Nowaday, many people today have heard about e-Commerce increasing sales. A highly important benefit for e-Commerce is the ability to acquire more customers around the globe. Prior to making a purchase, Customers can research your information online, therefore improving customer service. An online catalog that is easily managed can reduce your marketing and advertising costs in half, and is also more effective and will provide a higher ROI than traditional media advertising. E-commerce decreases costs in processing, handling customer phone calls, handling sales inquiries and determining product availability, which is all handled by your e-Commerce system.
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What is the E-Commerce Process ?
As a small to medium sized business owner, you may not understand all the parts of an online store. It can seem intimidating but it really isn't.
The E-commerce Process
- Attain an Online Shopping Cart Program ( We have the options ready for you ).
- Your Website will secure all info from the time customers enter your site to your "Thank you for your order" acknowledgement and receipt.
- Your Website will accept payments from a credit card.
- Your Website will tell you what you sold, when you sold it, to whom you sold it, for how much (including taxes and shipping) and how that relates to inventory.
- Your Website will be reliable and efficient as a mechanism for handling returns and customer complaints.
- Your Website always declares what information you gather and what you do with it as well as how you protect it.
- Your Website will have a way to ensure and measure customer satisfaction with your service and product. This is by far THE MOST IMPORTANT aspect to a successful online business.
USER FRIENDLY MEANS :
- User can Navigate quickly - both to your products and to their cart
- User can Buy the products - an Add to Basket next to the product is important, and a way to quickly indicate quantity
- Check status - that Basket Contents button is all important.
( Customers should be able to review what they've selected at any time. Sub-totals, with or without taxes and shipping, are important as well.)
- User must have a Secure Check out - so customers can finish the purchase securely. And always make sure they can finish the purchase whenever they want to. In other words, put a Checkout button on every page!
- User should be able to Select shipping - we make sure that when customers do check out they can select the shipping method with a clear cost.
ULS Media Solutions can achieve this process and have you on the right path to earning revenue directly from your website.
About E-Commerce Design
Online Store Look & Feel - ULS Media Solutions assures your design will convey your company's image and set a mood for the buyer. Our team of artists will have your site match the style for your industry. We use Your company's logo and other branding to incorporate into the site. Our e-commerce designs can be created from scratch or from any template customized for the script we use for your e-commerce website.
Product Photos - Since your Customers can't physically hold and examine your merchandise from the internet, high quality photos are key in assisting them. We recommend getting Shots from every angle to give your customer a 3-Dimensional view of your product. Don't have a camera, we can have a photographer get the job done should you live in the South Florida area such as Broward, Dade, or Palm Beach
Product Video - Videos give your customers a real-life view of your products. Statistics show that Video can help increase the sale of a product by 30%. Thanks to ULS Media Solutions Video Production department, we can help sell your products at a reasonable cost with the power of VIDEO.
Ease of Use
Navigation - The catalog on your e-commerce website will be placed with the user experience in mind. When a customer selects a product, add-on items and accessories will appear on the screen immediately. The shopping cart should always be available with a single click.
Website Accessibility - Do your customers need assistance to make their online shopping experience easier? No problem! Style sheets can be used to make fonts larger and easier to read. Audio and video can be used for demonstrations and explanations.
Functionality
Easy Online Ordering and Payment - When an online customer is ready to buy the process should be as easy as possible. ULS Media Solutions approaches online store functionality from the buyer and seller perspective. Online customers want shopping carts that are simple when adjusting items. The online shopper should be informed whats in stock and your special offers. Shipping calculations should be clear and precise. Credit card processing must be secure.
When an order is received you need to know it. Having your inventory Online lets the seller fulfill online orders and keep track of stock. Shopping modules help the seller prepare and package materials to be shipped on time.
ULS Media Solutions can tailor your ordering and payment process, no matter what items you are selling online. If an item comes in a variety of sizes, quantities or colors with many options, we can create an ordering system that lets your customers customize their online order.
Order History - Our stores keep an order history so customers can log into their account and see what was purchased in the past.
Tell Me About Payments
Credit Cards
When considering online payments, Credit card processing is the first thing that comes to mind . People remain reluctant to use their cards online, but in general credit cards have become the standard method of payment on the Net.
It is possible to run an online business without accepting credit cards, but this is really only viable if you are in a situation where you are not likely to get an impulse buy. For most E-businesses, accepting credit cards is essential.
How Credit Cards Work Online
You May Ask - How does it work? The desired result is to transfer funds from the customers credit card account (held at an Issuing Bank) to the seller's bank account (held at an Acquiring Bank). The first problem is that the seller can't use any old bank account, it must be a Merchant Account - in fact a particular type of merchant account called an Internet Merchant Account.
The typical sequence of events (slightly simplified) in an online credit card transaction is as follows:
1. The customer enters the credit details onto a secure online form, which is usually part of the shopping cart system provided by the Web-Store Service.
2. The next stage is basic fraud avoidance such as checking that the card number is valid and verifying the address.
3. The details are then forwarded from the transaction-processing system on the Web-store site to the Credit Card Association (e.g. Visa or Master Card) via a Payment Processing Network.
4. The transaction is either Authorized or Declined, depending on the state of the customer's credit limit. If it is authorized, funds are reserved to cover the transaction.
5. The results are communicated to the merchant. After the goods ship, the merchant can issue a Capture Request which is a request for Settlement, the final stage in which the funds transfer to the merchant takes place.
Merchant Accounts
You'll need an Internet Merchant Account to accept Credit Card payments. Merchant accounts are accounts that accept and hold credit card transaction funds. These accounts can be established through merchant service providers (MSPs) such as banks or via independent service organizations (ISOs).
If you have an existing Merchant Account, check whether your merchant provider will "broaden" your account into an Internet Merchant Account.
A Transaction Processor (Payment Gateway)
Not only will you need a merchant account setup to take online transactions, but you will need a payment gateway. The payment gateway is the part of the puzzle that connects your shopping cart with your Merchant account.
It's not unusual that there are a handful of fees. Be sure you're clear on what they are before you purchase. The typical fees include some sort of set up fee. This is usually a one-time fee. The next fee will be your monthly fee. Now it's not uncommon for the fees to be based upon services you've asked for - a la carte. You pick and choose what you want and the fee is for the sum of the services you choose. Look for and be sure you understand if the monthly service fee is a flat fee or a percentage of sales or some combination of both.
Make sure you learn where the break points are for the price changes which are often based upon either $$ sold or quantities sold. DO YOUR HOMEWORK! We can't stress this enough. Check out a bunch of these folks and compare them apples to apples. Start with your own bank.
We offer a couple of payment gateways that we have worked with - Authorize.net and PayPal.
Should I Use PayPal?
PayPal, an online payment service. PayPal became popular with online auctioneers, and is now owned by eBay, but also offers premium and business accounts. If you are dealing with low volume then this might be the most reasonable approach.
In some cases, you can get both a merchant account and transaction processing services from the same organization. Be careful of pricing! Make sure you understand what you're agreeing to before you sign. Again, start with your own bank.
Conclusion
We hope you have a clear picture on what you will embark to get your e-commerce site on the right course to success.
Site Security & Privacy
If you take payments online it is a necessity to encrypt the transfer of data in your store. Encryption is one of the main tools for privacy, trust, access control, electronic payments, corporate security, and countless other fields.
ULS Media Solutions will explain and implement the following security measures to ensure your customers have a safe online shopping experience:
- A Digital Certificate - The Certificate Authority certifies by your Digital Certificate that you are proves you are who you say you are.
- A Secure Protocol (HTTPS) - provides privacy between the customer (browser) when entering credit card information to your online store.
- A Secure Protocol (SFTP) - provides privacy between you (store administrator) and the web server (the physical location of your online store).
- A Secure Database - provides security to protect your online store database.
- A Secure E-mail - provides privacy with critical email sent to you by your online store.
- A Privacy & Security Policy - provides your customer with an understanding of how you will use their information.
A Digital Certificate
These prove you are who you say you are for the customer's peace of mind. It is a paper certificate. What you actually get is a digital key that we install on your web server for your domain. When someone views your "certificate" they're viewing the digital key that we installed. That key identifies whom the key is for (had better be you), the domain it was intended for (had better match your domain), who issued the key, when it was issued, and when it expires.
We will generate a Key to send to the certificate vendor and they will in turn send us the matching Key. Once we receive your Key, it needs to be installed on your webserver - ULS Media Solutions will do this for you.
We will generate a key to send to the certificate vendor and they will in turn send us the matching key. Once we receive your Key, it needs to be installed on your webserver - ULS Media Solutions will do this for you.
Secure Protocol (HTTPS)
World Wide Web (WWW) security is important as increasing amounts of sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, are transmitted over the Internet. We invoke this security by calling a URL with HTTPS instead of HTTP. After your customer's browser and your web server have agreed on what secret code to use, the rest of the conversation between them occurs naturally but is encrypted. Security isn't necessary, however, until the customer is giving you his or her private information. The form(s) where they tell you who they are, where they live, their shipping address, contact info and credit card number should all be protected by a secure transaction. ULS Media Solutions builds your web store with all web pages secured appropriately.
Secure Protocol (SFTP)
The World Wide Web has many different protocols. One is FTP, which is commonly used to upload and download large amounts of data to and from a web server. For online stores, it is wise to use a secured version called SFTP for many of the same reasons as above. ULS Media Solutions will make sure that all access points to your online store data is secured.
A Secure Database
This is essential for tracking customer information. There are many tricks to writing code to interact with the database so that it is darn near impossible for a hacker to get at the database. This is THE NUMBER ONE SECURITY RISK for most online stores. Rest assured that ULS Media Solutions uses all the appropriate techniques to ensure your customer data is secure!
Secure Email (PGP)
It is important for all Internet users to understand that regular email offers no privacy, and can actually be read by many people other than who it is sent to. With PGP encryption, all of these people can have free access to your email, and still have no idea as to its content - that is real privacy!
With PGP, you can digitally sign your email: Automatically, PGP will calculate a complex mathematical value based on the exact content of your email message, and will then encrypt that value to your private key. And since only you have the private key that encrypted the email, only you will be able to read that email. So when PGP says that the signature is good, that indicates that the message is both unaltered (integrity), and from who it says it is from - that is authenticity!
If you are new to all this, see PGP's An Introduction to Cryptography. Of course, an easier solution is to have ULS Media Solutions set this up for you.
Privacy & Security Policies
The Privacy Policy tells the customer what information you gather and what you do with it. You can learn more at the Privacy Alliance.
Our policy dictates that we do not, and will not, work with companies that sell or re-sell private information collected via the web. This is true for all information, including email addresses.
The Security Policy should tell the customer exactly how you protect their private information. You don't need to tell them about how HTTPS works but you should tell them that their credit card transaction with you is safe by displaying your "Certificate Seal". And you should always have a link to your privacy page that states their private information is encrypted and kept safely and securely for their safety (and yours). Make this policy available on any page you secure and any page that leads to a secured page.
There is a lot more to security and privacy, through technology or common sense, be assured that ULS Media Solutions can make your online store trustworthy!
Although we do give our estimated turnaround time with our clients, it is totally client dependent. We recommend gathering and submitting all of your content from the begining of your project. Complete content submission, Clear initial and on going instructions, Reasonable revisions will assure we meet our estimated turnaround time. The turnaround times that we give are based on actual statistics of jobs we have done in the past and are NOT guaranteed.
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