Smart Strategy

What e-commerce technology should we use?
Use an open source e-commerce platform. Currently, the best in e-commerce is Magento. I would recommend to anyone starting out that they use this platform.
Open source is a growing technology with a very, very large base of developers and can be agile with the existing functionality of an open marketplace of developers who are continually improving the technology’s features.

As a startup company, what should my e-commerce site focus on?
One of the greatest indicators of your site’s effectiveness is the rate at which visitors convert into customers, or the “conversion rate.” Your priority should be to create a site that does this effectively. Your next focus should be generating more relevant traffic to the site. This often entails many efforts of online marketing.

What should we be looking for in a web development e-commerce agency?
A good e-commerce agency will complement your team, be honest, be on time with deliverables and come highly recommended by their past clientele.

What types of marketing are most important?
Get noticed in search engines (whether showing up naturally in the results or paying for spots as sponsored ads). 

Get your products in the hands of consumers and facilitate ways in which they can share it with their online community (getting a Facebook “Like,” for example).

Get your product into comparison-shopping engines like Google Shopping or Nextag. Consumers are learning more and more to shop through these sources directly.

Manage affiliate campaigns in which people who produce content on the web are able to promote your products through the use of banners or links and receive commissions for any sales that occur from their promotion.