Hey guys,
I wanted to post some of the guidelines and tools that I use to do feasibility tests for ecommerce businesses, as well as the tools that I used to operate an e-biz efficiently.
Beginning stage: Infrastructure
Three questions that I deem most important in e-biz infrastructure construction.
1) What is the main product of my e-biz?
Sporting Goods, Electronics, Furniture, Technology Services, etc.
2) How am I going to market this product effectively to establish a customer base?
Magazines, Word of mouth, E-advertising, Mail outs, etc.
3) How am I going to maintain the functionality of the site for the customers?
Hiring a web content manager, Independent firm, Self Managed, etc.
Elaboration on each question and their importance
1) What is the main product of my e-biz?
You have to get to the nuts and bolts of this business. Are you going to sale just one product, or are you going to sale products for one category. To try and sale multiple products, you're going to be hard pressed to beat a giant like E-bay. Try to specialize your content/products so that the customer knows that what you are doing is centralizing your product base. Know the product back and forth, and customers will fall in love with your dedication to whatever they me in the market to purchase. By doing this, you are able to focus on the new products and news relating to your category. Specialization in any category can help customers with making the decision because your business is in the know. Who wants to buy a car/bike from someone that also sales houses and office equiptment? Where is the focus of the company? What makes this customer know that if there is a problem with your product they are going to speak with a represenative that is in tune to their needs? Not much. Make them know that.
2) How am I going to market this product effectively to establish a customer base?
The internet is a vast and continually growing organism. Never will it decrease in size, so your just going to have to stake your claim, and remain in the position, or go up from there. You have to make a stadegy that will broadcast your business to everyone. Whether it is going to door to door and letting people know, going to trade shows and speaking to people in that field, or whether its talking to locals that have the same interest and letting it grow virally. For myself, I have always been one to do the advertising by mouth, and face to face, rather than over the internet. I have not seen an upside to sending out initial advertising by email, yet people do it everyday. What makes you different than all of the spam they get on a day to day basis? Nothing. Pound the pavement, talk to people, and establish a relationship with anyone you can. Bridge gaps that have not been easily accessable before. Be the person that does his own talking, and let people know that there is time being spent to let everyone know. Sales trends usually depend on the size of the customer base. Why is this? The word of mouth spreads faster, with more impact, than any electronic communication ever can. Once peoples emotions are involved, you have a true sense of the situation. Most of the time this is hard to interpret via emails/chats.
3) How am I going to maintain the functionality of the site for the customers?
One of the most important things in E-commerce, is the ease of use of your website. Now, I will never tell anyone to make a site that ANYONE could use, because that is un-doable. You have to truely look at the customer you're trying to reach and research their lifestyle. If these customers are ones who widely use computers, then you have a starting point. The idea is to not spend so much time on making it so easy, anyone could do it, but making it easy enough that any of YOUR target audience can use it. Also, you want to make sure that your e-bizz has a strong sense of security. Make sure that if you have a diaster in your office/area, that your bases are covered for your national customers. I always like to have a seperate back up company, as far away as possible that I can turn to in case of an emergency. Have a DNS back up so that if something does hit your local area, you can dial into your extra DNS, point to your back up server located somewhere else in the country, and still have the site up and running for everyone else. Likelihood of someone in your local area getting onto the website after a diaster is slim, so we need to focus on non-local customers.
Second Stage: Business Contruction
Coming Soon
Stay Tuned
I wanted to post some of the guidelines and tools that I use to do feasibility tests for ecommerce businesses, as well as the tools that I used to operate an e-biz efficiently.
Beginning stage: Infrastructure
Three questions that I deem most important in e-biz infrastructure construction.
1) What is the main product of my e-biz?
Sporting Goods, Electronics, Furniture, Technology Services, etc.
2) How am I going to market this product effectively to establish a customer base?
Magazines, Word of mouth, E-advertising, Mail outs, etc.
3) How am I going to maintain the functionality of the site for the customers?
Hiring a web content manager, Independent firm, Self Managed, etc.
Elaboration on each question and their importance
1) What is the main product of my e-biz?
You have to get to the nuts and bolts of this business. Are you going to sale just one product, or are you going to sale products for one category. To try and sale multiple products, you're going to be hard pressed to beat a giant like E-bay. Try to specialize your content/products so that the customer knows that what you are doing is centralizing your product base. Know the product back and forth, and customers will fall in love with your dedication to whatever they me in the market to purchase. By doing this, you are able to focus on the new products and news relating to your category. Specialization in any category can help customers with making the decision because your business is in the know. Who wants to buy a car/bike from someone that also sales houses and office equiptment? Where is the focus of the company? What makes this customer know that if there is a problem with your product they are going to speak with a represenative that is in tune to their needs? Not much. Make them know that.
2) How am I going to market this product effectively to establish a customer base?
The internet is a vast and continually growing organism. Never will it decrease in size, so your just going to have to stake your claim, and remain in the position, or go up from there. You have to make a stadegy that will broadcast your business to everyone. Whether it is going to door to door and letting people know, going to trade shows and speaking to people in that field, or whether its talking to locals that have the same interest and letting it grow virally. For myself, I have always been one to do the advertising by mouth, and face to face, rather than over the internet. I have not seen an upside to sending out initial advertising by email, yet people do it everyday. What makes you different than all of the spam they get on a day to day basis? Nothing. Pound the pavement, talk to people, and establish a relationship with anyone you can. Bridge gaps that have not been easily accessable before. Be the person that does his own talking, and let people know that there is time being spent to let everyone know. Sales trends usually depend on the size of the customer base. Why is this? The word of mouth spreads faster, with more impact, than any electronic communication ever can. Once peoples emotions are involved, you have a true sense of the situation. Most of the time this is hard to interpret via emails/chats.
3) How am I going to maintain the functionality of the site for the customers?
One of the most important things in E-commerce, is the ease of use of your website. Now, I will never tell anyone to make a site that ANYONE could use, because that is un-doable. You have to truely look at the customer you're trying to reach and research their lifestyle. If these customers are ones who widely use computers, then you have a starting point. The idea is to not spend so much time on making it so easy, anyone could do it, but making it easy enough that any of YOUR target audience can use it. Also, you want to make sure that your e-bizz has a strong sense of security. Make sure that if you have a diaster in your office/area, that your bases are covered for your national customers. I always like to have a seperate back up company, as far away as possible that I can turn to in case of an emergency. Have a DNS back up so that if something does hit your local area, you can dial into your extra DNS, point to your back up server located somewhere else in the country, and still have the site up and running for everyone else. Likelihood of someone in your local area getting onto the website after a diaster is slim, so we need to focus on non-local customers.
Second Stage: Business Contruction
Coming Soon
Stay Tuned
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