I have had the pleasure of working with some very proactive companies who are really embracing the internet. They are successfully using their website to market their business and sell online. The businesses I speak of would consider themselves to be of a traditional type including 2 butchers, a pharmacy photo lab, a health store, a timber products and a music promoter. It was really great to see these businesses add a new sales channel for a relatively small investment.

Selling online allows ordering 24/7 just be sure you make it very clear when your actual business is closed e.g. at weekends. It is also crucial that you have clear terms of use, delivery information including delivery costs.

There are a number of options open to you if you want to sell online and in this article I will cover 5.

Vendorshop for Facebook

From their website- “VendorShop turns your Facebook page from a marketing tool into a sales tool. Our free Facebook shopping application enables you to create a shop on your Facebook page in minutes.”

I recently set this up for 2 clients and it really is simply to use. There is also an option to give customers 5% off if they Like your page and 10% if they Share by posting a product on their own Facebook Wall.

eBay

For a lot of business, eBay is their online shop. Like Vendorshop, eBay lets you set up am online shop without having to go to the trouble and expense of setting up an e-commerce site of your own.

Shopify

Shopify is an online e-commerce platform that allows individuals to create digital stores. The platform currently hosts over 10,000 online retailers, including stores for Foo Fighters, Angry Birds, Tesla Motors, Amnesty International, and Evisu Jeans.

Shopify has five levels of monthly payment plans: Basic, Professional, Business, Enterprise, and Premier. Depending on each plan, the company charges fees ranging from 0-2% on each transaction.

Amazon Webstore

From their website – “Amazon Webstore is an all-in-one hosted eCommerce website solution with the tools you need to build an online business”.

Stores are built off of the Amazon.com framework, so the feature set is almost as robust as Amazon itself. All packages include a low transaction fee on top of the monthly fee, which is typical of ecommerce solutions.

If you would like to learn more about online customers click here

Build Your Own

Of course you also have the option of getting a web solutions company to build your own store which can be a costly exercise. However, it is an option well worth considering because it will be custom made to your requirements as sometimes an off-the-shelf solution just won’t suit.

With any of the above solutions you still need to consider the implications of selling online including order handling, packaging for delivery and costs. You will also have to have a returns policy which may be different to your existing policies.

If you would like to learn more about taditional versus online advertising click here