Before you sign off on an ecommerce website make sure that you have the processes in place to handle online sales. As a store owner, you are very accustomed to the process of running your brick and mortar retail operation. You know how to manage the flow of customers, the way products get on the shelves, how transactions are processed and which employees are responsible for what tasks. However, when it comes to ecommerce, this process is often quite different. Here is a short checklist of logistics to consider in advance of opening an online store.
My Ecommerce Prep Checklist of Questions
- When an order comes in who is responsible for overseeing ecommerce orders?
- Who is responsible for sending a confirmation email to the customer saying that we received the order?
- Who is responsible for sending a confirmation of shipping to the customer with a tracking id?
- Who is responsible for pick, packing and shipping the product out to the customer?
- How will I enter orders into my POS? Who will be responsible for doing this?
- How will I track my inventory levels?
- What are my shipping or delivery rates going to be?
- What carrier will I use for shipping services?
- How will I handle returns, what will be my policy?
- Will I deliver products myself? If so, where will I deliver and how much will it cost?
- Will customers be able to order on my site and have a prepaid package prepared for them for pick up? If so, where will the pickup area be? Who will check on these orders?