5 steps to great e-commerce
1. Don’t forget its all about profit.
Have you done your homework, a simple financial analysis of your projects costs against its returns will set the scene for the success of project. Be sure to set targets and be truthful about your costs. Make allowances for hosting, email provision, domain names, payment processing charges and anything else you may need.
Many web design companies are more focused on the look of the website than ensuring it is profitable. With every e-commerce project undertaken an open book profit and loss forecast shows how successful a project can be. Supplyant’s expertise in reducing startup costs and easing cashflow may make the difference between a successful project or a failure.
2. Use the right tools
If you require a completely bespoke system be prepared for a big bill. There are a stack of great e-commerce platforms available that will do the majority of what you require. Carefully consider what you need from your site:
- does it need to handle foreign countries and currencies?
- how many payment methods will be used?
- how do I check stock
- how do I ensure transactions can be processed smoothly
- what happens when I need an update?
Over the last 10 years Supplyant has developed its own platform for e-commerce. The platform has been built by online retailers for retailers and includes everything you could need. See a full specification of the platforms features here.
3. Prepare a really good marketing plan
What happens once your site is finished? Its often forgotten that having a website is by no means going to drive purchases. A detailed marketing plan designed to ensure that you can build the trust of your visitors to turn them from browsers to buyers. Make sure your plan includes how you will deal with social media, adwords and positioning in search engines.
When a new website is handed over its just the start. We work with retailers on a revenue sharing partnership, that way means that we have a vested interest in ensuring a strong marketing plan is followed.
4. Reduce administration wherever possible.
Time spent on administration can strip margin from your sales pretty quickly and when your site gets busy how will you streamline your operations to remove cost.
Improvements to the Supplyant administration systems has allowed Supplyants partners now handle more orders with less people. At one partner, handling over £2 million of orders the administration team has been reduced from 13 to 5 people, saving over £100,000 a year.
5. Find a good partner
Choose your partners carefully; your e-commerce site should be your #1 marketing weapon and its not something you should trust to the 12 year old son of the man you met down the pub last night. Ask yourself:
- How much experience do they have?
- Have they any track record of growth?
- Can I see they sites they have built?
- Would they mind if I spoke to people they have built sites for?
At Supplyant we have been retailing online for 10 years and our team has a combined e-commerce experience of over 120 years and over 98,000 orders. We only work with retailers who we are confident enough in to work on a sales commission basis. Contact details for all the retailers we work with are available in the portfolio. We would love you to speak to them.
