Published on July 30, 2008 How to start an online shop: answers to basic ecommerce questions
No matter how experienced you are in business, a step into online business brings new terminology and ecommerce jargon that you will need to be familiar with. If you are not already familiar with shopping carts, ecommerce, payment gateways, merchants and secure checkouts, here is the place you can find out.
In a two part series we will answer the basic questions about shopping cart software that we get asked by new customers.
The three parts are:
- Basic ecommerce FAQs
- What can you do with a shopping cart?
Basic Ecommerce Frequently Asked Questions
What is ecommerce?
Ecommerce means buying and selling through electronic means – usually through the Internet. Ecommerce websites allow customers to browse through hundreds or even thousands of products, order online and have payments processed in real time, in most cases through using credit cards. Ecommerce is often referred to as an online shopping cart.
Will ecommerce help my business?
Ecommerce can help virtually any type of business. Small, medium and home-based businesses often have limited budgets available for marketing to new customer groups, but ecommerce allows the to reach out to a growing pool of online customers waiting to buy their products online. In Australia, the market for ecommerce is growing rapidly – analysts have calculated growth at about 30% p.a. How much help ecommerce can do for your business is only limited by how much effort you want to put into it. Even when sites are not selling products, they’re helping showcase them and support the overall image your business projects to the world.
What is a shopping cart?
An online shopping cart is like a grocery trolley on the Internet. You go through the website like you do a physical store, viewing and putting the products you want to buy into your shopping cart. You can then visit the checkout where you can purchase them online using your credit card. Shopping cart software such as Ozcart allows businesses to offer multiple payment options that are processed in real time.
Is online shopping safe?
Ecommerce is extremely safe compared to most physical stores. Physical stores are vulnerable to flooding, fires, robbery, pick pockets, shoplifters and employee credit card fraud. Whereas online, heavy electronic security protects customer credit card details during ecommerce transactions and stores have the option of purchasing strong forms of encryption like SSL (a protocol that creates a secure connection to encrypt information as it travels over the Internet) which allows online shops to use ‘https’ instead of ‘http’ in the website address for their shopping cart. Ozcart ecommerce websites are stored on dedicated ecommerce servers and stores have the option of purchasing SSL if they wish. No ecommerce system can ever offer a 100% guarantee, but your susceptibility to crime is less when customers shop online.
What software do I need to set up an ecommerce website?
OzCart software is already added into your site when you get it back it. To manage your product listings and the sales you receive, the only other thing you need is a web browser.
Why do I need my own ecommerce store?
If you’re selling on auction sites or markets, then your own ecommerce site could save you time processing credit card orders and money through avoiding listing and success fees. It also means you can be selling to customers outside your immediate geographic area (as Internet customers could come from anywhere in the world), and selling when your store is closed as the Internet is open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ecommerce is also ideal if you’re running a small business or starting up a new business.
Do I need to purchase separate hosting?
Not if you buy from us. Our ecommerce packages are all hosted by us, so you get web hosting space on the Internet as well as the shopping cart software as part of ozCart. You also get unlimited email support for administration issues to do with your store, and hosting issues.
Do I need to know HTML to run an online store?
No – you don’t need to know HTML or be a graphic designer to run your ecommerce website at all. You manage your site through an easy-to-use administration section of your site, that runs through a web browser.
How much time do I need to commit?
There’s a basic rule in business: the amount of time you put in determines how much you will get back. A shopping cart website is an online business so just like a physical shop, the time you spend on it is up to you.
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