Ecommerce Web Design Blog

This week, the credit card turned 50 years old.  Credit cards are an invaluable part of everyday life and for many owners of online shops, essential.

The worldwide credit card network was started by American Express in 1958. Bank of America followed quickly with their BankAmericard. The Bank launched the card in a novel way, sending out 60,000 cards to consumers in the area. At first, few had any idea what to do with the cards but they learned the benefits of credit cards quickly and a year later customers had spent more than the equivalent of over $70million Australian dollars on their cards. This inital drop of cards was followed by another 2 million cards throughout all of California, USA. The credit boom never looked back.

Bank of America's overseas affiliates programme which operated with their card evolved into the system that eventually became Visa. A group of banks then also set up rival MasterCharge in 1966 - which later evolved into MasterCard.

Accepting credit cards is an important ingredient in running a high volume, successful shopping cart. There are many payment options online: third party providers like Paypal and Paymate as well as internet payment gateway providers like eWay, Camtech, ANZ eGate, CommWeb, and DirectOne.  All of these payment gateways are supported by ozCart shopping cart software. New Zealand customers can also opt to use NZ based payment gateway providers like Payment Express (DPS) or Paystation.

For an introduction to payment gateways or information on starting your own shopping cart website that accepts credit card, have a look at the information on our website and contact us at Osc Works to find out how we could help you run your own online shop.

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.

Businesses that create their shopping cart websites themselves or without a view towards the future can run into trouble if the market shifts or a competitor enters with considerably more online shopping features and an easier-to-use buying experience for customers.

To prevent this situation happening for you, it is important to consider the future when you buy your shopping cart software to begin with. Even if you don't need all the features offered, choosing an ecommerce cart with the ability to grow can help future proof your online business.

ozCart has been designed with the future in mind by including the following:

• Features that you can turn on and off as you require. Want to use Paypal today and eWay at a later stage? No problems with ozCart. The payment and postage options you choose today can be changed tomorrow if you wish. You can even set different features for different regions.
• We are continually reviewing and improving our product - listening to customer feedback and looking for ways to improve our software and your ability to rank in search engines. We understand business and the costs of business, and care about your success.
  
• We include an add-ons shop where our customers can buy additional plug-ins (for example data feeds) for their store and upgrades offered in newer packages.

Don't buy a shopping cart that will lock you into features you can never expand or won't provide you with support for your business growth.

When you are creating a new website, which is more important: a beautiful design or many powerful features? The answer to this question is that both are important and getting the balance right can make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful online shopping website.

Finding balance is important, as you will probably have seen many sites that are either too far in one direction of the other: sites either overloaded with flashy graphics or cluttered with hard-to-read or confusing content.

Go too far in either direction and the result can be a disaster for your online shop. Beautiful eye candy and animations may look fantastic to you in printouts when you are building your website, but can lead to extremely slow load times. Cluttered text can seem unprofessional or overpowering text can bore your customers and put them off buying from you.

If your website's purpose is to sell products, what is the point in making your buyer wait five minutes while your page's intricately designed flash animations on your home page load? Will your customers appreciate seeing the same animation load over and over on every page they look at in your cart? You want a cart that fits with the brand values and the look and feel of your business, but one that also has features to make it easy for your customers to buy from you, and easy for you to manage.

ozCart ecommerce websites are designed to balance form and function by providing you with a number of professionally designed base layouts which we then customise the graphics and colours in them for free. Functions like a progress bar in checkout, wishlists, easy-to-use carts and being hosted on ecommerce-optimised servers, make for an online shop that is friendly and inviting.

Behind the scenes our ozCart shopping carts are also packed with a number of powerful features . Like the ability to set stock levels for individual variations of your products (eg. blue t shirts and red t shirts can have different stock levels), having your own affiliates promoting your website in return for sales commissions, batch order management, advertising banner management, dropshippers management, bulk product management and built-in gift vouchers to name just a few. All managed by you from a secure web-based control panel. 

You can use as few or as many of the features as you need, so your store can grow with your business. Or purchase add-ons from our ecommerce add-ons  store.

We design our ozCart ecommerce websites to suit your business and balance stylish designs with powerful features. Whether you buy ozCart or some other online shop software, make sure that your shopping cart website has the right balance of features and design for you.

Osc Works understands the costs of setting up a new business, so for a limited time only we are offering a special discount on the setup price of ozCart. Buy any ozCart ecommerce package before 18 October 2008, and you'll pay no more than $199 setup cost no matter what package you buy.

On the Platinum package this means you'll save hundreds of dollars on the setup cost of the package.

This offer can't last and won't be extended so get in quick. After this date our prices will revert to their current levels, which are still highly competitive in today's market.

Open your  ozCart online store today .