Setting up shop online

Which is better: a turnkey online shopping cart system or a customized solution? Read on to determine what you need.

For the easiest way to expand your potential customer base, sell your products online. Online shopping carts have now enabled small businesses on a budget and with limited technical expertise to sell alongside the big guys with the deep pockets.

There are two ways to establish an online store: use an existing cookie-cutter storefront template or develop your own. Template-based stores, like Yahoo! Store, are turnkey systems with standard shopping cart software and tools. This is the most inexpensive way to start selling online. However, because these stores must work for the masses, they have a plain vanilla design and are limited in functionality. Typically they also have far more restrictions on what you can do with your site - like preventing you from linking to another site that sells your products, for example. You also are limited in visual format unless you want to hire your own Web designer.

Because of their lack of flexibility, these prepackaged online store setups are ideal if your business has very straightforward retail needs. Also, if you are not sure whether selling online will be effective, you can test the waters more easily with template stores since they require no long-term commitment. Should your store not prove feasible, you are only out the monthly fees, not a custom-designed storefront.

You can also build your own Web store. You are better off hiring an e-commerce development firm that specializes in shopping cart software to do this for you. Custom development allows a lot more flexibility in setup and design. They also support more sophisticated functions like integrating a store into your existing Web site, creating a look and feel that is markedly different from your competitors, offering extensive reporting, or working in tandem with online auctions.

If possible, get current or potential customers to offer feedback or provide insight on what information or assurances they need most to feel comfortable buying at your online store, and make sure the shopping cart service you choose can offer it. Examples might be the ability to search your catalog, foreign currency conversion, or shipment tracking. You do not want to discover too late in the game that the solution you use does not offer what your customers need.

Custom-developed online stores can cost as little as $1000 to set up, plus ongoing monthly fees for use of software and shopping-related tools, often no more than $50 per month. Monthly costs for reliable template-based shopping cart services start at about $50 and usually include per-transaction fees, a set fee per item you sell, and hosting fees because your store "lives" on their site. And of course, every online store needs a credit card merchant account to accept payments online.

But remember that while anyone can be an online retailer, not everyone can be successful at it. Whatever type of online store you choose, remember that the Internet does not operate in an "if you build it, they will come" mentality. Unless you have marketing and advertising plans to clearly target your customers, adding online shopping to your site will be a waste of time and money.

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