It takes time for a busy local business owner to research, review, and test some of the many options available for e-commerce. Because of the time required, and a lack of knowledge about how to go about the selection process, many online merchants continue using what are better known as "e-wallets" to create invoices, accept credit card payments, and make their own payments to others.
While these brokering services often include features for invoicing and rudimentary reporting features, they fall short -- way short -- of giving business owners a comprehensive set of tools for managing the financial lifeblood of their online business endeavors. E-wallets are simply not the best choice for internet commerce.
When you outgrow whatever type of account you have at one of the money broker services, it's time to get a serious e-commerce application to do your heavy lifting and fill in the gaps you no doubt have been noticing more and more. Your e-commerce solution for your local business should be based on what you're selling, your target market, and the management tools you need.
You can trim the time it takes to make a good selection by knowing what questions to ask at the beginning of the process.
What Kinds of Questions Should You Ask?
The best way to get to the best solution for your business is to start your research with a set of questions that both weeds out those services and applications that will not work for you -- as well as to shortlist those that have great potential. The questions you ask yourself and potential vendors fall into a narrow set of categories. They might include questions about:
(1) Key Requirements
(2) Industry or Geography
(3) How The eCommerce System Manages Tasks
(4) How The eCommerce System Gives You The Help You Need
The time it takes for a busy local business owner to research, review, and test some of the many options available for e-commerce can initially depend on the quality of the questions asked at the beginning of the process. Further refinement of those questions during the testing phase will also weed out ecommerce applications that will not give you the best set of comprehensive tools.
Two great questions to start with are: Do the testimonials sound genuine, and appear to be from real people working in real businesses? and Is there a free trial period so I can try this on for size to see if it fits with my business goals?
Key Requirements
These questions primarily have to do with your own ideas about what Key Requirements you must have in an online ecommerce system in order for it to fit with the flow of your business model. Requirements might be inspired by your current accounting system or offline customer management processes. Absence of features that reflect key requirements during this stage could very well be a deal-breaker, causing you to immediately strike an application from the running before you accept a trial offer and take it through its paces.
Industry or Geography
Another set of questions that could have a bearing on the ecommerce applications you initially select for review might be industry related, geography based, or hinge on the quality of interaction with your customers. For example:
Are foreign currencies and exchanges supported?
Can my client in London pay me in Euros or British Pounds?
How Does The eCommerce System Manages Tasks?
What good is an ecommerce system that is difficult to navigate and makes using it more of a chore than a joy? You'll want to ask questions of the systems you test that rule out unnecessary difficulties and make it fun to set up and use. Consider these:
- How easy is it to find the tasks you want to complete?
- Do the category of tasks make sense?
- Can you add graphics and product descriptions without a rocket science degree?
- Are the reports and graphs easy to understand? Can you create your own?
Where Is The Help?
Finally, the quality of help offered by the internet commerce solutions you are considering will help weed out some and move others up on your shortlist. Once you decide to test a few systems, look around for the places you can get help should you need it.
Can you find an answer in their static documentation or their help videos when you need an answer at 2am?
Did the developers of the system place little help bubbles or hints in prominent places that move you along as you complete tasks?
Ready To Get Started?
Have you been searching for an online ecommerce system to enhance your offline business operations?
You can significantly trim the time it takes to shortlist the options available for internet commerce. Start with the quality of the questions you ask as you begin your research. Once you begin testing various systems, you can refine your questions to weed out ecommerce applications that will not give you the best set of comprehensive tools.
About this Author
By knowing what types of questions to ask, you can save time and money right upfront. Read my current series for a better understanding of what's involved with selecting an ecommerce system for your online or offline business. Free trial offers allow you to take a free test drive of 5 recommended ecommerce systems with top-notch features that will satisfy most needs.
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