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Getting Your
Products Online
Displaying goods on
your website is the first step to generating online sales.
Depending on the
nature of your business, there are two avenues you can choose from:
-
Option 1 - Order
Form:
Suitable for businesses with only a few products for sale. Each of your
product pages is linked to an electronic order form, which allows your
customers to make a purchase.
-
Option 2 -
Shopping Cart:
Suitable for businesses which have multiple products for sale.
1. Order
Form
If you only sell one,
or a few products, you may not need a shopping cart. Rather, a simple, one-page
order form that allows visitors to purchase your products will do the trick.
The process is simple.
You create your product information page and display a 'buy now' button which
sends customers to your order form.
2. Shopping Cart
A shopping cart is an
alternative system that allows you to sell multiple products and services on the
web.
A well-planned, secure
shopping cart should make it easy for visitors to purchase from your website.
Shopping cart software
typically consists of three components:
1.
A
Product Catalogue,
which organises all of your products and services into categories on your
website
2.
A
Checkout and Payment System,
that allows shoppers to securely register their details and process payments
3.
An
Administration Area,
that allows you to manage the day-to-day running of your business (e.g.
fulfilling orders, managing inventory, adding and removing products and so on).
The Product Catalogue
The product catalogue
allows visitors to:
-
Browse and view
detailed information about each product.
-
Add, remove and
change the quantity of items in their cart.
-
Calculate total
prices including taxes and shipping.
-
Review purchase
policy information such as the refund/return policy.
The Checkout Process
The checkout process
refers to the steps a customer must go through to purchase goods from your
website.
A typical checkout
process may involve a customer:
1.
Adding a product to their cart
2.
Opening an account by providing their contact information
3.
Processing their payment
If you want to gain a
better understanding of how a good checkout process works, we encourage you to
visit Amazon.com and eBay.com.
Making a small
purchase from either of these eCommerce giants will help you better understand
the steps involved in the checkout process.
The Administration
Area
The area of your
website that is viewable by your customers is known as the 'front-end' of your
site.
The administration
area of your store allows you to manage the day-to-day running of your business
and is known as the 'backend' of your website. This area of your site requires a
username and password to log-in and is not visible to the general public.
In the backend of your
website you can manage tasks such as:
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Fulfilling orders
-
Managing inventory
-
Adding and
removing products
-
Changing the
design of your store
A good administration
system will also allow you to export your customer and order information into
accounting programs like MYOB or QuickBooks.
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