Ecommerce, which is also called electronic commerce, is basically a retail business model that involves transactions taking place over the internet. Such businesses are usually eCommerce enterprises or eCommerce stores. This online retailing is becoming more popular, primarily because it is easier to start an eCommerce store than a physical store. All one needs is a computer with an internet connection and the expertise of the Legendary Marketer.
One of the many factors that determine how well your online store will perform is a bounce rate. This term refers to the percentage of unique visits to your eCommerce website every month. A high bounce rate can indicate that your online store has problems because many people often click away when they are not interested in what you have to offer. Your bounce rate can also indicate how well your business model or product is, so you must know how to keep your visitors coming back.
Instinctively, we may think that so many people visit eCommerce websites because they want to shop. However, that is only one reason that they visit such websites. Statistics show that more than 50% of all online shopping done today is done through social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. In fact, studies have shown that more than half of all Internet surfers use these social networking sites when doing online shopping.
Other common types of visitors to an eCommerce site include buyers, sellers, and suppliers. Buyers are looking for a specific item and are willing to do some research to find it. Sellers typically are looking to either resell an item they own or secure a lower-priced item to sell to a buyer. Suppliers are products or services that a buyer orders and is willing to pay more for.
Several other common types of visitors regularly come to an eCommerce website. These include traffic from search engines such as Google and Yahoo, paid advertisements such as banner ads and sponsored links, and traffic from eCommerce blogs and message boards. The amount of traffic and visitors an eCommerce site receives will depend on several factors, including its popularity and the popularity of the product being sold. Additionally, if an eCommerce business has an easy-to-use website and offers products or services in high demand, traffic will undoubtedly increase.
There are several different business models used to create an eCommerce website. These business models vary widely, and the type of eCommerce business chosen will depend heavily upon the type of eCommerce website being created and how it will be marketed. Some eCommerce businesses offer merchant services, while others offer support services for creating and operating an online store. Some eCommerce businesses sell pre-packaged items or have inventory available to be purchased; others allow customers to create their own products or services and sell them through an online store. If your goal is to market one specific product or service and become a worldwide known retailer, you would most likely choose one online store model.
Shopping cart software such as Wirestrips and EasyBiz are popular eCommerce software solutions that allow online stores to accept various credit card payments through a secure payment gateway. An eCommerce website that does not have an existing payment gateway is required to develop its own payment gateway. This development may include developing an application or plugin for your own software or using a pre-made payment gateway provided by a third-party eCommerce company. Some eCommerce companies also offer shopping cart software in addition to eCommerce solutions.
An eCommerce website must have a website administrator or host to use electronic exchanges of goods and services. The administrator is responsible for approving the merchant account, managing customer accounts, responding to customer queries, and approving or denying credit card transactions. Without a website administrator, an eCommerce website would effectively be useless. The merchant account the site has can be either free or paid for, depending on your level of involvement with the business. There are several different payment gateways to choose from, including PayPal, WorldPay, and Shopify.