What You Need to Know When Moving to E-Commerce
There are quite a few choices to make when you decide offer an e-commerce/shopping cart feature on your website. Most of what I am about to explain is not something people consider when they begin this process, but it is all very essential and very important to get it right. The reason why most people are not aware of these steps is because it's all "behind the scenes" stuff that you wouldn't know existed - until now.
Step 1
The first thing you need is a merchant account with your local bank. This is different from your business checking account. A merchant account is set up differently from your checking account and is not really a bank account at all. It's a type of account that allows you to receive funds from credit card companies. Funds are received from credit card companies through your merchant account and are deposited directly into you checking account.
Although you can shop around and look for the best monthly rates for a merchant account, I recommend keeping it simple and using the bank you already have a relationship with. They are more likely to approve you and can sometimes offer you lower rates than what they publish.
Recommendation: Chase Paymentech
Step 2
Choose a payment gateway. A payment gateway is the medium through which you are able to accept and process a credit card transaction. This is the same thing whether you are accepting credit card payments online, or you have a brick and mortar store with a credit card swipe machine. But since we are discussing e-commerce today, we will stick with the online example.
This is definitely an area where you can shop around and find the best rates. But you should also consider whether or not that gateway will integrate well with your shopping cart software.
Recommendation: Authorize.net
Step 3
Choose your shopping cart software. There are a lot of choices - too many really - but you need to choose a shopping cart that you feel comfortable using and managing. It also needs to include all the feature you want to offer on your e-commerce website. And by features I mean things like:
- coupon codes
- multiple payment gateway options (Google checkout, PayPal)
- live customer support chat
- multiple shipping options
- site design or theme customizations
- great customer support
These are all valuable additions to your e-commerce site. Narrow down your choices based on price and features and then pick the one that you feel most comfortable with. It's been my experience that comfort can be more important in the long run than price.
*One (of many) great thing about Big Commerce is that your monthly subscription includes an SSL certificate - See Step 4.
Recommendation: Big Commerce
Step 4
Purchase an SSL certificate. This is the most important piece to setting up your e-commerce store, because the SSL certificate is what encrypts and protects the customer data that you are transferring over the internet when someone purchase from your online store. Kind of a scary thought right? You can relieve yourself of this worry by purchasing an SSL certificate - but you must also install that certificate on your server in order for it to work.
These can cost you anywhere from $40 per year to $500 per year, depending on who you buy it from and the level of security you want.
Recommendation: Comodo
Step 5
PCI Compliance. You must verify that your shopping cart software is PCI Compliant. Visit http://www.pcicomplianceguide.org/ for more information.
Step 6
Design you new e-commerce website. This is an easy one. Don't get fancy - no one likes to learn a new way to ride a bike. The usual way works just fine. E-commerce web design has been refined and repeated enough that most people are comfortable with it. So use a standard design with a standard checkout. Oh and make sure you offer a "guest checkout" option.
Other Considerations
- Does my bank merchant account support the payment gateway I've chosen?
- Does my shopping cart quickly and easily integrate with my payment gateway?
- Is my shopping cart a hosted solution (Big Commerce) or do I purchase a user license (Interspire) ?
- How many products will my site have?
Wrap Up
All in all, setting up an e-commerce site is straightforward if you know what you are doing. But it's not necessarily easy. Don't try to do this one yourself. E-commerce is not a DIY project. Contact an expert and get your bank involved. They can offer you valuable help in getting setup. No get out there and start selling online!