Prerequisite for the creation of an Ecommerce website:
On the internet, competition is tough. Internet buyers have the possibility to compare prices very easily and most often go towards the most interesting offer.
You will thus have to have a very aggressive pricing policy, or position yourself on a niche, always keep an eye on your competition.
You should never lose sight of the fact that you will not last very long...
For this, many levers are at your disposal, but the basic rules must always be respected: perfect integration of Webmarketing techniques and optimal site ergonomics.
Step 1: Find your products
Have you thought about:
what you want to sell
how you want to sell it
who you want to sell it to
the organization of your product catalogue, (do you have texts and photos?).
All this is essential whatever the technical solution you are going to consider.
Then, ask yourself these questions:
Do you have experience on this product, will you be able to bring the advice, to make the difference ?
Do you know your market (your competitors, your positioning,...)?
Space needed to store your products, their shipping costs (are they easily transported by mail?)
A simple little test will allow you to know a little more: search for your product on ebay and analyze the transactions.
Then, you will have to create your product range, and search for your suppliers.
(the search for suppliers must be permanent). The tracks are the wholesalers' directories, (which can be consulted free of charge in the CCIs, trade fairs, etc.).
Favour the best: those who have a good follow-up of their products (mini stocks, out of stock...) and who keep you informed of their actions (promotions...). Also take into account the financial aspects (minimum orders, payment deadlines, margins), which will be very important for your management.
Step 2: Create and Publish your E-shop
To do so, you need to find a solution adapted to your business, which will not be easy.
First, determine your level of technical involvement (based on your skills and available time).
No technical implications:
What's your budget? Because You can call upon a Web Agency (which will propose you a quote) for a completely personalized development. In this case, make sure to ask for the achievements already made, and go and see to get your opinion on the qualitative and commercial aspects.
or to a turnkey solution hosted in ASP mode (hosted rental mode: you don't need any technical skills, your shop is immediately open. These solutions often offer you a trial period, take advantage of it to get an idea...
Own your own domain name (ideally in .com or .fr)
To make available to its Internet users clear and complete general conditions of sale (delivery times, returns, accepted methods of payment, guarantees...),
Having a "Pro" design
Display a visible and available phone number
Be clear about its prices (shipping costs, discounts,...).
Step 3 : Your WebMArketing strategy.
This is an essential step in the launch of your site. The objective is to determine your marketing actions to be carried out, then to plan them in time (according to your budgets of course).
Your webmarketing strategy should include :
- Demand analysis
- The positioning of your site (based on a competitive study)
- The marketing mix :
Sponsored links (Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Miva, MSN)
XML Feed on shopbots (LeGuide, Kelkoo, Shopping.com...)
Affiliate programs
Natural referencing on keywords selected according to marketing orientations and competitive analyses
netlinking operations and registration on directories (be careful to select them carefully)
Newsletter, press releases,...
Web 2.0 Marketing
- Permanent Strategic Intelligence,
- a follow-up of your back office and your statistics.
- compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations (which can be greatly facilitated by specific DGPD software for DPO)
Step 4: Managing your shop
The shipments:
La Poste is still the main deliverer of ecommerce sites in France. But there are other solutions: TNT, FedEx, DHL, ... If possible, set up a parcel tracking system on your site, so that the Internet user knows where his order is at (helps to proceed to the act of purchase).
Stock management:
several solutions are possible:
Waiting to receive the customer's order before placing an order with the supplier (but the delivery times are then long)
Some wholesalers accept to deliver directly to your customers without going through your stock (more and more frequent). In this case, check your supplier's stocks and be sure that they will deliver on time.
Establish a stock at home and replenish it regularly according to order trends. The initial investment is significant but you can guarantee your customers a short and fixed delivery time. In this case, provide for the classification and arrangement of the products (And if you don't want to waste too much time looking for the right products it is essential to adopt a classification). Also plan to make regular inventories to make sure that stocks are up to date!