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If you plan on selling your product online, a website without e-commerce is much like a department store without a check-out line. E-commerce has come a long way since its inception when Americans were timid about buying products on the Internet. Today, every day, hundreds of thousands of people buy magazines, clothing, gift baskets, computers and even order pizzas and movies online. E-commerce website solutions such as credit card verification and processing, online shopping carts and online package tracking will help your business join the millions of other businesses that our now open to their clients twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year.
But do people really buy things online? Absolutely. Although several online retailers closed their operations in 2001 due to the "dot com bust" total online retail sales grew to $36 billion. (Retail Forward 2001) And online retail sales are showing no signs of slowing down. Face it. Shopping off-line can be a messy business: driving several miles to a crowded shopping mall, fighting for parking, searching the yellow pages for some hobby shop half-way across town or walking around in a shopping district for hours just to find out no-one has what you need. On the other hand, buying on-line is fast, easy and convenient; and as the Internet becomes part of our daily lives customers are becoming less and less timid about buying online. Everyday, more and more Americans become first-time Internet buyers. Statistics from the Online Shopping Index which aggregates Web visitors from both home and work to nearly 500 shopping sites and 19 subcategories, indicate that shopping in December 2001 increased 55 percent over last year. This was an increase from 33.8 million to 52.3 million unique visitors and sales are expected to jump again this year. ( Jupiter Media Metrix 2002)
But what kind of e-commerce do you need? Directory One will work with you to create a successful e-commerce website; and we won't try to sell you superfluous extras that won't help your business. Below is a list of e-commerce solutions we offer and information about each one. Because the complete and cost-effective e-commerce solution varies from business to business, we price each e-commerce website design package depending on the needs of your company and the Internet solution that is best for you. Feel free to review the various e-commerce solutions offered below, then call us: 1-800-477-1324. Together we will determine how to maximize the return on investment for your company.
Real-Time Credit Card Processing and Fraud Prevention: Online shoppers want fast, easy and safe. If your customers find they have to call in their credit card information or worse mail in a check or money order, chances are those customers will find another retailer. With online credit card processing and Directory One's security features (Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) services and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Technology), your customers will have access to safe, twenty-four hour shopping on your web site. For them its quick, hassle-free and secure. For you its automated. You won't have to worry about dealing with manual credit card orders, calling in the verifications or sending in processing slips. And you don't have to switch merchant services providers. Directory One works with your current merchant services provider to ensure that your credit card services will be dependable and fraudulent transactions will be avoided.
Package/Shipment Options and Tracking: Directory One can set up your web site to offer a variety of shipping options including overnight express. You don't want last-minute shoppers to be driven to a different retailer because you can't supply their merchandise in time to meet their needs. Many businesses have also found online order tracking to be highly useful. With this service patrons can check online at any time to see where their package is. Not only does this make your customers feel secure, but it cuts down on the e-mails or phone calls that your customer-service representatives must deal with.
Automatic Real-Time Inventory and Database Solutions: A database utilized and fed by your web site is one of the most powerful tools available to online retailers today. Directory One can provide you with a database of your products that is: searchable by category, provides automatically updated inventory, is easily editable, and that works in concert with other e-commerce web site solutions such as shopping carts, customer tracking and opt-in emails. The uses of an online database are almost limitless. Please read more about how Directory One will integrate your current database with your web site or populate your database for you: Database Solutions.
Enhanced Product Displays: When online shopping was in it's infancy, critics doubted that e-commerce would work for the majority of retail merchandise. After all, magazines and CDs are one thing, but who wants to buy furniture or clothing when all you can see of the product is a one-dimensional photograph? Today, new zeroing in technologies allow for more in-depth inspection of online products than ever before. With the right software, patrons can now zoom in on the tiniest detail of a painting, rotate a blouse through several degrees or take a virtual tour of a house for sale.
Order Confirmations: Some web sites state on the final transaction screen, "Print this page for your records." What if the customer doesn't have a printer at the time or what if the customer looses the paper he printed the information on? This is an easy enough problem to fix. Directory One can program your site to send email confirmations after every order. The emails can contain any thank you information you wish sent along with order confirmation numbers that customers can use when referring to their orders. Not only does this ease the jobs of your customer-service-representatives (they no longer have to deal with callers with incomplete information) but it makes your customers feel more secure as well.
Customer Tracking and Database Solutions: With customer tracking you will be able to keep an online database of your customers, their addresses, emails, preferences, and answers to any web site marketing questions they may have answered. You can also allow frequent buyers to save their profiles, credit card information and shipping and billing addresses. This way your customers don't have to waste a lot of time typing in the same information every time they buy from your web site. A customer tracking solution is often linked with a larger database solution. Please read more about our complete database solutions.
Site Specific Search Engines: Online shoppers often want to get into a web site, find a specific item, checkout and go. They don't always have the time or the desire to browse through your entire online catalogue. If you have several products to offer or if you just have a large site, your web site should be searchable by key phrases and product types. For this purpose, Directory One can provide you with a site specific search engine. The search engine will search your web site for the keywords entered by the user and will direct the user to the pages he or she is looking for.
Customized or Dynamic Shopping Cart and Secure Order Form: A virtual shopping cart is much the same as the real cart that one pushes through the local grocery store. As the customers peruse your online store, they find items they like and drop them in the cart. When they are ready to check out, the shopping cart contents are displayed to them. They can add or delete items as they prefer, and can then proceed to order the items using the secure order form.
Directory One can provide you with either a static, customized shopping cart or a dynamic, database driven shopping cart. A static shopping cart is built by Directory One with the information and images your provide of your products. If you have new products you would like customers to be able to add to the shopping cart, you must only provide Directory One with the information and allow us to update your web site for you. This is the more affordable option and is best for customers with fewer products (usually 25 or less) and who change their product types infrequently.
A dynamic shopping cart, on the other hand, is database driven. For this, obviously, you will need a database. Given a list of your products and product information, Directory One can provide you with a searchable, editable database and the training you will need to use it to its full capacity. You will be able to add products to your database, and customers will be able to add them to their shopping carts. A dynamic, database-driven shopping cart is appropriate for businesses that have large or frequently updated inventories.
The above list of e-commerce solutions provided by Directory One is by no means exhaustive. If your want an e-commerce solution you have seen on another web site that is not listed above, simply tell us what you want and where you found it. We will be more than happy to make it part of your complete Internet solution. Please see our e-commerce customer loyalty program.
If you would like more information about e-commerce and what works, check out the following two articles:
E-commerce Tech--Here's What Clicks
8 Convenience Factors
If You Have Any Questions? Please feel free to contact us:
Toll Free: 1-800-477-1324
Local: 713-465-0051
9135 Katy Freeway Suite 204 Houston, TX 77024