Business
Model
Important issues to consider before you jump!
Here's a list of e-commerce-related issues that you should think
about before you begin developing an e-commerce site. You
have probably come up with some answers and formed attitudes
to many of these issues already. But if this list brings to
mind even a few things you haven't considered, you'll probably
save some big bucks and a lot of headaches in later development
cycles.
Feel free to use this list to generate your own Requirements
Document. Or if you are planning to outsource the development,
these questions can be used to put together a thorough Request
for Proposal (RFP).
Presenting Your Product/Service Offers
Remember to put yourself in the customers' shoes when you define thia
business model. The more you can think like them, the more
likely you'll create a solution that effectively caters to
them.
Product Mix
What is the range of products that you plan to offer? Are
all of your products hard goods? Or do you offer intangible
products such as warranties, service agreements, and guarantees?
Do you sell software products that you want to make available
for download through the Internet? How many unique products
to you plan to offer? How often does this product data and
product mix change?
Pricing
Is all pricing the same, regardless of who is making the purchase?
Do different groups of customers see different pricing on
the same items? Do you ever offer promotional or temporary
pricing or price reductions? What is your pricing strategy
for other channels?
Incentive Purchases
Do you use coupons or club memberships? Do you support manufacturers'
rebates? Do you up-sell, cross-sell, or bundle items to create
purchase incentives? Are quantity discounts offered?
Compatible Accessories, Substitutions
Do you let users know what accessory items are compatible
with a purchase about to be made? Do you recommend a substitution
if an item is not in stock?
Categories, Subcategories, and More Subcategories
Will you want to help customers locate items by navigating
through your product categories and subcategories? What categories
and subcategories do you envision? What are the words your
customers use to categorize your products?
Searching
Do you want to let users search for keywords? Or do your users
want to search for simple product attributes such as brand,
model, and price range? Do your customers need tools to help
them look for products with specific features?
Configuration Views
Can you build custom orders? Do you want to let customers
specify the components of the products they want to purchase?
For example, what if they want a CPU tower with a 4-GB hard
drive, 256 MB of RAM, plus a 12x CD-ROM?
Providing Sales Service
Solution Views
Do you recommend products based upon a profile of the customer's
needs? For example, you may sell a home office solution or
a corporate cubicle solution.
Comparison Views
How much information do you want to provide to your customers
to facilitate their comparison of products? Is brand, model,
price, and description enough? Or does your customer prefer
a table with a full comparison of features by type of feature?
Would providing comparisons help or hinder the sale? Too much
information may cause a customer to leave confused.
Dialog with the Customer
Do you plan to allow your customers to ask product questions?
How will you handle the incoming email with the expertise
your customers will expect? If you offer complex products
that have many variations, how will you guide your customer
through the decision-making process toward the right solution
for him or her?
Transaction Management and Processing
If you plan to let customers purchase more than one item at a
time, then you will need to implement an online shopping cart,
shopping basket, procurement list, or whatever metaphor is
appropriate to your brand.
Building an Order
Do you envision enabling customers to collect a number of
items in their carts before checking out? How many unique
items typically comprise an order? One to 10? Hundreds?
Reordering
Do your customers typically purchase the same items again
and again to replenish their stock? Do you want to enable
registered users or groups to save a permanent shopping list
from which they can reorder items they've ordered in the past?
Tax and Shipping
Some online stores precalculate tax and shipping expenses.
Others ask that you trust them to add regional tax and reasonable
shipping expenses to the total that appears on the screen.
Should taxes and shipping be automatically added to the total
cost for a customer to accept prior to placing an order? If
you will be preauthorizing payments, you must calculate tax
and shipping in advance.
Tax Nexus
In what states is tax applicable to your sales? Are all items
taxable or only certain items?
Shipping
What shipping options do you want to offer? FedEx? UPS? USPS?
Payment Types
What types of payments do you need to support for your customers?
Credit cards? Cybercash? Debit cards? Procurement cards? Purchase
orders? Corporate credit accounts? Private label cards?
Authentication, Validation, and Transaction Clearing
How much authentication do you want to force upon the user?
Extensive authentication lowers your risk but decreases the
ease with which customers can conduct transactions, possibly
leading to lost sales. What will be your policy? What level
of risk from potential fraud are you comfortable with? Will
you want to check card numbers against card algorithms? Do
you want to authorize cards and transaction amounts with a
bank, and then reserve funds, before issuing order numbers?
Integrating with Inventory and Fulfillment
Product Availability
Do you want to offer for sale only items that are in your
immediate inventory? Or do you want to offer items for sale
even if they are not immediately on hand?
Out-of-Stock Notice
When should customers be notified that the items they selected
are either out of stock, not available for immediate delivery,
or can be back-ordered?
Back Orders
When do you want to notify the user of a back order? When
they are checking out? After they have placed the order? Do
you want to recommend a substitution if one is available?
Controls
When do you stop offering items for sale? When inventory count
is at a minimum or when there are none left in inventory?
Is this policy consistent for all products? Or is it different
for each product?
Processing Orders
How often should orders be sent to order entry? In real-time?
Every hour? Once a day? How do you want to handle the order
you take at 4:55 p.m. with a request for next-day delivery,
while the FedEx truck is pulling out of your dock right now?
What does the customer expect? What can you deliver?
Providing Customer Service
Updating Orders
How will your fulfillment center let the system know that
an order has shipped? Do you need to let the system know?
Is there a shipping number that needs to get attached to the
order? Does shipping status need to be updated more than once,
if at all?
Order Status Look-Up
Do you want to enable customers to look up the shipping status
of their order online? Do you want to provide UPS, FedEx,
or USPS tracking numbers?
Order Status Notification
Would you prefer to be proactive and email changes in the
order status to the recipient? Do you want to send messages
upon acceptance of the orders? Should you send another when
inventory is confirmed or a back order needs to be authorized?
Do you need another when it leaves your dock and enters the
shipper's vehicle?
Technical Support
Do you plan to provide online support materials for the products
you sell? Is technical support a product or service in and
of itself? Does it need to be processed as an order?
Localization
Do you need to support multiple languages? Multiple currencies?
Regional pricing structures?
Legal
What types of policies and disclaimers do you need to make
available to your customers? What are the terms and conditions
of a sale? What is your return policy? Do you offer a guarantee
or a limited warranty on purchases? What should customers
do if they need to return items? Are there any locations where
you cannot legally sell your products and services?
Managing Customer Expectations
What expectations do you want to set for your customers regarding
fulfillment? Will you ship same-day for delivery the next
day? Will you charge a premium for such services? What is
the cut-off time?
Gathering Metrics and Data
Site Metrics
What metrics will you use to manage the site? What reports
will you want to see regarding your customers, orders, online
merchandise, site traffic analysis, etc.? You can get access
to hits and visits, but how will this information answer what
you really want to know?: "What did I do that generated the
most sales last month? And why?" Do you want to measure response
rates to advertisements and direct marketing tactics? Do you
need to evaluate conversion rates on your standard and promotional
offers? Do you need to measure and manage your customer acquisition
costs?
Customer Profiles
What demographic data do you want to capture as part of the
registration or checkout process? What incentives can you
offer to encourage anonymous buyers to tell you more about
themselves?
Refining Your Marketing Tactics
Data Mining
What do you know about your customers? How can you mine that
data in order to become a more effective marketer? Do you
plan to target future offers to customers based upon their
past purchasing histories or browsing habits with your business?
Do you plan to automate these marketing features? Or do you
envision managing them manually?
Demographics
Who are your customers? Do you have more than one type? How
educated are they about your product? How much assistance
do they need to make a purchasing decision? Are they individuals
or companies or both? How savvy are they about your products?
How frequently do your customers shop?
Customers and Customer Groups
Do you plan to offer the same set of products to all your
customers? Will you sell to anyone or only to people and groups
you know? Do you segment your inventory for certain customers
and groups of customers?
Psychographics
How much do your customers know about your products? How many
are power users and have model numbers memorized? How many
are new customers, who are unfamiliar with your products and
need your assistance to make purchasing decisions?
Attracting the Customer
Getting the Word Out
How will you get the word out that your store is open for
business? Register with the search engines and portals? Buy
and manage online advertising? Target potential customers
with direct marketing tactics? Get exposure through public
relations or news group postings? What about social media?
Or include your URL in marketing and promotional materials?
Value Proposition
Why will people shop at your online store? Price? Selection?
Service? Speed? Availability? What do you offer customers
that makes you competitive?
Branding
How do you want to be understood by your customer base? As
the fastest way to shop? The smart way to shop? The easy way
to shop? What makes your service unique in the marketplace?
How are you different from your competitors? How can you communicate
these attributes of your business to your customers?
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