The speed of the Internet creates the expectation that you will respond to an online order very quickly. Whether you have an existing product or just have one in mind for an online business, some important issues to establish before selling online are the ordering process, receiving payment, employing additional support, shipping, and processing returns. Your Internet store’s systems can be accomplished in several ways and some work better than others in helping you succeed.

Shopping Cart Software
Forms
Email, Fax, and Phone
Processing Payment
Payment Gateway
Secure Transactions
Shipping Procedures
International Sales
Customer Service
Online Success

Shopping Cart Software
Shopping cart software will provide a very intuitive, user-friendly, and professional way for your customers to do business with you. As the merchant, it will offer you the ability to organize your store, change or update products easily, offer compatibility to securely take credit cards online, take into account sales tax or promotion codes, and much more. The software allows a customer to make selections easily with just a click of a button (e.g., “add to your cart”) or by checking a box next to the item. When the customer is done shopping, a completed order form is generated and displayed. The customer has the opportunity to revise the order or proceed to check out. The check out area requests the required information to complete the sale. Using a shopping cart software on your website gives you an optimal way to interact with your customers during the ordering process.

NetFronts provides a shopping cart software called ShoppingQ, which is a complete storefront system with integrated payment processing, inventory, and shipping control. Learn more about ShoppingQ
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Forms
Forms using a script language such as CGI or PHP will allow your customers to “fill in the blanks” for their items of interest. This method may also allow you to build a database of order information from sales for future promotions. The form can be designed to require certain fields so that you will have all of the necessary data to complete the sale more quickly. Knowing that forms are an integral part of websites, NetFronts provides popular scripts so that you may add them to your website. In addition, there are many Internet resources available for the do-it-yourselfer. Website designers or webmasters are also usually familiar with scripts and setting up forms.
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Email, Fax, and Phone
The most basic method simply shows your goods through your website and then you ask your website visitors to complete a transaction by using email, fax, or phone (toll-free number). While this is the least expensive way to sell online, there are many disadvantages, such as customers may not send you all of the information needed to complete the sale, credit card and payment information should not be sent through an insecure medium such as email, obtaining the additional information could be time-consuming and costly, and since the customer needs to initiate additional steps offline to make the purchase, your chances of capturing the sale are significantly reduced; especially if you sell an item which the customer may easily buy online elsewhere.
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Processing Payment
A few consumers still prefer to pay by check or cash, but the fact to the matter is that most consumers feel that their credit card offers convenience and allows them to secure a purchase now. For this reason, it is important to consider accepting credit cards for your business. Many Internet shoppers rely on using their credit card for a purchase, so if they encounter a company that doesn’t accept credit cards, they are probably going to take their business to an Internet company that will accept credit cards. Yes, accepting credit cards can eat into a profit by a small percentage and create minor challenges, but overall it has the potential to increase the amount of business you do by more than 4 times.

Some companies find it hard to succeed without accepting credit cards, especially businesses that rely on Internet shoppers. Becoming a credit card merchant means that you will gain from the impulse shopper and the payment is promptly wired into your bank account. You may determine the scope of your merchant account, which means you may choose the type of cards you would like to accept (i.e., Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, etc.). If you don’t already have a system in place to accept credit cards, please check out our partners that will help you get started.
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Payment Gateway
A gateway account is required to process payments with your merchant account. Your shopping cart software and merchant account can work directly with your gateway account to allow a fully automated order processing system. If you decide not to have your orders processed automatically through your gateway, you will need to process your orders manually; in which case any merchant account and any gateway account will suffice. Otherwise, be sure to ask questions and do your research to ensure that your merchant account, gateway account, and shopping cart are compatible and will enable you to streamline your processes. For a one-stop solution for ecommerce, check out ShoppingQ and our merchant partners.
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Secure Transactions
Customers shopping with your company online need to know that their transaction with you is secure. A secure socket layer (SSL) certificate can be purchased from NetFronts and will allow you to accomplish a safe transmission of sensitive information. A SSL is a transaction security standard and was developed to enable secure, encrypted transactions to take place over the Internet. Connections using an SSL always use the prefix https://. Since most consumers are well-versed in online purchasing protocol, they appreciate a company that has respected them enough to have strict security measures in place.
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Shipping Procedures
In the first stages of your Internet storefront, you may be able to adequately cover your shipping responsibilities with trips to the Post Office, or other shipping companies such as UPS Store or FedEx. During holiday seasons and other demanding times, you may want to install a more standardized process. Many shipping companies provide service through their website and will pick up items directly.

Purchasing goods from a company that offers drop-shipping is often a nice alternative to shipping the items yourself. Drop shipping usually means that your supplier ships the item directly from its facility, but your customers only see your name as the return address. Similar to shipping the item yourself, returned or undelivered items will come back to you. A few downsides are that you are not able to offer gift-wrapping unless your supplier does and using several suppliers may mean that your customer receives numerous shipments for one order, which may not be cost effective.
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International Sales
Your website will be accessed all over the world. Consequently, if you offer goods or services, you’ll need to determine how you will handle international sales and inquiries. Shipping costs, custom forms, and monetary exchange rates are very important issues to consider.
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Customer Service
If you offer a service or product for sale, it is important to follow through with helpful customer service. Word of mouth is powerful and can be priceless if your customers have a positive experience with your business.

Good customer service usually begins by being pro-active. Be thoughtful in designing your website and try to make it intuitive for your customer. A great way to do this is to think like your customer and try to momentarily shed the knowledge you already have about your products. Ask friends and family to review your site and give you constructive feedback.

Provide answers to frequently asked questions and include comprehensive information about the goods or service you are selling. Email, a toll free phone number, and prompt responses can be a very effective way to show your customers that you want to service them. Customers want to know that you will respond to them if they contact you.

Listen to your customers’ feedback. The most valuable information usually comes from a discontented customer. When you are doing things right, you won’t always hear about it. When a sale goes awry, reimburse your customer, admit your mistakes, and remember it’s not always possible to please everyone.
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Online Success
A realistic perspective is important when you start selling on the Internet. Just like any new business, Internet sales may take a while to build. Good planning, a well-designed website, careful evaluation of your target market, and constant promotion of your website are all important factors to consider in an online business. Some services and products may be more suitable for web sales than others. Customers may visit your site several times before they make a purchase. It’s important that you enjoy what you are doing, make it easy for your customers to place orders, and have a site that is fun to visit.

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