Knowledge Base
Your Web Storefront
The purpose of a web storefront is to generate sales. The website should load quickly and be simple to navigate. It should provide lots of information about your business. It should include your physical address, phone and fax numbers. In addition to registering the site with numerous search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, AOL etc.), you can generate traffic by the way you announce your new online store in magazines, books, online newsgroups, or newsletters. Banner exchange services are also a low-cost way to generate site traffic and make your site look professional.
A storefront should have four attributes:
- Customers should be able to find the product quickly. There is a 8-second guidelines: Customers who cannot find what they are looking for during this time will click out of the site and go to other sites.
- The site should have mechanisms to process the order and send it to the fulfillment center for quick and secure packing and shipping.
- The site should generate a summary of the order and produce a printable receipt.
- The site should send a confirmation e-mail to customers after the order has been placed.
Behind every website is a cluster of programs stored on the server to present your application to site visitors and the hardware that will host your server and application. Included in the program cluster are the following:
- Database server: Provides secure access to shared data for client applications.
- Store administrator: Decides on items such as how the store is opened and closed, manages product information and site appearance, configures shipping options, adds and edits product information, makes pricing changes, and creates product promotions.
- Catalog builder: Presents the product information the customer must see. This feature should allow customers to search for products.
- Shopping cart: Similar to a physical shopping cart, this allows a customer to gather items he is buying and hold them until the actual purchase function is executed. A customer can add or remove items at will as he or she browses through a product catalog or database.
- Order processing system: Handles all the tasks involved in completing the purchase order. This includes totaling the order, calculating taxes and shipping costs, and other shipping information. It also determines the payment method and produces detailed sales and customer reports.
Creating a web storefront requires planning. For a SME business launching its web storefront for the first time, the easiest option is a prepackaged e-commerce system such as Microsoft Commerce. Larger businesses such as Dell design their own storefronts from scratch. The main advantage of doing your own storefront is full control over the site.