Trying to figure out how to set up an online storefront? This whirlwind tour of various options and tools will help you figure out how to make decisions about the tools you use in your business.

1. Technology Hotspot & Salon
Overview of eCommerce
Anca Mosoiu
East Bay Localpreneurs, April 28, 2011

2. Introduction
Anca Tech Liminal
• Web Developer • Technology Hotspot & Salon
• Information Architect • Co-Working
• 15 years of experience in • Workshops, Meetups
technology & marketing orgs • Expert, friendly help with web &
• Freelancer, Entrepreneur social media
anca@techliminal.com
www.techliminal.com 2 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

3. Why Are We Here?
• Consider the technology aspects of selling online:
• Understand your situation so you can evaluate tools
• What tools can you use for best results?
• Look at some examples
www.techliminal.com 3 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

4. Considerations
• Manage your product catalog
• Payment
• Fulfillment
• Reporting
• Maintenance
• Hosting
• Cost
• Data Integration
• How many vendors are involved?
www.techliminal.com 4 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

5. Products
• What do you sell?
• Physical Goods
• Digital Products
• Services
• Memberships/Subscriptions
• How Many?
• Single item/service
• Tens of items
• Hundreds of items
• Variations (sizes, colors)
www.techliminal.com 5 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

6. Payment
• Where do people pay you for stuff?
• Online only
• By Mail
• In person
• What forms of payment do you accept?
• Cash
• Credit Cards
• Paypal, Google Checkout
• Do you have to collect tax?
• How quickly does the money get into your bank account?
www.techliminal.com 6 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

7. Accepting Credit Cards In Person
• Point-of-sale system • Square
• Dedicated Device or • Dedicated device plugs into
your smartphone or tablet
• Web-based (USB)
• App for entering totals,
• Phone or internet based collecting singature
• Monthly fees • No monthly fees (as yet)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_sale
http://www.authorize.net/resources/howitworksdiagram/
www.techliminal.com 7 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

8. Fulfillment
• How does the product get from your inventory to the customer?
• Downloaded? (once or several times?)
• You ship it from your garage
• A third party ships it to the customer
• It can be sent from multiple places
• Shipping Charges
• Overnight?
• Overseas?
www.techliminal.com 8 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

9. Reporting
• What do you need to know about your commercial transactions
• How many sold
• How fast were they shipped?
• Demographics of the people purchasing items
• Profitability of items
• Cost of Goods Sold
• Tax
• How did they find my store (analytics)?
www.techliminal.com 9 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

10. Technology Hotspot & Salon
Classes of eCommerce
Tools
Subtitle

11. What’s out there?
• Online marketplaces
• PayPal / Google Checkout
• Hosted solutions
• You host it yourself
www.techliminal.com 11 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

12. Online Marketplaces
• ebay, etsy
• Their brand is more important than yours
• Their customer base is large and diverse
• Great for unique or rare products, long-tail products
• Adding lots of products at one time can take a long time due to inefficient
uploading tools
• They help with mediation (if you don’t get a product, or the payment isn’t
made)
www.techliminal.com 12 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

13. PayPal, Google Checkout
• Add a “Button” to your site
• You create each button in the tool
• Paste into your website
• You create all surrounding content
• Great for individual products or services
• Easy to set up
• PayPal/Google Checkout handle credit cards and security transactions
• Monthly fee
www.techliminal.com 13 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

14. Hosted Solutions
• Software run on third-party servers
• Some allow digital goods
• You load your product catalog
• Customize look and feel of your
storefront
• Some have other components
• CRM
• Email Marketing
• Inventory Tracking
• Not suitable for events
www.techliminal.com 14 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

15. Selling Services by the Hour?
• Time Tracking
• Invoicing
• Comments and customizable
invoicing
www.techliminal.com 15 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

16. You Host It Yourself
• You run the software on your own
webserver
• Your IT team (you?) is
responsible for keeping it going
• Highly customizable
• You need SSL certificates to • WordPress + Plugins (Cart66,
securely accept credit cards WP ECommerce, DukaPress)
• May be expensive • Drupal + UberCart
• Joomla + ZenCart
www.techliminal.com 16 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

17. Technology Hotspot & Salon
How it Works

18. How do you set it up?
• Several choices:
• You run your website on your eCommerce platform (shopify,
1ShoppingCart, etc)
• You have a separate website and link to your storefront (e.g
store.mydomain.com)
• Your storefront layout and colors will need to be customized
• You host yourself and have a shopping cart built into your site (even if it’s
just a paypal button)
www.techliminal.com 18 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

19. Data Integration
• How doe the information get
entered into the system
• How does it get to your accounting
system?
www.techliminal.com 19 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal

20. Technology Hotspot & Salon
Resources

21. Resources
• Tech Liminal spreadsheet of eCommerce goodness:
• http://tinyurl.com/3e3tvus
• East Bay WordPress Overview of Commerce Plugins
• http://eastbaywp.com/
www.techliminal.com 21 Content © 2011, Tech Liminal