Assume that you are considering an online purchase. Decide on ONE item that you would be willing to purchase online. For this item, you will investigate two websites that you can buy the same product from. Using the customer information on the sites, answer the following questions for each site:
Identify what type of ecommerce business are you using? B2C or C2C etc.
Both platforms are Business 2 Consumer
What security measures are used to ensure that the information of the customer is protected?
- Walgreens – Uses secure checkout. They have a large discussion on how they keep all PHI secure, but they do speak with doctors and insurance companies. Walgreens has a large website on what they obtain from their customers and why.
- Ulta – They use secure checkout. The company is also forthcoming with what data they use and how they use it.
What platform or marketplace are you using?
What item are you buying? What are the two sites you are buying from and what is the price on each site?
I am buying CeraVe Moisturizing Cream. On the Walgreens website, the price is $16.99 for a 12oz size. Ulta has their 12oz size for $17.99
What do you do if you have to return or exchange the item? What is the return or exchange policy? Is there a time limit? How do you do this? Are there any fees/charges that the customer must pay?
- Walgreens Website – All returns must be done in store within 30 day of purchase with your receipt. They do not to ship back returns. There are no additional charges.
- Ulta- Returns can be made within 60 days with receipt. You can return in store or ship back. In store, there is no cost. By shipping back to store, all shipping cost would be covered by the buyer.
Are there any hidden costs that you discovered? Explain them:
I didn’t notice any hidden costs from either site. At checkout, both websites were forthcoming about how much their shipping would cost the user.
What forms of payment are accepted?
- Walgreens – They accept card or PayPal
- Ulta- They accept their master card, visa, store credit, discover, AMEX, PayPal, AfterPay, Apple Pay and Gift Cards.
Are there any shipping costs? How much are they?
- Walgreens – Walgreens shipping costs are $5.99 or free if you spend $35.
- Ulta – Their shipping cost is $6.95 or free if you spend $35.
Are there any taxes? How much are they?
- Walgreens – It is based on where you live. The cost is $2.04
- Ulta – All tax is based on where you live. The cost is $1.89.
Are there any other fees on online purchases from international companies (i.e. outside of North America)? Describe.
Walgreens and Ulta states they do not ship to international addresses.
Visit the following websites and list your top ten questions and your own answers about starting an ecommerce site.
What items would you like to sell?
Items chosen to sell would have to be a product I believed in or created myself. It would have to show that it is something a consumer would need.
Who is your target audience?
After figuring out the product, you would need to do market research to find out who would buy your product. After that, you would need to marked to that consumer.
What are start-up costs?
Start up costs are the cost that you need to start the business. This includes a website domain name cost, payment processing fees,
using a warehouse, if you use a third party to ship your items, employee costs, and the maintenance cost of running a website.
What forms of payment would you accept?
Having your typical credit card acceptance is a good place to start. Having payment methods such as AfterPay or PayPal can appeal to other audiences that could be hesitant to buy to do upfront costs.
How would you stand out from competition?
It is important to not blend in to other companies. You would need to see what your competition is doing using competitive analysis and do something different from them.
How would your items ship to customers?
Yes there is physical shipping but you also need to think about labels too. Depending on your product, drop shipping could be a great option for an e-commerce website. Another option would be to do fulfillment yourself. You would have to think about the space needed and cost required.
What are start-up costs?
Start up costs are the cost that you need to start the business. This includes a website domain name cost, payment processing fees, using a warehouse, if you use a third party to ship your items, employee costs, and the maintenance cost of running a website.
How could your business be eco friendly?
With climate change, it is important to think about a businesses impact on the climate. Things like boxes and packing paper can be bad for the environment. Using recycled materials and encouraging the consumer to properly dispose of materials could be a good start. Depending on what product you sell, getting into Terracycle is a great option.
Should you work with a third-party marketing company or use your own person?
The biggest decision here is the cost. What is the payoff of using a third-party company VS a company hire? You would need to research both to see who the best fit for your business would be.
What shipping company would you use?
Picking a delivery company that best aligns with you business is an important decision when it comes to e-commerce. This is another question where the cost is at the top of importance. This not only saves you money, but also your consumer. Picking a company that has good a good reputation is also important.
Where would you run adds?
Having adds on websites like food blogs can be good for business. It can grab the attention of people who would not otherwise look into what youre selling. These days, I think the influencer would be a great way to use promotion. If you can pay someone with a wide audience to showcase your item, this could lead to a huge pay off. A great example of this would be beauty brands. The beauty industry has made so much money off of marketing with influencers..
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Find five plugins used in building Ecommerce sites today. Compare and contrast five of the features of these plugins. Use WooCommerce as one of your plugins.
SendinBlue – Now called Brevo, this one focuses on the user experience. It gives real time reports on your consumers. It can easily create consumer forms. It also includes a drag-and-drop tool like HubSpot. This plugin wont focus as much on your products, but more on your consumer.
WooCommerce – The first of five features of this plugin are that it is free. It also includes physical products, digital, and subscription products. It has a large amount of accepted payment methods which is great for a consumer. They also can calculate shipping and tax costs quickly. WooCommerce is constantly upgrading and developing its plugin.
Member Press – Member press is subscription based only. You cannot use physical products with this plugin. A good thing with this is that it supports many payment options which is good for consumers. Many of the other plugins have better support for customers and businesses. This plugin allows you to have easy access to revoking and granting customer access.
WP e-commerce – This is the original plugin for WordPress e-commerce which is cool! It has a tax management feature which can be incredibly helpful for a business. With this plug in you can print slips and invoices. It is well known for it customer service. This will come with a cost of $49 a month or $499 a year. It has an automatic marketing feature.
HubSpot – HubSpot is an excellent choice for growth in your business. It gives notifications on when your site is visited and on what way as in via email or clickable links. It has a drag-and-drop feature that makes creating your website quite simple. It can sort your contacts to see their usage of your website. It also includes a chatbot to help your customers.
How are themes related to each of the plugins discussed above? Name at least one theme for the plugin discussed above. Why did you choose this theme?
When you use a plugin and a theme, these things are intertwined on your website. Say if you wanted to switch your theme, you would need to fix all of the webpages where your plugins are. If you wanted to change a plugin, you would need to update that on all of your pages. The one I would chose would be Zakra. This plugin is free which I like. It also has over 500 5 star ratings which is incredibly important to chose a plugin with good reviews. This can be used versatile.
Find a website based on each of the plugins you discussed above.
- WooCommerce – https://mbymaggie.com/sale-items/
- WP e-commerce – https://digisavvy.com/
- Member Press – https://zioneyemedia.com/
- HubSpot – https://parlorskis.com/collections/black-label
- SendinBlue – https://oliocristofaro.it/
Which ecommerce plugin would you choose if you had the choice? Why?
For me, I would choose WP E-Commerce. I like that it is the first plugin of its kind on WordPress. The customer support is very important to me as well. Taking care of your consumer is a great way to get repeat business. It can manage tax information which is incredibly helpful.
How would you address security of your ecommerce website?
When picking plugins, its important to verify that these are valid WP plugins. It is also important to pick a security plugin that specializes in ecommerce websites. Having your customers’ payment information secure is incredibly important when it comes to an ecommerce website. You want to be sure your customers information stays secure.
