What is an eCommerce Website and How Does it Works

Ecommerce derived from the word electronic commerce, is the method of selling or marketing goods and services while transferring funds or money online through electronic communication or networks. Ecommerce is also known as website ecommerce, eBusiness, eTailing, online commerce, ecom or EC.

A typical business websites do not have the same traits or features of an eCommerce site. In order for you to effectively distribute goods or market services online, the features of a website eCommerce can make it easier for you and your consumers. The features are from shopping carts, online product catalog, automated inventory database, statistics tracking, ability to use credit cards, and other non-computer related tasks such as product warehousing and shipment.

Opening a business on the internet or a website ecommerce shop can give several benefits to both merchants and customers. One of the best benefits of conducting an online business is it cost a cheaper upfront for a merchant, as it is easy to build an ecommerce website. If you have an existing site, you can easily turn it into an ecommerce website in minutes by just getting a hosting website ecommerce hosting services. The ecommerce hosting provider will give you a step by step guide on how to turn your normal website into a money generating site, and they also offer tips on how you can improve your sales and get more out of your investment.

The availability of online shopping greatly contributed in attracting people. Customers can easily browse and shop any time of the day or any day of the year. Shopping on an ecommerce site can easily be done from the comfort of your own home or anywhere that has internet availability. This also benefits the seller, as they can easily add products displayed anytime of the day making standard business hours irrelevant.

If you have a variety of products to sell, you won’t need to worry because an ecommerce site can make it easier for you. You can put them all in your website but you should also consider placing them in the right product category, and providing detailed description for each item to inform more costumers on what you are selling. Design is also important whenever you opt to place products in your website, as it can greatly affect your consumer’s impression about your website’s credibility and affect your sales as well.

Ecommerce websites are built with secured payment methods to benefit you and your consumers. Once the customer is done shopping and purchased from the ecommerce store, a series of PHP scripts gather all the important information about the consumer’s billing and shipping address, payment information, and other relevant data about the purchase. While another separate PHP script goes through the customer’s payment info and make a format appropriate for the credit card network to process the payment. Depending on the response from the costumer’s credit card network, additional PHP scripts will then make a receipt about the purchase records. If the transaction was approved, a final PHP script will send an email to the ecommerce site owner telling them that the order has been placed.

Tax advantages are one of the best reasons why you should consider building an ecommerce website, which you can’t get from a brick-and-mortar selling. An ecommerce site will qualify you for tax deductions and save more from taxes compares in selling from a physical storefront. Traditional business will oblige you to pay taxes from utilities, rent, and mortgage bills as a cost of doing business, while online merchants can avoid all those extra expense and still make a very good business.

Like in any other business the most important part is your customer’s satisfaction. You should always make your consumers feel comfortable and safe from your website, for you to become more successful and benefit from your ecommerce site.