expert apc ncpi apple achds acpt acsa actc avaya bea 8.1 certified administrator 8.1 certified architect 8.1 certified developer 9 certified administrator bicsi rcdd checkpoint ccmse ccsa ccsa ngx ccse ccse ng plus with ai ccse ngx cisco access routing and lan switching ccda ccdp ccie ccip ccna ccnp ccnp old ccsp ccvp crmam ip communications optical proctored exams for validating knowledge sales specialist storage networking vpn and security wireless lan citrix cca 3.0 cca 4.0 cca 4.5 cca xp ccea 3.0 ccea 4.0 ccea xp ccia ciw ciw associate ciw certified instructor master ciw admin master ciw designer master ciw enterprise developer security analyst comptia a+ network+ security+ server+ computer associates ca cusa cuse cwna cwna cwsp dell eccouncil cea cep certified ethical hacker chfi e-commerce architect emc emc specialist implemenation technology foundations enterasys ese eta exam express exin exin itil extreme networks ena ens filemaker f7cd f8cd fortinet fortigate foundry cne fujitsu fujitsu guidance software ence hdi css hda hdm hdsa hitachi hitachi certified professional hp ais apc app aps ase certified systems developer csa cse master ase huawei hcne hyperion hcp ibm advanced deployment professional advanced technical expert application developer business process analyst certified administrator certified advanced system administrator certified advanced technical expert certified associate developer certified enterprise developer certified solution designer certified specialist certified systems expert database administrator db2 deployment professional enterprise developer eserver certified specialist ibm on demand business solution advisor solution designer solutions developer solutions expert storage administrator system administator iisfa cifi intel isaca cisa isc cissp sscp iseb itil ism cpm juniper jncia jncis legato lcaa lcea lotus clp lpi lpic level 1 lpic level 2 lpic level 3 macromedia mcafee mcdata csnd microsoft crm mbs mcad .net mcdba mcdst mcitp mcp mcpd mcsa longhorn mcsa 2003 mcsa 2008 mcsd .net mcse mcse 2000 security mcse 2000 to mcse 2003 upgrade mcse 2003 mcse 2003 messaging mcse 2003 security mcse 2008 mcts microsoft business solutions microsoft partner competency mile2 cnsa network appliance nac-na nac-nie naca nace nacp network general sniffer certified professional nokia nokia security administrator nortel ncde ncds ncse ncss ncts novell5 cna 5 cne 6 cna 6 cne 6.5 cne cne upgrade omg ocup oracle 10g dba 10g oca 11i 8i dba 9i dba 9i internet application developer oca ocp8 to ocp8i dba upgrade exam pmi project management professional polycom pcve redhat rhce rhct sair sas institute sas scp saas scp snia snia certified architect snia certified professional snia certified systems engineer snia storage networking certification program administrator professional associate symantec scse scsp scta scts teradata tca v2r5 tcad v2r5 tcda v2r5 tcis v2r5 tcm v2r5 tcp v2r5 tia ccnt ctp tibco tcp trusecure ticsa veritas infraguard chamber of commerce vcp vmware certified professional webex linkedin facebook myspace Professional page layout, image editing, vector illustration, and print production Website design, development, prototyping, and blogging Creation of rich interactive content Industry-standard visual effects and motion graphics Video capture, editing, and production; DVD titling; and digital audio, Adobe Photoshop CS3 extended, Adobe illustrator CS3,Adobe indesign CS3,Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3,Adobe Contribute CS3,Adobe Fireworks CS3,Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3,Adobe Soundbooth CS3,Adobe Encore CS3,Adobe OnLocation,Adobe Bridge CS3,Adobe Version Cue CS3,Adobe Device Central CS3,Adobe Stock Photos, Intel Pentium 4 (1.4GHz processor for DV; 3.4GHz processor for HDV), Intel Centrino, Intel Xeon, (dual 2.8GHz processors for HD), or Intel Core, Duo (or compatible) processor; SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (certified for 32-bit editions) 1GB of RAM for DV; 2GB of RAM for HDV and HD; more RAM recommended when running multiple components 10GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation) Dedicated 7,200 RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD; SCSI disk subsystem preferred Microsoft DirectX compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card recommended),1,280x1,024 monitor resolution with 32-bit color adapter Blu-ray burner required for Blu-ray Disc creation OHCI compatible IEEE 1394 port for DV and HDV capture, export to tape, and transmit to DV device QuickTime 7.1.2 software required to use QuickTime features Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos* and other services
