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Building
an e-Commerce Website
Here's
a list of e-commerce-related issues
that you should think about before
you begin developing an e-commerce
site. You have probably come up with
some answers and formed attitudes
to many of these issues already. But
if this list brings to mind even a
few things you haven't considered,
you'll probably save some big bucks
and a lot of headaches in later development
cycles. Use this list to generate
your own Requirements Document. Or
if you are planning to outsource the
development, these questions can be
used to put together a thorough Request
for Proposal (RFP).
Presenting
Your Product/Service Offers
Remember
to put yourself in the customers'
shoes when you define these business
rules. The more you can think like
them, the more likely you'll create
a solution that effectively caters
to them.
Product
Mix
What
is the range of products that you
plan to offer? Are all of your products
hard goods? Or do you offer intangible
products such as warranties, service
agreements, and guarantees? Do you
sell software products that you want
to make available for download through
the Internet? How many unique products
to you plan to offer? How often does
this product data and product mix
change?
Pricing
Is
all pricing the same, regardless of
who is making the purchase? Do different
groups of customers see different
pricing on the same items? Do you
ever offer promotional or temporary
pricing or price reductions? What
is your pricing strategy for other
channels? Incentive Purchases Do you
use coupons or club memberships? Do
you support manufacturers' rebates?
Do you up-sell, cross-sell, or bundle
items to create purchase incentives?
Are quantity discounts offered?
Compatible
Accessories, Substitutions
Do
you let users know what accessory
items are compatible with a purchase
about to be made? Do you recommend
a substitution if an item is not in
stock?
Categories,
Subcategories, and More Subcategories
Will
you want to help customers locate
items by navigating through your product
categories and subcategories? What
categories and subcategories do you
envision? What are the words your
customers use to categorize your products?
Searching
Do
you want to let users search for keywords?
Or do your users want to search for
simple product attributes such as
brand, model, and price range? Do
your customers need tools to help
them look for products with specific
features?
Configuration
Views
Can
you build custom orders? Do you want
to let customers specify the components
of the products they want to purchase?
For example, what if they want a CPU
tower with a 4-GB hard drive, 256
MB of RAM, plus a 12x CD-ROM?
Providing
Sales Service Solution Views
Do
you recommend products based upon
a profile of the customer's needs?
For example, you may sell a home office
solution or a corporate cubicle solution.
Comparison
Views
How
much information do you want to provide
to your customers to facilitate their
comparison of products? Is brand,
model, price, and description enough?
Or does your customer prefer a table
with a full comparison of features
by type of feature? Would providing
comparisons help or hinder the sale?
Too much information may cause a customer
to leave confused.
Dialog
with the Customer
Do
you plan to allow your customers to
ask product questions? How will you
handle the incoming email with the
expertise your customers will expect?
If you offer complex products that
have many variations, how will you
guide your customer through the decision-making
process toward the right solution
for him or her?
Transaction
Management and Processing
If
you plan to let customers purchase
more than one item at a time, then
you will need to implement an online
shopping cart, shopping basket, procurement
list, or whatever metaphor is appropriate
to your brand.
Building
an Order
Do
you envision enabling customers to
collect a number of items in their
carts before checking out? How many
unique items typically comprise an
order? One to 10? Hundreds?
Reordering
Do
your customers typically purchase
the same items again and again to
replenish their stock? Do you want
to enable registered users or groups
to save a permanent shopping list
from which they can reorder items
they've ordered in the past?
Tax
and Shipping
Some
online stores precalculate tax and
shipping expenses. Others ask that
you trust them to add regional tax
and reasonable shipping expenses to
the total that appears on the screen.
Should taxes and shipping be automatically
added to the total cost for a customer
to accept prior to placing an order?
If you will be preauthorizing payments,
you must calculate tax and shipping
in advance.
Shipping
What
shipping options do you want to offer?
FedEx? UPS? USPS?
Payment
Types
What
types of payments do you need to support
for your customers? Credit cards?
Cybercash? Debit cards? Procurement
cards? Purchase orders? Corporate
credit accounts? Private label cards?
Authentication,
Validation, and Transaction Clearing
How
much authentication do you want to
force upon the user? Extensive authentication
lowers your risk but decreases the
ease with which customers can conduct
transactions, possibly leading to
lost sales. What will be your policy?
What level of risk from potential
fraud are you comfortable with? Will
you want to check card numbers against
card algorithms? Do you want to authorize
cards and transaction amounts with
a bank, and then reserve funds, before
issuing order numbers?
Integrating
with Inventory and Fulfilment Product
Availability
Do
you want to offer for sale only items
that are in your immediate inventory?
Or do you want to offer items for
sale even if they are not immediately
on hand?
Out-of-Stock
Notice
When
should customers be notified that
the items they selected are either
out of stock, not available for immediate
delivery, or can be back-ordered?
Back
Orders
When
do you want to notify the user of
a back order? When they are checking
out? After they have placed the order?
Do you want to recommend a substitution
if one is available?
Controls
When
do you stop offering items for sale?
When inventory count is at a minimum
or when there are none left in inventory?
Is this policy consistent for all
products? Or is it different for each
product?
Processing
Orders
How
often should orders be sent to order
entry? In real-time? Every hour? Once
a day? How do you want to handle the
order you take at 4:55 p.m. with a
request for next-day delivery, while
the FedEx truck is pulling out of
your dock right now? What does the
customer expect? What can you deliver?
What
is your return policy?
Do
you offer a guarantee or a limited
warranty on purchases? What should
customers do if they need to return
items? Are there any locations where
you cannot legally sell your products
and services?
Gathering
Metrics and Data Site Metrics
What
metrics will you use to manage the
site? What reports will you want to
see regarding your customers, orders,
online merchandise, site traffic analysis,
etc.? You can get access to hits and
visits, but how will this information
answer what you really want to know?:
"What did I do that generated the
most sales last month? And why?" Do
you want to measure response rates
to advertisements and direct marketing
tactics? Do you need to evaluate conversion
rates on your standard and promotional
offers? Do you need to measure and
manage your customer acquisition costs?
Customer
Profiles
What
demographic data do you want to capture
as part of the registration or checkout
process? What incentives can you offer
to encourage anonymous buyers to tell
you more about themselves? Refining
Your Marketing Tactics Data Mining
What do you know about your customers?
How can you mine that data in order
to become a more effective marketer?
Do you plan to target future offers
to customers based upon their past
purchasing histories or browsing habits
with your business? Do you plan to
automate these marketing features?
Or do you envision managing them manually?
Attracting
the Customer
Getting
the Word Out How will you get the
word out that your store is open for
business? Register with the search
engines and portals? Buy and manage
online advertising? Target potential
customers with direct marketing tactics?
Get exposure through public relations
or news group postings? Or include
your URL in marketing and promotional
materials?
Value
Proposition
Why
will people shop at your online store?
Price? Selection? Service? Speed?
Availability? What do you offer customers
that makes you competitive?
Branding
How
do you want to be understood by your
customer base? As the fastest way
to shop? The smart way to shop? The
easy way to shop? What makes your
service unique in the marketplace?
How are you different from your competitors?
How can you communicate these attributes
of your business to your customers?
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