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WELCOME TO BeginningASRNET 1.1 E-Commerce!The explosive growth ofretail over
the Internet is encouraging more small- to medium-sized businesses to consider the
benefits of setting up e-commerce web sites. While there are great and obvious
advantages to trading online, there are also many hidden pitfalls that may be
encountered when developing a retail web site. This book provides the grass-roots
reader with a practical, step-by-step guide to setting up an e-commerce site. Guiding
you through every step of the design and build process, this book will have you
building high quality, extendable e-commerce web sites quickly and easily.
Over the course of the book, you will develop all the skills necessary to get your
business up on the web and available to a worldwide audience, without having to use
high-end web solutions based on Microsoft Site Server. We present this information in
a book-long case study, the complexity of which develops as your knowledge increases
through the book.
The case study is presented in three phases. The first phase focuses on getting the
site up and running as quickly as possible, and at a low cost. That way, the financial
implications if you are not using the site are reduced, and also, should you use the
site, you can start to generate revenue quickly. At the end of this phase, you will have
a working site that you can play with or go live with if you want to. The revenue generated
can be used to pay for further development.
Phase two concentrates on increasing revenue by improving the shopping experience,
and actively encouraging customers to buy more by implementing product
recommendations. Again at the end of this phase, you'll have a fully working site that
you can go live with if you want to.
By the third phase, you'll have a site up and running, and doing very well. During
this phase, you'll look at increasing your profit margins by reducing costs through the
automating/streamlining of order processing and administration, and by handling
credit card transactions yourself. |
