| eCommerce, Part 1: Overview by Crimson Star |
What can you do to become a winner, not a loser? Start at the Beginning What is eCommerce? Most people cannot answer this question. Is it any form of business conducted electronically? Does it only apply to Web sites? Do you need a credit card? Business as Usual Communication tools are important to today's modern businesses, large or small. You may be very proud of your new fax machine in your home office, but it is just a fax machine. Your e-mail address, while convenient, is just another way for people to contact you. As far as business goes these days, those things are dead common. Your Web site may be a masterpiece. Hundreds of photobuyers may be sending you their requests. Thousands of potential customers may be asking how they can buy your prints, books, or videos. This is your business. This is commerce, but it is not eCommerce. eCommerce is Your Solution Still confused? Think how your customers feel! They have a real problem -- how can they purchase your products, instantly, when it is convenient for them? You could have telephone operators working 24-hours/day, 365-days/year to solve this problem, but eCommerce provides a better solution. For our purposes, eCommerce is a term that describes any process whereby a customer can initiate and complete an on-line purchase, at any time, without any operator assistance. We will further restrict our definition to eCommerce activities that take place on a Web site, since that is our area of interest. An On-Line Sales Recipe Your current Web site may do a great job of promoting your stock images, products and services but if you do not offer your clients an on-line sales process, they may spend their money somewhere else. In order to eCommerce-enable your Web site, you must provide a system that allows each customer to:
Your Web site may need major re-engineering in order to provide those functions. Let's briefly examine each step. Step 1. Your customers must be able to select and identify an exact product or service offered on your Web site. If you are a stock photographer, your Web site probably includes either a stock list, or a list of keywords that describe your stock collection. It probably does not identify specific images in your collection or state prices for their use. If you wish to sell stock on-line, you must develop an on-line catalog and order form. Ditto if you wish to sell traditional products such as books, videos or prints. Step 2. Once your customers have selected their products and completed the order form, they must provide you with shipping information (or optionally indicate that they wish to receive delivery on-line). Your eCommerce application should help them complete this section accurately so that order processing and delivery will not be delayed. Step 3. Your customers must also provide complete billing information. Often, the billing address will be different than the shipping address, for example. Once again, your eCommerce program should validate as much of the data as possible while the customer is on-line. Step 4. This is the most important step, and it is the most difficult and expensive to perform on your Web site. Your customers must be able to pay you on-line, instantly, without contacting you or anyone else! They need to know that their payment was received and processed correctly. You need to confirm this as well, before you ship the goods. Both of you must be confident that any private financial information, such as credit card data, is processed as securely as possible. Step 5. In some cases, you may be able to deliver the goods on-line. For example, many software vendors allow you to order an upgrade from their Web site, pay by credit card on-line, and then download the new files immediately. This usually requires additional programming within your eCommerce application and is often called a "fulfillment" process. Setting up an eCommerce Web site is not a task for the novice. Overall, it is a complex and expensive endeavor. The good news is that you can move towards a complete eCommerce solution in small steps, provided you plan ahead and employ careful project management. Next month I will continue this series about eCommerce by discussing on-line catalogs and shopping carts.
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