Think of any product or service that you’ve purchased in the last month. Now take a moment to reflect whether it would have been possible to purchase that product / service online. No? Would it have been possible to buy part of it online or make the booking / start the process online? If not in Australia, elsewhere in the world?
Of course, in almost all cases, the answer is YES – that product or service is accessible online. That means that if your business products or services aren’t online you may be missing out on a potentially very lucrative market.
The good news is that virtually all product-based businesses easily benefit from an online store, and most service-based business benefit from an online presence and online sales (whether sales of the actual service or a related product).
Examples of Businesses that should be online:
- Retail stores
- Chemists
- Stationery companies
- Office furniture retailers
- Bookstores
- Publishers
- Printers
- Restaurants
- Wholesalers of every description
- …and many more.
Having an online payment facility will not only help you increase sales, but it also helps you generate more leads and attract more customers regardless of where they live. In fact, because online sales capture email addresses and other contact details, online sales are a fantastic method of building your prospect database.
Creating a client database means you can easily market new products or services and employ up-selling strategies post-purchase. For example, a professional services business might sell a Report for $29.95 online (commonly referred to as the “front end”) which they then follow-up with further value-adds and later a recommendation to engage their full services (known as the “back end”).
Tips for getting your Online Site Started:
1. A website
some companies have complete ecommerce shopping carts on their sites where people can click an item from an online catalogue and add to their shopping cart. When customers finish shopping they can check out and pay for all their purchases. For instance…
Amazon.com, a leader in the online bookstore category, is a great example of what successful ecommerce looks like. You can purchase everything online and get the product delivered to your door.
2. An SSL Certificate
depending on which payment processing method you use, you will need an SSL certificate for your site. It enables you to secure certain pages or directories of your website so people can enter their credit card details on an order from your site, in a secure way… without having to worry about hackers or identity thieves stealing your information. An SSL certificate can be purchased from a variety of companies. Just Google “security certificate” to find them. One of the most respected names in the industry is “VeriSign” which is at www.verisign.com.au.
3. An internet merchant account
if you’re currently in business you’ll probably have a merchant account organised through your bank or a similar institution. These merchant facilities allow you to process transactions either manually or perhaps via an EFTPOS terminal. Processing transactions via internet though, means upgrading your merchant facility. Just check with your current provider.
4. Ecommerce payment gateway
this service acts as a go-between between your shopping cart or payment button on your website and the credit card merchant provider. Once you have an internet merchant account you’ll need a facility to process those credit cards in “real time” over the internet. You can ask your credit card merchant provider to set up an online payment gateway or go to a third party (such as www.eway.com.au).
What You Can Do Today:
- • Think about what kind of product/service your business can offer online (you may need to think outside the box!)
- • Speak to your current financial provider about setting up an online merchant facility
- • Look on the internet for other ecommerce sites to see which kind of layout you like
- • Write down ideas for your online purchasing site