Setting up an Ecommerce operation is the dream of many entrepreneurs but often users get stuck right at the start of the process ie which Ecommerce solution is the best choice for their business.
There are a multitude of factors that you have to consider before making a choice and below we have listed the most important. Remember also that you need to try and futureproof as much as possible ie consider where your business will be in 2-5 years, not just for launch:
- Number of products : How many different products do you expect to list on your store?
- Integration : Will you need the Ecommerce platform to integrate with other systems you use for processing, shipping and accounting?
- Product Variations: Are the products simple – a book or a DVD is easy, but what about clothes which come in different sizes or colours?
- Do you have a ton of data which you need to import from an existing system, and will your choice of Ecommerce solution support the importing of that data?
- Flexibility: How portable is your data once you’ve chosen the Ecommerce solution – if you need to move later on, how easy or tough is that going to be?
- How strong are your technical skills? Some solutions can be implemented by yourself with some skills, whereas others will need services from an experienced specialist to both implement and support.
- Volume : What is the volume of orders you expect to process per month and what are your expectations in terms of annual Ecommerce sales?
- What kind of budget have you set aside for a) The build of your Ecommerce store, including the migrating or populating data, b) SEO, and c) Hosting, maintenance and support?
- Hosting : This depends on the projected size of your Ecommerce operation. Self hosting platforms are the simplest solutions make sure that you get the speeds that are promised. If you are going down the independent hosting route then you need to do your research in terms of bandwidth and flexibility for when your traffic increases
The key is that its best to know the answers to these questions before you start comparing different Ecommerce solutions. This will help streamline the process, help you avoid wasting time investigating the wrong solution, talking to the wrong providers and worse still, ending up with an Ecommerce solution that doesn’t support your needs.
Unhappy about your online sales? Our unique online Ecommerce Audit has been formulated by interacting with some our most successful Ecommerce entrepreneurs. It will guide you through the key elements of Ecommerce and prioritize your action plans to boost your traffic, conversion rates and profit