Ecommerce Web Design Blog

Make your site the best it can be with ozCart shopping cart add-ons
ozCart is already an ecommerce shopping cart packed with many powerful features relevant to the Australian market. Many of our customers are not aware that we also have an add-ons shop which allows you to purchase additional ecommerce features for your ozCart website. Some are installable components, others are web design and ecommerce services.

Our ozCart add-ons shop includes features that are requested by users but often specialised and may not appeal to everyone.  Some of them allow feature upgrades for older versions of our carts, where they are compatible and we have chosen to offer them (e.g. additonal payment options).

There are four sections of add ons: markting add-ons, admin section add-ons to make your shopping cart easier to manage and more powerful, sideboxes and services (like batch image resizing or Some of the great ecommere features available through the add-ons shop include the following:

• Cross Sell Booster - allowing you to specify other products to be displayed to customers when they view your products. This is not driven based on sales, you define it. This means you can manage the products that are displayed to customers to suit your own business requirements.
• Gift wrapping on checkout options
• Offer a Return Authorisation Form on your stie instead of just asking customers to contact you if they want to return a faulty product
• Lost Sales Manager - if customers come to your site, register with you, put items in their cart and then do not buy from you, how frustrating is that! This add on reports on these situations and allows you to contact these customers to find out why they didn't buy and what you can do to make them buy
• Non customer newsletter subscribers - you can send any of your customers emails directly from your site, but if you want to sign up non customers you need this add-on too. 
• Free clip on capability for the Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics applications
• Size chart creation services
• Live Help for your customers
• Product Data feeds for services like myshopping.com.au and getprice.com.au
  
• Bulk image framing and watermarking 
• Tracking stock by product variation (e.g. keeping separate stock levels for the numbers of green, red and blue t shirts instead of just the total number of t shirts)
  
• And more! For a full list visit our ozCart Add-ons pages.
  

 

When shopping for ecommerce software to start your own online shop, features and the monthly costs are important factors to consider.  But even if the monthly payments are affordable for your business, what about the setup cost? Small businesses need every cent they can save when they set up given the costs of business registrations, phone and Internet connections, business cards, stationery, suppliers and buying stock.  So why spend too much for your ecommerce store setup?

What does setting up your website involve? At most of the top shopping cart providers you will be paying for their specialist technicans to install the ecommerce cart into the website and pre-configuring it for Australian business conditions. At many, the customisation of the graphics and colours to suit your business will also be included.  Setup also covers the level of features you get in the shopping cart software and being entered into the cart provider's billing system to make your ongoing payments.

There is a lot of variation in the setup costs of hosted shopping cart software providers in Australia so it can pay to shop around.  For example, some providers charge $800-$1,000+ to get an ecommerce website set up whereas others charge between $100-$400 setup for a similar level of customisation and as many features.

Ask also whether the price of gst is included or excluded. Even if you can claim back the gst against your tax, paying the gst initially is still a cash flow expense that you must meet. For a small business setting up, this could be significant for you. It pays to check.

If you are unsure about what you are paying for, just ask your potential shopping cart software provider exactly what their setup costs cover.  We think a competitive price in today's market is between $100 - $400 including gst depending on the level of features you are receiving, but what you are prepared to pay will depend on the value you feel you are getting from that shopping cart provider.  

One important point to note is that ensuring you don't pay too much does not mean that the cheapest ecommerce website is necessarily the best shopping cart.  You still need to consider how many ecommerce features the site has, how much flexibility you have with payment and shipping options, the ability to import and export products and customers, and how images will be displayed. Most importantly how will your customers experience your shopping cart? If it is not easy for them, it doesn't matter how easy it is to manage.

Expanding your business to open an online shop or starting an online store from scratch need not be a difficult, confusing or overwhelming process. There is a lot more help at hand than you may think to get you through the considerable ecommerce jargon.

At Osc Works, our shopping cart packages are designed to be as easy to undertand as possible, and help you through ecommerce jargon. We both have the same objective: get your online store up and running as quickly as possible.

Here is a quick introduction to ecommerce for the beginner. At the end of this ecommerce guide we also list some other resources at Osc Works that could be helpful to you.

What is ecommerce?

Ecommerce is simply trading online. Instead of putting up a physical shop and waiting for customers to call, mail or walk into your store, you add the capability to a website to allow customer to visit, view your catalog and buy things from you without leaving the comfort of their own home.

A shopping cart is the web-based software that allows your product catalog to be displayed online, for your customers to view your products and product-images, read your product descriptions and add them to their basket. Just like in a physical store when they have finished browing your store, the customer can go through checkout and purchase those products securely online from you. You can accept credit cards, bank transfers, cash on delivery or a number of payment options and offer customers a variety of shipping methods each with their own charges. You can add extras to their total order, automatically (like a rush fee for weekend delivery or shipping insurance) and then the order is processed.

The best shopping carts have an order management system built in, integrate with a formal electronic inventory/accounting system or allow you to export orders to a spreadsheet for importing into an accounting package. They also allow customers to add products to a wishlist for later purchasing or for others to create gift registries for others to buy from.

Is ecommerce in Australia any different from other places in the world?

More than ever Australians are getting online, using the Internet to browse products before they buy them and compare providers.  In many cases, if you do not have an online shop, you will not even be considered. Some customers will visit physical shops to browse products and then look online for the cheapest place to buy them. Having an online shop can be crucial to your business success in some industries. 

Due to some issues in provisioning of broadband across Australia, we have been typically slower than other parts of the world getting online, but the rate of take up has definitely increased. As more and more customers get online, so too will many more businesses.  Does your business web presence include an online store or is it just 'brochureware'?

What is involved in getting started with ecommerce?

Getting started with ecommerce doesn't need to be difficult.  Look for a shopping cart provider that has an easy to use store front that has been proven to stand up to heavy sales. Make sure it helps store owners as much as possible to get indexed in search engines. Ensure also that it has many powerful ecommerce features so that you can grow your online shop as your business grows. Try out the store front by performing a demo purchase. Is it easy for your customers to use?

If you are unsure about anything - like what payment options to choose or how to go about choosing them, how you will manage your store or promote it, then talk to your potential shopping cart provider before you buy.  Do they make it easy for you to understand? Do they treat you like a number or are they willing to treat you like a partner and work with you with your success in mind? Are they just a hosting company that is trying to cash in on ecommerce or a real ecommerce specialist? Do they care about your business? What kind of support will you get? These are all important questions to ask. 

Ecommerce shopping carts and security

Fear of credit card fraud is a major reason that still prevents many Australians from shopping online. But given the strict controls that banks and ecommerce cart providers put on online purchasing, we are convinced that online purchasing is just as safe and secure (if not more) than in a physical shop.

There are a number of high security measures in place by the top shopping carts today: like encryption of credit card details (using a technology called SSL), compliance with business process and technical security measures mandated by Visa and MasterCard (known as PCI DSS compliance) and third party vulnerability testing of shops and all electronic websites (like the McAfee Secure trust mark verification we use at Osc Works).

Moving from an auction website like eBay to your own online shop

If you have bought or sold items on eBay, you have already participated in ecommerce. Many sellers on auction sites eventually get tired of auction listing fees, success fees and  having their products listed right next to their competitors products all the time. They opt for their own online store. Many successful movers use both eBay and their own online store together to get he best of both worlds. Auction sites like eBay have the benefit of 'instant traffic' due to the large number of sellers who already know to look there for things to buy. But the disadvantage is that control is limited on auction sites and competition can be fierce. Setting up your own online store can encourage the people who already buy from you on an auction site to visit you directly next time for a better browsing experience (and maybe a financial enticement depending on your business strategy). 

The importance of web design

Online you have  an extremely limited period to make an impact on your customers - studies suggest this is 8 seconds or less! This means that an easy to use cart is only part of the formula for success. It has to look superb too. That's why at Osc Works we take the time to get the web design for your ecommerce storefront just right. You choose a base layout from our collection and nominate some colours and the types of images you would like to see. We then provide you with a draft web design concept to review based on that information and one of them is then used to build your store. The process is fast, efficient, keeps you involved and ensures that you are totally satisfied with the way your site looks when it is completed. Have a look at our sample portfolio for a brief glimpse at some of the ecommerce designs our team have put together.

Where can I find out more?

 Osc Works wants to help you understand the ins and outs of ecommerce and get your business online as quickly as possible. We have put together an ecommerce glossary which we would encourage you to bookmark and search for terms if you need to know anything. We would also be happy to answer any questions you have about ecommerce. Just contact us directly and we would be happy to help.

Although a logo will only take up a small amount of space on your website it is one of the most important parts of your business. Your logo represents your business and what you sell. It makes it easy for customers to remember who you are and what you sell. Your logo will be the largest form of branding your online business will have. A logo could be used on your website, newsletters, invoices, flyers, brochures, T-shirts and so much more.

Important things to remember when designing your logo are:

Keep it simple:

Keep your logo clean, crisp and clear. Your logo should be easy to remember and not too heavy or bold. Do not use photographs or complicated designs otherwise the logo will become blurred and lose its high resolution quality when resized to a smaller size for your website.  Your logo should not overwhelm the rest of your website.

Try to use vectors or symbols that represent what you sell and colours that suit the theme of your products and business. E.g. Blue or Green for electrical or Red or Pinks for Lingerie.

Great Colours:

Be sure to only use 1-2 colours when designing your logo. This will make it much easier for customers to remember how your logo looks. Too many colours can confuse your customers and make your logo look cluttered. Using less colours will also save you $$ when it comes to printing in mass quantities. Make sure the colours you use for your logo also look great in Black and white as your logo will be printed on your invoices and receipts.

Get it right from the start:

Make sure you're are happy with your new logo and as you don't want to keep changing it. Make sure your logo has a classic style and will not age or change with trends. A logo is here to be remembered and should not be changed.

Good logo designers:

If you're having a logo professionally designed ensure that the logo designers give you full copyrights. They should also provide you with the original source files such as .ai,, .esp or .psd. This will allow you to make changes to the logo yourself using a program such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.

Choose a designer that includes revisions and extra concepts. This way you know you will get the exact look you were after for your new logo.

 

If you would like Osc Works to design you a stunning logo click here

 

 

 

Without a memorable design, your ecommerce ideas run the risk of being missed by your target customers. You need something striking and relevant to the people you want to buy from you. Starting up a business usually means you are on a strict budget too, so you will not want to spend a fortune on a website that is fully built from scratch. But how do you trade off an off-the-shelf design versus a fully custom one?

To make your decision, think about the pros and cons of a template design versus a  fully blank canvas. Some of these include:

Custom design

•  Everything and anything can be changed. The designers and developers must reflect every aspect of your brand and change anything you are not completely happy with
• Sideboxes and images can be moved around to suit you
• The downside is the price. Most designers work on an hourly rate, and so do developers. Shopping Cart Software is not like HTML - code is required behind each element of the page to tell the cart what that component does.  Making changes to the design layout often means rewriting code - which can be expensive. Expect to pay thousands of dollars for a fully custom design.

Template Design

• Benefit from bug fixes and the learnings of the designers from others who have used those designs before
• Benefit from customisations to those designs. For example, Osc Works ecommerce carts start with a collection of base template designs, but we employ graphic designers to customise the headers and colours of those templates to suit the business of the customer who chooses them.
• They are an easy way for even a beginner to build a professional looking ecommerce website quickly and painlessly.
• They are fast. Because you are building from a base design, you can get your website up and running very quickly compared to building something from scratch.