steps to setting up an online retail store

Hi marko,

Get the website up and start trading!!  Photograph your key items of stock and start planning the text of your site.  A logo is also a reasonably important asset.

Perhaps it's worthy to also advise to check the competition sio your can pitch yourself into a market that's not already saturated.

Cheers, Nigel

Hello

Do you require a pick pack and despatch facility. We can hold your stock, you send us your orders and we despatch them for you utilising our excellent freight rates.

Maybe this is of Interest.

Regards

Nigel

I have just recently set up a shop for an existing client and one for myself too using EKM Powershop and have learnt a great deal about working with it.

If I can help please contact me.

Roy Gough

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norfolkbroadsphotography.co.uk

Hi Marko,

Feel free to give me an email at sales@ecomempire.co.uk and I can run through all the pointers etc, rather than posting all on here. I've been in business a while, and things are going very well.

Look forward to speaking to you soon,

Deren Stevens
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www.PrintEmpire.co.uk - VERY Affordable Printing!

Marko !

EKM Powershop is really easy to use and great for novice users...definately got my vote.

Make sure you get the statistics package too. Extra £5 a month but well worth it.

My shop is online with them and we are starting to do quite well now after a quiet couple of months

sorry for being dump but EKM powershop, that would be your web site server? So i could have a web site designed and have it hosted through EK powershop and it would be my shopping cart too?

Thanks!!

Not quite. EKM would be the shop, not your site. However there is plenty of scope with the templates to make your shop a stand alone web site. You can purchase a domain name at the same time so that your shop could be stanleyjeans.co.uk for example and they host the shop bit for you.

It really depends on what you want. If you need a content rich and informative site that leads into a shop, then you will still need a seperately hosted site that links to the shop. However if you are just looking to get them in jugular and sell'em straight away then the shop would work on it's own.

I haven't mentioned search engine optimization (SEO) implications as there are people more able than I to comment on that.

Roy Gough

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joeygough.co.uk
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norfolkbroadsphotography.co.uk

Hi Marco,

I have set up a fulfilment company, Do you require a pick pack and despatch facility. I would look after all the adminstration side of the business, From down loading your orders to despatch including all customer service with a personnal touch. Drop me a personnal e-mail and we can discuss further

Maybe this is of Interest.

Regards

Harry

"It really depends on what you want. If you need a content rich and informative site that leads into a shop, then you will still need a seperately hosted site that links to the shop. However if you are just looking to get them in jugular and sell'em straight away then the shop would work on it's own."

Judging by one of the EKM customer websites PDK Ink, I think it may be possible using EKM to have your shop as an integrated section within your website, although I don't know how easy it is to do this, what level of HTML experience you need to accomplish this, or whether it is an additional service.

With my company's forthcoming sitebuilder service which includes the online shopping system osCommerce, we are offering our clients the choice, i.e. have the shop come up as the home page section within the site and have other content sections available, or have the site come up as a normal content site with the shop as one of its sections. So far our two pilot clients who are using the sitebuilder/osCommerce combined have opted for the second approach to make their site a bit more friendly, a bit more different than the norm, and less in your face sell, sell, sell. Of course they can always change this further down the line with a simple configuration setting if they want. Unfortunately I cannot provide public links to these pilot sites at present as they are not in a public state yet.
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Paul - www.awebapart.com - 'a web apart'
create, update your website today - the online professional site builder

Basic steps are (not necessarily in this order):

Get the store up - domain, hosting, shopping cart (seems you're on top of this)

Sort out your payment solution - this can be a major headache but there are lots of options (from cheque only/offline payments, to Paypal or similar, to full-on online credit card payments; the last option is the best but can be hard to set up quickly)

Launch the site - be sure to have all your management systems in place; depending on the nature of your business, I think it's very important to have good inventory control, ideally integrated with your online store so customers aren't kept waiting ages for something that they assumed was in stock

Get it out there! It's not just about SEO, you need a comprehensive marketing plan. It will take a while, maybe a long while, before customers start to find you via Google. Be prepared for that.

Have fun. You will learn what you need to know by doing it. There was a similar thread on this forum a few weeks ago, which I think had a recommendation for a pretty good all-in-one ecommerce solution. If you want to chat further you're welcome to email me (pobble AT gmail DOT com).

Oh, do browse on businesslink.gov.uk, they have some very helpful guides.

Robynn
www.purlescence.co.uk

thank you for all of your replies - all of them are very much appreciated.

apologies i've not been on the site to reply since my last post, it's been hectic the last few weeks. just to let you all know, i'm planning on trading early next year due to financial/personal reasons, so what i plan to do until then is to open up a website stating what i plan to sell, and ask for people to leave their email addresses so i can send a weekly mail out.

i'm a complete novice online, so i have no idea how to run a website, but the 123reg website has been recommended to me. when i've tried registering with it, i was offered all sorts of weird and wonderful things...does anybody have any information on what add-ons to get? i believe creating my own website then intergrating the ekmpowershop into it would be the best option as it would then look more attractive...

again, all info is very much appreciated!

cheers!!

If you are going to be running third party e-commerce software then you just need the very basic 123-reg package. They make their money by selling the upgrade packages. I have used them for all of my sites - they are very good. This is assuming you will have someone to host the site and build it for you. If you are doing all that yourself then you need a hosting package too. Get your domain name registered ASAP though.

As you have a bit of breathing space between now and launching your site, there are a couple of
elements you should really devote some time to:

product photography - as clean, detailed and crisp as you possibly can. Remember people cannot feel or touch thr product so the more you can show them here, the more likely they are to buy.

product descriptions - so many sites are let down by poor product information, over-technical descriptions, non-existent descriptions. This is your salesman. Write a compelling argument for purchasing this product. Features and BENEFITS for the customer. (I am ALWAYS working on mine)

marketing plan - I've seen folk launch websites and just expect people to stumble accross them and buy something. Doesn't happen like that. Allocate a portion of your budget if you can to marketing and either come back to this fourm for suggestions or read up on it. Might be flyers, might be a classified advert in a relevant mag, might be "pay-per-click", might be simple as putting a sticker on your car.

Jonny

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Hi there, I set up my site approximately 4 months ago and trade is going nicely. Initially I began as a lot of people do, playing around with adwords before I really knew how to implement and promote them correctly. Advertising cost was outstripping sales for sure. I contacted a few companies with regards keyword optimisation and their service and advice was invaluable. Try and buddy up with similar sites via linking to improve popularity and pageranking and don't forget  conventional advertising especially if you are intending to target your local area.

I have noticed a few people interested in dropshipping but are having trouble finding dealers, especially without having to pay a sign up fee. I offer this service via my own site, no fee, just register with the site,simple.

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Designer & retail clothing, sunglasses and accessories at low, low prices.

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