1.       Study and learn what others are doing

Ecommerce is constantly changing and it is important as a new merchant when you enter this filed you learn as much learn as much as possible and then to keep up to speed with the changes.  Fortunately, there are many great resources available online — all you need to do is find the time to read them all!  One great place to start is CNET – You don’t need to be a technical expert to run a successful online store, but you do need to have a little understanding of how online stores work.   CNET also carries the latest technology news. 

Also, look at other online stores so when you select a vendor you can tell them some of your favorite stores and what you like and don’t like about how they work.

2.       Plan carefully and be realistic

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when starting out is to assume that on the Internet normal business rules to not apply.  You need to have a business and marketing plan.  You need to be realistic about the time and money it will take to build your business.   You need to figure out the number of visits you think you will receive and the percentage of visitors who will make a purchase.  Always remember to focus on your customer.

3.       Choose your shopping cart carefully

Another mistake people make is to choose a shopping cart that only meets their current needs not their future ones.  If you create a plan that defines plans for now and in the future you need to incorporate this into your shopping cart.   Of course the technology changes frequently but you need to be realistic in planning for 18 to 24 month ahead.

4.        Selecting a vendor to build your store

There are a lot of vendors out there who say they can build your store and promote your store for you.  This is why it is important to do some research ahead of time to have some technical understanding and you are not overwhelmed by the vendor.  If you no other people who have an online store ask for a recommendation.  If you see a website you like contact them and ask who has built the site for them.  If you find a vendor you like on your own make sure you check their references.  You want to make sure this person gets the work done on time and is available if there is a problem.  You need to determine if this person is going to host the site for you or do you find your own hosting company.   If you want to update products on your store by yourself you need to make sure you can learn to do it and it should be easy.  Check to see if maintenance is included in your fees.   Many of these vendors have packages but you need to determine what is included in the package.

5.        Make sure your site is designed well and has good functionality

The principles of web design are just as important for an online store as other websites.    Keep the site simple and the graphics small.  The fundamentals for web design include having good, clear navigation.  The navigation should either be on the top of the page or on the left hand side of the page.   An important thing to remember is that people might enter your store for many directions (not just your homepage) so make sure all of the pages have the navigation or links to the homepage.    Look at other ecommerce site for the locations on the shopping cart and other vital information.   Users are used to have these elements in the same location so it is a good idea to keep them there.

6.       Accept credit cards

While there are many methods of paying online, the main one is credit cards.  It is vital to accept credit cards on your site if you want to maximize sales.  Remember from your customer’s point of view, the most important issues are privacy and security.

7.        Having postage information upfront

The longer you wait in the order processing, the more anxious potential customer get.  The more anxious they get the more they are likely to abandon their shopping cart and the sale.  Try to have this information upfront so there are no surprises before checkout.

8.        Promote your store

There are many ways to attract visitors to your site, some are free and some cost money.  Some free ways to promote your online store are submitting to search engines, soliciting links from other sites, and posting information to bloggers and other newsgroups.  Some paid methods include search engine advertising (keywords), banner ads, doing public relations and advertising in other paid media.  Make sure you know your customers and figure out the best way to reach them.  Your website vendor might also offer some services which you might want to review.

9.        Listen to your customers

The most important data you will receive is feedback from your customers.  You must reply to inquiries, complaints, etc. in a timely manner.  Your response will determine if people will come back to your site.  

10.      Analyze your data

It can’t be stressed how important it is to have an analytics package as part of your store.  The Internet is great because you can take so much information but you need to have analytics package so you can get to this information quickly and easily.   You need to gather the data, analyze the data, make required changes, test the changes and gather data.  Some of the data you should look at are the path customers are taking through your store and the pages they are buying from.  You also want to know how they come to your site.  If is from a search engine, what keyword or phrases did you use to get to you.

Well, not really, but when implemented properly, software should certainly simplify a business, not complicate it. The idea behind software is to do just that, simplify processes. Especially repetitive processes such as data entry, report generation, purchase order creation, bookkeeping and more. When a business starts getting weighed down by their systems, whether they’re bypassing the system to export their data into a spreadsheet or database, they have to jump through too many hoops (screens) to get the data they need, or more likely, the systems don’t have all of the features or functions the business requires, that’s the time to re-evaluate business processes, systems and required functionality.

Recently I found myself trying to explain ERP software (Enterprise Resource Planning) to a client and why it might not be the right investment for her business at the moment. I’m not saying ERP software isn’t a good investment for many businesses, because it definitely is. What I was trying to convey to her is that it wasn’t necessarily right for her business at this point in time. She’s a small apparel manufacturer, with 5 million in sales last year, who needs to track sales orders, purchase orders, raw materials, finished goods and have some sort of integration to a general ledger. She and two other people in her office are handling everything manually right now, with the exception of her bookkeeping, which is on Quickbooks. Finding a solution for her will not be a problem. There are many affordable options for her to choose from which will allow her business to keep growing.

Software is an ever-changing commodity, or at least it should be. Much like the automobile industry, software is constantly being updated. New features are added all the time. New cars arrive every year and even your old favorite cars (Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Ford Explorer) are re-designed every few years. System updates, or patches to fix bugs or problems, are constantly being released. Once you buy or lease software, you should expect to stay current with your support contracts in order to receive new updates and system support. You don’t buy a car and never have it serviced, do you? The same can be said for your software. At some point your business may change or outgrow your existing systems and it’s time to buy something new. Remember those carefree days driving a two seat convertible? Now you’re driving along in a seven passenger SUV or minivan. Times change, so should your software, or it should have the ability to change with you (not as easily done with a car!)

As businesses grow, so do their requirements. As it grows, the owners and employees will need a more fully integrated suite of software solutions – Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Warehouse Management (WMS), possibly pattern making and grading software, maybe Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or ecommerce and point of sale retail management, forecasting and planning, and most definitely integrated accounting. The thing is, a growing business needs tools to help manage all of the existing pieces, and if done properly, allow the business to keep growing by integrating additional software or migrate to more robust solutions. Without the people-power to enter data, run reports, analyze information, etc. however, the systems create more work than can be handled by the business, leading to frustration and complications.

Different types of businesses may have different system requirements as well. Privately held businesses have different needs than publicly held businesses reporting to shareholders, board of directors and the ever-present Sarbanes-Oxley accounting and reporting requirements. Transparency and accountability are the cornerstones of any publicly held company and, as such, have much more stringent accounting requirements. ERP solutions are designed to meet Sarbanes-Oxley guidelines and truly do simplify business processes, at least from an accountant’s standpoint. Business owners may not like having such stringent reporting and accounting requirements, but the government demands it and these systems provide the tools to manage it.

The key to simplifying business software is to understand the business – customers, services, products, reporting and accounting needs, then finding the right solution to support it. There’s no one single solution that’s right for all businesses, which is why there are so many software companies out there. It’s the same with automobiles. There are so many different types of cars out there to meet so many different needs. Figuring out the right solutions for a business takes time. Understanding what the business looks like today and what it may look like three years from now is an important exercise when trying to plan out the system architecture and how it will support the needs of the business now and into the future.

Jill Mazur is an independent apparel business and technology consultant working with Fashion Business, Incorporated. Email: jill@fashionbizinc.org

Fashion Business, Inc. is asking for your input to help us conduct a study of the apparel, footwear, textile and accessory industries. Specifically, how the recession has affected job opportunities within these industries over the past 12 months.

We’d like to know a few things about your business. This study is anonymous – any information you include about your business will be kept confidential and only used for data gathering purposes. We will be happy to provide you with the results of the study, should you so desire. Please indicate this on your response, along with your email address.

1: What is your sales volume today (in dollars)?

2: Over the past 12 months what percentage of your sales volume has increased or decreased?

3: In the past 12 months, have you had any layoffs or reductions in staff? If so, how many people or percentage of your work force.

4: In the past 12 months, have you hired staff for any existing positions?

5: In the past 12 months, have you hired staff for any newly created positions?

Thank you very much for your time today. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Jill Mazur

Independent Apparel and Business Consultant

Email: jill@fashionbizinc.org

Simply put, Viral marketing is a way to utilize existing social networks – mainly online or by word of mouth – to generate buzz for a business, product, person, event, etc. Using video clips, text messages, blogs, images, games, promotional items and more, the goal of viral marketing is to reach a targeted market of consumers without having to spend money on standard marketing or advertising campaigns. Seems like a good idea, right? Maybe. It really depends on your customer and target audience.

Viral marketing can be very successful when launching a new product or brand to a carefully targeted audience. Introducing a new energy drink? Hip, trendy nightclubs may be a great place to promote it. Saw a celebrity wearing your design at last week’s movie premiere or awards show? Tweet, blog, post it on Facebook and email all of your clients and contacts a link to the video or image and tell them where to buy the product. Sometimes you’re the beneficiary of someone else’s viral campaign and the next thing you know, you’ve got a best-selling item on your hands.

I was talking to a colleague the other day about marketing her new product. She mentioned to me that she was thinking of spending her advertising budget to remodel her office instead of buying ads in trade publications and magazines. She was hoping to capitalize on viral marketing instead to maintain interest in her products and generate new customers. Problem is – her products are basic apparel items targeted to the 45 – 60 year old female demographic. Not necessarily the prime audience of a viral campaign. Her response to me was “Well, Oprah Tweets!” Yes, Oprah Winfrey “Tweets” and getting a product mentioned by Oprah is a fabulous example of viral marketing. But don’t hold your breath hoping Oprah will mention your product on her program, magazine or next Twitter post.

Take a page out of many retailers’ handbooks – spend your advertising dollars and energy wisely. If your customers expect to see your ads in traditional print media, keep placing your ads there and create an online presence to help increase your market share. Is your presence mostly online? Keep your website up to date and make sure your home and product pages look fresh and exciting. Launching a new brand or product line? Figure out whom to target first and how best to reach them. Just don’t expect your product to sell itself if you’re not out there selling to the right audience in the right place.

As for my colleague, she realized her customers probably didn’t know what Twitter was, let alone how to use it. If Oprah was Tweeting about her product, most of her target audience would miss out on Oprah’s wisdom. Her office remodel would have to wait. Her traditional advertising works for a reason, that’s where her customers find her products.

Jill Mazur is an independent apparel business and technology consultant working with Fashion Business, Incorporated. Email: jill@fashionbizinc.org

Results from a Recent Twitter User Survey:

Alex Cheng and Mark Evans of Sysomos Inc. created a survey on how much (or how little) Twitter is currently being utilized.  Before placing all of your viral marketing eggs in the Twitter basket, think about this - after analyzing information from 11.5 million Twitters accounts, they discovered:

• Just 5% of Twitter users account for 75% of all activity
• 85.3% of all Twitter users post less than one update per day
• 21% of users have never posted a Tweet
• 93.6% of users have less than 100 followers, while 92.4% follow less than 100 people

Read the full survey results on their blog.

Ready to Expose Your Line to a Whole New World?

HoneyShed.com; is an exciting new opportunity for emerging designers to promote their brands over the web using the power of video…

This is a FREE opportunity and a fantastic way for emerging brands to expose their lines to a highly motivated audience of shoppers.

To get started:

1.  Visit www.honeyshed.com.

2.  Click on the Homegrown Channel (which is dedicated to emerging brands)

3.  Look for the “Upload Your Video banner” and upload!

For all the details visit honeyshed.com or you may also contact Producer Beth Le Manach at lemanach@honeyshed.com.

Email marketing has the highest return on investment than any type of marketing.  And the good part is you don’t have to be any type of marketing guru to get it right.

There are a lot of email marketing strategies that can take you over the top but lets just start with getting your emails delivered and opened.

Here are a few tips….

1.  Use an Email Marketing Software–Explore email marketing software such as constant contact and campaigner.  They can help you ensure deliverability and provide you with analytics to help understand the effectiveness of your campaigns.

2.  Do Not CC or BCC–For some this is a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many emails I receive where I see my precious email address on a long list of CC’s.  Most of the time I’ll find this CC clad email in my junk email folder.  A long list of CC’s or BCC’s from someone not on your contact list is an easy catch for any spam filter.

3.  Attachments are for Not for Marketing– People hesitate to open attachments from good friends and family yet alone hopeful marketers.  Give yourself a fair shot an send your emails in html using one of the online marketing systems I mentioned above.

Do you have an online store? If so you should definitely have it attached to some kind of analytics software.

That’s really part of the magic of the web…it’s not like a retail store where you have to stare at a survelience camera all day long to draw conclusions about how people are shopping in your store. Web analytics is a fast, easy and accurate way to see what’s really happening in your online business.

There are a lot of highly sophisticated systems out there however, small business owners may want to try google analytics software. It’s a good package and it’s at a price most people can appreciate (totally free).

With google analytics you can tell how many people are going to your website, what they are looking at, how long they stay and more.

This valuable information will clue you in as to whether or not people may be turned off by your long-loading flash intro…or if you have a large % of traffic you’re not converting to customers.

What if you have a large % of customers with product in a shopping cart that have never checked out? Hey…maybe that means your shipping prices are too high.

Whatever the case, analytics can turn lightbulbs on you never knew exisited. Make the most out of what you can find out…it’s only a click away.

It’s time to take a closer look at what may be happening in your site.

First of all make sure you are tracking your visitors. Using a free tool such as google analytics allows you to see how many visitors are coming to your site.

If you don’t have many visitors you’ll have to focus your efforts on driving traffic to your site through search engine marketing, advertising or other marketing programs.

If you have a lot of visitors but no one is buying it’s time to work on your conversion. Meaning the number of unique viewers that are becoming buyers.

If you are not converting at least 3% of viewers to buyers start thinking about what you can do on your website to make purchasing more appealing. This may mean cleaning up your website image, launching a new promotion or having a sale.

Understanding your web stats will give you a good idea of how you can jump start your sales.