Expert Advice on E-commerce Start-up

[TechNoWheels]

Hi,
I've spent days reading about all the options and variables to consider when determining what is the best option for setting up an e-commerce site and it is like chasing phantoms - you hear a lot, get some in-site but end up with nothing substantial in terms of an answer. So I'm going to put the business requirements out here and see what you all think.

We have a very small range of products to start with >10. We expect a lot of interest and page impressions and sales - possibly as high as 100,000 orders in the year. We work on small margins so overheads have to be tightly controlled. We need the most cost effective, durable e-commerce solution and we don't want users of our website to do a lot of work to place an order.

So far I've discovered everyone wants a slice of commission for each bit of the jigsaw (no wonder investors chuck money at technology companies). Maybe low margin, high volume e-commerce isn't feasible? I don't know. Does anyone have any experience?

PS. The name is Tech No wheels, as in No tech!

 

[finleydesign]

Hi, the only thing that is confusing me at present is the fact that you appear to struggle with the grip of ecommerce but have stated you will sell 100,000 orders in your 1st year, thats 293 orders a day, every day, 7 days a week for a whole year, you won't even have the infrastructure or man power to handle that, now the other way to look it is forget the 100,000 and start looking at things realistically you will find most things come into focus more easily.

There is no ideal answer and to be honest if you need to ask the questions, is it worth building a business on something you need to read about?

 

[Pish_Pash]

To the OP, I think you're overcomplicating it.

Get yourself opencart (free) ...add your 10 products (a morning's work)....& you're off to the races. The rest can be addressed as & when things start motoring.

 

[TPH1]

If you can sell 100,000 products in 1 year as a complete start up with a range of a mere 10 products AND make a profit, you need to be offering advice, not seeking it!

 

[james_firmsites]

I would write a specification and put it in the tenders forum to get some quotes.

You will find that there are many options open to you for this, as many companies (mine included) do not charge transaction fees like amazon webstore, shopify etc

 

[14Steve14]

If you have a domain name and hosting hopefully you will have something similar to CPanel which includes softalicous. This will allow you to one click install many ecommerce platforms which will enable you to try then to see what they can do, and how easy it is to do. If you do not like a products just uninstall it and try another. I think most softalicious areas included hundreds of free programs that you can use and my hosts include about 15 ecommerce systems, so there should be something for you.

If I was planning to sell as many products as you think you will, I would spend some money and get it done properly, and pay someone to come up with what you want. I feel that in the first instance you should really get your feet firmly on planet earth and start again.

 

[ecoleman]

hmmm, I don't know if Opencart and other opensource solutions would really do the trick here.
100,000 orders a year equates to 293 orders a day.
I don't know what the OP is selling but lets assume a 5% conversion. That's 5,660 visitors a day.
I'm not saying Opencart can't handle this, but this guy's going to need some serious server power and bandwidth to start with.

Or, on the other hand, the OP is dreaming and something like Opencart will be quite sufficient whilst he realises that getting an e-commerce store is not as simple as he thinks.

 

[antropy]

hmmm, I don't know if Opencart and other opensource solutions would really do the trick here.
100,000 orders a year equates to 293 orders a day.
I don't know what the OP is selling but lets assume a 5% conversion. That's 5,660 visitors a day.

With just 10 products I reckon OpenCart could handle that even on shared hosting.

 

[Jasmine_analyst]

I agree with all the expert words stated above... you need to get some reality dose.

E-commerce business is not same for every one (

 

[Mad Frog]

Your sales forecast, how do you plan on generating these page impressions and sales? What are you basing these assumptions on? In reality Ecommerce isn't simply a case of build a webstore and make sales. Choosing the right platform is essential, so I get the question, but possibly you may like to review your sales forecast? Then again you may know something the rest of us don't? In which case why ask the question is the first place.

 

[Charlie McBroom]

Hi TechNoWheels,

I'm not here to questions your projected sales, I'm here to give you ecommerce advice.

If you are planning to keep overheads low and want a flexible ecommerce site then I would suggest looking at Magento.

There are other ecommerce platforms out there that are good, but in my personal opinion and experience in helping several start-ups, I've found Magento to be the best option.

Have you thought about search-ability for your site and any marketplaces you could sell on?

I would love to know a little more about your business so I could advise you further.

 

[TechNoWheels]

Hi Charlie,
You win the prize for answering the question most objectively. Will be in touch.

Cheers

 

[SabriM]

TechNoWheels: If you are still after some advice, please feel free to drop me a message as there are many areas to consider.