As eCommerce purchasing trends have matured over the last four years, it has become abundantly clear that consumers leverage multiple channels when making a purchase decision. To meet continuously rising consumer expectations, retailers of all shapes and sizes need to understand and embrace the power of delivering a consistent and integrated multi-channel experience. Any retailer that utilizes more than one channel to sell merchandise - be it a catalog, brick and mortar store, or eCommerce store, can gain tremendous business benefits by effectively executing multi-channel initiatives.
In a nutshell, the term “multi-channel” is primarily used within two concepts in retail:
• Multi-Channel Marketing
• Multi-Channel Integration
This article is meant to be an introduction to the overall topic, with a focus this month on multi-channel marketing. Next month, I will follow with content related to multi-channel integration and how it can also be leveraged.
Multi-Channel Marketing
Multi-channel marketing is the tactic of reinforcing your brand messaging by utilizing multiple sales channels to communicate with customers. It’s been proven in numerous studies that when retailers facilitate the behavior of consumers to shop via multiple channels, they become more valuable from the standpoint of lifetime value. Look what JC Penney discovered when they starting testing and measuring multi-channel behavior a few years back.
• The company found that internet only shoppers spent $121 per year, retail only spent $194 per year, catalog only spent $242 per year, and a customer who shopped all three spent over $1000 per year (source: ebusinessiq.com)
• “We want to go out and aggressively introduce J.C. Penney.com to our catalog and retail customers and get them to shop online because we know it is going to increase their purchases across all channels” (JC Penney eCommerce Executive)
Why do these incremental gains happen? It’s not always an easy question to answer, but in my opinion, it is primarily because the consumer now has the capability to purchase in the channel which best suits their needs (ie. most convenient), while still receiving messaging from the other complimentary channels. A real life look makes it more simplistic.
Let’s take for example that you are a high-end electronics retailer. You operate 12 physical stores, send out a catalog four times a year, and operate an eCommerce store. The key to multi-channel success is to leverage the strengths of each sales channel by coordinating messages and driving customers to all three sales outlets. Each of the channels is different – and your multi-channel strategy should capitalize on the strengths of each channel to best represent your brand.
The catalog serves as a great tool for browsing but is not the most effective when it comes to comparing products. Its tangible nature makes it readily available for shopping (judged by the number of catalogs my wife has on our dining room table), but its space constraints within the pages make it limited from a product information standpoint.
Retailers should leverage the catalog to create initial interest, but encourage shoppers to go to the web to learn more and ultimately purchase. One standard tactic to achieve this is by heavily promoting the URL within every page and by providing unique “catalog quick shop” numbers for each product. A retailer can also message the customer about “web only” specials, or closeout products that are not available in the catalog, but are only available from the website.
When a consumer then comes to the website and types the provided product number in the “catalog quick search” box, a retailer then has the option to either send the visitor directly to the product page, or send directly to the shopping cart with the product pre-populated in the cart. Both options have their pros and cons – with the latter option being a more direct and aggressive approach to convert a visitor by reducing the number of clicks to purchase.
The potential negative consequence about sending traffic directly to the shopping cart from the catalog quick search is that consumers may still be in “shopping” mode and may be turned off to such a direct approach of merchandising. Monitor your analytics to see which path is more effective from a conversion perspective.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Is A Professional Site Design On Your Shopping Cart Important?
An online store is a 24 hour active revenue machine, it should accurately display and describe your products and services in a professional manner to give you the best opportunity for each and every sale. Your success depends on this.
Now, don't get the wrong idea, a site design does not need to be full flash, loads of custom images and special entry pages, look at Google, they have a nice logo and a clean understandable landing page. Depending on your target market, you may only need text to make your sales, but the text still needs to be clearly layed out and understandable. It's always best to carefully study and consider the designer for your website. Make sure he/she is prepared to show you many examples and ask many questions about your needs. They should ask for example sites that you like and work to your budget, not up-sell you special Flash graphics. If you are working with an ecommerce website shopping cart then it's advisable that you keep all design services and software technology within the one company as it's important for the designer to know the capabilities of the shopping cart software they need to work on.
Design layout.
Layout of a website is extremely important to the ease of navigation for your customers. Their product of choice should only be within 3 clicks from the home page. Be sure to to have an easy to use category menu and obvious product titles with good descriptions directly below. Always aim to cross sell in your product pages with thumbnails of related items.
If you are using custom graphics or flash design, make sure this is kelp to a minimum in a shopping cart and only serves as a quick impressive display of professionalism rather than showing off how much money you have. Your design needs to look professional for one important reason. If your site looks like it was built yesterday and could easily be taken down today because you obviously don't care about the look of your business, then why would your customers be comfortable in spending money with you. Trust level is a big reason for customers parting with their hard earned money.
Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression. If a visitor comes to your site and doesn't like what they see, their gone and there's a good chance they'll never come back
Now, don't get the wrong idea, a site design does not need to be full flash, loads of custom images and special entry pages, look at Google, they have a nice logo and a clean understandable landing page. Depending on your target market, you may only need text to make your sales, but the text still needs to be clearly layed out and understandable. It's always best to carefully study and consider the designer for your website. Make sure he/she is prepared to show you many examples and ask many questions about your needs. They should ask for example sites that you like and work to your budget, not up-sell you special Flash graphics. If you are working with an ecommerce website shopping cart then it's advisable that you keep all design services and software technology within the one company as it's important for the designer to know the capabilities of the shopping cart software they need to work on.
Design layout.
Layout of a website is extremely important to the ease of navigation for your customers. Their product of choice should only be within 3 clicks from the home page. Be sure to to have an easy to use category menu and obvious product titles with good descriptions directly below. Always aim to cross sell in your product pages with thumbnails of related items.
If you are using custom graphics or flash design, make sure this is kelp to a minimum in a shopping cart and only serves as a quick impressive display of professionalism rather than showing off how much money you have. Your design needs to look professional for one important reason. If your site looks like it was built yesterday and could easily be taken down today because you obviously don't care about the look of your business, then why would your customers be comfortable in spending money with you. Trust level is a big reason for customers parting with their hard earned money.
Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression. If a visitor comes to your site and doesn't like what they see, their gone and there's a good chance they'll never come back
Friday, December 22, 2006
Online Entreprenuer
How many ways are there to make money online?
Geez, where can I start ? Lets see, Google Adsense comes to mind, get a website, write a ton of good content, do search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site. But there is so much more to it. The ads need to blend into the site, be placed in the correct area, the goal here is to get a good click thru rate. How many websites? My goal is to get as many websites out there on the net to start making additional revenue streams.
E-Books, I will eventually write an E-book about the Pay Per Click industry with tips and tricks or possibly a home computer security book. All that is need is some software, a domain name, some great web design and graphic design for the book. I don’t want to publish a boring and non-informative book. I want my clients to get solid information for a great price. Maybe Ill will write about software to keep kids from viewing websites, they shouldn’t and how parents can monitor their activities without their knowledge. Because most kids nowadays know more about technology than their parents.
Amazon, I use Amazon currently to sell books. I do well. I would make more if I put more time into it, but that's the problem time. Amazon is simple to use, but I do make frequent trips to the post office. The solution? http://www.stamps.com.
E-bay, I have hundred of beanie babies that I need to get online. Anyone interested. That was a joke. With E-Bay you can sell almost anything. Just create a account, set up billing information and take a photo. Sounds simple, it is. But there are many advanced selling strategies that can be found out thru E-bay.
Online business, you can advertise your services online or create your own website, to offer good that you might have. Anything you want to sell does not need to go thru E-bay, they just make it easier for you, but there are fees to pay.
Yahoo Stores, Nowadays you can even purchase pre-built online stores, with drop shippers ready to ship products you don’t even need inventory. This is pretty sweet although customer service can be a nightmare for your customers though.
Geez, where can I start ? Lets see, Google Adsense comes to mind, get a website, write a ton of good content, do search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site. But there is so much more to it. The ads need to blend into the site, be placed in the correct area, the goal here is to get a good click thru rate. How many websites? My goal is to get as many websites out there on the net to start making additional revenue streams.
E-Books, I will eventually write an E-book about the Pay Per Click industry with tips and tricks or possibly a home computer security book. All that is need is some software, a domain name, some great web design and graphic design for the book. I don’t want to publish a boring and non-informative book. I want my clients to get solid information for a great price. Maybe Ill will write about software to keep kids from viewing websites, they shouldn’t and how parents can monitor their activities without their knowledge. Because most kids nowadays know more about technology than their parents.
Amazon, I use Amazon currently to sell books. I do well. I would make more if I put more time into it, but that's the problem time. Amazon is simple to use, but I do make frequent trips to the post office. The solution? http://www.stamps.com.
E-bay, I have hundred of beanie babies that I need to get online. Anyone interested. That was a joke. With E-Bay you can sell almost anything. Just create a account, set up billing information and take a photo. Sounds simple, it is. But there are many advanced selling strategies that can be found out thru E-bay.
Online business, you can advertise your services online or create your own website, to offer good that you might have. Anything you want to sell does not need to go thru E-bay, they just make it easier for you, but there are fees to pay.
Yahoo Stores, Nowadays you can even purchase pre-built online stores, with drop shippers ready to ship products you don’t even need inventory. This is pretty sweet although customer service can be a nightmare for your customers though.
Insider Secrets to Internet Marketing
“The trick to developing a product that is guaranteed to sell like crazy is to offer a solution to a problem. If you can save people time, money, or hassle, they’ll be willing to pay for your solution!” - Corey Rudl
If someone offered to help you make a million dollars, why would you say, “no?” This very thing goes on all the time to thousands of people all over the world. You may have never imagined you could make a six-seven figure income, yet it’s happening all the time on the internet. This is the result of internet marketing. It is a viable business and has made many millionaires. Even 19-year-old billionaires!
On the internet, millions upon millions of transactions take place every day, every hour, every minute and every second. This was not possible fifteen to twenty years ago. Now, with access to the internet, you have the capability of reaching many thousands of potential customers at the touch of a button. And - you are only limited by your imagination.
Internet marketing sounds easy to do, yet most businesses that currently use the internet to market their business lose money. When marketing your business online, there are three important steps that will make you feel confident. They include:
1. Targeting your audience.
2. Automating your business, and
3. Testing and adjusting your offer.
Your target audience depends upon the type of service or product you are offering. A little homework is required here. If you wish to sell hair and beauty products, you wouldn’t send your announcements to farmers. Find out where your customers are by searching the web. Track what they are interested in when they visit other websites. Find out by asking. Do market surveys. Send out questionnaires. Query friends, acquaintances, neighbors and find out what interests them.
You can easily find out what your customers want by testing your products and services. Then if it doesn’t sell, you can make adjustments before spending lots of money on a product or service that the market won’t support. Testing new products, ideas, or your advertising message on a small target audience first, saves you time, effort, and money. Doing a small test, first, also allows you time to make adjustments to your website or your advertisement to meet the needs of your customer.
Automate your online business so that your valuable time and attention is directed to creating more products or services. There are now hundreds of web sources that offer business automation services. They can send out your advertisements, business cards, flyers, press releases, and post cards to thousands of potential buyers at a time. They can notify your customers when their order is ready to ship. They can do your bookkeeping and track of your customer’s order.
Internet marketing can be as easy as you make it, and it can be fun. Thinking up products and services that meet the needs of customers and getting them to the customer in a manner that is convenient and appropriate is rewarding in itself. And when your product or service is something you love creating, and when it helps others save time, money, feel and look good, this is a great benefit.
Three other benefits of selling your product or service online are:
1. You have access to a global market at the touch of a finger.
2. Your investment of time is small.
3. You can start an online business with little cost.
Compared to the cost of offline marketing - newspaper, radio, and TV ads, and the cost of postage with direct mailing, you can set up a website at a low cost and start offering your product or service and even see the results in a matter of days. With internet marketing you can test your ads, sales offers, website design, and notify thousands of potential customers - and sometimes receive an order within hours - and almost at no cost.
The internet allows you to reach a global market and the cost is much less than using the traditional methods. You can quickly change your marketing plan and send out your marketing message multiple times. Whereas, with the old way of selecting the media and waiting for your ad to be scheduled, printed, and then distributed, the comparison in cost and in time is monumental.
For internet marketing to work for you, you must set your business to run on automatic so you can put your attention on developing more products and better services. You must target your advertising message, consistently get it out to as many potential buyers as possible, and be ready to test, test, and test again to make certain your offer is what your customers wish to buy. These key secrets are a small part of what makes for a successful online business. It’s up to you to find your passion, your faith, and your will to increase your sales, and - to give back.
If someone offered to help you make a million dollars, why would you say, “no?” This very thing goes on all the time to thousands of people all over the world. You may have never imagined you could make a six-seven figure income, yet it’s happening all the time on the internet. This is the result of internet marketing. It is a viable business and has made many millionaires. Even 19-year-old billionaires!
On the internet, millions upon millions of transactions take place every day, every hour, every minute and every second. This was not possible fifteen to twenty years ago. Now, with access to the internet, you have the capability of reaching many thousands of potential customers at the touch of a button. And - you are only limited by your imagination.
Internet marketing sounds easy to do, yet most businesses that currently use the internet to market their business lose money. When marketing your business online, there are three important steps that will make you feel confident. They include:
1. Targeting your audience.
2. Automating your business, and
3. Testing and adjusting your offer.
Your target audience depends upon the type of service or product you are offering. A little homework is required here. If you wish to sell hair and beauty products, you wouldn’t send your announcements to farmers. Find out where your customers are by searching the web. Track what they are interested in when they visit other websites. Find out by asking. Do market surveys. Send out questionnaires. Query friends, acquaintances, neighbors and find out what interests them.
You can easily find out what your customers want by testing your products and services. Then if it doesn’t sell, you can make adjustments before spending lots of money on a product or service that the market won’t support. Testing new products, ideas, or your advertising message on a small target audience first, saves you time, effort, and money. Doing a small test, first, also allows you time to make adjustments to your website or your advertisement to meet the needs of your customer.
Automate your online business so that your valuable time and attention is directed to creating more products or services. There are now hundreds of web sources that offer business automation services. They can send out your advertisements, business cards, flyers, press releases, and post cards to thousands of potential buyers at a time. They can notify your customers when their order is ready to ship. They can do your bookkeeping and track of your customer’s order.
Internet marketing can be as easy as you make it, and it can be fun. Thinking up products and services that meet the needs of customers and getting them to the customer in a manner that is convenient and appropriate is rewarding in itself. And when your product or service is something you love creating, and when it helps others save time, money, feel and look good, this is a great benefit.
Three other benefits of selling your product or service online are:
1. You have access to a global market at the touch of a finger.
2. Your investment of time is small.
3. You can start an online business with little cost.
Compared to the cost of offline marketing - newspaper, radio, and TV ads, and the cost of postage with direct mailing, you can set up a website at a low cost and start offering your product or service and even see the results in a matter of days. With internet marketing you can test your ads, sales offers, website design, and notify thousands of potential customers - and sometimes receive an order within hours - and almost at no cost.
The internet allows you to reach a global market and the cost is much less than using the traditional methods. You can quickly change your marketing plan and send out your marketing message multiple times. Whereas, with the old way of selecting the media and waiting for your ad to be scheduled, printed, and then distributed, the comparison in cost and in time is monumental.
For internet marketing to work for you, you must set your business to run on automatic so you can put your attention on developing more products and better services. You must target your advertising message, consistently get it out to as many potential buyers as possible, and be ready to test, test, and test again to make certain your offer is what your customers wish to buy. These key secrets are a small part of what makes for a successful online business. It’s up to you to find your passion, your faith, and your will to increase your sales, and - to give back.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Making Money Online: Persistence is the Key
Establishing a profitable E-commerce site is a tough job nowadays. Thousands of companies are struggling against each other to get more and more profit out of the internet. You should use each and every scheme and method you can find to augment your sales.
Most of us are into doing online business to make money and not to lose it. Would never waste our time and effort just beating about the bush. Most of us do not have the patience to wait forever to see profits. While there are a few who takes things lightly, there are always hundreds of others who would accept nothing less than profit everyday.
It is a known fact that any business depends on customers. In the internet, the potential customers come in form of traffic. Traffic represents all the people who visits your website and sees what you have to offer. The more the people seeing your products, the more is the chance of selling them.
None would put up an E-commerce site that runs in loss. We have to regain our initial investment. With a consistent flow of traffic, we at least have a chance of doing that. Monetizing your traffic increases your chance of making your business a success greatly.
The best method to earn profit out of traffic on the internet is to use advertising. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there on the internet looking for something or the other. Many of them might be looking for something which your company has to offer. You can use the power of advertising to tap that potential and earn great profit.
The yore days of internet when it was deemed useless for finding information that you want is gone. Now, internet has proved itself to be a very reliable source of information as well as products. It has shrunken the whole world into a global village. It has broken all geographic barriers and has united the world. No matter where you live, you can always have the internet and do business with the other side of the globe.
Generating traffic is not an easy task. You have to work on a large number of ideas and take the help of a large number of services to generate a good amount of traffic. But if you are willing to sacrifice the time and energy needed to do this, you could end up opening a large number of possibilities.
So, getting to the root of it, the more traffic you have flowing into your site, the more is your chances of getting good profit. Generally speaking, traffic is directly proportional to profit. And to generate traffic, you should take advertising to your benefit. With some research and use of advertising schemes, you could end up in huge profits.
Having traffic means having potential customers. They can buy products from you and result in your profit. Else, they could also be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you in exchange of traffic that you send to them. This system is often called the “pay-per-click” scheme. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. Thus, the more traffic that you have, the more is the chance that they would click on an advertised link, thus increasing your profit.
Affiliate Programs
Another very good and proven method of monetizing your traffic is by using affiliate programs. In these programs, you can link up with big sites and online companies and monetize your traffic by having a fraction of sales generated by traffic sent from your site.
One of the other benefits is that traffic from your site may go to another site that could offer a product that you do not carry. Most programs keep track of and make records of transactions that were made possible because of site linkage and on the basis, pay you. Thus, affiliate programs give you the benefit of monetizing your traffic without the actual need of carrying or promoting a certain product.
These are some of the many ways and methods to monetize your traffic. All it takes is a bit of hard work and the desire to successfully launch a profit-earning site. The best that can happen is that you would augment your profit and the worst that could happen is that you might lose a little time and perhaps a little money. But, it happens rarely that someone can’t make any profit out of proper work and planning. Thus, monetizing your traffic is something worth trying.
Most of us are into doing online business to make money and not to lose it. Would never waste our time and effort just beating about the bush. Most of us do not have the patience to wait forever to see profits. While there are a few who takes things lightly, there are always hundreds of others who would accept nothing less than profit everyday.
It is a known fact that any business depends on customers. In the internet, the potential customers come in form of traffic. Traffic represents all the people who visits your website and sees what you have to offer. The more the people seeing your products, the more is the chance of selling them.
None would put up an E-commerce site that runs in loss. We have to regain our initial investment. With a consistent flow of traffic, we at least have a chance of doing that. Monetizing your traffic increases your chance of making your business a success greatly.
The best method to earn profit out of traffic on the internet is to use advertising. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there on the internet looking for something or the other. Many of them might be looking for something which your company has to offer. You can use the power of advertising to tap that potential and earn great profit.
The yore days of internet when it was deemed useless for finding information that you want is gone. Now, internet has proved itself to be a very reliable source of information as well as products. It has shrunken the whole world into a global village. It has broken all geographic barriers and has united the world. No matter where you live, you can always have the internet and do business with the other side of the globe.
Generating traffic is not an easy task. You have to work on a large number of ideas and take the help of a large number of services to generate a good amount of traffic. But if you are willing to sacrifice the time and energy needed to do this, you could end up opening a large number of possibilities.
So, getting to the root of it, the more traffic you have flowing into your site, the more is your chances of getting good profit. Generally speaking, traffic is directly proportional to profit. And to generate traffic, you should take advertising to your benefit. With some research and use of advertising schemes, you could end up in huge profits.
Having traffic means having potential customers. They can buy products from you and result in your profit. Else, they could also be redirected to sponsored links that are willing to pay you in exchange of traffic that you send to them. This system is often called the “pay-per-click” scheme. With every click a visitor of your site makes on an advertised link you will be paid. Thus, the more traffic that you have, the more is the chance that they would click on an advertised link, thus increasing your profit.
Affiliate Programs
Another very good and proven method of monetizing your traffic is by using affiliate programs. In these programs, you can link up with big sites and online companies and monetize your traffic by having a fraction of sales generated by traffic sent from your site.
One of the other benefits is that traffic from your site may go to another site that could offer a product that you do not carry. Most programs keep track of and make records of transactions that were made possible because of site linkage and on the basis, pay you. Thus, affiliate programs give you the benefit of monetizing your traffic without the actual need of carrying or promoting a certain product.
These are some of the many ways and methods to monetize your traffic. All it takes is a bit of hard work and the desire to successfully launch a profit-earning site. The best that can happen is that you would augment your profit and the worst that could happen is that you might lose a little time and perhaps a little money. But, it happens rarely that someone can’t make any profit out of proper work and planning. Thus, monetizing your traffic is something worth trying.
Tips and Tricks about Online Bargains
The internet, with the myriads of interconnected computers and sites, it’s not impossible that there is something good waiting to be discovered. Whether it be discounts, special offers, sales or coupons, it’s just right there, waiting to be discovered.
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tax Tips for New Ecommerce Entrepreneurs
New ecommerce entrepreneurs can find them confused and confounded by the tax and accounting requirements of their venture. And that’s a shame: If someone’s spotted a great new category and successfully built a web presence, heck, that someone shouldn’t find themselves bogged down with the accounting minutia. The entrepreneur should focus on increasing traffic, expanding margins, and growing cash profits.
With that in mind, I offer up the following tax and accounting tips:
Tip #1: Don’t Incorporate
A true corporation—whether a C corporation or an S corporation—saddles your business with more complicated tax accounting and a bunch of state filing requirements. You don’t want to deal with this redtape—or at least not until you’re profitable.
Instead, operate your business as a sole proprietorship. If you’re concerned about legal liability protection, note that you can setup a one-owner limited liability company, or LLC. A one owner LLC is treated as a sole proprietorship for income tax purposes.
Tip #2: Start Your Business Before Making Investments
Expenditures you make before you’re actually in business-in other words, before you’ve got a business license and before you’re selling or trying to sell your stuff—aren’t very deductible.
Specifically, you can probably deduct the first $5,000 of these expenses. But any amounts in excess of the $5,000 must be amortized over the next fifteen years.
What this means is that you want to start your business before you start spending money on advertising, training, web development, accountants and lawyers and so on.
Tip #3: Automate Your Bookkeeping & Accounting
By law—and some people don’t know this—you’re required to maintain an accounting system that lets you clearly measure your income. As a practical matter, this means you need to use a product like Quicken or QuickBooks.
But you ought to go one better than simply using desktop accounting software. Make sure that you’re taking advantage of online banking and bill payment features which integrate your accounting system with your banking. As much as is possible, for example, you want to be able to move money from PayPal to your bank to QuickBooks simply by typing a few keys or clicking your mouse a few times.
Tip #4: Hire a Payroll Service Before Hiring Employees
Many successful ecommerce business owners can run their operations without employees. And if that’s true for you, hey, congratulations. If and when you do need employees, however, don’t try to handle the payroll yourself. Oursource the payroll to one of the large payroll service bureaus like ADP, Payroll, or QuickBooks.
These services are expensive. Figure $1000 to $2000 per year. But the services let you avoid the bookkeeping nightmare called payroll and prevent you from getting into payroll tax trouble.
Tip #5: Consider S Corporation Status After You’re Profitable
I’ve written and talked much about how S corporations save taxpayers money and how the right way to set up an S corporation is first create a limited liability company and then ask the IRS to treat the LLC as an S corporation for tax purposes.
Let me review the basics here again, however. Suppose that you’re making $90,000 a year off your web site. If you just treat your business as a sole proprietorship—or an LLC treated as a sole proprietorship—you might pay $12,000 in income taxes on the $90,000 and then another 15.3% self-employment tax, or roughly $13,500 on the $90,000.
If you set up an LLC and have the LLC treated as an S corporation, you’ll still pay the same $12,000 in income taxes. But you’ll only pay the 15.3% self-employment tax on that portion of the profit that you categorize as wages. If you categorize, say, $50,000 of the profits as wages, you’ll pay $7,500 in self-employment taxes. (The other $40,000 in remaining profits, by the way, gets paid out as a dividend-like “distribution
With that in mind, I offer up the following tax and accounting tips:
Tip #1: Don’t Incorporate
A true corporation—whether a C corporation or an S corporation—saddles your business with more complicated tax accounting and a bunch of state filing requirements. You don’t want to deal with this redtape—or at least not until you’re profitable.
Instead, operate your business as a sole proprietorship. If you’re concerned about legal liability protection, note that you can setup a one-owner limited liability company, or LLC. A one owner LLC is treated as a sole proprietorship for income tax purposes.
Tip #2: Start Your Business Before Making Investments
Expenditures you make before you’re actually in business-in other words, before you’ve got a business license and before you’re selling or trying to sell your stuff—aren’t very deductible.
Specifically, you can probably deduct the first $5,000 of these expenses. But any amounts in excess of the $5,000 must be amortized over the next fifteen years.
What this means is that you want to start your business before you start spending money on advertising, training, web development, accountants and lawyers and so on.
Tip #3: Automate Your Bookkeeping & Accounting
By law—and some people don’t know this—you’re required to maintain an accounting system that lets you clearly measure your income. As a practical matter, this means you need to use a product like Quicken or QuickBooks.
But you ought to go one better than simply using desktop accounting software. Make sure that you’re taking advantage of online banking and bill payment features which integrate your accounting system with your banking. As much as is possible, for example, you want to be able to move money from PayPal to your bank to QuickBooks simply by typing a few keys or clicking your mouse a few times.
Tip #4: Hire a Payroll Service Before Hiring Employees
Many successful ecommerce business owners can run their operations without employees. And if that’s true for you, hey, congratulations. If and when you do need employees, however, don’t try to handle the payroll yourself. Oursource the payroll to one of the large payroll service bureaus like ADP, Payroll, or QuickBooks.
These services are expensive. Figure $1000 to $2000 per year. But the services let you avoid the bookkeeping nightmare called payroll and prevent you from getting into payroll tax trouble.
Tip #5: Consider S Corporation Status After You’re Profitable
I’ve written and talked much about how S corporations save taxpayers money and how the right way to set up an S corporation is first create a limited liability company and then ask the IRS to treat the LLC as an S corporation for tax purposes.
Let me review the basics here again, however. Suppose that you’re making $90,000 a year off your web site. If you just treat your business as a sole proprietorship—or an LLC treated as a sole proprietorship—you might pay $12,000 in income taxes on the $90,000 and then another 15.3% self-employment tax, or roughly $13,500 on the $90,000.
If you set up an LLC and have the LLC treated as an S corporation, you’ll still pay the same $12,000 in income taxes. But you’ll only pay the 15.3% self-employment tax on that portion of the profit that you categorize as wages. If you categorize, say, $50,000 of the profits as wages, you’ll pay $7,500 in self-employment taxes. (The other $40,000 in remaining profits, by the way, gets paid out as a dividend-like “distribution
Tips and Tricks about Online Bargains
The internet, with the myriads of interconnected computers and sites, it’s not impossible that there is something good waiting to be discovered. Whether it be discounts, special offers, sales or coupons, it’s just right there, waiting to be discovered.
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Tips and Tricks about Online Bargains
The internet, with the myriads of interconnected computers and sites, it’s not impossible that there is something good waiting to be discovered. Whether it be discounts, special offers, sales or coupons, it’s just right there, waiting to be discovered.
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
But the problem is, it’s extremely hard to look for the right bargain for the right product. There maybe a lot of discount offers out there, but is there one that is just right for you? The real deal is very hard to distinguish from promotional ads, spam and scam. Looking for these discounts is tricky but they’re pretty easy to recognize once you have spent a considerable amount of time in surfing the internet.
Watch out for scams that not only waste your time but might drain your resources as well. These scams are often contained within a very lucrative offer, but what you do not know is that you have to buy things before you can avail of that service. At the end of the transaction, you end up having more things that you don’t want than of the things that you did.
Another thing that you should look into is about the current trends that happen most especially if the product you are eyeing on is a product that updates and changes regularly. Watch out for the updates on the product your looking for. Some discounts may be out just because they want to get rid of outdated products. Keep yourself always updated about these trends, who knows, the company who made them might be making something which would fix a current bug or imperfection. You do not want to own a cheap but bugged product. Or perhaps the technology it is using is outdated or soon to be phased out because of a recent standard imposed by the government. Buying it at a cheap price won’t be a bargain if you cannot use the product in the long run.
Once the above factors are on check and taken into careful consideration, its now time to weigh all of your options regarding the product. There are many factors to consider before buying a bargained product online. One is the price said in the bargain the only price you will be paying? Are there small asterisks at the side of each price? There are many attractive promotions that usually has some catch at the end of the page, so you should better be careful and look for the usual signs.
Another option you should also check is if it is really cheaper to buy online or offline. Although the internet has given us choices and made us an inch closer to a more free market world, there are also several considerations you should watch for. Does the internet price include taxes and levies? Does it include service charges, processing charges or delivery charges? These are things that you also have to consider before trying to buy online.
Another thing to watch for is the technical or costumer support. Does the maker of the product you are trying to buy have a technical or costumer support available for your area? Who will you be able to see or contact in case you need information about the product? Will there be an available technical support for the product in case it breaks? These after purchase factors are also worth some consideration, especially when you are the type who neither has the time nor the knowledge to expertly operate and fix these things. Product guarantee is also worth the consideration, some things are way cheaper versus other competitors simply because they do not guarantee the quality of their product.
Last thing that you should watch is the competitors. The internet is home to a vast number of retailers and marketers. Whenever you try to search for them on the internet, the cheapest, best, most affordable site may not appear on top as you expect them to be, so its better if you check, recheck, and recheck again for the prices that competing retailers dish out.
Also watch for the price of similar or higher end products of the ones you are buying, who knows, you might get an even better bargain than the one you’ve been eyeing on. You should also watch out for sites that allow you to avail of coupons, special offers and discounts that slash money off certain brands and products. You can go to www.wow-coupons.com if you want to know more about offers, coupons, discounts, grocery coupons, Online Coupons and Printable Coupons.
Having said all that, what individual online customers and surfers alike should do is to be at least Careful and Vigilant. As many have said, it’s a jungle out there, a jungle that yields plenty of good things as well as plenty of hazards and dangers. It is entirely up to us to protect and shield ourselves from those dangers, so always be on your guard and have fun bargain hunting!
3 Top Tips on Making Profit Through Your Website
To avoid missing out on substantial new business through your website, make sure it's:
1. Easily found & accessible
If your target market doesn’t know about your site’s existence, or simply can't find it, what’s the point in investing in it in the first place? It’s vital you have a programme of web promotion and search engine marketing. Take measures also to ensure that your website is cross-browser compatible and that it meets statutory requirements for accessibility.
2. User-friendly & visually appealing
People’s attention spans are short. Even if your website is easy to find, if it’s even slightly frustrating to use, your users will abandon your site and take their business elsewhere. You can however prevent most abandonment through usability testing and making the resulting improvements to your site. In order to pull in new business, it’s also important to evaluate your web users’ ‘browsing statistics’ on an on-going basis to make sure that you’re delivering exactly what your users expect.
3. Useful, engaging & up-to-date
Content must meet your visitors’ expectations by being genuinely captivating and useful. What seems interesting to you is not necessarily what your customers want to hear. Invest in professional search engine optimised copy and plan your site’s content with direct input from your target market. Monitoring your website statistics will enable you to gauge which pages are pulling in traffic, and a programme of ongoing web maintenance will ensure that (i) your content is fresh enough to encourage visitors back again and again, and (ii) a good search engine ranking is maintained.
David Crowther is the director of NerveCentral, whose mission is simple: to maximise its clients business and profit through the web. We have provided web solutions for many organisations and small companies, including well-known corporates such as Thomson Travel Group, Q8, Edding, GlaxoSmithKline, Galderma,
1. Easily found & accessible
If your target market doesn’t know about your site’s existence, or simply can't find it, what’s the point in investing in it in the first place? It’s vital you have a programme of web promotion and search engine marketing. Take measures also to ensure that your website is cross-browser compatible and that it meets statutory requirements for accessibility.
2. User-friendly & visually appealing
People’s attention spans are short. Even if your website is easy to find, if it’s even slightly frustrating to use, your users will abandon your site and take their business elsewhere. You can however prevent most abandonment through usability testing and making the resulting improvements to your site. In order to pull in new business, it’s also important to evaluate your web users’ ‘browsing statistics’ on an on-going basis to make sure that you’re delivering exactly what your users expect.
3. Useful, engaging & up-to-date
Content must meet your visitors’ expectations by being genuinely captivating and useful. What seems interesting to you is not necessarily what your customers want to hear. Invest in professional search engine optimised copy and plan your site’s content with direct input from your target market. Monitoring your website statistics will enable you to gauge which pages are pulling in traffic, and a programme of ongoing web maintenance will ensure that (i) your content is fresh enough to encourage visitors back again and again, and (ii) a good search engine ranking is maintained.
David Crowther is the director of NerveCentral, whose mission is simple: to maximise its clients business and profit through the web. We have provided web solutions for many organisations and small companies, including well-known corporates such as Thomson Travel Group, Q8, Edding, GlaxoSmithKline, Galderma,
Monday, December 18, 2006
Options of E-commerce Order Fulfillment
With the Internet boom, e-commerce is a top-notch activity requiring more often a fulfillment service. If you take online orders, an order fulfillment service can help you enormously, saving you from the tedious packing and shipping process that is probably not your core competency, as you probably have not had the experience of a fulfillment company you can partner with.
By means of drop shipping, a form of blind shipping of merchandise from the manufacturer to the end-user, fulfillment companies are the helpful hand saving your time. Otherwise, you would have to forward to the end-user the merchandise and the lack of experience on this process may increase your costs and cause delay.
Because time can make the difference between a successful e-commerce business and another closing sooner than you expected time, the choice of your fulfillment company is an important decision that you must analyze. Starting with the advantage of having your inventory stored off-site, order fulfillment enables the small e-commerce owner to store a larger quantity and variety of inventory.
The fulfillment service will be in charge to receive and organize your inventory in its land-based storage service, while you will be able to log in through the fulfillment company's web-based interface to check your current inventory and the drop shipping history of each item. Many online e-commerce sites and small retailers use drop shipment to close their deals, as an example, eBay sellers.
Order fulfillment can be tracked online and even automated, accepting shipping requests via your web-based application, emailing the invoices generated directly to the fulfillment company's storage center, from where the shipping request is received, and the items ordered are automatically packaged and shipped to the customer, in fact, a drop shipping process.
Outsourcing your order fulfillment is convenient, even if you are just an individual running a small e-commerce website. A fulfillment company for small commerce sites, independent vendors and individuals willing to start an e-commerce activity, will be pleased to reply to all your enquires related to order fulfillment and drop shipping, as well as its overall fulfillment service.
A few factors to consider when selecting a drop shipping and fulfillment company is the location of the fulfillment service, size of the storage facilities, shipping options provided, turn-around time, order fulfillment, communication between the company, the distributor and customer service, error rate managed by the company as well as the gross costs of the service.
More than storage, shipping costs are the highest item within e-commerce order fulfillment, so make sure to find a fulfillment company offering you a savings in delivery, and depending on your e-commerce approach, verify if the company provides domestic and international shipping, returns processing, secure payment gateway, electronic support, online ordering, reporting and tracking, as well as a customer service call center.
9 Tips to Make Your Product Photos Sizzle
If you are selling products online, be it your own online store or in an auction site, good photos are a must!
Here are 9 tips if you want to ensure your product photos stand out!
1. Snap a shot of a portion of the product. It could be half or three-quarter of the product. You don't need to show the whole product. Use a thumbnail of the partial product to attract customers to click for a larger photo.
2. Angle the product. Must all photos be shot from the front and flat straight? No. Angle your camera so it shoots... well... from an angle.
3. If your product is combined from a number of parts, have a separate photo showing the separate bobs and bits. This allows the customer know how it all fits together and what they'll be getting when they buy it. And describe the parts.
4. If the product you sell is tiny or elaborate, show off the incredible detailing of this tiny product. Shoot close-ups of the product and get more of the intricate details.
5. Show how it is used. If the product is best shown being used, shoot the photo with a model using the product especially if it is new or complicated. For instance, having one or two darling children fiddling/using/wearing your products (if they're meant for children) always helps.
6. If you are selling clothes, get someone to model them. If your model is shy, tell him or her to turn their face sideways. Or better, just focus the camera on their bodies. Many people love to see how clothes drape and fit the actual body!
7. If you have the same product in different colours, why not arrange them in a circle and shoot? It's always attractive and at the same time, shows your customers the range of colours available.
8. If you are selling photo frames, why not insert a photo into the frame to make it look lively? Inanimate objects always look better when they're shown used.
9. If you're completely lost for ideas, pick up great catalogues and brochures (my favourites are those by IKEA). Study how products are featured and how they are arranged.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Online Credit Card Merchant Accounts
A recent survey indicates that when you accept credit cards online, you can expect your sales to increase by an astounding 50 to 400%. If experts are to be believed, in this fast-paced world you simply can't compete if you don't accept credit cards. For the online web entrepreneur, the most important factor in credit card processing is how many products you think you can realistically sell in a month.
Business firms are often forced to extend credit to increase sales. In some businesses, the entire sale takes place on credit, cash sales being negligible. In certain other businesses, hire purchase and installment payments are the normal practices. Even in those cases where the sales to consumers are on a cash basis, credit is extended to the distribution channels. It is essential for any business firm to evolve a clear policy on credit and exercise proper control of it.
The firm must ensure that customers and channels do not exploit the credit policy of the firm. Credit transactions should not turn into bad debts. Credit has two cost dimensions: the interest on the money involved in the credit transaction, and the risk of bad debts. Bad debts must be seen and understood as an important part of the cost of credit. They erode the profits of the firm.
All credit transactions have the potential of becoming a bad debt. And even if they are sound, credit transactions always have another serious implication-- of affecting the liquidity of the firm. An analysis of outstandings and overdues will highlight the corrective action to be taken. Some firms offer cash rebates to customers in lieu of credit, with a view to reducing credit transactions and accelerating recoveries. Proper credit rating of the client is the fundamental step in credit control. Credit rating ensures that the credit worthiness of the client is assessed objectively before the firm proceeds with the risk of extending credit facility to him.
How the Internet Changes the Competitive Battleground
HUB AND SPOKES AS A NEW BUSINESS STRUCTURE
Natural market forces that lead to consolidation and the law of twos happen even faster on the Internet. The "best" products are anointed, information is rapidly distributed, and customers (who face no geographic limits) seek out these "hot" places. Moreover, as brands become familiar, consumers increasingly seek them out because they have credibility.
Unique to the Web is something which may be called a "hub-and-spoke strategy" . This also facilitates the law of twos: A hub-and-spoke strategy is the increasingly common arrangement where a major retailer establishes relationships with other Web sites, promising them a percentage of any sales (generally 5 to 15 percent) that result from any traffic sent to the retailer by these "affiliates." It's not uncommon for a major affiliate program to have over 10,000 participating members, all of whom refer traffic to the central site. What's even more interesting is the extent to which this type of business model is proliferating: Refer-it is a site that lists credible affiliate programs for prospective members. As we go to press, it is approaching 500 distinct plans.
The Internet is already taking its place as a central tool in everyday business life. Each aspect of commerce is changing in light of the new capabilities available. The coming changes are so powerful that it is both terrifying and exciting. The first phase of Internet business has principally focused on the creation of new types of businesses: The next phase will involve the impact of these developments on brick-and-mortar businesses and on the economy as a whole.
The new capabilities that the Internet makes available for business-to-business commerce and for business-to-consumer sales will transform many industries from top to bottom. Winning companies will understand that in the emerging era success now requires new rules for action and the mastery by the organization of different types of skills.
Questions may arise on what the future will look like: "Will my business be helped or hurt?" "What should I do to survive?" Until recently, the pace of change has been so great that attempts at answering these questions were often unsatisfying.
Elements that will play a central role in how the Internet economy evolves. These elements have the potential to greatly harm our economy or to power us into prosperity for the twenty-first century. The best way to discuss these ideas is to provide two contrasting visions of the future: The Potential Downside of Internet Growth More than any other aspect of the Internet, shopping "bots," software that searches the entire Internet for products and services based on predefined criteria (price being the most popular), have the capacity to offer great benefit to consumers while potentially bringing great harm to businesses. Today the major Internet portals, include Google , Yahoo and MSN , all have shopping initiatives with participating retailers that are, at least in part, powered by bots (also called "intelligent software shopping agents"/ will reveal that there are already over many easy-to-use bots that are available for businesses and consumers. Each bot typically has a specialized function, ranging from financial bots that perform stock-related functions to news-gathering bots to auction-related bots.
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