E-Commerce Systems
Brochure websites can make a surprisingly big difference to your top line, but e-commerce is where the action is. With more and more people getting comfortable with online purchasing, e-commerce has become the big growth area in retail.
You've got various options concerning the set-up of your e-commerce site. I've briefly outlined below the three methods I employ. If you want to discuss an e-commerce site with me then get in touch and I can flesh them out for you.
1. Low Volume Sales - Low Setup Costs - Paypal / Google Checkout System
You can easily and inexpensively start off small with a Paypal or Google Checkout based solution. This route doesn't require having a merchant account or using a Payment Services Provider, it suits businesses that are expecting very low volumes of online sales.
A good example would be professional photographer who may occasionally sell the odd print. He or she could add 'Buy Now' buttons to their portfolio shots just in case somebody fancies one.
The user is passed across to a secure Paypal or Google Checkout page, where they can enter their username and password, then confirm the purchase. You can include a standard shipping fee within the price, and make your terms and conditions available on your own site.
As the site owner, you would be informed of any purchases, delivery addresses and the purchaser's contact details via the payment provider. Security measures are all taken care of at their end.
In techie terms, all that is happening is that you are passing your user across to the payment provider's URL, with the encrypted purchase details appended at the end. You can do it for individual items or you can include a simple Javascript cart on the front end. Similarly, if your site is a Flash site, a simple cart can be set up or items can be bought one at a time.
Disadvantages of using services like Paypal are that the rate you are charged for processing the transaction is relatively high (3% of the value of the transaction). For this reason, it may be worth thinking about one of the other options if you have low sales volume but high sales value.
