Ecommerce Web Hosting- What is it?

What is E-commerce?

Whether you call it Internet commerce, or ecom, or ecommerce, or immerce, it basically means the same thing. These terms mean buying or selling something electronically, and the time has never been better to seriously consider ecommerce as an integral part of your business. If you have something you'd like to sell on the Net, new technologies have opened up an array of ecom options - one to suit every need and requirement.

Ecommerce is Safe

Online transactions are every bit as safe as face to face transactions -- although neither can be guaranteed 100% risk free. You're just as likely to be mugged on your way to the ATM Machine as you are to run into security problems with Internet commerce! Electronic Commerce is everywhere these days. It's nearly impossible to open a newspaper or magazine without coming across an article about how Electronic Commerce is going to change the very nature of business. Businesses of all sizes are bombarded with adverts (short for advertisments if you are new to online marketing =) that seem to imply that any company not investing in E-commerce will be left behind.

5 Essential Steps to Ecommerce

The problem for many small businesses is that while they appreciate the potential of doing business on the Net, it is difficult for the owner to determine the best way to start off. Essentially, doing business on the Web can be broken down into five main requirements.

• Online Store

The obvious requirement is an online store, or commerce-enabled Web site where goods or services can be described selected, and purchased by your customer. Most web hosting companies prodvide basic ecommerce applications and there are a lot of complete third-party shopping cart programs like OSCommerce that can be installed and configured under your web hosting account.

• Payment Processing

While it is possible to run an online store without accepting online payments, this is a cumbersome and rarely successful venture. Accepting online payments is therefore essential and at the moment this means accepting major credit cards.

• Order Fullfilment & Shipping

You've made your sale and now you have to deliver the goods. Just package them up and ship them off. Sounds easy, right? Except what happens if you get dozens or hundreds of orders per day? Customer service support, complaints, returns - the biggest complaint about ecommerce is the poor level of customer service in the event of problems. Handle this part of your business seriously and you will stand out in the crowd.

• Website Promotion

This is the big one. Even if you do everything else right, without successful site promotion your online business will fail before it even starts. Ecommerece and promotion go hand and hand.

• Upselling

The most valueable asset any site owner has is their opt-in email list. What does "opt-in" mean you ask? It means that your visitors or customers have "opted-in" to receive emails or a newsletter - permission-based marketing if you will. This is so valuable that most Internet gurus spend most their time building their lists. It is much easier to sell future products and services to customers that have already purchased from you before then hunting down new targets. There is no right or wrong way to start up an ecommerce business, but any business plan, even if drawn up on the back of an envelope, should address these five topics.

There are so many ecommerce Web applications and payment processing sites around that it's difficult to know where to begin looking for the software and services you need to put your business online and succeed. We will cover those topics next.

Next - How to Succeed in Ecommerce