What are the components of an ecommerce business?

[purplemonkey]

Hello all

I am looking to start an online business but I have been put off with the HIGH costs of professional webdesign.

The quotes I have receieved range from £4000-£12000, which quite frankly is beyond my budget.

As a result of such high quotes (Bearing in mind I have contacted at least 15-20 webdesigners) I am thinking of going solo building, launching and managing my own website.

The benefit I have is I have time on my side and I am reasonably good at working with computers and tend to pick things up quickly.

I appreciate it won't be easy but such is life.

What i need to know is from zero to launch what software will I need for the following (I do not wish to use online software, I prefer to purchase download and have the data stored on my own hard drives! Thanks):

1. Web design
2. Intergration and upload of a product catalogue from a database (mysql, oracle have been mentioned already for creating product databases)
3. Website management and traffic analysis
4. Automated order processing (No postage calculation required)
5. Customer statistical analysis and marketing for repeat sales
6. Integration with an accounting package

Please tell me if I have missed any crucial element of whats required, or if someone has a better idea as to what the elements of an ecommerce business are then please feel free to contribute.

Look forward to hearing all your replies!!!!

Cheers guys n girls

[LinkingClever]

You have missed a crucial element. Customers. You will need SEO or Paid advertising (PPC, Banner ads, text links, affiliate etc) to attract custmers to your site.

I would suggest you need about 50 hrs reading/research into ecommerce systems, 50 hrs SEO/Promotion and probably another 50 hrs asking questions/fixing the site etc etc to have a good, basic understanding of all the elements involved.

Jay

[purplemonkey]

LinkingClever thanks :p most of my budget will be on advertising hence the DIY approach to the website whilst maintaining as high standards as possible for presentation etc.

I found increasingly that there is no single solution to any element of ecommerce but what I was really after were suggestions of software to accompany the various elements of an ecommerce business, and people to fill in the gaps of elements I've missed

Thanks again!

[markbirmingham]

Hi Purple Monkey,

E-commerce sites do vary from web designers but £4000 to £12000 does sound a bit steep. Are you planning on having a very complicated site?

If not, have a look at www.actinic.co.uk (http://www.actinic.co.uk) and their example sites. It is very indepth and offers everything which you mentioned. I think prices are from about £400 to about £1500 for something which integrates with Sage.

It's relatively easy to set up, and the forum support is very good. You can get a site up in no time at all, unless you want to put more work into the look of it.

Don't forget hosting too (maybe about £10 a month to start off with), and also your internet merchant account. Worldpay have a special offer on at the moment.

Linking Clever is right, you'll need to dedicate a large part of your product on marketing, whether it's online or otherwise (pr etc).



Mark