| A quick look into how the average "online store" is created.
It can seem so simple to setup your own store. After all when you are the shopper, the steps to purchase a product seems too easy. You find what you want, click "buy", fill out your shipping and credit card information and just wait for the product to arrive to your door. However there's a lot more going on behind the scenes. For a company to set up a proper secure online store, they have to accomplish these following tasks.
Find a Merchant Account Provider - Having a merchant account enables you to accept credit cards over the internet. Over 85% of all Internet transactions are paid for using online credit card methods. Setting up a merchant account alone can cost at least $500 and up not to mention the time looking for a reliable Merchant Account Provider.
Software Purchase & Setup - Once you have successfully set up a new merchant account, you need the shopping software. Without it you have no online system to set up your store, add your products and offer a payment solution for your new customers. The costs can range depending on where you are going to purchase the software and who will install it for you. The average cost to have a professional software programmer to setup the store for you is about $3000. On top of this cost, many merchant account providers require you to have your online store software installed on a 128 bit encrypted secured server (SSL) and your domain must be hosted on a dedicated IP address. This alone can cost hundreds more to set up not to mention time and knowledge.
Find a Payment Gateway Provider - Some online store companies are lucky, their new merchant account provider will suggest a "Payment Gateway" provider. What a payment gateway provider does is connect your online store to your merchant account provider. This company handles all online transactions and prevents fraudulent transactions such as stolen credit cards. Of course this can cost hundreds of dollars to setup and your new online store software must be compatible to use with your "Payment Gateway" provider.
Packaging & Shipping - If you want to save some money, you will need to search out a wholesaler for packaging your products. In order to get "deals", you usually need to order in bulk. For shipping, you need to search for the best shipping companies because shipping costs alone can be very expensive.
As you can see, there is alot of work involved when setting up your own online store. Please note that we just listed the main tasks needed to set up an online store. There is banking needs, hardware needs and most importantly "TIME & MONEY".
We have done all of those tasks. Not only have we successfully set up an online store, we have designed a system to offer companies their own online store with ease and cost efficiency. |
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