Got Web Ideas? Fishing for the Answers?
Think Outside The Code First!
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Facts, Thoughts, and Opinions About Web Development and Business Strategy
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Planning an ECommerce store? See if you have thought of these things that may not be present on the front-end of stores you have seen.
Planning an ECommerce store may seem simple. There are a million of them out there right? Just do what they
are doing correct? When planning a new business Website, people tend to base the technicality level off of what
they have seen in existence. They do not realize that there are many behind the scenes processes relevant to the
way they do business that need to fire.
While any seasoned developer will uncover many of these things in the
initial consultation for the project, it is not a guarantee. Often, clients will assume that everyone does business
the exact same way that they do. Thus, ECommerce features become expected as opposed to being discussed and planned.
You can get ahead of the eight ball by making a list of all the things your ECommerce store will need. You may not have all
the answers. That is OK. Your developer should be able to assist you in ironing out the details and provide you with solutions.
Most importantly, both you and your developer will know how you will be doing business and exactly what is expected.
Here is a list of things that clients commonly overlook when commissioning an ECommerce store front to be built.
Shipping
This is often one area that gets overlooked. Have you thought about how you want to handle shipping? Do you use
multiple carriers? Storeowners assign shipping rates in many different ways. Some will assign a flat rate based
on the amount of the order while others will assign a flat rate based on the weight of the order. You also want
to consider using the USPS or UPS APIs for calculating
shipping rates in real-time. As long as you establish weights for your products then you can use these tools to offer
multiple shipping options with near exact costs in real-time.
It is also not uncommon for some online storeowners to assign shipping options after the order. This usually
occurs in niche markets where the types of products are unique and may vary widely in shape and weight. If
this describes you then be thinking of how you want to handle this. Will you call the user later to tell them
the shipping costs? Do you simply want to assign the shipping, charge the card, and then send the user an updated
order receipt with the new shipping charges? The latter may be difficult if you think a high shipping charge may
infuriate them (i.e. they would cancel the order because of the shipping amount). Then again it may suffice in
your industry.
Tax
You will be responsible for charging tax for any customers that are residents of the State where you are located.
Tax rates vary per State and often within regions of the State. You are legally obligated to collect sales tax
for your State and you must register to do so with your State Tax & Finance Office.
Some States, like New York, have tax rates that vary per county and per city within those counties. The tax
table for any State should be available from the Tax & Finance Office. Now you have to make a decision:
- Automatically calculate tax at checkout based on the County and City the customer is located in
- Assign a flat rate percentage for tax for all your orders coming in from residents of your State.
For example, you may find that the average tax rate for your State is 7.5%. We would use 7.5% as
the tax rate for your orders.
If you do option number one then you will have accurate tax rates for each customer. The disadvantage
is that it will cost more to program. Doing tax calculations in this manor is the least popular option
but may be one that storeowners living in States with segmented tax brackets may prefer.
If you choose option number two then it will be far easier to program. You will just have to play the give & take system.
Some customers may pay a little more than they should for tax while others may pay a little bit less. At the end of the
quarter, you will need to find the area each customer lives in and pay the proper tax for the order.
One other special note about sales tax. If your organization has facilities in multiple States then you will need
to collect tax for those States as well. For example, if your headquarters are in New York but you have
a sub-office or warehouse in Pennsylvania then you will need to collect tax for Pennsylvania residents as well.
You can learn more about this here.
Order Confirmations
The user has completed the order. Now what? Normally, we like to send a receipt to the user with their order details.
We also like to send an order receipt to the Website owner notifying them that a new order has been placed. Many times
a store owner will include additional information in the receipt such as special promotions, news, or re-stating the shipping
terms and policy. They may also include contact information in the event that the customer has a question
about the order. Just remember that this process will, and should, take place and how you may want to use it.
Credit Card Rejections
Sometimes a user's card will be rejected. Ho do you want to handle these customers? Do you want to handle them at all?
Many like to be informed when a user enters a card that does not go through. This gives them the opportunity to contact
the customer and possibly still make the sale.
Geographic Regions You Will Cater To
Are you only accepting orders within the U.S. or will you accept orders from other Countries as well?
This is very important for your developer to know. Orders from foreign Countries will have an affect
on shipping charges and payments.
Product Variance
Do the attributes of your items vary? Are there some items that require additional input from the customer such as
selecting sizes or colors? This is important information for a developer to know because it will involve strategies
that make menus appear and not appear based on the item. It could also lead to multiple ways of managing items in
your store admin.
Item Grouping
How will your items be categorized on the store? Will your products be grouped by categories? Sub-Categories
within those categories? The way your products are organized will make your store more user friendly and
organized. Stores that contain hundreds of items will need some sort of hierarchy so the Website does not
get confusing.
Make a list of all the items you will have on your store. Start with a hierarchy of parent categories.
Do all of your items fit in to the parent categories or should many of them sit within sub-categories of
the parent? For example, lets say you are selling flowers. Are you selling many different kinds of
flowers? Each type of flower would be a parent category. Then you would list all the items under those
categories. Thus, Roses would be a category. When clicked on, it would open a screen that lists all your
types of Roses (red, yellow, blue, etc...)
But is there more? Do you have long stem and short stem roses? Are there a lot of them? If so then long
stem and short stem should probably be broken down in the sub-categories. Thus, a customer may click
on Roses and then see a list of sub-categories of roses to choose from. When clicking on the sub-category
the customer is presented with all items within.
Categorizing your data in such a matter adds more depth to your store, makes it more organized, and
opens up many different ways the store can be used. Hence, your store will be user friendly.
Inventory In-Stock
What happens if an order comes in for more inventory than you have in stock? Will this be a concern? Do you
want to stop the user from putting items in the cart if they order more than you have available? Do you
want to incorporate back-order strategies where you allow the user to buy the merchandise but inform them
that the items are on back-order? Do your suppliers offer drop-shipping
options so you can allow this to happen and still satisfy the customer?
Promotional Permission
Want to build a list of existing customers that you can market back to? Consider asking the user for permission
to send them news about special promotions and new products by asking them if it is OK to send them
such things. Marketing back to people who have already experienced the buying process with you can
be effective. It is also free high-target advertising.
Managing Orders
Once your orders have been submitted, you will need a place to view them. You will want to establish a
login-protected area of your Website to view your orders. That way you can see what items were ordered
and where they need to ship to.
Product Management
ECommerce stores are usually fully automated - at least they can be and in most cases are. You will want a place
to add/edit/delete store items. This will include all attributes of the item including price, weight, # in stock,
and description of the item. As we stated above, you may need a couple of different screens for managing products
if they vary widely in their attributes.
You will also want ability to add photos to your items if necessary.
Will some of your items need multiple photos? This is important because it has a profound
say in the design of your product viewing pages. If your items will have multiple photos then you will want
a viewing page that is user friendly for showing multiple photos. You may not have all the answers here but
informing your developer of this is critical so a strategy can be worked out.
Reporting
Do you need reports about orders and item sales? Will you be using your own external accounting system for this or do you
desire to have these kinds of reports integrated in to your Website? What needs to be on them? Do you need reports that
show tax collected? Do you need reports that show profit?
Another important aspect of order management is shipping charges. It is not uncommon to have your shipping
charges off by a few cents. Calculating shipping costs is a best guess science although there are tools that
we mentioned above that make it more accurate than ever. Nonetheless, things sometimes require a larger/smaller
box and a retailer may decide a different shipping method if it makes more sense.
You likely will want to update the shipping cost for an order if the shipping ended up being more/less than the system
calculated when the user checked out. That way you know where you received a shipping credit or debit, how much, and what
the total amount over a quarter was.
These are the things that many businesses do not think about before having an ECommerce store built. Having these
questions answered leads to a well-rounded development plan that should make the development phase flow smoothly and
increase the chances that the store is built correctly the first time without surprises.
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