How to setup your online eCommerce store

July 10, 2020
Posted by Sandy Van Wyk

10 Jul

COVID-19 Retail Innovation Series

As you are aware that the usage of internet-based online booking and delivery aka e-commerce saw a rapid upsurge in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. A lot of businesses have initiated their eCommerce journey looking at the promise and capabilities. Do you also wish or plan to have an online presence but confused about how to proceed and where to seek help?
This article will address all your queries with a step by step process towards a successful and rewarding implementation.

Product Selection

To begin your eCommerce journey one of the most fundamental and often ignored tasks is to define yours and your customer needs and accordingly look for a suitable IT solution. Also, it is very important to revisit your current processes and operating procedures to know the Gaps or Innovations that can be brought about.

Don’t be compelled or inclined towards a particular vendor or solution based on their glossy and attractive commercials or presentations. These vendors may have a good solution but the question is about suitability to your requirements. Have a detailed objective look at the various products that you come across. There can be demos and discussions held to better understand the maturity of the product.

The following selection criteria checklist can help you in arriving at the right solution

Product maturity in terms of the Functions and Features provided
Look for FURPS
Functionality, Usability, Reliability, Performance, Supportability
Product Owner Company Strengths and Capabilities. This includes implementation capabilities.
Integration Capabilities including inventory sync up
Client Base and Testimonials
Total Cost of Ownership that includes license, implantation charge, infrastructure cost and AMC

Devise a simple rating and weightage based system based on which total marks/ number can be arrived at for various products that you evaluate and eventually compare. A more detailed look and interactions can be had with the top three products and a final decision be made on the one leading the list.

Implementation

After the vendor and product are selected as described in the previous step, the next task is to get into the solution implementation. The implementation needs to be meticulously planned and diligently executed to get optimum results. You and your senior team members need to take adequate time out for implementation and not leave it at the behest of the junior members or only to the operational teams.

The following are the tasks carried out for an eCommerce implementation

Define implementation Plan
Prepare Catalog Item and Rate Masters
Setting up the System Environment
User Training
Customizations
Integration Testing
Stock Data Migration
User Acceptance Testing(UAT)
Go Live

The Implementation Plan needs to include and mention all tasks that the vendor and client carry out in a collaborative manner.

The online catalogue that would be available with the new eCommerce system needs to have multiple good high-resolution pictures taken at various angles and sizes of the product. This helps in giving a virtual experience of product discovery to the end-user. The details of rate master and online inventory allocation are also to be done.

The Customizations referred to above are the enhancements and changes to be carried out to the software to adapt to the client needs

Integrations mentioned above could include payment gateway, delivery aggregators, inventory and accounts syncing with any external retail ERP, Financials or Inventory Management software.

During user acceptance testing have a special focus on system security, performance and integrated flows.

The milestone of system Go-Live needs to happen on the successful completion of scenario-based user acceptance testing.

The post Go Live Activities

Once the new eCommerce system is released and goes Live the customer base needs to be informed of the new facility. An online email, print, social media and digital promotional campaign can be carried out to attract customers. Also, system performance and search engine optimization (SEO) are also an important aspect of attracting and improving visitor traffic.

Conclusion

As discussed above the key differentiators between mediocre/amateur implementations to highly successful ones is effective product selection, extensive planning, diligent implementation and the right promotion and optimization.
Stay tuned and subscribe to continue receiving articles with a pragmatic approach to solving business problems as part of our series on COVID-19 Retail Innovations
To know more on how Posibolt can help you achieve success in the current pandemic times do drop an email at info@posibolt.com or visit our website www.posibolt.com

About Posibolt

Posibolt is a versatile Retail ERP solution that enables organizations to manage and scale up their core business functions with ease and efficiency with deployment options on Cloud and on-Premise along with the convenience of eCommerce and Mobile App interface.