e-commerce on a shoestring

The basics of marketing apply to e-commerce as well as the basics of business.

1   Think about what your customer may want from your ‘shop’ and how they would like to get it.
2   Is e-commerce likely to work for your enterprise?
3   Test and experiment so you can get your first mistakes out of the way.
4   Try E-bay and Amazon as routes to market and to see how it should be done.
5   Use a hosted service that does e-commerce, stock control, billing and marketing.
6   Ensure you control and create your content. A blog may be free but might be invaluable
7   Understand exactly how you will get paid and what the fees are. PayPal is great but remember they take a slice of the whole order including VAT
8   Think and learn about web-marketing as it is one of the most cost effective marketing tools available. The main cost is your time and the results can be measured easily.
9   It’s not about traffic and clicks but it is about customers and profit.
10   Automate as much as possible. Order acknowledgment, sending invoices, credits and after sales service.
11   Once you have a customer, what can you do to keep them buying from you or an affilliate?
12   Develop a dialogue as a trusted supplier with your customers – listen and do what you say you will – always!
13   Concentrate on the core business and your relationship with your customers
14   If you are going to grow very fast then consider outsourcing non core activities early