First things first, it is very important that you already have a computer and internet connection. If you don’t have yet, apply in Smart Bro, PLDT , Globe or Bayantel. Some packages already gives a FREE computer or laptop. If they don’t have one, for as low as P25,000 pesos you can buy a really good laptop. At P15,000 pesos you buy a good computer. You need these two in order to maximize your time and your business.
The Plan
There are 3 important things before you create your first online store. You’ll have to take the following steps:
- Form a team
- Define business plan
- Decide which technology to use
1. Form a Team
An ideal team would have
- A person who knows the business
- A marketer
- Technical person
2. Define business plan
You may want to create a project charter that includes the following information:
- What is the business (description)?
- What are your goals? Sample questions below
- Browser to buyer conversion rate - how many should be converted to a successful checkout
- Average order value - how many orders do you intend to generate on a daily, weekly or monthly basis?
- Targeted traffic to the website - how many and what kind of visitors do you intend to gain on a certain period?
- Brand penetration generated by marketing – what are your metrics?
- Improved time to market – how long will it take until the site is ready to be used?
- Efficient order management – how to efficiently manage orders locally and abroad?
- Enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and trust – how many loyal customers do you intend to generate?
- How you will promote the new site? Given your goals, how do you make it into reality?
- How will you finance it? Can you operate for a year with no profits from your on-line site?
- How will you operate and manage it? Some questions to help you out.
- Who will be in charge? How competent are they?
- How do you handle customer feedback and orders?
- How do you maintain the site? Do you need a web developer, a content maker or a general admin or you do it yourself?
3. Decide which technology to use
You have four options to choose from and these all depends in your budget, goals and technical capabilities. You have already defined that in step 2 and below cross examine which is best for you.
- Information site (FREE)
A company name and address and stating the business in free classified ads in the internet is a must for everyone nowadays. It doesn’t cost a bunch, only time posting the details about your company and the return might be a couple of new and existing customers. So where do you find them, below are some list of Philippine classified ad site.- www.sulit.com.ph
- www.craigslist.org
- www.filipinolinks.com
- www.classifiedsph.com
- www.phadpost.com
.. and a lot more. Just search for “philippine classified ads” to get more listings
You can also create your own pages for free.- pages.google.com
- sites.google.com
- multiply.com
- Free platforms – ideal for SME
If you need to sell something and you have a more budget, this is for you. There are two options for free platforms:- Use services from well known ecommerce stores such as amazon.com and ebay.com
- Use ready-made applications or commonly known as open source applications and customize it
The first option depends in cost but they are very much affordable. Amazon and Ebay only get commissions from the items that you sell. They are ideal for small business owners who are non-technical and has less time doing the details and budget conscious. The look and feel is more generalized.
Pros- Set-up the ecommerce solution you need in minutes, without development effort or anything to install
- Create your items once and sell through multiple marketplaces without complication
- Sell products from your own free branded online store and pay no hosting fees, listing fees, or final value fees!
- No additional hardware and lower internal staffing requirements
- Fast to market
Cons- Penalized for success (pay more for more traffic, revenue etc)
- Cannot innovate on your own pace, features you want may not be on their roadmap
- Difficult to integrate with internal systems
- Full dependence on vendor
The latter on the other hand allows you to select from diverse selections of free softwares that are being used by big and small companies for their online needs. Some examples are:- Magento
- Zencart
- Oscommerce
- Prestashop
- Drupal
- Joomla
.. and a lot more.
Pros- Free
- Feature rich packages
- Investment by provider into new features and enhancements maybe continuous
- Time to market slower than SaaS but significantly quicker than build
- Some prebuilt integrations may be in place
- Some modules are available for free to extend the capabilities of the store
Cons- You may get more features that you actually need, features you want may not be on their roadmap
- Monolithic solutions that may be difficult to adopt, may be hard to integrate with existing IT systems
- Complex application to learn and manage
- Locked with provider solution, difficult to switched if not satisfied
- Uncertain when the release of updates and upgrades since the developers are not paid
- Security concerns (Firewall, for example)
- May require knowledgeable IT staff or SI (systems integrators) if additional solution is complex
- May not fit your unique requirements
- Uncertain if the software is robust and well tested and securities concerns
- SaaS (Software as a service)
The best analogy for this is when you want to rent an office space that includes the furniture, cleaning personnel, guard, etc. All you have to do is redesign the place a bit and add your stuff and you are ready for business the next day. This is SaaS. They are ready-made softwares that are hosted by a vendor and can be used on a contract basis. Payments is usually per subscription or monthly or yearly basis or per order. Example is the Yahoo! Small Business.
Pros- Fast to market
- Lower upfront cost
- Easy to scale with demand
- Continuous enhancements via ongoing updates and upgrades
- No additional hardware and lower internal staffing requirements
- No worries about upgrades
Cons- Penalized for success (pay more for more traffic, revenue etc)
- Cannot innovate on your own pace, features you want may not be on their roadmap
- Difficult to integrate with internal systems
- Security concerns (Firewall, for example)
- Full dependence on vendor
- There may be some compliances issues that will prevent you from using them
- Custom (buy and customize or build from scratch)
This option is more appropriate for bigger companies who need to integrate ecommerce business with their existing system or those who have high international or global customers. You may check the pros and cons of custom ecommerce.
A. Buy
Pros- Feature rich packages
- Continuous investment by vendor into new features and enhancements
- Time to market slower than SaaS but significantly quicker than build
- Some prebuilt integrations may be in place
- Vendor support with operational issues
- There are SI and developers with previous experience
- Robust and well tested and used system
Cons- Expensive
- You may get more features that you actually need, features you want may not be on their roadmap
- Monolithic solutions that may be difficult to adopt, may be hard to integrate with existing IT systems
- Complex application to learn and manage
- Locked with vendor solution, difficult to switched if not satisfied
- Pace and freedom to innovate are limited
- May not fit your unique requirements
B. Build
Pros- Build exactly to your needs
- Take the full advantage of internal systems
- Be unique in market place, competitive advantage
- Fully leverage your previous investment in ERP and other internal systems
- More abilities with existing brick & mortal experience
Cons- Longer to implement than SaaS solution
- Requires knowledgeable IT staff or SI (systems integrators)
- Initial cost is higher than SaaS
The above are overviews of your options. I will provide a more detailed post for each options. If you want to know more, there is a webinar from getelastic.com that tackles whether you should buy, build or leverage ecommerce solutions. Another great article from the same site discussed how to deliver a successful enterprise projects.
As long as you understand what you want and what you want to achieve, internet has solutions for you. If you have questions or additional information, just write it down and I’ll reply to the best of my abilities. Until next time!
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