Creating an Ecommerce from scratch and selling your products online is the goal of many businesses in Panama, especially considering the high levels of Internet penetration and use of social networks.
Just to mention one example, Panama is the country that uses Instagram the most in Latin Americawhich makes it an ideal market to undertake compatible sales in the system of this social network.
This 2019 consumers in Latin America will spend $79 billion dollars on Ecommerce.
Taking into consideration that you are already selling a product or service, it is safe to say that you already have a business on your feet. You need to know the basics of management, sales and revenue recording to get started on your first online store, and follow the steps below:
Choose a platform host
This first step is in addition to the research you should do on the systems and platforms that allow the process of buying and selling online. To start with the research, a quick Google search will allow you to compare elements such as which companies use it, cost-benefit ratio, growth capacity, among others.
Use other companies or even your competitors to decide what specific features your business needs: What platform do other stores use, are your monthly sales today enough to cover the initial investment, and if you sell physical, how many sales will you need to make both your physical and online store profitable? If you sell physically, how many sales will you need to make both your physical store and online store profitable? How much technical knowledge do you need to handle this new tool?
Define a base budget
Your ability to invest should not be a limiting factor for your ambitious business plans, however, it is not possible to ignore its importance when deciding on a large investment. It is best to analyze different pricing packages with benefits and take advantage of demo platforms to perform your own analysis of options.
When looking at pricing, don't just look at the total cost of the software: consider billing methods (see below for details), user access for the people responsible for running the store, extra charges for integrations to your inventory or accounting, and other issues that may come up when requesting quotes for Ecommerce systems.
Compare functions and summarizations
Time to see some technical details. You don't need to know programming to get into ecommerce from scratch, as there are several platforms that allow you to sell online in a few steps without previous knowledge. However, consider some of the features below to quickly figure out if a tool is right for you or not:
Storage capacity
Depending on the size of your business and the amount of transactions/sales you make, look for a system that allows the traffic of web visitors you expect to receive to your online store and that does not present limitations on the number of products you can offer at a time.
Control of your inventory
It should be easy for your business to confirm how many sales were made in digital and how your inventory changed, to avoid problems with out-of-stocks or orders you can't deliver because the product no longer exists.
Web design and function responsive
Most, if not all, of your customers will visit your online store from their mobile phones, so you need a site that works on both web and mobile, as well as complying with security protocols such as SSL that will provide confidence to your customers.
If you are looking for a highly customized solution, with features specific to your type of business, it's a good time to ask yourself, do I need to hire a programmer or can I use the features already configured?
Use this analysis between Shopify and InterFuerza to compare their features.
Review supported payment methods
The difference between a Virtual Store and an online catalog is in the automatic payment via the Internet of the product or service your customer requests. To accept the most commonly used methods such as Visa or MasterCard, you will need to partner with a banking institution that allows you to process payments from your store and transfer them to your bank account securely and expeditiously.
Study the institutions that are compatible with Ecommerce in the country, as well as their differences in terms of transaction security protocols, fees and commissions, to choose the option that best fits your business model.
Defining the "consumer experience
A brief but very effective detail when planning Ecommerce from scratch: ask for feedback from your current customers to know their preferences or even doubts about online shopping. Define a support channel that they can use to ask for information about a product or make a complaint, and have ready a method for Case Management..
And you can't forget your team. As we mentioned before, if you work with a team of people you should make clear to them the workflow now that they receive online orders: who will review each order and the shipping preparations such as packaging, who will coordinate the shipping logistics and, if used, the relationship with your Logistics Partner, who will attend the cases of customers with shipping problems, who will be in charge of the shipping and who will be responsible for the shipping of the orders, whether it's you or your supplier. If you do not work with a team, it is vital that you assign each task to a final responsible, whether it is you or a supplier.
Start promoting your Online Store
Digital marketing is a vital step in ensuring that you actually have customers making purchases on your site. Use Tutorials like this one on how to sell on Instagram to extend your shopping channels to Social Media; and if someone on your team manages it, take advantage of SEO tools provided by your platform to get your products to show up in searches on browsers like Google.
Remember, an online store should work as a benefit for your customers. Use special pricing or seasonal discounts to guarantee traffic to your online store, and design digital-physical sales strategies to scale revenue from both channels together.
The next step to get started in Ecommerce from scratch
Test drive our accounting and management software, create products and take advantage of our built-in Online Store, with integrations to accounting records or case management from $9.95 to $39.95 each month.