Online store howto's

[dolphin]

Hi all,

I'm in a discussion with a company about doing a joint venture around their online store. They are an established company manufacturing a quality product in the recreation space with a loyal, active fan/client base.

Their website needs overall reworking with SEO in mind, and their online store is pretty much useless from both a marketing and functional perspective. Aesthetics....don't take me there.

Their client base is basically begging them to sell more stuff. The store's functionality is not that useful from a marketing or sales perspective.

The JV is me taking over the online store which sells accessories related to their main products. Most of the information I have is good for the updating the main website, and I'm familiar with digital product sales, but online stores for physical products are new territory.

Where do you begin to learn about this arena? There's marketing/SEO, on page marketing, product placement, procurement and so forth.

Any suggestions what forums, books, gurus, resources I can start getting a clue?

Thanks.

[Debbie Songster]

dolphin - with all due respect perhaps you are not the best person to JV with them if you have no experience with a physical products online store. The buying public is not forgiving of store "managers" who are learning the ropes.

It can be complex since you are dealing with shipping and depending on what the items are, things can be further complicated by weights / sizes and international shipping.

Having said that...
To learn quickly - you may want to do a crash course by going one on one with someone with experience with online stores - such as myself.
I have several physical products stores and I've been doing this full time since 2003.
I've set up many stores for clients over the years. I also coach.

Or find someone else who has an online store who is willing to teach you. I haven't seen any courses that teach how to manage an online store. I'm not saying there aren't any out there - I just haven't seen any in my travels

Perhaps I should create one huh?

Seriously - its an involved process with many systems that need to run smoothly to keep your customers happy.
From credit card merchant accounts to shipping / product fulfillment to promotion to handling returns and charge backs --- there is a lot to it.

[dolphin]

Debbie,

Thanks for your input. Yes, it is a daunting project. Perhaps you should be building a course. There's plenty of stores out there but I'm not finding much in the way of education.

Dolphin

[Debbie Songster]

Originally Posted by dolphin

Debbie,

Thanks for your input. Yes, it is a daunting project. Perhaps you should be building a course. There's plenty of stores out there but I'm not finding much in the way of education.

Dolphin

I've considered it since coaching one on one means I'm repeating myself so many times.
There are so many store platforms out there that it would be difficult to cover them all.
Do you know what software is being used for the store you are involved in?