E-Commerce Strategy

BY CALLUM KIRKMAN

The Structure of the WebsiteWhen I am creating my website I want the structure to be easily understandable for the user so that they know where they are on the website at all times.

The structure of the website includes:• The interface• Ease of Use• Personal Details Entry• Sitemap• Product Display

Structure of the WebsiteInterface

The interface for the website should be plain and simple for the user.

On my website I would like the top bar to have the logo for the shop, a log in option and a basket (a place for all of the items I want to go before you go to the checkout)

I would like there to be a banner with drop down menu’s for buy, sell and swap, on the menu’s there should be each console and maybe what you are buying selling or swapping (accessories/games).

Below the banner I want a list of the most popular things or the best deals on the website.

At the bottom of the website I want all of the other miscellaneous things to go at the bottom such as the social media links, contact links, help links etc.

Structure of the WebsiteEase of Use

I would like my website to be easy to use because:• The website becomes easy to navigate• The website loads quicker• In my opinion a simple design looks better than a complex design with a lot of information• Simpler websites are also easier to build so this makes the actual building of the website a lot easier

Structure of the WebsitePersonal Details Entry

The details that will be needed on the website are :◦ Name◦ Address◦ Account Details◦ PayPal, Credit/Debit Card or any other method of payment

Structure of the WebsiteSitemap

Structure of the WebsiteProduct Display

When I am displaying a product I want to the customers to know exactly what they are looking for.

When I am displaying the products I want there to be a picture of the product so that the customer knows what the product looks like.

I would also like for there to be a logo for the console that the product is for. This will help the customer because they will always know what they are buying the product for.

The price should also be displayed with the product. This is for obvious reasons, the customer obviously wants to know how much the product is going to cost

How the site is hosted•Choice of ISP

•In house or subcontracted

•Shared hosting

•Virtual Server

•Dedicated Server

•Managed Server

How the site is hostedChoice of ISP

•An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet.

•Why do you need a good web hosting company?

•Which ISP should you choose?

•What affects your choice of ISP?

How the site is hostedIn house or subcontracted

•What is an in house server?(internal server)

•Advantages of an in house server (internal server)

•Disadvantages of an in house server (internal server)

•Summary of internal server

•What is a subcontracted server? (external server)

•Advantages of an in subcontracted server (external server)

•Disadvantages of a subcontracted server (external server)

•Summary of external server

How the site is hostedVirtual, Dedicated and Managed

Servers•What is a Virtual Server?

•What is a Dedicated Server?

•What is a Managed Server?

•Summary

Promotion of the websiteYou can promote your business in many different ways, these include:

•SEO

•Social Media

•Forums

•Summary

CostsThere Are A Lot Of Costs To Setting Up Your Own E-commerce Website, These Include:

•Setup Costs

•On-going Maintenance Costs

•Security

•Advertising

•Delivery Strategy

Potential IssuesThere are also some issues that you might come across if you are making an e-commerce website, these include:

Costs – When you are setting up an e-commerce website one of the hardest things is actually getting started, this is because of the costs of getting a business running, when the website is actually up and running it can pretty much pay for itself if you are selling items at a decent rate, the SSL certificate that you need is only £50 per year and a payment gateway is only £25 per month on average so this should be okay to pay for when you are up and running.

•Security – An obvious thing that you need to look out for when you are making an online business is the security of the website, you need to make sure that you have a good enough antivirus software and firewall to stop people actually hacking your website. you also need to make sure that you are keeping your customers personal details secure, if you use a payment gateway it will send the transaction to that gateway for it to deal with their information