E-commerce is considered an online minefield for many small business owners, where do you begin when it comes to taking online payments.
It’s complicated, not quite as easy as installing a ‘plug-in’ or purchasing a piece of software – but with our simple tips we hope to make it as straight forward as possible to understand how to best understand use and implement e-commerce successfully online.
We guide all our through the ecommerce journey making their application and integration as simple and straightforward as possible. Customers simply apply, we provide a test site and once this is approved by their provider they receive the details and the ability to accept payments online (Of course this is the simplified version!)
Here is our little guide and five top tips for making e-commerce successful for you and your business:
1. E-Commerce Takes Time
Having an e-commerce site takes time to develop. It is not just a case of developing your site, adding a plugin and watch the money come flowing in. An internet merchant account and payment processor are required, which can take anything from 2-4 weeks.
2. Pick Your Web Developer Very Carefully
Building an e-commerce shopping experience is required for your site to trade successfully online. Expertise is required when it comes to dealing with e-commerce, payment providers, creating an online shopping journey and most importantly making sure it is secure. The development team for eTrader are Sage accredited and work closely to ensure that we provide the easiest but most secure shopping experience.
3. Pick The Best Payment Processor For The Job
An issue that hugely affects many small businesses across the UK, many opt for the cheapest option not quite understanding what is on offer. But often end up having the hardest time when it comes to integrating on site, a hard time with their service and more often than not end up paying huge additional fees as they reach their transaction limit. We stick with the UK leaders Sagepay, who offer their customers high levels of support, service and advice in this grey area.
4. Play By The Rules
There is no shortcut - It is not as simple as signing up to take online payments and your business is good to go. Sites have to comply with UK E-commerce Law and be PCI compliant. Providers need to see that what your site offers is a full shopping experience, securing your checkout, undergoing a test transaction and meet all the requirements onsite regarding e-commerce law including things such as T&Cs, refund policies, cancellation policies, company registered address, company details, clear product and services description and much more. Only once all these have been checked out by a payment processor/bank will the process speed up. Only once secure on-site and secure for your customers will your online business get the green light to accept online transactions.
5. It's all about ROI...
The potential rewards for having an e-commerce website is vast but requires significantly mode capital, dealing with the bank and payment providers and much more. Look for the ROI for your business, measure will you make enough to justify the addition against the cost.
Here at eTrader we take care of the development work and make it as easy as possible for our customers to have a full e-commerce website taking care of the shopping experience and meeting E-Commerce Law with our Sagepay accredited designers. Our team offers customers advice and guidance when it comes to setting up online payments making it as simple as possible.
For more information on e-commerce and online trading visit Sagepay's Guide To Online Payment.
If you are looking for an e-commerce website for your garment decoration business get in touch with our team on info@etraderwebsites.co.uk or call 029 2075 5733!
