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Ecommerce Consultancy - Part 2

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At the very least, an ecommerce consultancy should offer the following:

• Advice about the software necessary to build the site you want and whether you will be able to manage and update it on your own once the software is implemented. It is no good if, having contracted a consultant to do a specific job, you feel the need to contact them every time something goes wrong. A consultant';s job should also involve giving your employees the proper training so that they will be able to handle problems as and when they arise.
• An overview of the various features your site should have in order to put the customer at ease and encourage them to buy as many of your products as possible. Have a look at the way Amazon works, giving you recommendations based on products you have bought or previously looked at, offering quick and advanced search capabilities and suggesting that if you buy goods over a certain value you will be eligible for free shipping. Other features you should ask about include the provision or a help desk, the management of items that can be pre-ordered and saved for later and a gift wrapping service.
• Consumer concern about internet security is considerable and the ecommerce consultancy should have a way of making users feel comfortable about submitting personal details and sending funds online. Equally it should have a failsafe method of saving payment details in a secure facility to ensure the minimum amount of user input is required for returning customers.
• The option should be available to change multiple product prices simultaneously and enable integration with third party databases so that product details and prices can be automatically updated.
• Check that the sales activity is provided online and in full. Features such as overall sales, sales per category and sales per product over defined periods can help give direction to your marketing campaign. In addition, the ecommerce consultant should be able to optimise your product pages for search engines, so that your site is just a click away from a prospective customer.
• It is also worth looking at the following issues to determine whether the ecommerce consultancy has the necessary amount of experience:
• Does it understand what your requirements are, what your company offers and what your customer's needs are? The consultancy will only help you build the site you want if they understand exactly what it is you do want.
• Look into the length of time they have been in business and their track and solvency record. Ask them to provide some sample sites to look at and request a copy their client list is, so you can conduct your own research.
• Assess whether their level of customer support is sufficient. For example, do they have a twenty four hour help desk that provides assistance by email and over the telephone. Find out about the tariff for this service and the average resolution time.

One thing to do at this stage once you have a shortlist of potential ecommerce providers (which The Approved Index-www.approvedindex.co.uk - the UK's leading online business to business referral service, can help you compile) is to shop on a site they have built. It might even be worth placing an order to get a sense of how your account is managed after the order is placed. For example, are you sent an email receipt after the order is placed, can you track your order online and do you receive an email to say your order has been shipped? The mechanics of this procedure should give you a sense of how well the system fits your business, so you have confidence in choosing a particular consultancy.

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