Does Your Site Need an Ecommerce Store?

So you’ve got a good website and it’s bringing people into your place of business, where they buy your products and services. But what about making those products and services available online? After all, there’s lots of online stores out there making a bundle of money. Why shouldn’t you be benefiting from those online dollars too?

While there are indeed successful businesses out there making a go of it online, you really need to consider a number of factors before jumping into the world of ecommerce.

1. Ecommerce Cart Costs
   Deciding to add an ecommerce section to your site has a cost associated with it. Sure there are some great quick set up systems out there, but if you want it to look and flow like your main site, your web developer is going to need to put in some work. Depending on their attitude about ecommerce, they could start salivating from the money they are about to make from you or recommend some solid low entry options to start out selling online.
2. Wholesale Product Cost
   If you are a small business, it is very likely that your price for the products you sell isn’t as good as a competitor who is buying 50 times the volume. While you may be able to do just fine selling your product for $19.95 in your retail business, online is a much different world. There are many online businesses with a volume sales model and will sell their product for pennies above their wholesale cost.
3. Fulfillment
   Once sales start rolling in, who is going to manage getting the product out? You need to set up shipping methods, buy shipping supplies, and designate someone at your business to handle all this and be confirming to your online buyer about product updates and ship notifications.
4. Trust
   Customers on ecommerce sites need to feel a certain level of trust before being comfortable enough to buy a product. Basically, they want to know that the site is legitimate, their payment information won’t be hacked, they’ll get what they bought in a reasonable time, and they’ll have someone to contact if there’s a problem.

If you have your own customers buying from your site, then its easier to establish trust. But what about people who don’t know you? On top of that, every ecommerce site must be PCI compliant so you will need to go through certification with your merchant processing company. As you have seen in recent news, even the big box stores are running into trouble with credit card hacking.

So should you sell online? The answer is, it depends. If you have a product that no one else has and there is demand for it, an ecommerce site might be a good idea. (Even better if you can get Oprah to endorse it.) If you are selling the same product as everyone else then an ecommerce addition to your site might just be a waste of money. If you do decide to sell online, start small. Go with an option that involves a low initial investment and make it work for you. Don’t upgrade the “nice to haves” until you absolutely need them, and your online sales justify the investment in the next level commerce system.