Ecommerce: A New Artform

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What creative project do you have in the back of your mind? Writing that novel? Putting together a bluegrass band? Painting the sunsets over the Rio Grande? How about starting a business?When you think of the term creative endeavor, does launching or running a business come to mind? To most creative people, business is the antithesis of creativity. Yet slowly, ever so slowly, the nature of business is changing. The need for innovation in business is gradually overtaking the need for control as the resource that makes the difference between success and failure.Really? But isn't business essentially about control? Controlling resources and controlling people? Yes, but business is also about innovation and communication, both of which live at the heart of creativity.There are two reasons why I believe creativity will become increasingly valued in business. Control is certainly critical in business, both resources and people need to be managed carefully. But control is easier to teach than innovation. Given an equal need for both innovation and control, control is the easier skill or talent to find and implement. Thus innovation rises in value because it's more difficult to find and utilize effectively.Are innovation and control equal needs? They certainly haven't been in the past. Control has been the leading force in business since the beginning of the industrial age. That age has ended however, and we now live in an service-based information world of commerce. This means the resource that needs to be controlled is more likely to be information rather than, say, coal. Information can be managed easily across electronic wiring and storage media. That means important work of business will be creating and disseminating information, and that requires a creative mind.The other reason I believe creativity will rise in importance in business is that in our information-based economy, the resources required for business are fewer and less costly. If you can run a storefront on the Internet that can reach millions across the globe, you don't need capital to build a store that sits in a city and reaches thousands. The
juice it takes to make the Internet company successful is not capital so much as the creative ability to reach and build a customer base over an infrastructure that's effectively free.Napster was a wonderful example of this. A teenager was able to create a service that was quickly utilized by millions upon millions of users. Of course Napster had a glaring flaw: the company was trading in products created by others, and trading without the consent of those who produced the products. But the heart of the matter is that someone without substantial resources could build a highly-used, well-recognized brand out of little more than a creative idea. Using the same infrastructure, surely someone will come up with another intriguing idea that will capture our imagination and a big audience, and it will probably happen soon. And the next wave of creative Internet entrepreneurs will have learned from the Internet crash and its aftermath.The Internet isn't dead. It's just stumbling a bit while taking its toddler steps. Internet start-up ideas will continue to attract creative people, simply because the free infrastructure invites innovation and resists control. Control is the deathword to creativity. Creative people have shunned business for that reason alone. Yet in a world where creativity and innovation become the critical elements for success, you bet creative people will begin to see commerce as an avenue of expression.During the high days of Internet exuberance, I used this column to make the claim that business will be the creative medium of the early 21st century. I still believe it's true, simply because the basic elements still exist a encourage a creative approach to business. The resources to support a new company do not require control so much as creative manipulation. Given this free and open canvas, creative people will rush in, despite the lingering notion that business is somehow anti-creative.
About the Author
Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and the upcoming Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide to Internet Start-ups (St. Martin's Press). You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com

Ecommerce 101 – Online Credit Card Processing

Back in 1998 (through 2000 or so), I worked for a small company (called PaymentNet / then Signio) that handled online transactions. Verisign later purchased this company, and the product team I led integrated the "client" - the portion that took the credit card information and sent it to our servers for processing. The product name is Payflow Pro - maybe you've heard of it?
I'm going to limit this discussion to Visa / MasterCard credit cards -- Amex and others operate slightly differently.
First, there is the bank that the consumer’s credit card is attached to. That bank is called the "acquiring institution" ... it handles the "credit" you have on your credit card.
Then, there is the merchant bank. That's where the business opens up a "merchant account" to be able to accept various forms of credit cards.
The merchant account is connected to another company called a "processor". This "hidden" layer is the company that actually moves the funds from the acquiring institution to the merchant account (that process is called "settlement"). The processor also handles talking to the acquiring institution to make sure that the customer has the funds available (a process known as authorization).
Some well-known credit card processors are First Data Merchant Services (FDMS). Nova and PaymentTech.
Sitting on top of the processor is one of two primary systems either a swipe-card terminal (like those you see in Wal-Mart) or a "gateway" company that does basically the same thing, but over the Internet - that's what Verisign Payment Services and Authorize.Net do.
Note that the waters are even muddier in many cases, for example, Wells Fargo can act as every piece of the puzzle in some circumstances.
So, what actually happens when you purchase something at Wal-Mart using a credit card?
a) You place your items from your "basket" onto the counter and scan them. the checkout system provides a total.
b) You swipe your card through a "terminal", which reads the # off the magnetic stripe.
c) Wal-Mart dials their processor, and asks if you have the funds available on your credit card. The processor talks to your bank (the acquiring institution). If funds are available on the card, they are marked as "held" in your account (an authorization) -
if not, the transaction is declined (yuk). Authorizations that are never settled tie up your credit card funds for a period of time, usually 10 days or so.
d) At the end of the day, Wal-Mart marks all the transactions they want to receive funds for, and submits them to their processor in a "batch". The processor then contacts the acquiring institutions and transfers the funds to your merchant bank - which may make the funds available instantly (in a day or two), or may hold them for a while, or may hold the funds in a "rolling reserve" (keeping some funds held back in case a consumer fights the transaction, called a chargeback).
In the online world, replace the cash-register with an online shopping cart, and the electronic credit-card with terminal with called a "gateway" such as Payflow or Authorize.Net. the process is basically the same, with slightly more complexity.
My site, CommerceStore.com handles the entire "shopping cart" and storefront process, including talking to the gateway. It knows how to talk to every major gateway (online credit card terminal) available. In addition, we have direct relationships with various banks that can help you open a merchant account in the US or in Canada, and the system works with PayPal. There's a whole lot more, including AutoResponders, built-in affiliate system, etc.
As a merchant, all you really need to know is that all services purchased through CommerceStore.com will work together. Be careful going "a-la-carte" with ecommerce credit-card services: if the gateway you chose can't talk to the processor your bank uses, or your software can't talk to the gateway, you're hosed. That situation was MUCH more common (things not working together) back in the mid/late 90's than it is today. However, most “brick and mortar” banks (like your local branch) still don’t have a clue about online credit-card processing … if they attempt to sell you a “leased terminal”, it’s best to run the other way and find a solution from reputable online source.
Nick Temple is a former engineer for what is now Verisign Payment Services. He can be reached at his website, http://www.nicktemple.com. He is part-owner of the CommerceStore.com complete ecommerce solution.

eCatalog - a Key Component of Your eCommerce Initiative

In recent years, Internet virtually has become major driving force of economic  and technological growth in many industries. It is fundamentally changing the way companies operate, do their trade and interact with each other and it is giving birth to new processes and business models that were previously unimaginable. First type of the Internet business models that created a different business  method was Business to Consumer (B2C) eCommerce. Business to Business  eProcurement systems and web-based storefronts were two other models that  emerged next. The eProcurement systems became widely popular instantly due  to the factor that Internet-based automated buying solutions are capable of  considerable reducing Maintenance, Repair and Operating expenses, which,  in turn, makes direct impact on the bottom line of a company. Web-based storefront, on the other hand, provides a low-cost channel for the global marketing and sales of goods and services. The next business model that changed the perception of doing business online  was eMarketplaces. An eMarketplace is an online venue which brings together  multiple buyers and sellers and makes it easier for them to communicate,  collaborate and trade as members of a large community. The fourth online business model has combined key aspects of all the above  mentioned business methods and is known as Enterprise B2B Portal or Private B2B Exchange. The business world sees enormous changes across industries  due to the emergence of this unique solution. Enterprise B2B Portal with supply chain management features is capable of streamlining procurement and sales processes, cutting overhead costs, increasing efficiency, while maximizing profit  and helping bottom line savings for companies. No doubt that B2B eCommerce presents enormous new business opportunities.  But to realize these massive opportunities businesses must overcome some significant  technical impediments. The most extreme and critical of these challenges involve  creating, managing and distributing product content. All four of the above mentioned  online business models face this crucial problem. Product Content and eCatalog Accurate and complete product content improves quality and speed of purchasing decisions by giving buyers the vital information needed. For sellers content differentiates  their products and enables them to participate in multiple eMarketplaces, eProcurement systems and in their very own B2B Portal. The eMarketplaces and eProcurement systems  must deliver content, with value added information such as ratings, reviews, regulatory compliances and service information to attract new users, retain the old ones and fulfill the  needs of their diverse buyer and supplier communities. Creating high quality product content is difficult because different suppliers use different  descriptions, attributes and parameters to describe the same item. Managing product information becomes even more complex with the addition of value-added content such  as editorial articles, service information and third party reviews. Moreover, Buyers and Sellers have totally different approach and require different  functions from a product content management solution. Buyers need a comprehensive  content management system which allows them to take conclusive buying decision with  minimum of effort and cost. Suppliers want a system that enables them to manage their  brand, control their product descriptions, pricing, and discount policies. The need for an advanced eCatalog Despite its critical nature, product information management has been grossly underestimated  by most of early eCommerce projects, which tend to focus on more high profile technologies,  such as transaction engines and user interfaces. However, few of these B2B projects put  required emphasize on the management of product content. As a result, many of them are beginning to realize that they have condoned the challenge of managing product information and that such oversights are hindering the overall effectiveness and scalability of their eCommerce initiatives. Actually, very few of eCommerce initiatives today have the right resources to support the activities required  for aggregating, maintaining, and delivering high quality product content. In order to  overcome this major hurdle eCommerce initiatives have to improve their ability to  acquire, manage and update product content with the help of an advanced eCatalog system. What is an eCatalog? An eCatalog is an Online product content management solution with powerful user  interface which provides efficient navigation, searching and integration capabilities to organize and publish product information and enable real-time handling of business  processes related to buying and selling. An eCatalog stores product content in a single database and organizes product  information under a certain categorized hierarchy. An eCatalog also have sophisticated  searching opportunities so that buyers can locate products easily. Classifying products Usually product information is acquired from different sources and is often classified under different taxonomies. This makes product indexing difficult and in many cases products end up being listed under several categories. International Harmonized Codes,  a taxonomy used by many countries for customs tariff purposes, is one of the example  of such systems. Because of this problem, HC and similar taxonomies are not really suitable for eCommerce. That's why, most advanced eCatalog systems use classification system like The United  Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®), which provides an  open, global multi-industry standard for well-organized and precise classification of  products and services. In e-catalogs the product content also has to undergo a normalization procedure to comply with a uniform product naming system. This uniformed nomenclature makes it  easier for buyers to compare products and prices, and ensures exact match for relevant  product searches. Depending on the quality of product information available, the  eCatalog also requires rationalizing abbreviations and acronyms, synchronizing terminologies, converting unit of measurements, etc. How businesses are loosing opportunities Early eCatalog adopters made a crucial mistake by assuming that catalog  integration is a fairly easy task in comparison to the other parts of eCommerce  development. This misapprehension of reality occurred mainly due to lack of  practical knowledge in this field and is based on the false assumption that one  method fits for describing all similar products and it is possible to constrain  product content with finite number of attributes and values. Observation shows  that in many cases buyers are unable to take key procurement decisions due to poor content of the product, which results in lost business opportunities for  eCommerce companies. Benefits of using right eCatalog An advanced eCatalog system similar to Rusbiz.com delivers a compelling value proposition. Using this type of solutions companies can integrate eCatalog  capabilities into their business processes rapidly and manage sourcing, classifying,  syndicating and publishing product content data effectively. The return on investment from these solutions is also significant! Companies  can expect increased revenue, better customer satisfaction, and shorter sales cycle. About the Author Nowshade Kabir is CEO of Rusbiz.com, a global B2B portal for small and  midsize companies. Our distinctive web stores along with many outstanding features like e-marketplace, e-catalog,

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Drop Shipping Is Ecommerce Snake Oil

Drop shipping is not for everyone. Even though it is pitched as a cure for everything from starting up withoutmoney to being able to sell without investing in inventory, it does not cure the main problems that want to be  drop shippers have. Want to be web entrepreneurs are lead down the path of finding products  that they can sell before they buy them. And to do that, they are lead into buying all sorts of things from web sites  to on line stores and lists of drop shippers. They get set up with what they  need to sell. And they spend a lot of time and money in the process. There is no doubt that they are, at the same time, given advice that they are  starting a business. They are definitively told that they must comply with all  those rules for success on the web. They are not misled.They mislead  themselves. They get so excited and so tied up in their ideas that they are  going to make millions that they do not stop to plan. They forge ahead with  the plan to plan in the future. So they plan after their plan is already a failure. The people supplying the drop shipping industry are not obligated to turn  away customers. They have no way to determine who will or who will not  fail. So they cannot be faulted for selling to people who run when they should be walking. There is no doubt that some of these people do succeed and do very well for themselves. But 90 to 95 percent of them fail. A good percentage of them could have survived had  they planned. But they fail because they chase the quick money. Having said that, drop shipping is an excellent way for a small business to  expand. If use properly it has many advantages. Let us take a simple example. Anna wants to sell amber and silver jewelry and exotics crystal pieces at  home parties. And she wants to be able to vary her offering so that each  time she attends a home party she has the opportunity to present other products. She also wants a wide variety of products. Now amber and silver jewelry is both expensive and there are many different pieces that can be offered. So if she were to maintain an inventory she would have to tie up several thousand dollars in jewelry, many pieces of which she might not sell quickly. Now if she get some samples so that her customers see the products and the  quality, she can take orders and have the ordered pieces shipped either directly to her or to her customers. Actually, she is better off to have the pieces drop shipped to her so she can visit her customers and possibly make additional sales during the delivery process. So she searches About the Author Gary Granai is the Director of the Poland Chamber that maintains the drop shipping portal that has complete information about drop shipping. You can see it at

Divesify With Ecommerce

Since 1972 Amsoil Inc. has progressively expanded its line of products. It began with one that proved to be the first of its catagory, an engine oil  that had not been seen in the market place. Not too many years later, more need for superior synthetic automotive lubricants came into Amsoil Inc. awareness. Examples are the Food Grade Grease, racing  applications and racing applications. By the mid eighties Amsoil Inc. had more products available. These products where not the property of other contracted companies but  Amsoil Inc. was the marketing and manufacturing origin of a widening divesification of product lines. Opportunity to take advantage of these products in a variety of  environments also proved successful. All types of automotive and commercial retailers where taking advantage of the technical support  and leadership available. Racing has grown in atleast three areanas, no pun intended. Motorcross, Marine and Snomobile have made huge strides in the field of spectator sports as well as participants. Dealers have the opportunity to sponsor a rider or team in the field of their choice. This environment is an excellent fit for promoting Amsoil. This an exciting business to be in because of its diversity of opportunites. The passion that keeps the engine of productivity moving is easy to refuel from a company that has the integrity at its foundation. The confidence  that it will continue comes from the experience of the history and people  behind Amsoil Inc. For more information, see www.lubedealer.com/hiebert About the Author Rudy Hiebert is an Amsoil Inc. dealer since 1989. The application of the  Internet has increased his Amsoil activity ten fold. As a Certified Dealer, his downline of accounts and customers has stretched the continent with the use of the Internet.

Developing a Winning Ecommerce Marketing Strategy

One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be  continued consumer spending and ecommerce is clearly a part of this, with  sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 Billion in the next three months according to ACNielsen. But, there is a dark cloud hovering over this  landscape called poor ecommerce web site design. Let’s explore some  of the reasons why consumers are not reaching for their credit cards after perusing an ecommerce web site. There is a huge knowledge gap about how the web is really driving online  and offline commerce. A recent eCommercePulse survey of more than 33,000 surfers conducted by Nielsen/Net ratings and Harris Interactive indicates ecommerce sites are driving more purchases offline (phone, catalogue, retail store sales) than online. Consumers are using the web  to effortlessly compare features and pricing – then, calling the company or visiting their local retail store to make a purchase. Clearly many companies need to factor this information in when they analyze their online and offline marketing expenditures and related ROI. Unfortunately many firms have allocated a disproportionate amount of  resources for advertising and not enough on good web site design and back end infrastructure. It’s critical to make the market aware of a site, but if the potential customers are not presented with the right navigation  and menus (read information architecture) they will not buy. Case in point,  according to recent Dataquest surveys (and others) between 20-40% of most users don’t purchase because they can’t figure out how to easily move around the web site. Many companies fail to properly integrate their ecommerce components with the overall site design. The in-house developers or outside design firm  concentrate on the sexy parts of the web site design process (the graphics,  branding, look and feel) and only focus on the ecommerce process after the primary web site design is completed – making ecommerce an afterthought. Many ecommerce web sites don’t even list a phone number, arbitrarily forcing people to contact the company electronically – this is a real problem,  as many people don’t want to use e-mail or forms as their primary means of communicating, they want the immediacy of the telephone. It's surprising, but approx 30% of ecommerce sites don’t have a search  capability that actually works – in many cases it just returns gobblygook. This is a real irritant for many online shoppers who want to find goods and  services quickly and efficiently – the need for speed should be the ecommerce merchants marketing mantra and a good search capability gives users a way  to quickly find products. One of the most important parts of any web site is the home or index page, as it aggregates the design elements and information architecture. So many index page are cluttered and poorly designed, loaded with poor graphics, bad menu structures, oddball words or my absolute least  favorite, 30-60 second Flash animation sequences which force the user to sit and stare at a blank screen while the animation loads. According to a recent Zona Research and Keynote Systems Report released earlier this summer over $25 Billion (USD) was lost in ecommerce due to users abandoning the web site prior to a purchase being made or during the process. The users just  gave up because the load times (how fast it takes a page to be displayed in a browser) were painfully slow. Today’s online shoppers aren’t a real patient group, they want information presented in 12-18 seconds, or they are off to another site that works. Privacy statements are about as exciting as filing taxes (unless you know your getting a refund) – they are out of necessity filled with legal terminology that needs to be addressed succinctly and in a way that makes a consumer feel comfortable about doing business with an ecommerce web site. Unfortunately, many ecommerce web site privacy statements look like an afterthought or are so “attorney driven”  (three pages – who has time to read this?) people are turned off by them. It’s very important that a privacy statement be a compromise between legal and marketing. We are a full service ad agency so I don’t mind shooting arrows in the direction  of my peers – too much attention is being placed on web site advertising metrics (clickthrough rates, certified traffic to substantiate ad rates, etc.) and not enough  on how people find and use an ecommerce web site. The industry standard web site analysis tool is Web Trends, but one of the least understood aspects of this product is tracking how people find and move around a web site via reports which can be pulled from the server log files; i.e. where did the visitors come from, what pages do they visit, how long do they stay, what are their traffic patterns, etc. Ecommerce companies should be analyzing these “digital customer tracks” to better understand how to improve their front end marketing processes and back end web site design. Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of marketing experience He is the co-founder of a Northern California and Brussels Belgium based, privately held, Marketing Services and Software Company, Intelective Communications, Inc. http://www.intelective.com Intelective focuses exclusively on providing services  to small to medium sized companies that need strategic and tactical marketing services. He can be reached at Lee@intelective.com

Cost Effective Ecommerce Solutions

Ecommerce use to be about spending thousands of dollars on setting up your shop and hundreds of dollars on getting a merchant. My, how things have changed over the years. Now anyone with a few hundred of dollars in their pocket(or less if you have the time to learn it yourself) can have a great working ecommerce system up and running in the matter of days. This also includes the full ability to accept payments from Credit Cards, manage customers, create invoices and more. The most cost effective ecommerce solution on the market today is Oscommerce.com . Why is it so cost effective, well because it is free. All you need to do is learn it yourself or get someone who works in the web world(a web designer or programmer) to set it up for you. This can run you anywhere’s from $500-$900, give or take a bit depending on the features you want and if you want it integrated into a custom built design. In a all in one solution you can set up products to sell, have a visitor sign up and pay via the osc(oscommerce) payment section, create an invoice for that client as well as deliver the product(if it can be transferred via email) or create a packing slip to be mailed out. These are just some of the features located in oscommerce. Another great feature about oscommerce is that you can integrate it to fit right into your site design. If you view my site at www.Logo2D.com and click one of the links at the top(such as logo templates) you can see that it fits snugly into the design. You can customize any part of oscommerce including the buttons for the shopping cart. It is a really great program to use. One of the hassle before with ecommerce was getting something that would process payment. Payment was a big issue as before it was very costly to get a merchant account, which usually cost around $400USD. Also you had to pay a % of every sale you made, which can really add up. Today there are two great forms of payment that can be added to Oscommerce as your payment modules, they are Paypal.com and 2Checkout.com . These two options are a great way to go. Paypal.com is free to sign up, has over 78 Million accounts, only charges a small % of each sale/payment, can be funded by your credit card or bank account if you want to purchase something online and any sales you get you can take straight down into your bank account. Though the user does have to have a paypal account to pay you, but with 78 Million Accounts, you can see that is no problem. 2Checkout.com doesn't offer as many features in the way as you being able to purchase products offline, but it is great if someone is purchasing products off of you. It allows you to take payments via credit card and the customer doesn't even have to have a 2checkout.com account. It only takes a small % off when you take money down into your account. The only down side to 2checkout.com is that there is a one time fee of $49 to purchase a membership and they only send payment out twice a month(the middle of the month and the end of the month). So really not much of a downside at all. So combine these three options and you can have a fully functional ecommerce website up for only a few hundreds of dollar! About the Author Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business at http://www.logo2d.com ©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article freely but please keep in the copyright