Is an E-commerce Web Site Right for Your Business? Part 4

An e-commerce site may be just what your decorated apparel business needs and your customers want, but as in any business decision, it pays to look before you leap.
June 19, 2008

By Derek Griffin

E-commerce sites typically fall into two groups: the custom-designed site that serves your own business and the company store that serves a business you represent. In this article, the fourth in our five-part series, we discuss the differences between these two approaches.

Custom-designed E-commerce Site                       
For larger organizations ready to conduct business online, investing for the right mix of professional presentation, ease of use and search engine visibility is important.

It's possible to go the "template" route and use a shopping cart program through the template provider, but in most cases, this will be a frustrating undertaking for the business owner, and the result will not yield the value and revenue generation potential of doing it right.

If your plans are aggressive and you want to start conducting business online, begin your search for a firm with experience developing e-commerce Web sites. Preferably, they should be ones that understand some of the unique needs of businesses operating in the imprinted sportswear space. Selling products that have multiple price levels based on quantity or needing a way to seamlessly collect artwork when orders are placed are two examples of features not found on traditional e-commerce sites.

Also, make sure you speak with clients of the firms you're interviewing and look at their portfolio of completed projects.

The key requirements you should measure when evaluating your choice of firm for an e-commerce site are as follows:
 
•    Design abilities — does their work actually look good?
•    Technology/site management tools – will they provide an administrative log-in so you can manage product changes and updating general information ?
•    Shopping cart — is it easy to purchase from example Web sites?
•    Search engine visibility — can the firm's site be found on Google? Can you find its clients? Are there tools to manage internet marketing initiatives?
•    For larger volume sites, can the firm integrate order data directly into your accounting or fulfillment system?

 
Other considerations about the site itself:

•    Do you want to give your clients an enormous product selection? Or do your clients trust you to present them with the best choices in various product categories and budget ranges?
•    Data preparation — keep in mind that whomever you choose to build the site will need a substantial amount of product data and imagery from you. This means homework for you, so don't bite off more than you are able to deliver.

With the importance of design and technical capabilities in your selected firm, you may find that the convenience of using a local firm is outweighed by the value of choosing a firm with the right experience and industry knowledge.

For examples of custom e-commerce sites, visit ericmccrite.com and magicheadwear.com.

Company Stores for Your Clients                        
The last type of Web site is very different from the levels discussed so far, and the need for it is completely dependent on the relationships you have with your customers, their buying volume and the types of products purchased. The "Company Store" concept is a Web site dedicated to a single client, giving your higher volume customers their own branded shopping experience. A decision about building company stores is entirely separate from what you are doing to present your own company.

Company stores can have varying levels of complexity, or richness of features, including the following:
•    A basic site that can be built in a framework that minimizes the branding that each client receives and therefore minimizes the investment to set up each new site.
•    A fully branded company store that uses the corporate client's brand guidelines and color schemes throughout the Web site.
•    A fully branded company store that also includes accounting or fulfillment integration and in some cases custom functionality based on the specific requirements of the client you are working with.

Examples of custom development that larger clients may request include multiple security levels, purchase order options with cost center or GL code tracking, payroll deduct programs with individual balance ledgers per employee and custom ordering rules for certain user groups. The larger the client, the more obscure — and sometimes ridiculous — the requests become.

Company store programs can be high-volume, dependable revenue streams. However, unless you're fortunate enough to have your corporate clients participate in the cost of building the site, they do require an investment on your part. Additionally, you need to protect yourself in company store dealings with careful attention in your services contract to inventory ownership at the end of the relationship.

While it may be fine for you to purchase the inventory initially and have it on your own books because you're selling each item for a profit, when the program is terminated you don't want to get stuck with a rack full of products already printed or embroidered for that client. This is a situation where a lawyer can contribute necessary clarification and help you avoid a financial disaster.

For examples of company stores, visit Airtran.hpidirect.net and Store.weather.com.

Derek Griffin is president and co-founder of SpearTek, an Atlanta-based firm that helps companies make their Web sites easier to manage and more profitable to operate. He will be speaking on “The Benefits and Risks of Offering Company Stores" at the Imprinted Sportswear Show in Fort Worth, Oct. 3-5, 2008. You can reach him at dgriffin@speartek.com.


For Further Reading:

Put Your Business on the Web NOW!, Part 1
7 Keys to Web Site Success, Part 2
How to Choose the Right Web Site for Your Business, Part 3

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