It’s a fact that society as a whole is being programmed and has been conditioned to transact and do most of their transactions online via the web! Retailers that I consult over the last several years have had to migrate their brick and mortar business online in order to be competitive and ensure that they can sell their products in a more convenient matter. However what I do find most interesting is that because there’s so many options and many of the options that are out there are technical in nature, the business owners have a hard time understanding what route to take when it comes to building their e-commerce site online.
One of the things that I’ve decided to do in today’s Blog post is to begin the conversation regarding how to appropriately build an e-commerce enabled site so you can successfully sell your products and services online using a shopping cart.
One of the most fundamental principles that I teach and consult my clients on relates to how they should go about starting their e-commerce endeavors online. If you are a retailer or brick-and-mortar merchant and have never sold via an e-commerce site online I think this blog post and many of the other articles that I’m going to begin posting are going to be extremely helpful because even though a lot of the fundamental principles of traditional sales our embedded with an e-commerce site there are a lot of other principles that are completely opposite and different in the traditional sense.
Suggestion #1
The first principle that I like to point out to a merchant or a new brick-and-mortar retailer is that you’re going to have to hire expertise to get your e-commerce site up and running. You cannot take a shortcut on this, you cannot take the time to learn it all on your own, it is going to cost you an exorbitant amount of time and money to be able to do it on your own, but what you can do is hire a professional to help you build the site, get a shopping cart integrated and learn from the process because if you’re not technical or tech savvy, you’re going to need a guide.
Suggestion #2
The second thing you’re going to need is for that person you’re hiring to go over with you all the different options that you have for building your e-commerce website. There are many pros and cons to developing it from scratch versus buying an out-of-the-box e-commerce solution or even using a hosted solution like many of the companies that are out there on the web. Regardless of what option you decide to take you need to keep in mind what the long-term goal is of your e-commerce endeavors. If you’re a serious merchant with tons of inventory and you already successful on the retail market you’re going to need to expense and invest time and money to properly position yourself online and compete against your competitors. If you’re a fairly small to medium size merchant and you have some inventory and you’d like to sell that inventory online you’re going to in the very least have to make some kind of commitment and investment into the project in order to do it right the first time. There are plenty of small size retailers that started off with a very basic model online but did all the right things in order to be able to grow and scale their business.
Suggestion #3
The last thing I’ll mention on this particular Blog post regarding this topic is that as a retailer or brick-and-mortar merchant you’re going to have to change your mindset as to how this all works online. One of the biggest hurdles and obstacles that most of my clients have to overcome is the fact that they are used to speaking to people face-to-face, talking to people face-to-face, selling their product face-to-face and don’t really understand how someone can virtually buy something on their online store without ever having talk to or be convinced by someone to buy a product. The reality is people who buy online look for certain things and certain indicators to confirm whether or not who they want to buy from is worthy of the purchase and whether or not they can trust them in the transaction for the item and product that they need to buy. Another big factor has to do with pricing because of the fact that someone can open up another tab on their browser and compare pricing that also makes the work a little more difficult it’s not like when you’re any physical store and don’t want to drive across town to save yourself a few bucks on an item you want to purchase, when you’re buying online the dynamics and the competition are very different however that is not to say that you have to drop your pants and not make any margin on the products that you sell in order to be competitive. A good example of someone who has been successful selling higher than normal priced items on their site but has used customer service as their unique value proposition is a company like Zappos the shoe store. If you visits Zappos and you want to buy a product you’ll notice that they aren’t the cheapest or the most inexpensive option in the market however what they do offer is a tremendous amount of credibility and customer service to their buyers and they have created a culture around their business which is extremely important if you plan on being successful long-term i.e. the reason why you want to make sure that whatever structure you put in place is first done within the scope of a solid strategy for your online business.
For more information and more tips on how to effectively build your online or e-commerce store keep visiting us at lighthouseinternetmedia.wordpress.com
Until next time!
Need help or think that you need help regarding building your commerce site, please feel free to contact us at emilio@lighthouseinternetmedia.com or call us at 305-389 8955
To your success,
Emilio Yepez
Lighthouse Internet media
http://www.lighthouseinternetmedia.com
Phone: 305-389-8955
AIM: affiliateagle
Skype: emilioyepez
Twitter: affiliateagle
Linkedin: Click Here
About Emilio Yepez & Lighthouse Internet Media:
Lighthouse Internet Media is a digital marketing agency located in Miami, Florida! Its Founder Emilio Yepez is a performance driven executive manager with over 19 years of Internet Marketing, Retail & Operations.
In 1996 he started a successful career with (IAC) Inter Active Corp/Interval International. During his 11 year career at IAC I held various responsibilities ranging from Operations, Customers Service to Managerial roles as a Divisional Manager for Hyatt & Marriott Resorts.
In 2006 he resigned from IAC and decided to co found ARC Media Consultants where he was Vice President of Operations, Business Development and Internet Marketing.
In the winter of 2010 he was recruited by MBF Health Care Partners, a prominent Equity Firm located in Coral Gables, Florida. While at MBF he was tasked with spearheading the strategic planning & development of their retail acquisition (Navarro.com), the first Hispanic retail pharmacy e Commerce site on the web.
As President of Lighthouse Internet Media he has personally consulted over 400 businesses, including major Internet Retailer 500 Companies, consumer product, sales and call center companies in the US.
Digital/Online Strengths & Expertise:
Pay Per Click Marketing (Paid Traffic)
Direct Response Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Affiliate Marketing
Media Buying
Email Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Web Development
Business Strengths:
Strategic Business Planning & Consulting
Business Processes & Systems Implementation
In depth Marketing Research & Analysis
Call Center Operations & Management
Efficiency Expertise
Risk Assessment & Management
Retail Management
Leadership & Development
Leadership Theory & Practice
Equity Management & Finance
Personal Interests & Studies:
Christianity -Spiritual Studies
Quantum Mechanics
Deductive Logic & Reasoning
Creative Thinking & Problem Solving
Psychology & Nuero-Science
Golf & Polo
