Electronic commerce (ecommerce) is the process of buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems
. Growth of the Internet and computer networks has increased the number of companies using of ecommerce all over the world.
Why ecommerce?
Online shop design and ecommerce services make it easier for your customers to buy from you, no matter where they are. With a well designed ecommerce website you will convert more visitors into paying customers. With an optimised ecommerce website you can increase the sales volume and profit margins by gaining new customers. An effective online shop will also help you to reduce overheads and cost of sales by keeping the shop and staff requirements to a minimum.
Choosing the right ecommerce company
A good ecommerce company will only offer a solution which is tailored to meet your business goals. The ecommerce company will analyse and understand your business needs and identify a solution with those needs in mind. The ecommerce solution should be intuitive and user-friendly, enabling you to easily update your online shop without any technical knowledge. The company will provide technical services such as design, development and configuration, they should also support integration of software packages such as back office systems including Finance/HR, ERP and CRM.
Many ecommerce companies will also provide supplementary services, for example:
E-business strategy, planning and consultancy services to ensure you make the most effective use of the technology.
Internet marketing support to include promotional selling, social media marketing and search engine optimsiation to boost website's ranking in Google.
Training and helpdesk services to ensure your users can use the software and troubleshoot any technical problems.
Using open source for ecommerce
Many ecommerce companies use open source software for their development purposes. Some of the popular open source ecommerce solutions include Magento design, Joomla design using Virtuemart and OsCommerce. These open source solutions are very powerful and enable companies to develop a guaranteed high quality but low-budget ecommerce solutions.