Starting an online shop presents a world of options. What software to use, what to spend money on, what to get for free, who’ll host it, provide security, handle transactions and so on. Putting these questions aside, the requirements for a basic shop are really quite straightforward.
For the most basic set-up, you’ll need the following:
• A computer with software for writing documents and doing financial accounting
• Access to the internet and an email address
• A website, including design templates and a hosting package
• Alternatively, an account with Amazon or eBay to sell your products
If you want to sell through your own shop (ie not through eBay or Amazon) then you can pick up a free website with basic ecommerce functionality from a range of sources. It’s worth shopping around, but free options give you limited scope to establish your brand and grow sales.
The next step up is a paid access to an ecommerce platform with ecommerce functionality. This gives you more flexibility to make your shop look like it’s your own and the monthly or yearly fee you pay gives you access to more options including greater bandwidth, more email addresses, a personalised domain name and more pages to sell from.
The final, most sophisticated and most expensive option, is to have a site designed for you by professional developers. Again, a basic search online using the term ‘web design’ will reveal a host of businesses that can build your site. Each will offer a different service and charge different amounts for creating your shop.
Whichever option you choose, you will need to consider hosting (the thing that keeps your website online and visible to the world). Some companies will bundle this up with a website offer and most designers will add it in as an extra ongoing charge.
Blogging engines such as WordPress and Blogger, to which you can attach ecommerce capabilities, give you limited hosting for free, while setting up a shop on eBay, Amazon or selling through online listings sites like Gumtree bypass the need to pay for hosting.
If you are sourcing your own hosting package, be mindful of the service each hosting company provides and don’t be drawn in (necessarily) by the cheapest deal. Check and compare service level agreements and support arrangements. Ideally you’re looking for 100 per cent up time and 24-hour support.
Lastly, and crucially, you need to be able to take payments smoothly online. As you would expect there is a host of companies that enable you to do this – for a fee. Generally, expect to pay a set-up fee as well as a small fraction of each transaction cost to your payment mechanism supplier.
Giving away money each time you sell something will be a source of irritation, especially if margins are tight, but having a professional payment mechanism that reassures customers will pay you back in more sales and word-of-mouth recommendations.
