E-Commerce

Buying and Selling in the internet

Buying, selling products and services over the internet has become one of the most rewarding and challenging business. Just last year, 2007, is estimated that sales over the internet reached 170 billion dollars, and it is expected to grow 25% every year.

Almost every business that has a website is selling a product or service, and the ones that are not selling is because they haven't figure out how to sell in this media. The challenges however are significant, but the rewards are exceptional.

How do you sell in the internet?

In most cases, it is not a matter of whether or not a company can sell their products or services over the internet, the biggest problem is HOW?.

There are many things to consider when a business decides to sell its products or services over the internet. Here is a sample of just a few of them.

1. Consumer Privacy – The business needs to provide the necessary elements to secure the confidential information of the buyers and the transactions that take place in electronic form..

2. Legal protection – Information about the products, services and the policies and regulations regarding the guaranty of the transaction needs to be clear and accessible to the buyers at all times.

3. Consumer market – The business needs to understand the limitations of their market. If the target market is local, then the website and the marketing efforts need to reflect that. If the business is doing business globally, or planning to do business globally, then the marketing business plan and the website will have to be created with that perspective.

4. Distribution Channels – How is the buyer going to receive the goods or services? As people are getting more and more familiar with the internet, the distances are not an issue for the buyers, but it is for the business selling the products. It doesn’t matter if the product is coming from another part of the world, as long as it meets the expectations.

It is important for businesses to understand that a website is an extension of their sales and marketing plans. It should not be an isolated program run by inexperienced people.

Why most E-commerce websites fail?

In most cases it is not a problem with the product or service, it is in the way it is presented to the customer. The reality is that most companies don’t know how to sell in the internet. The rules in the internet are different. A good E-commerce website is the one that converts visitors into customers. If your website is not converting, then there is a problem with it.

Let us share with you some of the reason why many E-commerce websites fail.

1. Poorly design (Unprofessional) – Let’s face it, if the website is a reflection of your business. If it is poorly designed - looking old, cheap or ugly – people is not going to buy from that business

2. Difficult to Navigate – Most people don’t have the time to figure out how to buy in the website. Therefore, the website should take them through this process in a very easy, comfortable and secure way. The buyer should be able to find everything they need in one or two clicks at the most.

3. Feeling of uncertainty – The website can have all the security that is needed to make transactions safe over the internet, but does the customer know that? The website has to “tell” the customer that the business is doing everything possible to keep the information secure and confidential.

4. Analysis of performance – Do you know how many people visited your site?, how long did they stay in your site?, what information they were looking at?, at what point did they left your site?. If you don’t know all of this, how do you know what is the problem with your website and how can you fix it? Analytics is one of the most important parts in an E-commerce website. Without them, you know that you have a problem but don’t know where it is and how to fix it.

The best E-commerce website ever

The best E-commerce website is not the one that has the most visitors or that is the pretties. The best E-commerce website ever is the one that converts the highest number of visitors into customers.

It really doesn’t matter if you have millions of visitors a day to your website, you have to convert them and make them buy your products. Otherwise your website doesn’t work and it is an expense for your business.