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Having decided to start an online shop, the next step is to come up with a plan. While there is no right or wrong way to run and build your business, it is best to be as organised as possible from the start. This will help you achieve more and will ultimately reduce the amount of work required (and level of stress incurred).

1. Plan for success!

Start by listing all the things you want (and need) to achieve along with the relative importance to your business. Make a note of what you will need to do for each item as well as things you will need to wait for and react to. For example: if you are applying for a streamline account, you will need to request the forms, complete and return them, then wait for confirmation - which can take several weeks.

Once you have a list of everything which needs doing to get started, you can put them in order and work out what you will need to do, when you must do it and thus the total elapsed time which it will take to get your online store up and running. With this information you can set a tentative launch date, which will allow you to continue working while the other aspects are being put in place by your bank, eCommerce developers and any other third parties who are involved.

Don't stop planning here! Extrapolate your business plan out to cover (as a minimum) the first year of operation. Where do you want to be in a years time? The better you plan what you want to achieve and how you intend to achieve it, the greater your chances of success.

Think about what could go wrong at each stage, and make allowances for this in your plans. Where possible, have alternative solutions available in case you require them.

2. Organising third party services

When you require a third party service (i.e. the integration of a shopping cart into your website, the delivery of eCommerce software, a business bank account, etc) make a list of any questions or worries which you have about the service, in your plan. Build a shortlist of suppliers and ask each to answer your questions or address your concerns. This will give you a good feeling for how easy each company will be to deal with and the sort of service you are likely to receive in the future.

It is vital that you choose service providers who will be there to help and support you as and when you require further services - or possibly something as simple as a bit of advice or their professional opinion.

We will touch on the topic of budgetting for the costs of eCommerce later in this series, but do not permit price to be the sole deciding factor - a cheap service which is not compatible with your requirements is worth far less than a more expensive solution which perfectly meets your needs!

3. Your business processes and eCommerce Website

It is critical that in the planning stage you define how your business will work - so that any software systems put in place can be fitted around this, not the other way around. Your solution providers must be able to fit their systems to your business.

Draw diagrams, make notes - or both - but either way, make sure you know how your business will work. When an order is received, what will you do? Your eCommerce solution should support you in administering these processes - for example the ability to print address labels for orders could save you a lot of time later on!

Pay particular attention to any aspects of your business which are unique or unusual, for instance if you provide added value to your customers by personalising their purchases, you will need to discuss this carefully with your developer to ensure the system you have chosen is suitable and adaptable to your requirements.

Conclusion

We hope this has given you something to think about - ultimately these are only some suggestions, made based on our experience helping our clients - and from some of the problems we have seen people run into in the past, but we believe they hold true for most ventures.

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