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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

processes and procedures that are not optimal. department synchronizes with the customer data so
that the corresponding invoice is automatically
• Don’t shy away from the Singles’ Day challenge. provided, depending on the order – as well as delivery
By embracing and overcoming the volume of notes and reminders – thus, simplifying the filing.
packages and demonstrating to customerse most
demanding of times, Singles’ Day presents an The differences between the shop system types are the
opportunity for retailers to build a deeper level of following:
customer loyalty.”
• Open source shops are set up using free software,
The decision is yours. But of course, anyone running an with the biggest advantage of being capable of
online shop today must look at the competition in order individualization. In addition to technical
not to be overtaken unconditionally. The fact is that programming knowledge, the hosting and updates
online retailing sets new standards so that almost every must be organized, hence requiring cost and time.
business is faced with the necessity of placing its Therefore, this type of online shop is especially
product range on the Internet. suitable for companies that have their own IT
department.
The online shop not only surpasses the traditional retail
store in terms of space and time, but also saves costs • A SaaS solution, short for Software as a Service,
for staff: a 24-hour online support in the form of a bot, for however, is also suitable for beginners. The modular
example, enables customers to find out about the system is offered as a rental shop, including
product and handle the purchase process, regardless of software and hosting, so you do not have to
closing times. In addition, an online shop achieves a program or install it yourself. The rapid
high-reach advertising effect through targeted SEO and implementation and low start-up costs are, however,
content marketing. offset by a lack of flexibility in design and
functionality.
In order to ensure that the right shop system is selected,
it should be decided in advance which criteria are • The on-premise shop system refers to computer
relevant for the company. Individual factors such as programs that are stored on the provider's server
customer benefit, management options and cost are and offered for the use of the online shop. The
crucial. The expected order size also plays a central complete solution offers powerful functions including
role. If a small company has only a small supply of internal administration. For these an agency is
goods, no particularly complex system is required: even responsible, so that the operators profit from a small
Shopify or Wix could be sufficient, both of which can be amount of work. However, the rental fees are in the
operated without much effort and are inexpensive to buy four- to five-digit range, so the system is only a
sensible option for large companies.
.Take into account that for open source shop systems,
running costs must be calculated in for the provision of In order to be able to guarantee the legal clarity of the
the online shop, resulting from the purchase price of the shop, attention must certainly be paid to a few
system, its establishment, and other fees and sales specifications of the legislator, too. In addition to the
commissions. More complex systems cost hundreds of imprint, a privacy policy and the terms and conditions,
dollars per month and professional e-commerce there are often guidelines for text formulation of order
solutions can even be in the four- to five-digit range buttons and article descriptions. The customer must
also have a contact opportunity, a cancellation policy,
.The selection of the hosting should be adjusted to the delivery times and specific payment specifications,
product turnover rate, so that the security concept is pricing and an order confirmation.
prepared against unauthorized access and failures of the
online shop. In addition to providing sufficient capacity, Not to mention that a thorough planning phase not only
hosting is also responsible for data security. It is saves a lot of time during implementation, it also
especially important to pay attention to an SSL contributes to maximum cost savings in the long run. If
certificate. Other key figures include storage space, a a consultant is brought to the side with a more complex
fixed IP address, traffic/ bandwidth in GB and the e-commerce solution, nothing stands in the way of a
number of FTP accounts, short for File Transfer successful online shop. Joining a shopping frenzy
Protocol. event like Singles Day could be the cherry on the
cake.◊
Especially with high traffic online shops it is worthwhile By Daniela La Marca
to introduce technical interfaces, like e.g. Salesforce
integration, into the system which is ideal for optimal
customer relationship management: the accounting

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