Information Architecture – Here one will consider the navigation and layout of the site as well as best practices for overall user experience. Following best practices in information architecture is the key to overall user satisfaction and a higher conversion rate. Understanding how customers browse one’s site is the key to giving them what they’re looking for without a lot of hassle or wasted time. The sooner one’s e-Commerce website can resolve their needs, the more likely they will be to make a purchase and come back again. Design – To create a professional, customer-oriented style that best captures one’s brand and focus. Having a professionally designed website is paramount to the all-important “first impression” a potential customer gets of the site and its credibility. If the site does not project a style that is attractive and pleasing, the customer may mistakenly infer that the products sold will not live up to their expectations. The customer experience in surfing one’s site and finding the products they’re looking for will have a direct impact on how many site visitors actually convert into buyers.

Construction – Including client and server-side applications, quality assurance testing, and other solutions that will make your e-Commerce website scalable as it continues to grow. Migration and Launch – The final step involves moving the site from a development server toward live launch. Revisit each of the aforementioned areas again for a final test to confirm that everything works, the brand message is conveyed, and the navigation is faultless and properly leads someone to making a purchasing decision.

The Internet-Compatibility of E-Products

However, there are certain features that are unique to e-commerce. Some products cannot be marketed or sold online, but require personalized selling in order to be successful. Since e-products need to be shipped to clients, the cost of shipping ought to be affordable. If the product is too expensive to ship, the overall profit margins of the e-business will go down. Besides, the owner of the business needs to be aware of the intellectual property rights of the product being sold and ensure that he/she retains control of the idea behind the product.

Developing an Online Store

There a number of requirements that an ‘e-tailer’ needs to fulfill for running a successful e-business. An online store is mandatory for running an e-business. However, it is possible to outsource this job or even hire an existing store to market e-products. Any e-business needs a merchant account for processing credit and debit card transactions online. There also has to be a secure server that protects the confidential information provided by customers. One also needs to have an order form to be filled by potential customers.

Importance of a Website

A well-designed and promoted website is essential for e-commerce. Hiring an experienced web developer and designer can help the website generate plenty of traffic and achieve the desired lead conversion. However, regular maintenance and updating the content is necessary too. A lot of free information for designing and developing an e-commerce website is available online.

Ubiquity-Traditional commercial transactions need a marketplace or some kind of physical space. Most radio or television advertisements, for instance, urge consumers to visit a certain place in order to purchase something. E-commerce, on the other hand, is ubiquitous. It can take place just about anywhere and is not restricted to a physical space. The consumer as well as the seller benefit because of the reduced transaction costs associated with e-commerce. Both save time and money, along with the cognitive energy needed to carry out a commercial transaction.

Global reach- The technology of e-commerce facilitates commercial activities to effectively overcome regional and cultural boundaries. Therefore, the potential market for an e-commerce merchant is roughly equivalent to the size of the online population of the world.

Interactivity- The technology of e-commerce, unlike other twentieth century commercial technologies, is interactive and facilitates two-way interaction between the buyer and the seller.

Universal standards-Since the technical standards of the Internet are universal, the technical standards for conducting commercial transactions online are universal too. This is one of the most striking features of e-commerce technology.

The Richness and Density of Information- Information density is the amount as well as quality of the information that is available to consumers and merchants. The technology of e-commerce helps to reduce the collection and storage of information, along with the cost of processing and communication. Moreover, these technologies increase the accuracy and amount of the information provided. Thus, information becomes cheaper, reliable, and freely available.

Personalization-The technology of e-commerce allows merchants to create customized marketing messages in order to target specific customers, based on past purchases, names and interests. Personalized e-commerce services help to increase the lead conversion rate.

E-commerce technologies provide consumer information to merchants and facilitate them in using it much more effectively. Online merchants are thus able to develop better products and brands and provide high quality services for which they can charge premium rates.

For licensed software:

Licensed software can be run on your server. You can download it or buy the software and then upload it on your server. Then once purchased you can do anything that you want with it. You can get the benefit of hosting it the way you want and even customize it according to your requirement. The initial cost is definitely going to be high and the debugging definitely claims a threat. The fees are going to decrease though and it will come cheaper. Though there are bugging elements there but you can find solutions for yourself or fully licensed solutions.

For Hosted Solutions:

The biggest benefit of hosted solutions is that the initial cost is very negligible, most of the solutions come with wizards and templates and you can also get lucky by getting the advantage of upgrading. Your host will take care of all the technicalities that the potential business owner or you might not understand or interest you. Thus leaving you all the time to manage your business and running your site more fruitfully. This is a good option if you want to stay away from all the IT issues or want to save by not having to hire an IT team for dealing with it.

So now ultimately it is your choice and personal expertise and contacts that it depends on which option you would want to go with.