Beginners guide to E-commerce development

The internet is a gold mine for entrepreneurs. Online and mobile retail sales are on an upswing and an e-commerce website is considered necessary for every savvy businessman. So, what does the creation of web stores involve? Here’s a guide.

Adding a shopping cart and building in e-commerce

Business owners can hire a website development company and get their website made at a low cost. The question is how to build e-commerce in. Here are the answers: Shopping cart It makes sense to outsource a shopping cart. E-commerce applications sites like 1ShoppingCart.com, Google Checkout and BigCommerce.com allow merchants to quickly set up shopping carts and even set up discounts, promotions, price points, host multiple products, and more. They do not cost much either – around $35-$40 a month. It makes sense to go with these providers because they build in adequate security as well. Payment gateway The tougher part is to build in the money collection system, which is the heart and soul of every web e-commerce website. Website owners must accept payment preferably from all of the following channels: e-checks Credit and debit cards Receiving credit/debit card information on phone Faxes containing credit card information (this channel is on its way out) To accept credit cards on the Internet, the website owner must have an internet merchant account. If he wants to accept credit cards over the phone, he must have a regular merchant account. A bank or a financial institution can open a merchant account after the website owner meets their stiff rules and regulations. Existing retailers with an established track record will find it easy to open an internet merchant account. New website owners have to prove their business model and their financial stability before they are allotted a merchant account.
Renting a processing terminal Website owners have to rent a processing terminal to process internet sales. Here is a helpful page that compares different processing terminals: consumer-guides.infobusiness.com

Other factors to consider

CMS development Website developers must build in an easy Content Management System (CMS) that enables them to upload content on the fly. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are commonly used. SSL certificate The website owner must equip himself with a Secured Socket Layer (SSL) certificate to reassure his customer that he is browsing on a safe site. VeriSign is the well-known solutions provider of SSLs. Passing parameters The e-commerce business must build in the shopping cart into its site using iFrames (HTML technology). Information filled by the customer on the shopping cart area must be passed on to the processing terminal and after the customer swipes the card at the terminal, the information must be transported back to the e-commerce business's database.