2. Selling online: what it is?
Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or
services from a seller in real‐-me, without an intermediary service, over
the Internet. It is a form of electronic commerce. An online shop, eshop, e‐
store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store
evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks‐and‐
mortar retailer or in a shopping centre. The process is called Business‐to‐
Consumer (B2C) online shopping.
In other words:
to sell online means to maintain a constant internet presence
and offer your wares or services for monetary exchange
24/7.
4. Who shops online?
• 56 % of all online
shoppers are
women
• The average age
of online
shoppers is 42
• The mean
household
income of an
online shopper is
$65K
• Average yearly
spending is $446
8. How does it work?
PAYMENT
Online shoppers commonly use credit card to make payments, however some
systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alterna-ve means,
such as:
• Billing to mobile phones and landlines
• Cash on delivery (C.O.D., offered by very few online stores)
• cheque
• Debit card
• Direct debit in some countries
• Electronic money transfers of various types
• Gi[ cards
• Postal money orders
• Wire transfer/delivery on payment
9. How does it work?
PAYMENT
Some sites will not accept interna-onal credit cards,
some require both the purchaser's billing address and shipping address to
be in the same country in which site does its business,
and s-ll other sites allow customers from anywhere to send gi[s
anywhere.
The financial part of a transac-on might be processed in real -me (for
example, lefng the consumer know their credit card was declined before
they log off), or might be done later as part of the fulfillment process.
10. How does it work?
DELIVERY
Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can be delivered in the
following ways.
• Downloading: This is the method o[en used for digital media products such as
so[ware, music, movies, or images.
• Drop shipping: The order is passed to the manufacturer or third‐party distributor, who
ships the item directly to the consumer, bypassing the retailer's physical loca-on to save
-me, money, and space.
• Prin-ng out, provision of a code for, or emailing of such items as admission -ckets and
scrip (e.g., gi[ cer-ficates and coupons), or PDF files of various products and/or
pakerns.
• Shipping: The product is shipped to the customer's address or that of a customer‐
designated third party.
28. Items absolutely necessary
to open an online store
• a computer with broadband internet connec-on
• a good digital camera and some knowledge of how to take
good photos (a higher quality point and shoot will work fine)
• online banking account (so you can get paid for your work)
• Massachuseks business license
29. Items really desirable
to open an online store
• Email devoted to your online business
‐ also linked to your on‐line banking account
• A room or space a side of your work area where you keep
things organized
‐ for taking photographs, accoun-ng and shipping
• A printer
‐ to save on shipping
34. Steps to star-ng a small business in MA
• Consult an akorney regarding the legal requirements of sefng up and
opera-ng your business.
• Consult an accountant regarding the financial and tax requirements of sefng
up and opera-ng your business.
• Register the name of the business with the state. ($50 with City of Boston)
• Make appropriate applica-ons for licenses to operate in desired states.
• Obtain a federal employer iden-fica-on number (Form SS‐4).
• Apply for state workers’ compensa-on and unemployment insurance.
• Determine applicable job safety and health regula-ons (OSHA).
• Determine applicable environmental regula-ons.
• Apply for local business licenses.
37. How do you know if
on line selling is for you?
It helps to divide it into palatable chunks.
Here are a few ques-ons you should ask yourself:
1. How much -me do I spend on‐line anyway?
2. What is my personal comfort level of internet usage?
3. How good am I at wri-ng descrip-ons of my items?
4. Can I, or somebody I know, take really good photographs of my
items?
5. Do I use social media? Am I willing to learn?
6. Do I have enough -me to invest on developing this?
38. How do you know if
on line selling is for you?
If you answered posi-vely to at least 60% of the ques-ons, your
prospects are preky good.
Ul-mately it really all depends how much you are willing to invest
yourself into learning a new way of doing things, and learning a new
culture.