Moore - Create Your Own Online Store in a Weekend

CREATE

YOUR OWN

ONLINE
STORE

IN A

WEEKEND

ALANNAH MOORE

PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS NEW YORK

Published in 2014 by

Princeton Architectural Press

37 East Seventh Street

New York, New York 10003

Visit our website at www.papress.com

Copyright 2014 The Ilex Press Limited

All rights reserved

17 16 15 14 4 3 2 1 First edition

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews.

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Library of Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Moore, Alannah.

Create your own online store in a weekend / Alannah Moore.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-61689-236-4 (alk. paper)

1. Electronic commerce. 2. Retail trade.

3. Web sitesDesign. I. Title.

HF5548.32.M66 2014

658.872dc23

2014000889

TABLE of CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The internet has changed the way we shop beyond all recognition. Global e-commerce sales reached $1.25 trillion in 2013 and, of course, the indications are that this will only increase.

The advantages for the shopper are clear. Its a timesaver and its often more convenienttheres no need to leave home, and shopping can even be done on the move with a smartphone (not surprisingly this is a habit thats growing among shoppers). In addition, its often cheaper to shop online and you can compare prices easily; the choice is far wider, and you can purchase pretty much anything.

But for the business owner, as well, the attraction of selling online is great. You can access a global market, or at least as wide a market as you are prepared to ship to. Your overheads are less, and you can be open 24 hours a day, every day of the week.

Most importantly, the internet offers a level playing field. If you have a professional-looking website and products that people want to buy, you stand as much of a chance of making your online business a success as the next person, even if that person has considerably more money to invest.

The great news for the small business person or entrepreneur is that while setting up a full-blown, made-from-scratch e-commerce website is an expensive, time-consuming, and complicated undertaking, there are an increasing number of solutions that put the creation of an online sales system well within anyones reach, and many of these can be achieved relatively quickly.

There are solutions for everyone, some more expensive, some slightly more technical, some requiring more time invested to complete the setup. Whether youre selling your own products or someone elses, whether youre selling services online or downloadable files, there will be an e-commerce solution thats just right for youwithin your financial reach, within your capabilities, and which wont need months of planning to achieve.

What this book will do for you

In this book well look at some of the fast and simple systems now available to the online entrepreneur. Multiple systems exist, and it can be hard work to figure out which will be easy to implement, against those which will cause the non-programmer a headache to set up and work with, and those which will need expensive and unexpected add-ons in order to do the job.

For this book, Ive selected the options I think are the best choices, based on these criteria:

> The system can be set up quickly and painlessly, without you having to hire a web developer.

> It is, of course, secure.

> It looks excellent.

So that you can choose which one will work best for you, well analyze which systems require more technical expertise, which cost more, and which are best suited to particular kinds of business. For each system, well attempt to balance out the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision, and then guide you through the steps to implement the solution you decide upon.

Well look at the different ways of taking payment via the internet and see which will be the most appropriate for you. Well show you how you can present your products to maximum advantage, including marketing your store, social media, and how best to prepare your site for the search engines. Later in the book, well equip you with the knowledge you need to manage and develop your rapidly growing online business, and see some of the different ways webstore owners can increase their sales.

Within just days, youll have your own online store and be taking payments onlineyoull be a part of the online sales revolution.

COMPANION WEBSITE

The companion website to this book is www.createyouronlinestoreinaweekend.com . Check for updates, live examples, and interviews with successful online store owners.

E-commerce basics

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EASIER WAYS OF SELLING ONLINE, AND WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BEGIN.

Traditional online selling VS. THE QUICKER, EASIER WAYS

The from-scratch method of selling online involves setting up a website, installing shopping cart software, and integrating it with a payment gateway to deposit payments into your internet merchant account, as well as optionally integrating it with email mailing list software, a customer database, and stock control software, among others. You also need to make sure your site is secure and that it conforms to legal requirements. If this sounds complicated, thats because it isits fiddly, it needs technical expertise, and requires significant financial investment.

Happily, the alternative systems that well be looking at in this book have been created specially to make the whole process easier. By rolling some of these elements together and implementing an interface that lets the user control the look of their site without coding knowledge, they make the task of getting yourself an online selling system much more accessible and dramatically reduce time spent and money invested.

Online selling systemsat least, the ones well be looking at togethercan be divided into three groups.

1. A STOREFRONT ON AMAZON OR EBAY

Setting up a storefront on one of these large marketplace sites is an extremely fast and low-cost way of getting your products out there. As well as speed, cost, and ease of setup, another huge advantage is that youll have access to their giant customer base and get instant traffic to your store, while at the same time benefitting from their brand.

The downside is that your store clearly isnt entirely your own, which makes presenting your individual brand hard, so in time youll probably want to set up your own webstore, separate from Amazon or eBay. But using the infrastructure of one of these online giants is an excellent way of testing your products and prices, and of building a client base without any significant financial outlay.