e-commerce|Article information

Informative Articles


eCommerce development for Microsoft Great Plains: tools and highlights for programmer

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics and eEnterprise was designed in earlier 1990th as ERP, which can be easily transferable to the winning Database and OS platform and it was originally available on Mac and PC – Mac OS and Microsoft Windows respectively. Graphical platforms battle is pretty much over and now with eCommerce demands, we should look at Great Plains Dynamics tables structure:

* Naming Convention. Great Plains was designed to be ready to move to the winning database platform and probably this is why we see this a bit complicated naming convention in place: SOP10100, RM00101, IV00101 – these are samples: SOP header, Customer master, Inventory master. First – we see module prefix: SOP – Sales Order Processing, RM – Receivables management, IV – Inventory control, etc., then 0 stays for the master files, 1 – so-called work files (before transaction being posted), 2 – open files (after transaction is posted) and 3 – historical files (when you close the year in General Ledger – transactions are moved from open to history files). So as you see – logic is present and structured, but it is not friendly to the developer, who never seen and worked with Great Plains Dynamics.

* Tables Groups. Great plains was designed to first serve mid-size businesses and then with the availability of third party modules – the intention was to compete on corporate ERP market with Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP and others big players. This is why we see the whole cluster of tables to store, say Sales Invoice: SOP Header, SOP Lines, SOP Distribution, RM Key file, etc.

From the Forms side (or screens) you can see more human-readable names: SOP Entry, RM_Customer_Maintenance, POP_Entry or the like. But these legacy Great Plains Dexterity names do not help eCommerce developer – only probably as the reference on which table works with specific screen.

Let’s take a look at the tools available:

* eCommerce – together with eOrder, and other eXXX products it should be considered as legacy and phase out product, based on



Microsoft eCommerce server and ASP technology, today Microsoft has new paradigm - .Net and ASPX World

* eConnect – was specially created for eCommerce developers, who integrate Microsoft Great Plains with eCommerce web interface. This tool covers a lot of Great Plains objects creation and retrieving functionality, however it does have restrictions, because it was not intended as replacement to Great Plains Dexterity shell. For example – if you create Orders in SOP via Web interface/eConnect – it is difficult manipulate these orders (transfers to Invoices, backorders, reallocations, etc.). Another issue with eConnect – developers are kind of used to the fact that Microsoft provides free SDK to its products, Microsoft CRM for example has freely downloadable Microsoft CRM SDK. For eConnect you have to pay license and be on Microsoft Business Solutions annual support to get version upgrades. Also if you are ISV and develop your GP integration to your customers – you have licensing issue with Microsoft.

* Custom SOP/AR stored procedures. Microsoft Business Solutions partners in their practice usually have several Great Plains integration projects implemented where integration is realized on the stored procedures level and transactions are created and manipulated in Great Plains SOP. So – you may end up seeking this type of help

Good luck with implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 866-528-0577 or 630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

About The Author

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) – Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit, Los Angeles

help@albaspectrum.com



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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Informative Articles


eCommerce, Communications and the Global Internet Community.


In our increasingly online world, cyberspace is still experiencing "gold fever", but there have been and will be many casualties. Only the innovative, responsive, financially sound and flexible will survive. Many new markets are joining the world of eCommerce; over the last 6 months I have seen a remarkable increase in visitors to my site from countries such as India. This trends means more visitors to our sites perhaps; but it definitely means more competition between web developers, etailers and other service providers.

India will be extraordinarily competitive in web development, due largely to favourable exchange rates. In Australia, our struggling dollar still favours us in securing work with U.S companies, but not to the same degree. I can see that the Internet will play a considerable role in the valuation of our currencies in the future.

Up until now, the Internet has been very focused on the U.S. By 2003, the Asia Pacific region will catch up and overtake in regards to Internet usage. While we are all busy submitting our sites to the U.S and U.K search engines, have we considered their Indian or Taiwanese counterparts? There are literally thousands of Asia-Pacific search engines and indices. Some of them will grow to be major players in the next five years.

The Western world tends to forget that we are a minority. Only about eight percent of the earth's population speaks English as the primary language. As countries such as India, Korea, Taiwan and perhaps even China open up, we will need to adapt to this change. The big players can afford to have their pages translated into different languages. For those of us without the budget, perhaps even a simple greeting in a variety of languages on our pages would encourage a visitor with limited English abilities to explore our sites. If you are going to translate your site, ensure that the person undertaking the translation really knows their stuff, as a single word misinterpreted can turn a welcome into a curse. The proper use of images and other visual cues can also assist in relaying information more effectively than English text.

One of the other ways we, the smaller companies, can welcome these newcomers without spending a cent is to drop our xenophobic reactions to "foreigners". There are no "foreigners" as the Internet is now more than ever a global community. Instead of fearing these new arrivals stealing our bread and butter, we should be seeking to establish alliances with them. We should be striving to learn a little about the culture of the emerging electronic economies. This will assist us in using the correct protocols during business dealings.

As web masters, we receive many communications via email from our "foreign" visitors. Some of these emails are, in our way of thinking, poorly worded. As an example I received a note the other day that didn't have the usual signature line of "Regards" or "Sincerely", but had one



word at the bottom of the message - "Waiting". Many of our visitors to whom English is a second language struggle with email writing, sometimes appearing rude to us. Perhaps we become impatient with this and devalue the communication or ignore it.

Bad move... both from a human and business point of view.

Nothing angers me more than to have an email unanswered. I am sure most others feel the same. I have written to a large U.S Internet presence four times in the last month, without a response. It's a shame, not for me, but for them.... I was a customer with a sizeable amount of money to spend. I'll go elsewhere.... and remember my dealings with the other company... for years.

In traditional business we are taught that an unhappy customer will tell 10 others about their experience. In ebusiness, an unhappy customer can tell tens of thousands through newsgroup postings - that's well worth keeping in mind.

When we do receive communications from someone and it's apparent that they may have troubles with our language, take the time to try and understand what it is they require. This may entail several notes back and forth, but it will be worth the effort in the long run.

From the "warm and fuzzy" (human) point of view; the Internet has allowed us as a species to communicate in real time with any other part of the planet. We are no longer dependant on government propaganda to shape our views of a particular country; we can hear it directly from the people. This is a real privilege, and we tend to forget it is.

The Internet has formed the basis of my living for some time now, but equally as important, I have gained a greater knowledge of our world and more importantly - of what it is to be a human. I believe The Internet as a whole, not government or individuals, will be the driving force behind mankind finally seeing past skin colour and creed to recognise "the person".

Related Article: http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/visitorfeedback.htm

Michael Bloch
michael@tamingthebeast.net
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community.
Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions.
_____________________________________________

Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference to the website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!

About the Author

Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)



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Informative Articles


Ecommerce - Boost Your Business ROI

Did you know that over 90% of all online orders are processed by credit cards and that web sites that offer customers the ability to pay with credit cards can achieve up to 300% more sales than those that do not?



It's a fact. Not only do more customers buy, statistics prove that customers actually buy more when given the option to pay with their credit card. Here are some recent trends that will reinforce the need to sell your product or service on the internet- if your business is not yet doing so:

-At the end of 2000, over 400 million people worldwide had Internet access. That number is expected to reach over 1 billion by the end of 2005!

-Almost 100 million people in the U.S. are now making a purchase after using the internet to conduct their research.

-U.S. Consumers spent a record $13.7 billion in online purchases during the 2003 holiday season. A follow-up study conducted jointly by Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen/Net Ratings pegged sales during the 2004 holiday season at $23.2 billion, up 25% from the previous year. This comes at a time when traditional retail sales are growing in the low single digits.

-Forrester projects that total e-commerce sales in the U.S. will increase by approximately 20% per year, growing to $229 billion in 2008, making online retail transactions 10% of total U.S. retail sales by 2008.

In addition, in a survey conducted among more than 500 small business owners, the overwhelming majority indicated that they were either very satisfied or at least somewhat satisfied with their company's e-commerce return on investment



(ROI).

It's no wonder- when compared to traditional forms of direct marketing such as mail order catalogs, the cost of establishing and maintaining an e-commerce website is minimal. Additionally, new affordable, user-friendly storefront applications simplify the task of establishing and maintaining a professional e-commerce website. It is now affordable and doable- even for the novice small business owner- to convert their brick-and-mortar operation into a click-and-mortar operation and triple their revenues in a very short period of time!

What’s more, if your company sells products to consumers or businesses and you don't have a fully automated e-commerce website, your business is simply not operating at its full potential and you're sending customers to your competition!

It is no longer a luxury for the small to mid-sized retailer to have an e-commerce enabled site-but a necessity to stay competitive in the marketplace.


About the author:
Rick Caraballo is the author of this article and the CEO of Avance Web Marketing- http://www.avancewebmarketing.com,a South Florida Web Marketing firm that provides state-of-the-art web hosting, web design, e-commerce and marketing consulting services- including Hispanic Marketing. E-Commerce services include merchant services, as well as, the Excerpo® Shopping Cart- a state-of-the-art e-business storefront application.

Please click here for more eCommerce articles.





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Informative Articles


eCommerce and other strange animals


eCommerce, Ecommerce, e-commerce; however you spell it, the term is now firmly lodged in our language. So just what is it?

At it's most simplistic level; eCommerce is simply the buying and selling of goods, services or information via the World Wide Web, email or other pathways on the Internet. It is here to stay and will play a bigger role in our lives over the years ahead. Ecommerce and Ebusiness are interchangeable terms. eCommerce can be broken down into the following sections:

- eTailing. These are mainly "virtual" storefronts which act as a catalogue of products of merchants and usually include a "shopping cart" system to enable consumers to purchase online with the use of credit cards. Today's Internet climate dictates that if you can't buy what you see online while you are online; you will probably lose the sale. The great advantage of etailing is international coverage at minimum cost and the ability to trade 24 hours a day with minimum staffing levels. The benefits to consumers are shopping from home and a wide range of choice. This range of choice can sometimes be a downfall as it confuses some consumers who in frustration may give up on buying the product at all!

- EDI (Electronic Data exchange). This is the business to business (b2b) flow of information between companies or within a company itself. The 90's saw the concept information equalling power. Whatever creates power also generates money and therefore creates new enterprises to supply this information. EDI is being replaced with XML. He with the most relevant data on his hard drive wins!

- Email and faxing. Direct marketing through email. Unfortunately, it also creates the equivalent of what we find in our physical mailboxes every day; junk mail - electronic junk mail is known as spam. Terrabytes of spam is circulating around the Internet at any given time, which slows down our global network. While this is one of the negative aspects of eCommerce, direct marketing ploys, if carried out properly are a very successful and acceptable way of generating income for a business

- Security services. The broad exposure of (and sometimes hyped) dangers of credit card and direct debit transactions via the Internet has rocketed the growth of many companies who provide security services to protect consumer & business transactions. This can include authorisation/encryption technologies and creating secure areas on web sites. This will be a growth area for



as long as eCommerce is with us because you can guarantee that as soon as a new "unhackable" technology is introduced - someone has hacked it. Some hackers view themselves as rebels, antiestablishment and "socialists"; but in reality they actually fuel the security services market and provide huge dividends for shareholders in successful security services firms. Good one guys... you won't change the world for the better by sniffing around bank accounts!

- Statistics. Demographics and survey results regarding Internet habits is a huge industry. Web planners rely on information from these sources in planning web sites and justifying marketing and promotional expenediture.

- B2B (Business to Business). When I began in Computer Hardware sales some years ago, I spent a great deal of time and money on national and international phone calls to locate components. In 2001, if contacting a supplier meant having to pick up a telephone; I wouldn't bother doing business with them. The B2B world of today means that wholesalers and retailers have a means of fast and efficient communications and transactions; the Internet.

Bill Gates is reported to have said something along the lines of: "In a few years, there will only be 2 types of businesses, those that are online and those that are out of business." You may not buy anything online yourself, but I'll guarantee that most of the companies that supply you with goods and services do - knowingly or not we all have our role in this brave new world......

Michael Bloch
michael@tamingthebeast.net
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community.
Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions.
_____________________________________________

Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference to the website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!

About the Author

Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)



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Informative Articles


eCommerce - A Plan

Planning an ecommerce website is like building a house - architecture and budget need to be agreed before the decoration.

AN AGREED REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION MUST BE DRAWN UP AS THE FIRST STAGE BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE IS DONE - ANY OTHER APPROACH WILL ONLY LEAD TO CONFUSION AND WORSE.

Once an AGREED REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION has been agreed then solutions need to be evaluated and costed against that specification are:

- Project management - Hardware - Web design and software - Site marketing - Project management:

All aspects of the project need to be managed. Decide who is going to do it and properly plan the requirements, activities, outcomes, milestones and timings.

Hardware:

Your choices here are a managed service or your own server. The security and disaster recovery aspect that is achieved by hosting with a major provider is very important. Only go with your own server if you have the experience and facilities.

Design and Software:

Site design

Develop site templates and test them with real people. They have to be easy to use and navigate. Don't let "design" drive the site; let ease of use and sales drive the "design". Think how the customer thinks.

Software

At least 5 solutions need to be considered.

- Updating - Shopping cart - Forum - Email - Statistics

Updating

There are 2 realistic routes here. Either an online or an offline, PC based content management system (CMS). The online CMS can be either an Open Source CMS (Open Source means any application that has been made available, generally free, to developers to view and modify freely. Examples of Open Source applications are MySQL and PHP) or commercial.

There are pros and cons to both routes. An online system is available to anyone with relevant security clearance anywhere any time. A PC based system is, obviously, limited to the PCs running the licenses. An example of a PC based system is Macromedia Contribute which integrates with Dreamweaver. There are a whole range of online Commercial and Open Source options such as SuiteWise™, Drupal, Joomla, and Website Baker etc. However, even this is complicated by the fact that some of the shopping cart solutions also contain CMS that may be sufficient for many companies' requirements.

Shopping cart and CRM

There are also 2 realistic routes for the shopping cart - Open Source or commercial.

There are excellent Open Source shopping carts such as OSCommerce and Zen, but also excellent commercial solutions such as Actinic and Customer Focus Quick Order Portal (which comes with a complete CMS).

There are other factors to consider with the shopping cart:

- Does it have its own or does it easily integrate with your exiting stock control systems?

- Does it integrate easily with



accounting systems (e.g. Sage, QuickBooks)?

- Does it have or integrate easily with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems that may be proposed in future?

Forum

Many CMS have good integrated forums but if they do not our recommendation would be to use a good Open Source package such as PunBB or phpBB. They are free, robust and easy to integrate and customise into any site.

Email

Most CMS, shopping carts and forums have email solutions. However, some solutions are very basic. If the chosen shopping cart solution that best meets the ecommerce and other requirements does not have an effective integrated email solution and if the same be true of the CMS and forum solutions then stand alone Open Source applications such as PHPlist are one alternative solution and the other is an online solution such as Constant Contact or many others.

Statistics

This is arguably the most important part of the package. If you do not know how visitors to your website and in the shop are behaving, what turns them on and what turns them off then it is far, far harder to improve sales and site profitability. Commercial applications such as WebTrends and ClickTracks need to be evaluated for best fit.

SITE MARKETING

There are 4 major areas to consider here.

- Offline marketing - e.g. in-store. What works most cost effectively to drive traffic and orders via the web from non-web activities.

- Site optimisation - how to make sure technical structure, copy, content, back-links and a range of other factors are initially and remain optimised so that as many high search engine placements on relevant searches are obtained.

- Pay per click and other online marketing - how to get traffic from advertising against key words and phrases used in search engines and from adverts on other sites.

- Email - how to grow the email list and use it to grow profitable sales.

In summary:

- Manage the project - Think how the customer thinks - Get excellent software to make finding product and price easy - Make terms clear and payment simple - Ensure you are in stock and and have achievable delivery timescales - Make sure you have a good CRM system and clear communications - mail, phone, emai - Market the site appropriately - Know what's going on - use your stats to test, track and try

Cost ............ well how long is a pice of string, but you could be up and running for far less than the cost of new premises!!!

About the author:

Richard Hill is a director of E-CRM Solutions and has spent many years in senior direct and interactive marketing roles. E-CRM - http://www.e-crm.co.uk - helps you to grow by getting you more customers that stay with you longer. We provide practical solutions that pay for themselves. We help you to make sure that your marketing works.



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Informative Articles

Ecommerce: A New Artform

What creative project do you have in the back of your mind? Writing that
novel? Putting together a bluegrass band? Painting the sunsets over the Rio
Grande? How about starting a business?

When you think of the term creative endeavor, does launching or running a
business come to mind? To most creative people, business is the antithesis of
creativity. Yet slowly, ever so slowly, the nature of business is changing.
The need for innovation in business is gradually overtaking the need for
control as the resource that makes the difference between success and failure.

Really? But isn't business essentially about control? Controlling resources
and controlling people? Yes, but business is also about innovation and
communication, both of which live at the heart of creativity.

There are two reasons why I believe creativity will become increasingly
valued in business. Control is certainly critical in business, both resources
and people need to be managed carefully. But control is easier to teach than
innovation. Given an equal need for both innovation and control, control is
the easier skill or talent to find and implement. Thus innovation rises in
value because it's more difficult to find and utilize effectively.

Are innovation and control equal needs? They certainly haven't been in the
past. Control has been the leading force in business since the beginning of
the industrial age. That age has ended however, and we now live in an
service-based information world of commerce. This means the resource that
needs to be controlled is more likely to be information rather than, say,
coal. Information can be managed easily across electronic wiring and storage
media. That means important work of business will be creating and
disseminating information, and that requires a creative mind.

The other reason I believe creativity will rise in importance in business is
that in our information-based economy, the resources required for business
are fewer and less costly. If you can run a storefront on the Internet that
can reach millions across the globe, you don't need capital to build a store
that sits in a city and reaches thousands. The




juice it takes to make the
Internet company successful is not capital so much as the creative ability to
reach and build a customer base over an infrastructure that's effectively
free.

Napster was a wonderful example of this. A teenager was able to create a
service that was quickly utilized by millions upon millions of users. Of
course Napster had a glaring flaw: the company was trading in products
created by others, and trading without the consent of those who produced the
products. But the heart of the matter is that someone without substantial
resources could build a highly-used, well-recognized brand out of little more
than a creative idea. Using the same infrastructure, surely someone will come
up with another intriguing idea that will capture our imagination and a big
audience, and it will probably happen soon. And the next wave of creative
Internet entrepreneurs will have learned from the Internet crash and its
aftermath.

The Internet isn't dead. It's just stumbling a bit while taking its toddler
steps. Internet start-up ideas will continue to attract creative people,
simply because the free infrastructure invites innovation and resists
control. Control is the deathword to creativity. Creative people have shunned
business for that reason alone. Yet in a world where creativity and
innovation become the critical elements for success, you bet creative people
will begin to see commerce as an avenue of expression.

During the high days of Internet exuberance, I used this column to make the
claim that business will be the creative medium of the early 21st century. I
still believe it's true, simply because the basic elements still exist a
encourage a creative approach to business. The resources to support a new
company do not require control so much as creative manipulation. Given this
free and open canvas, creative people will rush in, despite the lingering
notion that business is somehow anti-creative.



About the Author

Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and the upcoming
Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide to Internet Start-ups (St. Martin's Press).
You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com











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Informative Articles

Ecommerce 101 – Online Credit Card Processing


Back in 1998 (through 2000 or so), I worked for a small company (called PaymentNet / then Signio) that handled online transactions. Verisign later purchased this company, and the product team I led integrated the "client" - the portion that took the credit card information and sent it to our servers for processing. The product name is Payflow Pro - maybe you've heard of it?

I'm going to limit this discussion to Visa / MasterCard credit cards -- Amex and others operate slightly differently.

First, there is the bank that the consumer’s credit card is attached to. That bank is called the "acquiring institution" ... it handles the "credit" you have on your credit card.

Then, there is the merchant bank. That's where the business opens up a "merchant account" to be able to accept various forms of credit cards.

The merchant account is connected to another company called a "processor". This "hidden" layer is the company that actually moves the funds from the acquiring institution to the merchant account (that process is called "settlement"). The processor also handles talking to the acquiring institution to make sure that the customer has the funds available (a process known as authorization).

Some well-known credit card processors are First Data Merchant Services (FDMS). Nova and PaymentTech.

Sitting on top of the processor is one of two primary systems either a swipe-card terminal (like those you see in Wal-Mart) or a "gateway" company that does basically the same thing, but over the Internet - that's what Verisign Payment Services and Authorize.Net do.

Note that the waters are even muddier in many cases, for example, Wells Fargo can act as every piece of the puzzle in some circumstances.

So, what actually happens when you purchase something at Wal-Mart using a credit card?

a) You place your items from your "basket" onto the counter and scan them. the checkout system provides a total.

b) You swipe your card through a "terminal", which reads the # off the magnetic stripe.

c) Wal-Mart dials their processor, and asks if you have the funds available on your credit card. The processor talks to your bank (the acquiring institution). If funds are available on the card, they are marked as "held" in your account (an authorization) -





if not, the transaction is declined (yuk). Authorizations that are never settled tie up your credit card funds for a period of time, usually 10 days or so.
d) At the end of the day, Wal-Mart marks all the transactions they want to receive funds for, and submits them to their processor in a "batch". The processor then contacts the acquiring institutions and transfers the funds to your merchant bank - which may make the funds available instantly (in a day or two), or may hold them for a while, or may hold the funds in a "rolling reserve" (keeping some funds held back in case a consumer fights the transaction, called a chargeback).

In the online world, replace the cash-register with an online shopping cart, and the electronic credit-card with terminal with called a "gateway" such as Payflow or Authorize.Net. the process is basically the same, with slightly more complexity.

My site, CommerceStore.com handles the entire "shopping cart" and storefront process, including talking to the gateway. It knows how to talk to every major gateway (online credit card terminal) available. In addition, we have direct relationships with various banks that can help you open a merchant account in the US or in Canada, and the system works with PayPal. There's a whole lot more, including AutoResponders, built-in affiliate system, etc.

As a merchant, all you really need to know is that all services purchased through CommerceStore.com will work together. Be careful going "a-la-carte" with ecommerce credit-card services: if the gateway you chose can't talk to the processor your bank uses, or your software can't talk to the gateway, you're hosed. That situation was MUCH more common (things not working together) back in the mid/late 90's than it is today. However, most “brick and mortar” banks (like your local branch) still don’t have a clue about online credit-card processing … if they attempt to sell you a “leased terminal”, it’s best to run the other way and find a solution from reputable online source.


Nick Temple is a former engineer for what is now Verisign Payment Services. He can be reached at his website, http://www.nicktemple.com. He is part-owner of the CommerceStore.com complete ecommerce solution.











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Informative Articles

eCatalog - a Key Component of Your eCommerce Initiative


In recent years, Internet virtually has become major driving force of economic and technological growth in many industries. It is fundamentally changing the way companies operate, do their trade and interact with each other and it is giving birth to new processes and business models that were previously unimaginable.

First type of the Internet business models that created a different business method was Business to Consumer (B2C) eCommerce. Business to Business eProcurement systems and web-based storefronts were two other models that emerged next. The eProcurement systems became widely popular instantly due to the factor that Internet-based automated buying solutions are capable of considerable reducing Maintenance, Repair and Operating expenses, which, in turn, makes direct impact on the bottom line of a company. Web-based storefront, on the other hand, provides a low-cost channel for the global marketing and sales of goods and services.

The next business model that changed the perception of doing business online was eMarketplaces. An eMarketplace is an online venue which brings together multiple buyers and sellers and makes it easier for them to communicate, collaborate and trade as members of a large community.

The fourth online business model has combined key aspects of all the above mentioned business methods and is known as Enterprise B2B Portal or Private B2B Exchange. The business world sees enormous changes across industries due to the emergence of this unique solution. Enterprise B2B Portal with supply chain management features is capable of streamlining procurement and sales processes, cutting overhead costs, increasing efficiency, while maximizing profit and helping bottom line savings for companies.

No doubt that B2B eCommerce presents enormous new business opportunities. But to realize these massive opportunities businesses must overcome some significant technical impediments. The most extreme and critical of these challenges involve creating, managing and distributing product content. All four of the above mentioned online business models face this crucial problem.


Product Content and eCatalog

Accurate and complete product content improves quality and speed of purchasing decisions by giving buyers the vital information needed. For sellers content differentiates their products and enables them to participate in multiple eMarketplaces, eProcurement systems and in their very own B2B Portal. The eMarketplaces and eProcurement systems must deliver content, with value added information such as ratings, reviews, regulatory compliances and service information to attract new users, retain the old ones and fulfill the needs of their diverse buyer and supplier communities.

Creating high quality product content is difficult because different suppliers use different descriptions, attributes and parameters to describe the same item. Managing product information becomes even more complex with the addition of value-added content such as editorial articles, service information and third party reviews.

Moreover, Buyers and Sellers have totally different approach and require different functions from a product content management solution. Buyers need a comprehensive content management system which allows them to take conclusive buying decision with minimum of effort and cost. Suppliers want a system that enables them to manage their brand, control their product descriptions, pricing, and discount policies.

The need for an advanced eCatalog


Despite its critical nature, product information management has been grossly underestimated by most of early eCommerce projects, which tend to focus on more high profile technologies, such as transaction engines and user interfaces. However, few of these B2B projects put required emphasize on the management of product content. As a result, many of them are beginning to realize that they have condoned the challenge





of managing product information and that such oversights are hindering the overall effectiveness and scalability of their eCommerce initiatives. Actually, very few of eCommerce initiatives today have the right resources to support the activities required for aggregating, maintaining, and delivering high quality product content. In order to overcome this major hurdle eCommerce initiatives have to improve their ability to acquire, manage and update product content with the help of an advanced eCatalog system.

What is an eCatalog?

An eCatalog is an Online product content management solution with powerful user interface which provides efficient navigation, searching and integration capabilities to organize and publish product information and enable real-time handling of business processes related to buying and selling.

An eCatalog stores product content in a single database and organizes product information under a certain categorized hierarchy. An eCatalog also have sophisticated searching opportunities so that buyers can locate products easily.

Classifying products

Usually product information is acquired from different sources and is often classified under different taxonomies. This makes product indexing difficult and in many cases products end up being listed under several categories. International Harmonized Codes, a taxonomy used by many countries for customs tariff purposes, is one of the example of such systems. Because of this problem, HC and similar taxonomies are not really suitable for eCommerce.

That's why, most advanced eCatalog systems use classification system like The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®), which provides an open, global multi-industry standard for well-organized and precise classification of products and services.

In e-catalogs the product content also has to undergo a normalization procedure to comply with a uniform product naming system. This uniformed nomenclature makes it easier for buyers to compare products and prices, and ensures exact match for relevant product searches. Depending on the quality of product information available, the eCatalog also requires rationalizing abbreviations and acronyms, synchronizing terminologies, converting unit of measurements, etc.

How businesses are loosing opportunities

Early eCatalog adopters made a crucial mistake by assuming that catalog integration is a fairly easy task in comparison to the other parts of eCommerce development. This misapprehension of reality occurred mainly due to lack of practical knowledge in this field and is based on the false assumption that one method fits for describing all similar products and it is possible to constrain product content with finite number of attributes and values. Observation shows that in many cases buyers are unable to take key procurement decisions due to poor content of the product, which results in lost business opportunities for eCommerce companies.

Benefits of using right eCatalog

An advanced eCatalog system similar to Rusbiz.com delivers a compelling value proposition. Using this type of solutions companies can integrate eCatalog capabilities into their business processes rapidly and manage sourcing, classifying, syndicating and publishing product content data effectively.

The return on investment from these solutions is also significant! Companies can expect increased revenue, better customer satisfaction, and shorter sales cycle.



About the Author

Nowshade Kabir is CEO of Rusbiz.com, a global B2B portal for small and midsize companies. Our distinctive web stores along with many outstanding features like e-marketplace, e-catalog,



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Informative Articles

Drop Shipping Is Ecommerce Snake Oil

Drop shipping is not for everyone. Even though it is pitched as a cure for everything from starting up withoutmoney to being able to sell without investing in inventory, it does not cure the main problems that want to be drop shippers have.
Want to be web entrepreneurs are lead down the path of finding products that they can sell before they buy them.

And to do that, they are lead into buying all sorts of things from web sites to on line stores and lists of drop shippers. They get set up with what they need to sell. And they spend a lot of time and money in the process.

There is no doubt that they are, at the same time, given advice that they are starting a business. They are definitively told that they must comply with all those rules for success on the web. They are not misled.They mislead themselves. They get so excited and so tied up in their ideas that they are going to make millions that they do not stop to plan. They forge ahead with the plan to plan in the future. So they plan after their plan is already a failure.

The people supplying the drop shipping industry are not obligated to turn away customers. They have no way to determine who will or who will not fail. So they cannot be faulted for selling to people who run when they should be walking.

There is no doubt that some of these people do succeed and do very well for themselves. But 90 to 95





percent of them fail. A good percentage of them could have survived had they planned. But they fail because they chase the quick money.
Having said that, drop shipping is an excellent way for a small business to expand. If use properly it has many advantages.

Let us take a simple example.

Anna wants to sell amber and silver jewelry and exotics crystal pieces at home parties. And she wants to be able to vary her offering so that each time she attends a home party she has the opportunity to present other products. She also wants a wide variety of products.

Now amber and silver jewelry is both expensive and there are many different pieces that can be offered. So if she were to maintain an inventory she would have to tie up several thousand dollars in jewelry, many pieces of which she might not sell quickly.

Now if she get some samples so that her customers see the products and the quality, she can take orders and have the ordered pieces shipped either directly to her or to her customers. Actually, she is better off to have the pieces drop shipped to her so she can visit her customers and possibly make additional sales during the delivery process.

So she searches
About the Author

Gary Granai is the Director of the Poland Chamber that maintains the drop shipping portal that has complete information about drop shipping. You can see it at











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Informative Articles

Divesify With Ecommerce

Since 1972 Amsoil Inc. has progressively expanded its line of products. It began with one that proved to be the first of its catagory, an engine oil that had not been seen in the market place. Not too many years later, more need for superior synthetic automotive lubricants came into Amsoil Inc. awareness. Examples are the Food Grade Grease, racing applications and racing applications.

By the mid eighties Amsoil Inc. had more products available. These products where not the property of other contracted companies but Amsoil Inc. was the marketing and manufacturing origin of a widening divesification of product lines.

Opportunity to take advantage of these products in a variety of environments also proved successful. All types of automotive and commercial retailers where taking advantage of the technical support and leadership available. Racing has grown in atleast three areanas, no pun




intended. Motorcross, Marine and Snomobile have made huge strides in the field of spectator sports as well as participants. Dealers have the opportunity to sponsor a rider or team in the field of their choice. This environment is an excellent fit for promoting Amsoil.

This an exciting business to be in because of its diversity of opportunites. The passion that keeps the engine of productivity moving is easy to refuel from a company that has the integrity at its foundation. The confidence that it will continue comes from the experience of the history and people behind Amsoil Inc.
For more information, see www.lubedealer.com/hiebert


About the Author

Rudy Hiebert is an Amsoil Inc. dealer since 1989. The application of the Internet has increased his Amsoil activity ten fold. As a Certified Dealer, his downline of accounts and customers has stretched the continent with the use of the Internet.











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Informative Articles

Developing a Winning Ecommerce Strategy

One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be
continued consumer spending and ecommerce is clearly a part of this,
with sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 Billion in the next
three months according to ACNielsen. But, there is a dark cloud
hovering over this sunny ecommerce landscape called poor web site
design. Let's explore some of the reasons why consumers are not
reaching for their credit cards after perusing an ecommerce web site.

There is a huge knowledge gap about how the web is really driving
online and offline commerce. A recent eCommercePulse survey of more
than 33,000 surfers conducted by Nielsen/Net ratings and Harris
Interactive indicates ecommerce sites are driving more purchases
offline (phone, catalogue, retail store sales) than online. Many
consumers are using the web to effortlessly compare features and
pricing – then, calling the company or visiting their local
retail
store to make a purchase. Clearly many companies need to factor this
information in when analyzing their online and offline marketing
expenditures and related ROI.

According to a recent Zona Research and Keynote Systems Report
released earlier this summer over $25 Billion (USD) was lost in
ecommerce due to users abandoning the web site prior to a purchase
being made or during the process. The users just gave up because the
load times (the amount of time it takes a page to be displayed in a
browser) were painfully slow. Today's online shoppers aren't
a real
patient group, they want information presented in 12-18 seconds, or
they are off to another site that works

Unfortunately many firms have allocated a disproportionate amount of
resources for advertising and not enough on good web site design and
back end infrastructure. It's critical to make the market aware
of a
site, but if the potential customers are not presented with the right
navigation and menus (read information architecture) they will not
buy. Case in point, according to recent Dataquest surveys (and
others) between 20-40% of most users don't purchase because they
can't figure out how to easily move around the web site.

Many firms fail to properly integrate their ecommerce components with
the overall site design. The in-house developers or outside design
firm concentrate on the sexy parts of the web site design process
(the graphics, branding, look and feel) and only focus on the
ecommerce process after the primary web site design is completed
–
making ecommerce an afterthought.

A large number of ecommerce web sites don't even list a phone
number,
arbitrarily forcing people to contact the company electronically
–
this is a real problem, as many people don't want to use e-mail
or
forms as their primary means of




communicating, they want the
immediacy of the telephone.

It's very surprising, but approx 30% of ecommerce sites don't
have a
search capability that actually works – in many cases it just
returns
gobblygook. This is a real irritant for many online shoppers who want
to find goods and services quickly and efficiently – the need for
speed should be the ecommerce merchants marketing mantra and a good
search capability gives users a way to quickly find products.

One of the most important parts of any web site is the home or index
page, as it aggregates the design elements and information
architecture. So many index page are cluttered and poorly designed,
loaded with poor graphics, bad menu structures, oddball words or my
absolute least favorite, 30-60 second Flash animation sequences which
force the user to sit and stare at a blank screen while the animation
loads.

Privacy statements are about as exciting as filing taxes (unless you
know your getting a refund) – they are out of necessity filled
with
legal terminology that needs to be addressed succinctly and in a way
that makes a consumer feel comfortable about doing business with an
ecommerce web site. Unfortunately, many ecommerce web site privacy
statements look like an afterthought, or, are so "attorney
driven"
(three pages – who has time to read this?) people are turned off
by
them. It's very important that a privacy statement be a
compromise
doc brokered between legal and marketing.

We are a full service ad agency so I don't mind shooting arrows
in
the direction of my peers – too much attention is being placed on
web
site advertising metrics (clickthrough rates, certified traffic to
substantiate ad rates, etc.) and not enough on how people find and
use an ecommerce web site. The industry standard web site analysis
tool is Web Trends, but one of the least understood aspects of this
product is tracking how people find and move around a web site via
reports which can be pulled from the server log files; i.e. where did
the visitors come from, what pages do they visit, how long do they
stay, what are their traffic patterns, etc.? Ecommerce companies
should be analyzing these "digital customer tracks" to better
understand how to improve their front end marketing processes and
back end web site design.

About the Author

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of marketing experience He is the co-
founder of a Northern California and Brussels Belgium based,
privately held, Marketing Services and Software Company, Intelective
Communications, Inc. http://www.intelective.com Intelective focuses
exclusively on providing services to small to medium sized companies
that need strategic and tactical marketing services. He can be
reached at Lee@intelective.com











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Informative Articles

Cost Effective Ecommerce Solutions.

Ecommerce use to be about spending thousands of dollars on setting up your shop and hundreds of dollars on getting a merchant. My, how things have changed over the years. Now anyone with a few hundred of dollars in their pocket(or less if you have the time to learn it yourself) can have a great working ecommerce system up and running in the matter of days. This also includes the full ability to accept payments from Credit Cards, manage customers, create invoices and more.

The most cost effective ecommerce solution on the market today is Oscommerce.com . Why is it so cost effective, well because it is free. All you need to do is learn it yourself or get someone who works in the web world(a web designer or programmer) to set it up for you. This can run you anywhere’s from $500-$900, give or take a bit depending on the features you want and if you want it integrated into a custom built design. In a all in one solution you can set up products to sell, have a visitor sign up and pay via the osc(oscommerce) payment section, create an invoice for that client as well as deliver the product(if it can be transferred via email) or create a packing slip to be mailed out. These are just some of the features located in oscommerce.

Another great feature about oscommerce is that you can integrate it to fit right into your site design. If you view my site at www.Logo2D.com and click one of the links at the top(such as logo templates) you can see that it fits snugly into the design. You can customize any part of oscommerce including the buttons for the shopping cart. It is a really great program to use.

One of the hassle before with ecommerce was getting something that would process payment. Payment was a




big issue as before it was very costly to get a merchant account, which usually cost around $400USD. Also you had to pay a % of every sale you made, which can really add up.

Today there are two great forms of payment that can be added to Oscommerce as your payment modules, they are Paypal.com and 2Checkout.com . These two options are a great way to go. Paypal.com is free to sign up, has over 78 Million accounts, only charges a small % of each sale/payment, can be funded by your credit card or bank account if you want to purchase something online and any sales you get you can take straight down into your bank account. Though the user does have to have a paypal account to pay you, but with 78 Million Accounts, you can see that is no problem.

2Checkout.com doesn't offer as many features in the way as you being able to purchase products offline, but it is great if someone is purchasing products off of you. It allows you to take payments via credit card and the customer doesn't even have to have a 2checkout.com account. It only takes a small % off when you take money down into your account. The only down side to 2checkout.com is that there is a one time fee of $49 to purchase a membership and they only send payment out twice a month(the middle of the month and the end of the month). So really not much of a downside at all.

So combine these three options and you can have a fully functional ecommerce website up for only a few hundreds of dollar!

About the Author

Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business at http://www.logo2d.com

©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article freely but please keep in the copyright











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Informative Articles

Comparing Ecommerce Software Programs - 5 Tips

If you've ever been interested in selling products online, this is certainly a great time to go into business. With more and more online users everyday, and people becoming more comfortable spending and making purchases over the internet, there is a lot of opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to tap into this market.
Once you've selected your market and the types of products you wish to sell, you'll need to choose an ecommerce software program that suits your needs though. Here are a few tips to help the process along.

What type of product are you selling? If you are going to taking orders for physical products that you package and ship to your customers, the ecommerce software you need will be very different than if you are selling digital products that are delivered directly over the internet. Make certain the software allows you to offer pictures, descriptions, and choices of sizes, colors, etc… if that is what you need.

Compatibility - Be certain your server or webhost's server is compatible with the ecommerce program you choose. Most online store's will want to have a secure connection, so make sure your webhost provides this option too.

Payment Processor - Make certain the ecommerce software you choose can integrate with your current payment processor or the one you are planning to use. Most of the better





programs allow integration with all of the popular merchant account gateways so you an quickly and easily accept and process payments via credit cards.
Support - Although there are several open source ecommerce programs that work very well for small to medium size online shops, keep in mind that paid versions will usually offer full technical support. This is an important consideration if you are serious about starting and growing your online business.

Search Engine Friendly - Many newer ecommerce software programs are search engine friendly. That means they create addresses and ecommerce websites that search engines like google and yahoo can easily 'read' to see what's in your store. This will increase your chances of your store getting listed in the search engines, possibly providing you with free traffic and more potential customers.

We hope these tips will help make your choice of ecommerce software and bit easier.

Good luck with your new online venture!
About the Author

Angie Noack is a business strategist with a sharp edge for technology. With her unique ability to combine these two skills, she's able to help businesses save time and increase profits. You can find her online at http://www.softwaresoftwaresoft.com











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Informative Articles

Choosing an Ecommerce Shopping Cart




Choosing an online shopping cart is a big decision. Unlike a traditional brick and mortar business, your website is your only chance to impress potential customers. It needs to project a professional image to capture the trust of your visitors. The shopping cart is a particularly important part of your website because it deals with people’s personal information and credit card numbers. People are nervous about online purchases and need to be assured that they are giving their credit card numbers to a reputable company.



There are several types of ecommerce shopping carts available. They range from merchant services, which require no programming skills, to fully integrated shopping carts that require custom programming. The three main categories of shopping carts are:






Merchant services such as eBay and 2Checkout


Hosted shopping cart services


Fully integrated shopping carts





Merchant Services



Most shopping carts require you to have your own merchant account and gateway. A merchant account is a bank account that allows a business to conduct credit card transactions and the gateway allows the transaction to be conducted over a secure connection. It’s okay if you don’t have a merchant account or gateway. Merchant service shopping carts allow you to use their merchant account, gateway and shopping cart for a higher cost.



Merchant services are beneficial for very small businesses or those that are just starting and don’t have a lot of orders. Merchant services provide the merchant account, gateway, hosted shopping cart and will maintain your customer’s personal information. They usually require a set-up fee between 50 and 200 dollars, transaction fee between 30 and 75 cents, and 5% to 10% of each transaction. Because you are using their merchant account, your customer’s credit card statement will show the merchant services business name not yours. In some cases, customers will not recognize the charge and may dispute it.



Merchant service shopping carts have an administrative interface, which allows you to login to your account to add products, prices and shipping options. The shopping cart generates the html for the purchase buttons and you simply copy and paste the html into your web pages. When your customer clicks on the purchase button, he is taken to another website to enter the credit card information. This indicates to the customer that you are a small business. Some potential customers will abandon the shopping cart rather than enter their credit card information on a website they know nothing about.



Once your business grows to the point where you are processing over $1000 a month, it’s more cost effective to apply for your own merchant account and switch to either a hosted shopping cart (little or no programming) or a fully integrated shopping cart (programming required).



Hosted Shopping Cart



The hosted shopping cart is a great solution for a small business that is processing over $1000 a month but does not have the resources to create or customize a fully integrated shopping cart. Hosted shopping carts are similar to the merchant services because they provide an administrative interface for you to enter products, pricing and shipping options. They will generate the html for the purchase buttons, which can be copied and pasted into your html pages.



Hosted shopping carts face some of same problems





as merchant service carts because your customers will be transferred to a different website to enter the credit card information. Some hosted shopping carts allow you to customize the shopping cart so that it has the same look and feel as your websites. Customizing your shopping cart may require some programming skills, but it could also prevent customers from abandoning their shopping carts.


The main difference between the merchant services shopping cart and the hosted shopping cart is the name that appears on the customer’s credit card and pricing. Hosted shopping carts allow you to use your own merchant account and gateway, which means the customer’s credit card statement will show your business name next to the charge. This can decrease your charge backs.



If you are using your own merchant account and conducting over $1000 of transitions each month, the hosted shopping carts can be less expensive than merchant services. Your merchant account will probably charge a monthly fee between 20 and 60 dollars, transaction fee between 10 and 50 cents, and a percentage of the transaction, usually ranging between 2% to 3.5%. In addition to the merchant fees, your shopping cart service will also charge a monthly fee between 10 and 30 dollars and could charge a transaction fee. These fees sound more expensive than the merchant service option, but if you are processing over $1000 a month and growing, it’s better to pay flat monthly fees than continue to be charged 5 to 10 percent of the each transaction.



Fully Integrated Shopping Carts



The fully integrated shopping cart is a great option for any business that can afford it. The shopping cart will be dynamic and will have the same look and feel as your website. The ZIP Baby Potty Training Store is a great example of a fully integrated shopping cart. Fully integrated shopping carts like this contain features that are not found in merchant service or hosted shopping carts. For example, you can discount items, display customer reviews, assign products to multiple categories, display out of stock notifications, sort products and prices, and display shipping estimates without requiring the customer to create an account.



Integrated shopping carts require advanced programming skills and can often be used with your own merchant account or with a service that allows you to use their merchant account for a higher fee. There are many integrated shopping carts available. Free carts require the most programming skills, but if you don’t have the programming skills necessary to customize a free shopping cart, there are many companies that specialize in customizing fully integrated shopping carts.



Your choice of a shopping cart can have a dramatic impact on your business. Your website is the first and only impression you get to make so you’ll want to make it as professional as possible. While shopping for a shopping cart system, put yourself in your target customer’s shoes and browse the Internet. Review your competitor’s websites as well as those outside your industry. Make a list of shopping carts that you find appealing and research them thoroughly before choosing one.



Copyright 2004 Danna Henderson. All Rights Reserved.







Danna Henderson started ZIP Baby in order to provide parents with comprehensive potty training information and a large selection of potty training products. For more information visit the ZIP Baby Potty Training Store .
















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Informative Articles

Canada's eCommerce Opportunity




This brief takes an updated view of the Canadian e-commerce landscape and provides insight for online retailers to help craft future Canadian customer strategies.

Canadian eCommerce growth was recently flat but still has an attractive upside…

Recent studies found that Canadian retail e-commerce growth was flat year over year (2003-2004). After further examination however, approximately 60% of the 100 largest non-travel sites succeeded in growing their sales over 20%.

Also interesting is the trending of Canadians from buying at non-Canadian sites to domestic sites (63% domestic, 37% foreign). This “domestic shift” clearly benefits the launching of a new eCommerce business in Canada.

The sales opportunity lies with the “early adopters”, individuals primarily the 18-34 year old age range. This segment is more technologically savvy and more likely to purchase online. In a 2003 to 2004 sampling comparison, this segment’s overall e-commerce spending increased 44%. The 35 to 54 age group increased only 5% and 55+ increased 18% (includes online travel).

Overall Internet Adoption rates still trail the U.S. and come in at approximately 52%. However, with the development of new Internet infrastructures and the maturation of Canadian ISP’s, this number will likely rise in the next 3-5 years. The following quote from the Canadian government re-enforces this theme.

“To reach our new national goal (relating to e-commerce) Canadians will need to develop strategies that build an intelligent infrastructure to serve as the backbone of the e-economy- by encouraging investment, strengthening research, enhancing commercialization and ensuring that all Canadians have access to this infrastructure and know how to use it.” (September, 2004)

Shifting demographics & lack of online competition equal a substantial opportunity…

Forrester Research reports that 48% of Canadian web shoppers are now female compared to 39% in 2003. 74% of web buyers are married and likely are home shoppers, compared to 68% in 2003.

With the gender gap closing, online home retailers have a great opportunity to target their core customer segment: the 30-40yr old female who owns or maintains a residence.

Within





this sector, it is rare for U.S. based retailers to have online Canadian stores. Many brands will ship to Canada, for very high costs (customs duty & shipping) but this likely leads to an unpleasant experience for the Canadian consumer. These high costs, compiled with a lack of domestic Canadian retailers providing an e-commerce offering, are driving the stagnant growth of the online sales channel.

By being a “first-mover” in establishing a presence in the online marketplace within Canada, online retailers will facilitate sales from consumers that want to get products shipped from their native homeland after being paid for in Canadian currency.

Similar to the U.S., consumers are exhibiting multi-channel tendencies and embracing the emergence of broadband connectivity…

Canada is the only country in the world in which broadband overtook dial-up access in 2003. Currently 48% of all Canadian consumers have broadband access and they are 67% more likely to have high speed web-access than American consumers.

This impressive penetration may prove to be a strong driver for online circulars and new online merchandising tactics, as product differentiation are established outside of price.

Canadian shoppers are also parallel to U.S. consumers in their multi-channel behavior. 58% of Canadian shoppers have researched a product online and purchased offline, spending an average of $440. An online Canadian strategy must focus on integrating the online and physical store with store locator functionality and other tools to promote cross-channel behavior.

In conclusion, multi-national retailers should closely examine the Canadian eCommerce opportunity. Attractive consumer demographics, an established broadband infrastructure, and a shift in overall shopping tendencies make the Canada a high-growth and un-saturated area for multi-channel retail.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Craig Smith is the Founder of Trinity Insight LLC, a consulting firm that focuses on improving online sales for retailers through research, testing, and analysis.

http://www.trinityinsight.com












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Informative Articles

Canada and eCommerce

Canadian eCommerce growth was recently flat but still has an attractive upside...

Recent studies found that Canadian retail e-commerce growth was flat year over year (2003-2004). After further examination however, approximately 60% of the 100 largest non-travel sites succeeded in growing their sales over 20%.



Also interesting is the trending of Canadians from buying at non-Canadian sites to domestic sites (63% domestic, 37% foreign). This "domestic shift" clearly benefits the launching of a new eCommerce business in Canada.

The sales opportunity lies with the "early adopters", individuals primarily the 18-34 year old age range. This segment is more technologically savvy and more likely to purchase online. In a 2003 to 2004 sampling comparison, this segment's overall e-commerce spending increased 44%. The 35 to 54 age group increased only 5% and 55+ increased 18% (includes online travel).

Overall Internet Adoption rates still trail the U.S. and come in at approximately 52%. However, with the development of new Internet infrastructures and the maturation of Canadian ISP's, this number will likely rise in the next 3-5 years. The following quote from the Canadian government re-enforces this theme.

"To reach our new national goal (relating to e-commerce) Canadians will need to develop strategies that build an intelligent infrastructure to serve as the backbone of the e-economy- by encouraging investment, strengthening research, enhancing commercialization and ensuring that all Canadians have access to this infrastructure and know how to use it." (September, 2004)

Shifting demographics & lack of online competition equal a substantial opportunity...

Forrester Research reports that 48% of Canadian web shoppers are now female compared to 39% in 2003. 74% of web buyers are married and likely are home shoppers, compared to 68% in 2003.

With the gender gap closing, online home retailers have a great opportunity to target their core customer segment: the




30-40yr old female who owns or maintains a residence.

Within this sector, it is rare for U.S. based retailers to have online Canadian stores. Many brands will ship to Canada, for very high costs (customs duty & shipping) but this likely leads to an unpleasant experience for the Canadian consumer. These high costs, compiled with a lack of domestic Canadian retailers providing an e-commerce offering, are driving the stagnant growth of the online sales channel.



By being a "first-mover" in establishing a presence in the online marketplace within Canada, online retailers will facilitate sales from consumers that want to get products shipped from their native homeland after being paid for in Canadian currency.

Similar to the U.S., consumers are exhibiting multi-channel tendencies and embracing the emergence of broadband connectivity...

Canada is the only country in the world in which broadband overtook dial-up access in 2003. Currently 48% of all Canadian consumers have broadband access and they are 67% more likely to have high speed web-access than American consumers.

This impressive penetration may prove to be a strong driver for online circulars and new online merchandising tactics, as product differentiation are established outside of price.

Canadian shoppers are also parallel to U.S. consumers in their multi-channel behavior. 58% of Canadian shoppers have researched a product online and purchased offline, spending an average of $440. An online Canadian strategy must focus on integrating the online and physical store with store locator functionality and other tools to promote cross-channel behavior.

In conclusion, multi-national retailers should closely examine the Canadian eCommerce opportunity. Attractive consumer demographics, an established broadband infrastructure, and a shift in overall shopping tendencies make the Canada a high-growth and un-saturated area for multi-channel retail.



About the author:

http://www.trinityinsight.com










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Building eCommerce Websites that work - Part 3

Copyright 2009 Richard Keir

An interesting eCommerce success factor that isn't precisely overlooked, but which is often thought about more in terms of being a way of feeding the search engine spiders has to do with providing content. In a very real sense the customer's job is to consume. That's why you're in business.

Think in terms of providing the information your customers need to do their job of consuming. What does that mean? Consider what you sell. The content on your site needs to focus on your products - whatever they happen to be. Reviews and comparative information on the items available through your web site can help focus and direct your customer to what they need, want and can afford.

Too often eCommerce sites use only marginally relevant information as content - or content that may match the general theme of the site but has nothing to do with what's being sold, promoted, etc. That could be more or less adequate as spider food, but it isn't going to help your customers do their job of consuming your products.

The better you combine these two goals - informing your customers and feeding the spiders - the better you'll do at both. Irrelevant search listings are pretty much a waste of your bandwidth. What you want is highly targeted customers interested in what you're offering and since the search engines love focused content and integrated sites, make that work for you.

And I'm not suggesting blatant repetitive hyped up sales copy. You want to inform, compare, offer added information that will help focus your customers. Use your content to develop desire and provide comparative information on similar products at varying price levels. Remember: desire not need.

While we all need things - and while you may be convinced everyone absolutely needs your product - we mostly buy based on desire - because we want it. The better you do at turning that need into immediate desire, the better your site will perform.

Again, not a fevered sales pitch. That's likely to turn off a large number of customers. Examples, stories and carefully chosen (and real) testimonials can support the process, too. Using video and/or audio can have a dramatic impact. Let your customers draw the obvious conclusions.

Along with providing plenty of comparison and review data, good search facilities are essential for a large eCommerce site. This also means that if you use a




searchable product database that your keys and descriptions must be well-chosen and the links from search results to pages work smoothly and easily.

While we've talked earlier in this series about the importance of providing various ways to enhance the social aspect of your site, it's also important that customers be capable of using it without assistance. Never over complicate your site or your processes to the point that it's no longer obvious what to do to buy something (or complete whatever desired action you are focusing on).

A typical customer should be able to go from front page to product page to order page to thank you page easily and without hesitation or confusion. The simpler and cleaner the process, the better for you.

If you can manage it, test with 4 or 5 basically internet illiterate people. Watch carefully what they do, where they hesitate, what seems to cause confusion - but don't talk or help during the process. Then go over everything with them in detail working with your observations and their thoughts and feelings. Your site may be obvious to you, but is it obvious to anyone else?

And when you think you've covered anything, a few pairs of new eyes (or checking out your competitors' sites) can give you a whole new to-do list.

Your eCommerce site is an intentional business creation. Every aspect should be organized around what you want the site to do, what kind of visitors you want and what you want them to do. Everything on your site should be there for a specific reason that contributes to your goals for the site. And everything should be tested to be certain that it actually does contribute.

It's your site and your business so never take anything for granted, never assume something works if it can be tested. And never stop testing. With careful attention to detail and on-going testing you'll be able to make incremental improvements over time that will vastly improve the productivity of your eCommerce web site.


About the Author

Richard writes, teaches and consults on business presentations, eCommerce, site building and programming. Visit http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites for eCommerce resources and links and check http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites/blog for opinion and ideas.











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Informative Articles

Building eCommerce Websites that Work - Part 2

Copyright 2009 Richard Keir

Succeeding with an eCommerce website is a dream for many these days. It may seem nearly impossible at times, but it can be done. This series covers some of the basic success factors - things you must consider in creating, implementing, managing and developing a quality eCommerce web site. There are many ways to do business on the internet - and, not surprisingly, a lot of ways to both make and lose money. Mainly, I'm focusing on eCommerce sites intended to sell products of various kinds. Not every factor is going to apply to every site, but since a major failing of many internet entrepreneurs is the lack of multiple income streams, you'd do well to carefully consider all factors and apply them as needed in developing alternate revenue streams.

On examining your eCommerce web site, put some serious thought into how you can provide personal attention to each visitor. The idea here is a process of personalization through which each visitor, if they wish, can develop a unique experience of your site.

Provide options through which the user can alter layout, colors, etc. Give customers the capability to create their own personal pages on your site. Perhaps offer a simple and easy to provide service to registered customers, such as free email accounts.

As well as building loyalty and stickiness, such features also build your customer database. Scripts are also available which will allow on-the-spot personalization based on responses to a series of questions. You can also use this kind of script to focus your sales message more tightly to the user's expressed interests. This technique has been reported to substantially increase conversion rates.

Free services which can be provided on autopilot can be a virtually endless source of targeted customers. Everything from free email to blog hosting, opt-in list building to free advertising forums, all operate on the same principle as building a list through a newszine, white papers, free ebooks or whatever. In return for registration, e.g. name and confirmed email, you provide a service that your visitors desire. The exchange of value is critical. The more valuable the service that you offer, the more willing people are to provide their information. Careful structuring can allow you to collect significant marketing information on your registered users which would allow well-targeted marketing campaigns.

Never lose track of a customer. Maintaining a database of customers with any of their prior purchases, interests, and so on, allows you to provide personalized purchase suggestions and special offers. The life-long value of a happy customer may be difficult to estimate accurately, but it's far easier to sell to existing customers than to be continuously forced to acquire new ones.

Even if you only have a single product now, you will eventually have expand your product line(s). Don't throw a buyer away. Stay in touch, offer information, occasionally recommend a high quality product you use and value. Build trust through value and quality. It's nearly impossible to over-emphasize this point. Look to the long term and plan ahead. Every serious marketer needs to do this.

To further expand the human




dimension, you can add forums and chat rooms. Provide a variety of means to acquire visitor input. On site surveys and questionnaires, email surveys and opinion polls can not only increase your customers' sense of being in contact with real people who value their opinions and ideas, but also provide exceptionally useful information for refining your marketing and sales tactics. Loyalty programs and affinity networks can also help.

This is a lot like beating a real dead horse, but... Reliability and security are crucial. If your eCommerce site is big enough and busy enough, multiple parallel servers, redundant hardware, use of fail-safe technology, fast technical support service, high quality encryption, valid certificates, high quality payment processors and excellent firewalls will all allow you to ensure your customers that their data is safe, their orders are handled properly and nobody's getting their credit information that shouldn't. Many people still are extremely hesitant to purchase on-line because of fears of identity and/or credit card theft. You can't ignore this issue and hope to succeed.

Right now you may not need (or want to pay for) parallel servers, redundant hardware and fail-over technology, but don't ignore the rest. You depend on your eCommerce hosting provider to keep your business running. So think carefully and do some serious research. Overloaded servers, lack of redundant network connections, slow technical support, poor backup procedures can create a nightmare situation for both you and your customers

As a final consideration for this part, smooth out your customer contact and support procedures. If multiple staff might come into contact with your customers (chat, phone or email) , providing all of them with the same (and useful) information about the customer, prior orders, any previous or current problems and so forth, can avoid a lot of potential frustration - and lost orders or, worse, a customer lost forever.

It can be incredibly irritating to have to tell the same story over and over, getting bounced from one person to another when no information ever seems to have been recorded. While it may cut down on repeat complaints, that's usually because the customer is gone forever. Construct your systems so that no information is lost and so that the data needed to be responsive and helpful is instantly available. In doing this consider that some information which customers may not feel comfortable about everyone knowing should be restricted to those who would actually need it.

Doing these things right can add significant credibility and usability to your online business, as well as build a loyal customer base which actually enjoys dealing with your eCommerce business. When you reach that stage, you're there - the true win-win situation that's makes an outstanding eCommerce web site.


About the Author

Richard teaches, trains and consults, on and off-line, on business and professional presentations, eCommerce, site building and programming. And writes a lot. Visit http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites.com for articles, information, resources and links and check our blog at http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites/blog for opinion and ideas.












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Informative Articles

Building eCommerce Websites That Work - Part 1
Copyright 2009 Richard Keir

You want to succeed at eCommerce? Welcome to a very big family. Right off, let’s be clear - there are lots of ways to do business on the internet. And lots of ways to both make and lose money. Successful eCommerce websites come in all shapes, kinds and colors and while I can't cover every type of site in this series, I will present the basics you need to consider and apply for an eCommerce web site to be successful.

Let's begin by assuming you have some of the fundamentals, that you understand the language and that you are serious. I’m not going to tell you how to set up a web site or get a decent hosting account. We’re beyond those basics. The basics here are the factors which will influence the success (or failure) and the degree of success your eCommerce web site experiences.

First and foremost, you need to provide value for your customers. Absurd as it seems to have to repeat that, a lot of so-called eCommerce sites provide no or very little value for their visitors. Pretending to offer value is not the same thing as providing value. Promoting miserably written, hackneyed, cloned ebooks filled with questionably useful and/or outdated content doesn’t make a high value web site. Sure you might make some money. Once. And you’ll end up with a high refund rate - and an unhappy credit card processor. That path means you're taking advantage of inexperienced customers and abusing their willingness to trust you. This isn't the way to a long-term business with steady repeat customers.

Value on the net is not very different from any kind of off-line retail sales -- a quality product line that will attract potential customers and a competitive price that will lead to purchases. An honest, quality product that will meet the expectations you’ve created in your buyers. Hyped junk just doesn't cut it.

Next, you’ve got to have a smooth, user-friendly, easy to follow process all the way to your thank you page. The simpler, cleaner and clearer you can make the process, the better. Where it makes sense you can augment this user-responsive site profile by adding live-response chat.

If you do decide to use call-in or live chat, it’s imperative that your operators be well-trained, understand your products and your system and be customer friendly. This can be a problem if you outsource. The less expensive out-source call centers can turn out to be very expensive in terms of lost sales and customers who never come back.

You’ll need to check very carefully and be 100 per cent certain the operators actually speak and understand the primary language(s) of your targeted customer group. You’ll need to provide extensive background information and highly flexible, well-written scripts.

You should collect your own customer evaluations - separately. Don't rely exclusively on any monitoring or customer satisfaction




surveys provided by the call center. Track your ROI to be sure it's money well-spent. Don't stop monitoring just because the results looked good for the first two or three months. Things change. Make sure you're tracking desired actions linked to the call center separately from those NOT related to call-in or live chat. Mixing outcomes leaves you in the dark about what's really happening.

You probably should have an attractive website. An ugly site can work, but to do that you need to absolutely know exactly what you're doing and why it should work. And you'll have to test like crazy to optimize (of course, you should be doing that anyway). The ugly site tactic is not for the inexperienced. Very few individuals really have the grasp of marketing, market and customer psychology that makes for a successful "ugly" site.

To provide a pleasant experience, you need to be careful in what you use - colors, text-size, graphics, animation and white space can add value to your site or turn it into a user nightmare. Test your site with people who will tell you the truth. Just because you love it doesn't mean anyone else will. In general, aiming for a professional appearing site is your best option. Look for the highest ranked, busiest sites in your business area and study the layouts they use. Extract the common features that you see on those sites. While other factors heavily influence traffic and ranking, appearance has a strong effect on visitors and sites that do testing evolve toward optimizing visitor behavior.

Keep in mind that a site's desired actions affect the design and layout. You'll want to study sites where those actions are most similar to the desired actions you target on your web site. If your goal is direct product sales, there's not much point in emulating a site that's optimized for newsletter sign-ups or AdSense.

If your main goal is direct sales (and if it is, then you need backend products too), provide incentives for customers to buy AND to return. The return factor is critical to a long-term strategy for success. Anyone who buys is your best possible future customer. Keep them, track them, make them special offers. Use coupons, discounts, special deals, customer-only offers and back end sales. Your customer base is your gold mine. Since they've shown enough faith in you to buy, do your utmost to never damage that faith. Treat them like the priceless resource they are. Think long-term: successful eCommerce websites are all about value and customer service.


About the Author

Richard teaches, trains and consults, on and off-line, on business and professional presentations, eCommerce, site building and programming. And writes a lot. Visit http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites.com for articles, information, resources and links and check our blog at http://www.Building-eCommerce-Websites/blog for opinion and ideas.












© 2009 "> - All Rights Reserved. Read the full story