By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!

See Also   How to Build a Web Store for FREE   How to choose mailing list management software   How to Grow Your Web Business   How to Accept Credit Cards without a Merchant Account   How To Develop Online Products That Sell   How to Change Your Web Hosting Service (ISP)   How to Deal with Disgruntled Customers   How to Get Top Search Engine Positioning   How to Beat Credit Card Fraud   How to Design an Affiliate Program   How to Accept Credit Card Payments   How to Choose a Shopping Cart

[This is the second part of a two part article. The first part can be read here].

Order Processing

The first two order processing features to check for is the availability of a virtual shopping cart and the ability to transfer data securely using SSL. Most e-commerce solutions now come with these features but it's worth checking anyway.

Although the bulk of orders in an online store will probably be placed online and paid with by a credit card, there are still a lot of shoppers who wish to shop and pay using alternative methods. In order to maximise your sales a Web store should therefore be capable of accepting orders and payments in as many ways as possible. Available ordering methods include online, fax, telephone, and snail mail whilst payment methods include credit and debit cards, paper and electronic checks and digital cash.

And whilst most smaller merchants will choose to process their credit card payments offline, it is worth checking that the software is also able to easily handle on line processing. This gives flexibility to cope with future growth.

It is also important to select a solution that automates as much of the order management process as possible, for example the ability to automatically send an e-mail order acknowledgement to the customer along with a unique number for order tracking.

Security is another major concern. Although SSL capability is included with most e-commerce solutions today, some solutions still have major security weaknesses. For example, although they transfer the customer's credit card details from their browser to the merchant's server using SSL, they may leave it in an unsecured area of the server where unauthorised parties could access it. Even worse, some send the customers details to the merchant using unencrypted e-mail.

There are some other features that are also worth looking out for. For example, discount clubs allow you to automatically give discounts to repeat or high-volume customers. Online order tracking allows customers to instantly check the status of their orders and eases the demands on your customer service team. And an inventory management facility can automatically remove items from sale once the stock drops below a pre-determined level.

Administration

Ignore all the hype about setting up a Web store and then laying back and waiting for the money to roll in. Running a successful online store requires a great deal of effort. However, you can make things easier by choosing a software solution that simplifies the day-to-day running of the store.

The first consideration is the method that is used for accessing and administering the store. Some packages require that changes be made offline and then uploaded to the server. This usually limits changes to being made from one specific PC, and this can be a tie. Alternatively, many packages allow stores to be updated online from any Internet connected PC.

Next check out how easy it is to add, delete and amend product data as well as how easy it is to run special time-limited price promotions. Try and avoid solutions that require all changes to be made offline and then for the whole database to be re-loaded on to the server.

Also look out for any additional marketing tools that might be provided. For example the maintenance of customer buying history and preferences, targeted e-mailing capability, and affiliate program management. These can all prove to be very useful.

Finally - and most importantly - examine closely the reports that are provided. There will be no salesperson in your virtual store to monitor customer behaviour and buying patterns - reports are your only source of information. And so without good reports you will lack data to make fundamental decisions about the effectiveness of your store's design and product offerings.

Some e-commerce software solutions only provide basic analysis of server logs, for example the number of hits and referrer information. This is totally inadequate. Ensure that the solution you choose provides a complete suite of detailed reports, for example a sales history analysis and information about the most common paths that customers are taking through your store.