eCommerce - Online Shopping

There comes a time for many businesses when it appears attractive to take the business online.

This has many obvious advantages:

  • It increases the time the store is open
  • It allows people from literally all over the world to be customers
  • It helps the business to expand in a traditional (for the 21st Century) manner.

But it comes with some disadvantages too which need to be understood and carefully considered before taking this step.

  • The online business needs to be managed as closely as the offline one, particularly in the early days.
  • The basic cost of setting up the online store varies enormously depending on what software you use to build it.
  • The cost of building and maintaining the site may be prohibitive and not cost-effective.
  • You will need an efficient and low-cost way of delivering products to customers anywhere in the world.
  • You will need to integrate your stock control systems so that your online and offline sales work in harmony, with neither disadvantaging the other.
  • You may need to make extra investment in credit/debit card systems for online payment.
  • You will need to factor in the growth on your business. Do you have enough cash-flow to support an offline business?

Of course, none of these are not reasons not to take this step, but considerations that must be discussed and understood before you take it.

At Kerensa Consulting we can show you ways of 'testing the water' with minimal cost implications to see how an online store would work for you.

We can show you simple ways of taking credit/debit payments without signing up to long-term contracts that you may not need.

And then, as you become more confident with your eCommerce store, we can show you how to expand it and make it a permanent part of your operations.