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Internet showcases (web showcases)
The next option for organizing retail trade on the Internet is a web storefront.
The pages of the online showcase contain information about the company, catalogs of products (services), price lists for them and a form for submitting an application. You can publish company news in the online showcase, Additional information about manufacturers, advice, analytical reviews, etc. Such a site, compared to traditional sources, provides more full information
about goods and services.
The following types of online storefronts can be distinguished:
static online storefront based on regular HTML files;
a dynamic online storefront displaying information from a database.
Along with participation in the electronic trading row, this is the least expensive solution, however, the online storefront, unlike the trading row, does not provide the full sales cycle, including interactive procedures for issuing invoices, accepting payments, tracking order completion, etc.
The operating principle of the online storefront is based on collecting preliminary applications and then executing them. This principle is used, for example, by websites specializing in the sale of goods of limited demand (such as art objects). The main problem for the seller is the need to guarantee that the potential client will fulfill the order on pre-agreed conditions. The buyer runs the risk of receiving the selected product or service late (or not receiving it at all).
A distinctive feature of this business model is the implementation of the purchase and sale process in several stages. First, the seller collects applications, then finds out from the supplier the terms and conditions for fulfilling the order, after which he informs potential customers about this (usually via e-mail) and finally, if they agree, ensures delivery of the goods.
From the point of view of sellers, an online storefront and an online store differ quite significantly. An online storefront is inexpensive for trading companies, but it has significant disadvantages:
Disadvantages of online storefronts (1):
1) does not allow automation of trade from a real warehouse;
Disadvantages of online storefronts (2):
3) there is no flexibility in managing trade processes and organizing marketing campaigns.
All customer requests in the online storefront are not received by automated system processing orders as in electronic store, and to sales managers. Further, the business processes of the online storefront completely repeat the business processes of a traditional retail enterprise. In this case, there is no possibility of a real reduction in the level of transaction costs; the profitability of a web storefront differs little from the profitability of conventional trading methods. The main feature of this form of online trading is that the processes of interaction between the web storefront and the company’s internal business process are carried out manually by managers (this is shown in the slide picture with the corresponding arrows).
Online storefront transaction processing processes
Online store transaction processing processes
Thus, an online storefront is only a tool for attracting buyers, an interface for interacting with them and conducting marketing activities.
Let us now consider the concept and functions of an online store
Trade automation becomes profitable only as its scale grows. As long as several employees handle the manual processing of customer orders, especially if the number of customers is small, it is easier for merchants to organize online trading based on an online storefront. But for firms conducting hundreds of transactions a day, this is unacceptable.
The most comprehensive, although difficult to implement, online trading system is an online store that covers all the main business processes of a trading enterprise: selecting goods, placing orders, conducting mutual settlements, tracking order execution, and in the case of selling information goods or providing information services - delivery through electronic communications networks.
The advantages of an online store compared to an online storefront are that the buyer can be offered personal service, a flexible system of discounts, and can also immediately issue an invoice taking into account the cost of delivery, type of payment and insurance, and tax deductions. In addition, the buyer can receive information about the progress of his order. Using this model in ecommerce allows you to significantly reduce inventory in warehouses and thus obtain significant cost savings compared to offline shopping malls. Since orders in the online store are processed automatically, the manager is no longer a necessary link in servicing the buyer; his task is general control of the operation of the system.
As part of trading in online stores, as a rule, the principle of personalization is used, based on profiling technologies - the systematic collection and analysis of statistical information about customers.
According to this principle, the virtual merchant ensures that customer preferences are taken into account. The client is offered a package of services and a set of goods oriented towards him, cumulative discounts, etc.
An online store is beneficial for a trading company that needs full control and management of all online trading processes and various marketing campaigns (trading both to order and from a warehouse, carrying out advertising campaigns, organizing sales, etc.). Creating an online store requires large one-time costs compared to a web storefront, but with significant turnover, the use of online stores turns out to be significantly more profitable.
The online store includes the following main components (1):
Internet showcase - a front office located on a web server and equipped with a virtual shopping cart;
Payment acceptance system.
The online store includes the following main components (2):
System of accounting and control of order execution;
Back office, whose information systems are integrated with front office systems.
The online store is designed to perform the following tasks (1):
Providing online buyer assistance;
Buyer registration.
The online store is designed to perform the following tasks (2):
Providing an interface to the database of goods sold (in the form of a catalog, price list);
Working with the buyer's electronic basket ("cart").
The online store is designed to perform the following tasks (3):
Placing orders with choosing a payment method, delivery, insurance and issuing an invoice;
Reservation of goods in the warehouse.
Carrying out settlements (when choosing electronic payment methods) or controlling payment (when using traditional forms of payment);
Formation of requests for delivery of goods to customers and issuance of accompanying documents;
Providing the buyer with a means of tracking the execution of orders;
Goods delivery;
Collection and analysis of various marketing information;
Ensuring the security of customers' personal information;
Automatic exchange of information with the company’s back office.
An online storefront is located on an Internet server and presents a website with active content. Since the online store must have a constant connection with information system company, it is hosted either on a corporate server in local network enterprise, or on a remote server with a permanent communication channel. The need to fully automate the company's business processes determines high requirements for the back-office process management system. This system should provide automatic execution all actions related to sales, warehouse operations, have internal control mechanisms emergency situations etc.
In general, the minimum hardware and software components required for the operation of an online store include:
Software and hardware components of the online store include (1):
Web server (distributes requests coming from the Internet, differentiates access to information);
Software and hardware components of the online store include (2):
Application server (manages the operation of the trading system, in particular the business logic of the online store).
Software and hardware components of the online store include (3):
DBMS server (provides storage and processing of data about goods, clients, accounts, etc.).
Payment systems and, in some cases, delivery systems are connected to this complex. To integrate with the company’s business processes, a gateway for electronic data transfer is organized between the online store and the company’s internal automation system (document flow system, ERP system, etc.).
The business model used significantly distinguishes the options for building online stores from each other:
Business models for building online stores (1):
online store (there is no traditional retail network).
Business models for building online stores (2):
combining offline business with online (when an online store is created on the basis of an existing real trading structure).
The second type of store has an undoubted advantage. In this case, symbiosis adds new opportunities to both types of business:
An online store takes advantage of delivery from an existing network of retail stores; it can offer the option of receiving goods at a selected store; unlike a purely online store, there are no problems for it when returning goods;
Offline buyers can preview the product range and characteristics on the website, and then come to the nearest physical store.
Based on the availability of inventory, online stores can be divided into:
Working under contracts with suppliers (lack of any significant own inventory).
And also on -
Having their own warehouse facilities (availability of inventory).
The model of working under contracts with suppliers is based on the electronic mediation of a virtual trading enterprise between manufacturers or distributors of goods and retail customers.
Prices that are more attractive than those of offline competitors are explained by the absence of costs for the acquisition (rent), maintenance and equipment of retail premises and warehouses and the low level of personnel costs.
This business model was immediately popular, but it quickly became apparent that, while easily replicable, it did not provide strategic competitive advantage. In other words, when many online stores with previously unknown (or little-known) names and standard assortments enter the e-commerce market, an individual seller cannot be sure that any significant number of buyers will choose his server to purchase goods.
Another type of online stores are those who have their own warehouse and inventory.
This could be an organization (Internet division) of an offline trade and service or manufacturing company. The scheme of interaction between the seller and the buyer in this case is almost no different from the scheme of the first model. The only difference is that in this case the store operates with goods from its own warehouse, rather than from the supplier’s warehouse and, therefore, is less dependent on external factors. This model is not as easily copied by competitors as the previous one, since it requires capital costs to create a warehouse system and inventory.
The development of e-commerce does not necessarily lead to an overall increase in the number of customers and the turnover of the trading enterprise as a whole. The so-called “cannibalization” of sales markets often occurs, i.e., an online store begins to compete with the offline divisions of the company and increase turnover by luring their customers.
The first interactive element of the interface that the user encounters is the product catalog, reflecting the product range of the online store.
The catalog is usually presented in the form of a hierarchical tree structure, the basic elements of which are typical product groups and specific products (complete analogy with the presentation of the file structure in OS Windows Explorer). When you click on a group, it expands, opening the next level of this group. At the last level of each group, specific products of a certain type are presented. If desired, the buyer can view an image of the product and its detailed characteristics.
Completeness of information contained in the catalogue, convenient presentation structure and capabilities quick search largely determine the success of an online store. It is in the catalog that all the information about the product available to a potential client is located, which should to a certain extent compensate for the lack of real samples and a sales consultant.
3D technologies can play a significant role in the catalog, which make it possible to examine the sample of interest from all sides, look inside, etc.
However, the use of 3D technologies places increased demands on the capabilities of the client's computer.
To ensure a quick search for the necessary information, an automated search system is used that works according to parameters specified by the client: product name, required quality characteristics, maximum price, etc.
To one degree or another, the structure of the product catalog influences the structure of the site. Placing a product according to industry-standard product classification does not guarantee ease of search for customers. For example, when creating a product catalog for a perfume store, it is not enough to use proprietary classifiers of manufacturers: the names of some sections will not tell the consumer anything (for example, aldehydes). Therefore, when developing a catalog, it is necessary to take into account the buyer’s ideas about the classification of goods in this group.
The process of making a purchase in an online store consists of 2 stages:
Product selection (search, receipt detailed information about the product, placing it in the cart);
Placing an order (selecting a form of payment and delivery).
If the purchase process was interrupted, for example, the user needed to urgently go on business, the online store remembers the current state of his cart. The next time you visit the store, the customer’s shopping cart will contain previously selected products. Depending on the policy of the store administration, the storage time for data about shopping carts of store customers can be long (up to several weeks).
There are several types of baskets. The standard basket can be divided into main and auxiliary.
The buyer places all the products he likes in the auxiliary cart, and at the time of placing the order, he decides which of the selected items will be transferred to the main cart and paid for, and what will remain in the auxiliary cart until his next visit to the store.
In addition, there is the concept of a standard basket, or standard order. The need for such a basket arises in the case of regular purchases by some buyer of identical batches of goods.
The buyer forms the contents of the cart and declares it standard. In the future, he can change its contents. Each buyer can create an arbitrary number of such baskets for himself. It is most effective to use a standard basket with a wide range of purchased lots of goods.
Another type of shopping cart is a corporate shopping cart for corporate customers. It is used to automate the supply of large geographically distributed enterprises.
The corporate basket is built on the basis of the baskets of individual structural units (departments, offices, branches, etc.) of one enterprise, taking into account the limits on spending funds on supplies to various structural units, restrictions on the financial resources of the enterprise, etc.
Having created a basket, the client gives the command “Complete order”, while choosing a convenient form of payment and delivery.
An important component of the interaction between the buyer and the store is registration, in which the buyer provides the store with the data necessary for:
1) identification (name, password);
2) direct purchase (full name, address, phone number, email address, etc.).
In the future, this information is used in all interactions between the buyer and the store - the buyer only needs to identify himself. During registration, the online store ensures the security of the buyer’s personal information, using secure channels for data transmission, such as the SSL protocol.
Registration is an optional condition for visiting the online store. At the same time, it provides a number of advantages. Firstly, registration allows the buyer to always see the status of his orders and save the contents of the cart for future visits. Secondly, for each purchase there is no need to specify the data required for its implementation (delivery address of goods, legal details of the organization, etc.). Registration allows, by tracking the preferences of a particular buyer, to personalize service: provide personalized information, set prices taking into account individual discounts, maintain order histories, etc.
Data about the buyer and the contents of his cart are sent to managers in the back office of the online store. Software The back office includes an interconnected database of incoming orders with tracking of their implementation, a database of clients with their credit history, an automated warehouse and accounting system, applications for top managers and the client part of the Internet banking system, etc.
Order processing begins from the moment the application is submitted and contains the following steps:
Ordering steps (1):
Reservation of goods in the warehouse;
Payment (in online mode, payments occur automatically; in offline mode, an invoice is issued for payment and then the receipt of funds is monitored).
Ordering steps (2):
Preparation of documents for delivery of goods.
The online store software automatically generates, signs with the store’s electronic digital signature and sends the client an invoice, according to which he can pay and receive the goods in the store within a certain time. An electronic invoice in this form is the basis for payment. Online stores allow you to pay by postal order, plastic card, electronic money, regular bank transfer or cash (when using courier delivery or when receiving goods in an offline store). After the payment is notified, the trading system creates an order for the delivery service. The buyer can receive information about the progress of the order online.
Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of the main methods of paying for goods in online stores.
Advantages and disadvantages of payment methods for goods in online stores (1):
1. Payment in cash to the courier. Payment is made at the time of delivery of the goods by courier.
Advantages of this method:
Guarantee of receipt of goods (by the buyer) and money (by the seller);
The ability to check the product (and completeness) immediately and, if desired, return it by refusing to purchase;
Opportunity to get advice from the courier.
This method is one of the simplest, most reliable and convenient.
Flaws this method: significant costs for courier service, especially for sales outside the city, and the inability to provide a high level of service and pre-sale services.
Advantages and disadvantages of payment methods for goods in online stores (2):
2. Payment and receipt of previously ordered goods in the store.
This payment method is no different in reliability from a simple purchase in an offline store. The buyer, having placed an order in the online store, indicates in which of the company’s real stores he wants to receive it and, after the specified period, purchases the goods in the designated store.
The advantages for the buyer are the same as in the first case, plus:
By looking at the store, the buyer can draw a conclusion about the reliability of the selling company;
The shopping process in a traditional store is familiar to everyone;
There are no psychological problems typical for courier delivery - buyers are wary of the appearance of strangers in their home;
Relatively easy to guarantee high level service and pre-sales services.
The disadvantage for the buyer is that it is necessary to go to the store to purchase. The disadvantage for an online seller is the need for a physical store. As a rule, only online stores organized on the basis of offline trading enterprises can afford this.
Advantages and disadvantages of payment methods for goods in online stores (3):
3. Cash on delivery. After placing an order, the goods are sent to the buyer by mail. Payment is made at the post office, directly upon receipt.
Advantages:
No geographical restrictions;
Relatively low shipping costs.
Flaws:
Inability to preview the product (contents postal item can be checked only after payment for the purchase);
Unreliability of delivery (products may be damaged during transportation);
Significant delivery time (the longest of all possible options).
Advantages and disadvantages of payment methods for goods in online stores (4):
4. Payment by bank transfer. After placing an order, the buyer is issued an invoice, which can be paid through the cash desk of any bank (for individuals) or from a current account (for organizations). The method is convenient for organizations. For an individual, this method of purchase is not so convenient - you must first go to the bank to pay, and then wait to receive the goods. For this option All the disadvantages of cash on delivery are typical.
Advantages and disadvantages of payment methods for goods in online stores (5):
5. Payment using a plastic card. To make a payment, the buyer enters the plastic card details into a special screen form and receives a notification of debit from the account, indicating the completion of the payment.
The advantage is the simplicity of the payment process. The disadvantage is the low level of security of payment transactions.
Advantages and disadvantages of payment methods for goods in online stores (6):
6. Payment using electronic money, electronic checks.
In order to use this payment method, you must install a digital wallet on your computer ( online wallet) and connect to the electronic money system.
Advantages of this method:
High degree of security;
Simplicity and convenience of the payment process.
Disadvantages of the method:
The need to create a wallet with electronic money;
There may be costs associated with payment for payment system services.
This method is ideal for those who frequently shop online, it is reliable and safe.
After the order and mutual settlements, data on purchasing activity is entered into the system. In the process of working with the buyer, marketing information is constantly collected and analyzed. The owner of a virtual store, having complete information about website visitors, can build a marketing policy in accordance with it.
In addition to the basic components (product catalog, order archive, electronic shopping cart) that ensure the implementation of business processes, the online store contains a number of additional information sections.
Any online store needs sections:
General information about the store;
On the specifics of the product range;
A form for quickly searching for the desired product (due to its great popularity, the search form is usually located on home page);
Assistance in navigation and purchasing;
Target market news;
Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ and "contextual helpers").
It is important to pay attention to the “Help” section; its absence is the reason for refusing many purchases. According to research by Andersen Consulting, about 25% of buyers do not make purchases due to lack of information about the product (service). 62% of buyers answered the question: “What actions on the part of online stores could push them to make a purchase?” It could be reviews, recommendations for goods and services. Another 58% (multiple answers could be given) said that they needed advice on choosing color, size, quantity, etc.
It is known that making a visited store based on information portal much easier than organizing a popular news section in an online store. Therefore, beginning online stores are trying to find an information partner. A store has goods and money, a news site has an audience and information. Combining these resources gives a good economic result.
The structure of the site is not limited to the sections listed above. According to JUPITER COMMUNICATIONS research, 24% of online stores use the “Hits” section (aka “Top Sellers”, “Best Products”, etc.). This allows you to increase sales. It's no secret how much public opinion influences a person, especially when he has doubts.
Main feature Internet showcase is the fact that here users can view the product and its characteristics.
Creation of an online storefront helps you promote your products and services among consumers faster and more efficiently. It is very important, when developing your online project, not to confuse two completely different concepts: an online store and an online storefront.
The creation of an online showcase is done with the goal of introducing consumers to a huge selection of company products, but not selling them online. Most often, an online showcase is a catalog that contains all the goods and products of a company. A potential buyer can view the products provided and choose what he needs.
Such web resources help to significantly promote your business, and also cost much less than the development of other Internet sites.
Online showcase – the face of the company
Online storefronts differ from other web resources in that they only present a company’s product or service without selling it. As a rule, this is a corporate website where visitors can find the information they are interested in about a product, its description, cost and specifications. In addition, often such resources also provide the information visitors need about what the company can offer its customers and clients. Of course, creating a storefront on the Internet does not pose any particular difficulties, but when there are too many names of a wide variety of products, the creation work requires the hands of real specialists.
It is essential to have a professional web design agency that knows how to realize the qualities and benefits of the products and services offered in the brand image you want to offer online. This web agency, which has a team of experienced adverts, makes the design measure each client, going deep into creating a web tag for the company. His unique designs make the company's website unique because he does not make templates that others may have. A website is the most important face of a company, agency or institution, so you must reflect the best of it in the best possible way.
Features of the online storefront:
- An online storefront helps find new buyers and consumers. Speaking of this feature, these sites are indexed in such a way that allows them to automatically find buyers using a variety of search engines.
- A web resource in the form of a showcase allows you to increase the possible income of your company several times.
At the customer's request, we can add a simple email order form to the product page! To make it easier to imagine how an online storefront works, you can take as an example thick catalogs with products that may be of interest to potential buyers.
Creation of an online storefront involves the use of a wide variety of approaches:
This is why choosing a personalized web design is so important. For this, it is important that the information that wants to be conveyed is clear, structured and attractive so that the public can understand it and be attracted by it to a greater or lesser extent. The agency has reviewed proposals on the website where the information is clear, with vivid and well-structured images, such as the example this agency offers us to observe the quality of your web design and the effectiveness of your web development. To see the web design project, click to this link.
- Creation of a catalog that will take into account the necessary capabilities to facilitate work with search engines;
- Such a site needs constant work on its promotion by specialists, so that potential buyers can more easily and without much effort find the product they need;
- Internet showcase is more of a business website than a simple online presence.
What do you get by contacting us?
- Custom designed to suit your company's goals.
- We use a CMS that does not have a large load on the server.
- We will add some variety to your storefront by also creating reviews, ratings and other features
- We offer our clients an administrative panel to fill out the site.
- We also offer support for modern HTML standards and the possibility of search engine optimization.
By deciding to contact our company, you can be sure that your virtual storefront will be a real breakthrough for your business.
The showcase of an online store is designed to solve the same problem as the showcase of a regular store, namely, to present the product potential buyers. While regular storefronts contain real goods, online storefronts display information about products taken from the catalog. What information this is and how it is presented depends on what kind of product the online store sells.
As a rule, any product has a name, a short and full text description, photographs of appearance and cost. Sometimes a product may have multiple prices depending on size, weight and other attributes. For example, the cost of mattresses of the same type depends on the size. There are also more complex cases.
The product page can provide information about the availability of goods in stock, delivery times, etc.
Some products can be presented on the display using a name, text description and photographs. Other products, such as consumer electronics and books, require many attributes (parameters) to be specified. For books, this is the title, author's name, abstract, table of contents, year of publication, name of publisher, ISBN number, dimensions and weight, cover type, availability of a CD, information about available translations into various languages, example chapters, and so on.
If a store offers a variety of products, then for each product category it is necessary to use its own set of attributes. For example, televisions should be described differently from car radios or players.
The more Full description the product will be presented, the easier it will be for customers to make a choice when purchasing
A good online store has not one, but several storefronts (although all of them can be located on one page in the form of blocks). Each of the showcases classifies products in its own way, but they are all linked to a common catalog of products. Here are several types of showcases:
- tree-like product catalog;
- new goods;
- sales;
- most popular products;
- related and recommended products;
- goods by manufacturing companies, manufacturing plants and similar
The tree-like catalog display allows you to search for products by category. By opening the branches of the catalog, the visitor finds what he needs. At the same time, he looks through the sections of the catalog, designed in the form of a list of product names. With the help of such a showcase, you can easily find a product by belonging to a particular product category.
A display of new products helps the visitor find a product that has just or recently appeared on sale. As a rule, such a showcase is organized in the form of a list of items located in a prominent place on the main page of the online store. If a lot of new products of different categories come to the store every day, it makes sense to give the display of new products a hierarchical structure to facilitate search.
The purpose of a showcase of popular products and sales is clear from the name. Typically, such displays are organized on the main page of the store, on the catalog page or on product description pages.
An online store may have a special purchase analysis system that identifies those products that are most often purchased together. These products may be considered related products and may be offered for sale on the View Details page.
The buyer can choose related products along with the main product as an addition to the purchase
Showcases by manufacturing companies and manufacturing plants usually present a simple list of company and plant names. By clicking on a line in such a list, the visitor will open a page listing products produced by the corresponding company or factory.
In addition to display windows, or blocks with information, the online store catalog must contain a search. Search allows the visitor to find the product he needs using keywords found in the title or description of the product. In this case, you can specify additional criteria for selecting goods, for example, by cost. The search will help the visitor in cases where it is difficult for him to find a product on other displays, when he does not know the category or accurate name goods.
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Spectrums of application of web showcases
A web storefront is an inexpensive form of retail organization. It allows you to ensure the process of interaction with the consumer, receiving and processing applications. The further supply of goods is carried out using traditional methods.
Forms of organizing retail trade based on the use of the Internet can be varied. The most effective are, of course, online stores, but in some cases it is advisable to use web storefronts.
Many enterprises that are engaged in the production and sale of original products cannot standardize their products and services. For example, these could be works of art, original items for interior decoration, designs that require individual sizes and shapes, products self made and others. In this case, they can create online storefronts that will help inform consumers about the company's capabilities. In addition, web displays can be used by enterprises that have a very large and constantly changing assortment of goods that can only be presented to target groups. Or, such a showcase can perform a representative function, reflecting the main activities of the company.
In general, web storefronts can also be used by enterprises that do not have sufficient capital to organize a full-fledged online store, or other types electronic systems that ensure automatic sales of products.
On the pages of the web showcase you can place information about the company’s activities, its advantages and features, a product catalog and a price list for it, they can also be filled useful tips, articles that allow consumers to more fully perceive the purpose of products. In addition, they can contain analytical reviews, opinions of experts and specialists, pages of reviews and suggestions, and other useful aspects. A prerequisite for working with web displays is the presence of a special application form, by filling out which the consumer can express his desire to purchase goods or services.
Of course, an online storefront does not allow for a full sales cycle, and cannot ensure the implementation of interactive procedures, such as issuing an invoice, tracking order completion, accepting payments and other processes. However, the web showcase allows you to collect applications and subsequently fulfill them. Organizing this form of trade is incomparably cheaper than other types. However, consumers may be somewhat distrustful of the possibility of high-quality and timely execution of the order, so the seller must think through and provide guarantees.
This form of business model involves order execution in several stages. First, the application is analyzed, then actions are coordinated with suppliers, then conditions are agreed upon with the buyer, and only after that the order is executed.
Compared to an online store, a web storefront has a number of disadvantages. It does not make it possible to automate trade processes from a warehouse, does not allow staff reduction and reduction of operating costs, does not have flexibility in management, and does not contribute to the organization and implementation of effective marketing campaigns and other promotional activities. All requests from consumers go to the company’s managers, and not to the automatic order processing system.
In fact, a web storefront is a common tool that allows you to attract customers, and it is also a convenient interface for interacting with them. Overall, the processes differ little from traditional retail methods. However, the web storefront provides the main goal - the global presence of the seller in the market, thanks to the Internet.
This method of organizing trade can also be used by individual entrepreneurs who do not have sufficient capital to fill the warehouse with goods. They can act as intermediaries between buyers and suppliers with whom partnerships have been concluded. They can accept and process orders, provide consumers with enhanced information about the quality and benefits of the product, and assume the function of delivery coordinator.
Another type of online retail organization is an Internet storefront, or web storefront.A web showcase is a website that is designed to demonstrate the goods and services of the storefront owner via the Internet.There is a more detailed definition of the concept in question:
As a rule, the pages of the web showcase contain information about the company, catalogs of goods and services, price lists and a form for filling out an application. Here you can publish company news, additional information about manufacturers, analytical reviews, etc. Information about all orders is sent to Mailbox the selling company, whose employees perform them in in the prescribed manner. If we compare the web storefront with traditional sources, the latter cannot provide such complete information about goods and services, unlike the former.
Among the web showcases there are varieties:
Along with participation in an electronic trading row, this solution is the least expensive, however, a web storefront, unlike a trading row, cannot provide a full sales cycle, including interactive procedures for issuing invoices, accepting payments, tracking order completion, etc.
The operating principle of the web storefront is based on collecting preliminary applications and then executing them. This principle is used, for example, by websites that specialize in the sale of goods of limited demand (art objects). The main problem for the seller is the need to provide a guarantee to the potential client that the order will be completed on pre-agreed conditions. Buyer problem: the risk of receiving the selected product or service late (or the risk of not receiving the product/service at all).
A distinctive feature of this business model option is the implementation of the purchase and sale process in several stages. The first stage is the collection of applications, which is what the seller does, then he finds out from the supplier the terms and conditions for fulfilling the order, after which he notifies potential clients about this (usually by e-mail) and the last stage is delivery of the goods, provided that the consumer has confirmed his consent.
Although a web storefront is a relatively inexpensive means of organizing retail trade, it has significant flaws:
- does not allow automation of trade from a real warehouse;
- does not allow reductions in the staff of selling firms and their operating expenses;
- lack of flexibility in managing trade processes and organizing marketing campaigns.
If a company produces or sells trading platforms offline there are many types of products, provides a range of services, and you want to demonstrate them to customers, indicating the exact characteristics, you want to tell what exactly you do - then this is for you. This will allow the client to consider specific products or examples of services provided and order their production.
If you sell goods online and specialize in this, if you want a client to go to your website to choose, order, pay and receive the goods by delivery, then the online storefront will be an inflexible and even complicating sales tool. Since the site will not be suitable for processing applications and paying for orders. In this case, you need not just a catalog, but a full-fledged online store.
Online storefront or online store: what is the difference?
| online showcase | online store |
|---|---|
| An online showcase is designed to demonstrate and advertise a product or service and the brand as a whole. The user visits such a site in order to select a product from the entire assortment, view samples of completed work, find out factual information about it and order the selected product or similar service. An online showcase is created as an informational business site similar in its characteristics to a corporate one. He represents the company's products, demonstrates a wide selection, but does not make direct sales. | The online store is aimed primarily at the direct sale of goods. A visitor visits such a site with the intention of buying or ordering goods online. And on the site there are functionality purchases and sales (for example: online payment service using data entry credit card). The online store operates as an independent, full-fledged platform through which the visitor can choose, pay and receive the delivered goods. This is not just a website, it is a business tool. An online store requires a secure connection to the server to transfer confidential data. |
Developing an online storefront is also cheaper than creating an online store, due to the lack of functional elements for sale.
Creation of an online storefront
Creating an online showcase seems to be not difficult - just create product cards or illustrations of completed work with a description. But in reality, when you have hundreds of product names and each one needs to create a relevant explanation, configure search engine optimization, create a design for a multi-page website - such a task becomes difficult to complete on your own.
Therefore, the SEOSKY company offers you a professional approach to creating and promoting an online storefront.
Creating a website begins with you filling out a small questionnaire (brief) in which you describe point by point the specifics of your business and how you imagine your site. Based on the brief, we set the goals and objectives of the project, generate ideas and options for the design and functionality of the future site.
Stages of work of SEOSKY specialists:
- Creation of layout, design and functional modules.
- Development of the structure and prototypes of all website pages. Sorting of the catalog, grouping of products in it are approved, functions are added third party systems(for example, the ability to download goods from 1C, receive notifications by e-mail or orders for calls from the site).
- Obtaining your approval for the development plan and finalizing the elements in accordance with your wishes.
- Designer rendering of all website elements and creation of content in the form of texts, product cards and photographs.
- Technical setup of the site. How more features and goods in the online storefront, those longer setup.
- Filling with goods and content, setting up indexing in search engines, site testing.
The online showcase is ready! Now all that remains is to promote your website using SEO or contextual advertising.
Order an online showcase from SEOSKY
Order the creation of an online storefront from specialists in the development and promotion of websites of any complexity. SEOSKY has already created more than 200 successful business websites. We offer our services at competitive prices.
The final cost of developing an online storefront will be influenced by factors such as the choice of CMS (content management system), choice of hosting, multilingual site, search filters and others. At your request, we will also add any additional modules.
Discuss all the details of the order with our specialists.
Write to us and we will contact you!