Business

Building a Shopping Cart Website in Australia: 101

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If you work a 9-5 job, think how nice it would be to have an income that is generated by online sales? Not having to get dressed up and be at work by a certain time, and perhaps most importantly, no one is telling you what to do, and there’s more – you can work from any location, all you need is a digital device and an Internet connection. Learning how to start a business in Australia is all about research and planning, and if you have chosen e-commerce, here is some advice.

The Web Developer

Your web developer will do many things – design, build and maintain your website, host the site and even register your domain name. This provider will also manage the site, taking care of cyber-security and handling the payment gateways; all you have to do is provide the product images and descriptions and the web developer will do the rest.

Bandwidth

As your site expands, there will be a lot of hi-res images and text, and you want very fast page loading, which means high bandwidth, so mention this to your web developer and he will upgrade you to a dedicated server.

Payment Gateways

It is very important to provide a good range of payment options, such as:

  • Credit Card
  • PayPal
  • Bank Transfer
  • Bitcoin
  • Cash on Delivery (depending on the products)

If the customer has many options to pay, this enhances the purchasing experience, meaning the customer will return, and this is one of your main goals, to create a simple and efficient customer experience.

Digital Marketing

If there is one thing you can’t do without, it is digital marketing, as SEO services will connect you with the global online consumer. Simply put, you could have the best products, the best website and the lowest prices, but if the consumer isn’t aware of your existence, you won’t sell anything. You will have to invest in an ongoing way in digital marketing and there’s no getting around that.

Logistics

Once you have your digital marketing plan in place, you can expect a few orders, and the best way to deal with your logistics is to outsource your order processing to a local 3PL specialist. You send them all your product stock and packaging, then email orders and they do the rest, and with your products arriving in a timely manner, customers will be satisfied.

If you find the right line of products and plan your business strategy, there’s no reason why you can’t make a success of your shopping cart website.

Ieva Ofer
the authorIeva Ofer