Think retail is difficult? E-tailing may be tougher

Retailing is difficult enough. E-tailing, or selling on the Internet, may be even tougher. In addition to such basic retail issues as the right product and the right price, e-tailers need the right shopping cart software; a way to manage returns; and, especially, a way to bring customers to their e-store.

You can almost see Harriet Parker shake her head.

"Just putting product on the web doesn't bring customers," says Parker, manager of the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Waubonsee Community College, Aurora.

"You'd think this would be obvious, but I'm amazed by how many people I talk to who think just being online is enough. You have to know who your customers are and have a plan to reach them."

E-tailing, adds Brian Basilico, director of direction at B2b Interactive Marketing, Aurora, "is very competitive - and more expensive than most people think. The biggest challenge is letting people know you exist." (Hint from Basilico: Traditional marketing concepts will help.)

Basilico is a veteran web designer who for two years also was an e-tailer - until "free shipping and credit card fees ate my profit." Now Basilico uses his experience selling Big Train Chai Tea online to help other e-tailers.

"Not being aware of the costs in setting up an online store" is high on Parker's list of potential pitfalls.

"Your merchant account, digital certificate and ongoing credit card processing fees" are among Parker's costs to think about. So are back office logistics.

"How will you handle shipping and returns?" Parker asks. "How will you get transactions into your accounting system?"

For Jason Burton, a Chicago freelance tech consultant, "The biggest thing is making it easy for someone to navigate your site." But Burton quickly adds that the checkout process "is just as critical. If it's frustrating to make the purchase - if they have to click through four or five pages and establish an account first - people will leave your site."

That brings the discussion to shopping cart software.

"It's important to select the right shopping cart provider," Burton says. "If you go through their demos, you very, very quickly get a sense of which is most painless."

Most important may be "the ability of your shopping cart to capture and store customer information," Burton says. You'll want the shopper's e-mail address, phone number and delivery address.

Burton also suggests buying and installing Google Analytics, which he says will "tell you where people go on your site, where they look and (even) where they leave" your e-store.

It seems like a little thing, but "making the 'Buy' button huge, so shoppers don't have to search for a little button at the bottom of the page" also is part of Burton's make-the-process-easy mantra.

"If shoppers can't find the buy button, they'll go somewhere else."

• Questions, comments to Jim Kendall, JKendall@121MarketingResources.com.

© 2008 121 Marketing Resources, Inc.