An eCommerce Strategy That Sells

A successful eCommerce strategy encompasses much more than an online shopping cart. To achieve success you need a combination of excellent merchandising, marketing, sales and service.

We do not want to sell you something you don't need. Before you get too far into the process of deciding if eCommerce is right for you, take the time to assess the following:

"Is there a market?"

Search the web for other companies that sell the same things you do. Look at the features they offer on their site, the pricing, delivery costs, etc. Remember, price is not necessarily the deciding factor for making an online purchase. Trust, simplicity and convenience play an important role.

"What competitive advantages do you bring to the table?"

The best way to close a sale is to sell the benefits of the product rather than the product itself. Don't consider price, service or product quality as competitive advantages unless you are the clear leader in the market. Look for ways you can give your customers additional value such as an extended warranty.

Ready, set, go!

Ok, so you have a market and a competitive advantage, but hold on. You're not ready yet. Let's get some basics out of the way. You need the following items first.

• Domain Name - The name you select for your site is very important. You want to portray a professional, trustworthy image. It is also very useful if you can use a valuable search term within your domain name. It isn't always easy, but a little thought and effort can probably produce a good compromise between professional image and search engine optimization.
• Marketing Plan - How do you plan to drive customers to your site? The most obvious method for an eCommerce site is search engine marketing. Google and Overture provide useful tools to research key words that are used to find products and services related to your market. Using these tools will help you gain an understanding of what your potential customers are searching for.
• Product Descriptions - Take time to develop compelling product descriptions. Provide detail that will help someone make a decision when considering the purchase of your products.
• Shipping and Order Fulfillment - How do you plan to fulfill orders? Consider your shipping options and decide what is right for you.

Selecting Your Web Solution

Various shopping cart programs are available to handle basic eCommerce; however, we have found that many types of eCommerce require special functionality not offered by out of the box solutions.

You should consider the following when selecting your solution:

• Is it easy to maintain?
• Is it easy to process orders?
• Does it help you market your site?
• How long will it take you to learn how to use the solution?
• Is it flexible enough - how much can it be customized to meet your needs?
• Do you need to have multiple people maintain your site?

What is different about a Batdesign eCommerce solution?

Like all of our solutions, a Batdesign eCommerce solution is custom tailored to your specific needs. There are no limits on the number of products, product categories/sub-categories, payment/shipping options, etc.

Let's answer the questions from above.

"Is it easy to maintain?"

Your administration area will control every aspect of your product inventory. The descriptions, images and inventory of your products are easily maintained through an intuitive interface. In addition, your content, e.g., home page, about us and contact us text is controlled by the Batdesign content management system.

"Is it easy to process orders?"

An order fulfillment module allows you to review orders, mark them as processed, enter tracking numbers for customer review and then archive the order for permanent record. Also, each update to an order generates an automated email message notifying your customer of the status change.

"Does it help you market your site?"

Absolutely. The Batdesign content management system that is integrated with your site allows you to manage your site content and meta tags (description, key words and robot text). In addition, once you have your potential customer on your site, featured products, dynamic upsale and coupon discounts help you capture the sale.

"How long will it take you to learn how to use the solution?"

Our administrative interfaces are very intuitive and easy to use. With just a few minutes of review, the operation of the system is very easy to master. Batdesign also provides onsite training to assist you with learning how to use your custom eCommerce solution.

"Is it flexible enough - how much can it be customized to meet your needs?"

Our solutions present unlimited flexibility. Any eCommerce solution can be accommodated. Product builders (similar to buying a computer at Dell), clothing sales with multiple size/color options, embroidery locations and much more are possible with a custom Batdesign eCommerce solution.

"Do you need to have multiple people maintain your site?"

If you need the ability to delegate the maintenance responsibility of your site, the hierarchical permissions structure in the Batdesign administration module will allow you to add new administrators and assign unique view/read/write permissions for each functional area.

For example, you can assign permissions for a user to fulfill orders and nothing more. This means that the order fulfillment module will be the only area they can access and control; the user will not be able to edit product prices or update content, etc. unless you choose to grant permission.

Just a few features available

Below is a short list of eCommerce features available; but remember, any custom option is possible in a Batdesign solution:

• Featured products
• Dynamic online help
• Inventory management
• Retail/Wholesale/Discount Pricing
• Integration with accounting software, e.g., QuickBooks and Peachtree
• Discounts based upon amount spent
• Coupon generation and processing
• Dynamic upsale
• Newsletter
• Product comparisons
• Wish Lists
• Gift Registries
• Online and Rate Table-Based Shipping Calculations
• Free shipping based upon amount spent
• Hierarchical adminstrator profile permissions
• Customer Registration
• Order Tracking
• Integration with credit card payment gateways, e.g., Authorize.net, LinkPoint API, PayPal, 2Checkout, etc.
• Integration with third party product fulfillment systems
• Content Management System
• Unlimited product categories/sub-categories
• Multiple Address Shipping
• Order fulfillment management
• And much more...