Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.

Essentially an e-commerce web site facilitates the selling of products online to your customers, whether they are other businesses or individual consumers. Once the electronic transaction is complete, you, the online retailer or your agent, ship the product to your customer.

You can sell pretty much anything online these days and it’s doesn’t necessarily have to be a physical product, it could be a service or even access to premium content on a web site or the supply of an e-book.

Make sure that the product or service you are selling is legal and safe. Also ensure that if you are required to hold any special licence, registration or qualification to supply the product or service that you are offering that you have this in place prior to commencing trading and for as long as is required.

It pays to do some in-depth research before venturing into any new business and online retailing is no exception. You may not have the overheads of a bricks and mortar shop but there is still a considerable amount of time, effort and investment required in launching your business and getting your online shop up and running.

We can’t tell you what to sell or what will be successful for you but here’s just a few tips to help you make that all important decision.

• Work with something you are passionate and knowledgeable about.
• Consider offering a niche product – a product that is made and marketed for use in a small and specialised but profitable market.
• Understand who your customers are and what they want.
• Research the competition
• Choose something sustainable

Yes you could always simply set up an EBay Store and perhaps you still should however there’s also some great reasons to go for an e-commerce web site – here’s just a few…

An EBay Store involves an on-going monthly charge plus insertion fees and final value fees. If you’re successful perhaps you won’t mind but these costs could begin to add up!

Your own e-commerce web site or online store will involve initial financial investment but other than minimal costs for web hosting and renewal of your domain name(s) there are no other running costs for the web site.

Let’s face it, if we’re looking for a bargain we all chance our arm on EBay. EBayer’s want to pay as little as possible so if you sell on EBay your audience is a crowd of bargain hunters! Establish your own online shop and you’re more likely to be visited by people who are looking for something in particular; people who are looking for a good product not just a good bargain!

 

EBay offers limited functionality, control and opportunity to customise and develop your store as you choose.

 

Having your own online store portrays a far more professional image which may give visitors more confidence to make a purchase.

 

Start with the bigger picture in mind…
Starting a website now means that all of your time spent in promoting your business will have long term value. As you spread the word, you share your domain name and people will remember it.

and finally…

Why not use EBay as well? List a few items and then link to your own online store…

Contact Us today and we'll help you set up shop!

At Pedleyonline we offer two different types of e-commerce web sites, simple e-commerce and full e-commerce, which is more suitable for shops with multiple products. We can help you decide which is most suitable for you but generally the number of products you wish to include is a key factor.

Please Contact Us to talk through your requirements and to obtain a free no obligation quotation or for more information please take a look at our Web Design Pricing Information

You can also view examples of e-commerce sites we’ve helped to create by visiting our Web Design Portfolio

No problem, simply access the administration panel and either temporarily or permanently take the product out of stock. This will prevent customers from ordering the item.

Most Pedleyonline e-commerce web sites allow you to manage many aspects of shop administration yourself completely independently.

Permissions include the ability to:
Change prices
Add new products
Take products out of stock
Remove products permanently
Add new colours/sizes
Amend product descriptions
Change or add new product images

If you have people that work for you and you choose to allow them access to the administration panel for your store you can create a unique log-on and customise the permissions available to them.

Pedleyonline are always on hand to help…just a phone call away! Contact Us for assistance as required.

The administration panel really is very simple and we’ll make sure you receive training before you open shop. You can do as much or as little as you want to. If you don’t want to be involved in making changes, particularly if they are infrequent, then why not leave it up to us? Email us or call us with your amendments and we’ll make the changes for you.

We only charge for the time it takes to make the changes. Visit our Frequently Asked Questions relating to Web Site Updates for more infomation.

Pedleyonline e-commerce websites are all search engine friendly and are built with web optimisation in mind.

For more on search engine optimisation please visit our SEO information and our Frequently Asked Questions relating to Search Engine Optimisation.