Taking the Leap

The global reach of the Internet has enticed many retailers – from home-based businesses to large corporations – to sell their products online.

Going from a web presence to selling online is usually not as simple as adding a picture of your product to a web page.
Instead of selling ecommerce websites to our clients right away we would first like you to read our guide to provide you with a common-sense approach to the world of business to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce.


Guide to selling online


As with most things in life, e-business success requires thorough preparation and hard work.

Are you planning for Success?

Prudent business plans involving e-commerce usually approach online retailing in following stages:

• Establish a web presence for information and marketing purposes.
• Offer a subset of inventory for sale online, often with reduced functionality.
• Publish most (if not all) of their products online with real-time payment processing, inventory control, and other advanced e-business tools.

Your e-commerce strategy may differ from this example, but the point is that you actually have a plan. “I’m going to sell (fill in the blank) online” is not a business plan.


There are many hard questions you have to ask yourself before you begin to sell online, many of which are common to traditional retailing:

• Is there a market online for my products?
• Are my customers willing to purchase over the Internet?
• What makes my products different from those of my competitors?
• How will I attract customers to my website?
• Will my full product catalog be available from the start?
• Will there be any customizations required for goods sold online?
• Are my expectations realistic?

All business ventures involve risk, but the better you can answer these questions, the better your odds are for success. Taking a phased approach will let you test the e-commerce waters while minimizing your financial investment.