Definition. All businesses that supply goods or services via the internet, phone, fax, and digital TV or by mail order including catalogues are comes under online selling.

The answers to these questions can help in online selling business planning:
•    Who is your target audience?
•    How will the site be navigated?
•    What graphics, fonts, and colors will the site use?
•    How will you design the site for different browsers/customers?
•    How will you optimize the site for the search engines?
•    What content will the website offer?
•    How will you build trust and convey credibility?
•    How will you deliver your products to customers?
•    What methods of payment will you accept and how will you process payments?
•    What steps will you take to keep customer information safe and secure?
•    How will you drive traffic to your site?
•    How will you market your website and products?

Selling online can revolutionize your business. An online storefront has a number of very powerful advantages over a brick-and-mortar location that can yield big dividends for surprisingly little investment of time and money. Even if you have a physical shop, an online store can be a big help in marketing your business, as well a being a supplementary sales outlet that can add to your bottom line. The benefits of opening an online store are endless:

1.    Reduce your costs -setup and operational costs are much less than selling from a physical store, directly improving your bottom line. There is no rent to pay, you hire less personnel and so forth.

2.    Simplify your costs - using simple automation, customer orders can go directly to your products database and into the shipping queue. With a well-designed online store you can improve your sales processes considerably, reducing your costs further or selling more products per transaction.

3.    Go global overnight - increase sales opportunities by gaining instant access to a wider marketplace. Sell to the entire country and even abroad.

4.    You can sleep but your store never will - with your online shop open 24 hours a day, 7  days a week, you increase the number of customers who can shop your selection, further increasing your opportunity for sales.

5.    Level the playing field - with a well-designed online store you can look every bit as professional and reliable as your larger competitors.

6.    Get paid faster – the online payments is instantaneous and will help improve your cash-flow

7.    Find new types of customers - by creating targeted pages for the products you sell, you’ll broaden your reach to a wider variety of customers from new demographics. Selling glowers? Target men, mothers and students with web pages crated for Valentine’s, Mother’s Day and Graduation.

8.    Keep better track of what sells - with the automated processes possible in an online store you will know what sells best so you con optimize your offerings and manage your inventory efficiently.

9.    Put your catalog online - your website can function as a catalog of products and services that your existing customers can refer to.

10.    Keep your customers loyal - online selling helps you develop and maintain customer relationships in all types of markets and demographics: use new offers and products to follow-up with old customers and make additional sales.

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