Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet.(Taken from Wikipedia.org)

To a business owner, eCommerce can be what separates them from their competition. The opportunity to open themselves up to a potentially worldwide audience and an unlimited number of customers.
A clear, concise and easy to use website can make the difference between a website that gets visitors and a website that makes sales.

From the very start, eCommerce has the potential to make profits grow as you open up your business to the world. Allowing your customers to browse your products online, adding them to a virtual shopping cart at the click of a button and giving them the opportunity to pay securely online meaning you can concentrate on building your online product range and processing orders while your website handles the customers.

How many times have your customers asked you "Do you have a website?"?
Everybody wants things to be quick and simple. The more information you can give your customers on site, the less likely they are to need to call or contact you before deciding to buy.

Detailed product descriptions and clear photos almost take the product to the customer and can help make that all important sale happen.
Visit your competitors websites. Are they easy to use? Clear information? Intuitive navigation?

Now visit a retail giant, such as Argos, Amazon or Play.com. Take a mental note of what aids a customers route from store front to checkout.
What is it about YOUR product range that entices a customer to buy? Maybe a specific detail or colour range? Elaborate on these points and take your customer "there"

   

Shopping Online.....the customer experience

Before you can really appreciate what eCommerce can do for a business, you need to put yourself in the customers shoes.

"If I was my own customer, what would entice me to buy from this store?"

Customers like websites to be easy to use and they need to trust you.
Intuitive navigation is important. Getting your customers to the products they are looking for needs to be simple.

Once there, you want to see everything you are likely to want to know. Specifications, dimensions, colours, photos etc are all key deciding factors when comparing goods online.
Not forgetting, of course, that a clear price structure is VERY important. You need to be able to work out how much a product is going to cost you without needing to reach for a calculator or navigate away from the page you are on.
Prices need to be clear and upfront, no compromises

Shipping and Handling (or postage and packing or delivery or whatever you choose to call it!) are another big deciding factor when buying online.
Clear, simple shipping charges always work best and, as a customer, if you see a complicated shipping chart or, worse still, don't see one at all, you will head elsewhere.
Keep your UK shipping down to a few simple price brackets if possible and enable clear navigation to your shipping charges and your customers will NEVER be deterred by not being clear about how much they need to pay.

An upfront website with no hidden costs will instil trust into your customers and ensure that they are guided safely through the online shopping experience in your store

   

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Actinic Software.....for you AND your customers

I've been running 2 eCommerce websites myself for over 7 years now and I've tried a number of different eCommerce software programs along the way.
Some are cheap and cheerful and some are even free. But have you ever noticed how a lot of small business eCommerce websites have the same "look" about them?
Some software, as good as it might be, just isn't easy to customise and the stores all end up looking rather "samey"

Actinic, however, offers an out of the box solution with over 40 template designs to choose.
Each design allows you to get your website up and running, quickly and easily and it's something many small business owners do themselves every day.

However, the beauty of Actinic is the ability to customise your store and make it stand out from the rest.
Add that little bit of "flare"..put your logo where you like...add as many sections as you like, online ordering or not...navigation on the left or the right, top, bottom or even in the middle if that takes your fancy!

Give your customers a shopping experience that is unique to YOU and it'll be memorable for them.
Actinic's intuitive navigation, clean pages and versatile payment integration means that your customers will want to buy from you again.

Actinic offers a flexible package starting at an affordable price. With an offline database and back end order processing, combined with static html pages that rank well with the search engines, it is the best all round eCommerce software in our opinion.

Click here for further details about Actinic eCommerce Software