E-Commerce Made Easy

INTRODUCTION

What does it take for small and home-based businesses to get started with e-commerce? My goal is to answer this question and to give you information that allows you to get started with selling your products and services on the Internet.

The benefits of e-commerce are plentiful; the most important ones being: increasing sales revenues while expanding a company’s customer base and offering services to allow customers to shop at their convenience around the clock and independent of location.

BASIC INGREDIENTS

An e-commerce website should consist of a website with at least the following components:

- Product catalog
- Shopping cart
- Shipping and handling options
- Online payment processing

In order to obtain these basic ingredients, the following technical requirements have to be met:
- Server disk space. E-commerce software contains an online store in the format of a website. In order for this website to be available on the Internet, it has to be stored on the harddisk of a server computer that is constantly connected to the Internet.
- Registered domain name. Once the E-commerce software is stored on the server’s harddisk, it still needs to be made accessible for customers using an Internet address. For this, a domain name needs to be registered, e.g. http://www.yourname.com.
- Online database. E-commerce software stores its data in a database. For this reason, an online database has to be available on the server computer.
- PHP script preprocessor. An e-commerce website contains dynamic webpages. To make this reliable and compatible across all Internet browsers, the PHP server-side scripting language is used for making the webpages dynamic and for accessing the online database.
- FTP access. This is needed to upload and install the e-commerce software from ones local computer to the harddisk of the server computer.
- Telnet server access. Using Telnet, you can access the files on the server’s harddisk.
- SSL certificate. A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate should be installed and configured on the server computer for securing the transfer of credit card information.

Most owners and employees in small and home-based businesses get discouraged about using e-commerce, because they don’t have sufficient knowledge regarding how to meet these technical requirements. This is not necessary. There are several Internet hosting companies available that offer e-commerce hosting packages that meet all of these technical requirements. They will configure and maintain an Internet server computer (or part of it) for you to use.

PERSONAL SKILLS

The problem with e-commerce hosting companies is that they will only offer you the tools that you need to do e-commerce. It’s still up to you to figure out how to use them. Personal skills required to use these tools are: HTML programming; PHP scripting; FTP file transfers; server computer operation; online database usage; and graphical web design.

This is a steep and time consuming learning curve. Up to now, the only solution has been to contract or hire an e-commerce expert to perform these tasks, making e-commerce too expensive.

What the small business segment really needs is an e-commerce solution that focuses on them — one that takes into account that only limited time and financial resources are available. For these businesses, Feaser eStores are the perfect cost- effective solution, bringing e-commerce back into their reach.

FEASER ESTORES

Feaser eStores are “turn-key” online store hosting packages that contain all the basic ingredients and meet all the technical requirements as outlined earlier in this article. What sets Feaser eStore hosting packages apart from traditional e-commerce hosting packages is that they also lower the required personal skills of the individual operating the eStore. Knowing how to surf the Internet and how to do e-mailing is sufficient. Opening your own eStore is a straightforward 3-step process:

1. Select an eStore layout. We offer a wide variety of eStore layouts that we can install for you. Upon your request, we will even add your company logo to the layout. We also offer services to design a complete new layout for your eStore.
2. Select a hosting plan. A hosting plan consists of everything needed to make your eStore accessible on the Internet. This includes server disk space and an e-mail account.
3. Add your own products. By default, your eStore contains a number of products for example purposes. After you add your own products to your eStore, you can start selling them on the Internet right away.

After we receive your request to open an eStore, we will create an eStore hosting account for you on our Internet server and install and configure the e-commerce software for you, including online database setup. We take care of the technical nitty-gritty work involved to get your eStore up and running and guide you along the way.

In the support section of our website (http://estores.feaser.com), you can find a wealth of information regarding running your eStore. This includes answers to frequently asked questions and multimedia how-to instructions showing you step-by-step how to use your eStore.

CONCLUSION

What sets eStores apart from conventional e-commerce hosting packages is that they are developed with you, the small business owner, in mind. By targeting this specific market, we’ve been able to create complete and full-featured e-commerce hosting packages that are simplified and easy to use. All you need to know is how to use an Internet browser and how to do e-mailing. This makes eStores complete, cost-effective, and easy to use solutions for small and home-based businesses wanting to get started with e-commerce.

For more information on Feaser eStores, you can visit our website at http://estores.feaser.com or contact me at info@feaser.com