eCommerce Know-How

How To Choose Technology

Whether you’re just starting to think about an online business, you’ve outgrown your current platform or you need new features and functionality to stay successful, you’re going to need technology.  And there sure is a lot to pick from.  eCommerce Know-How’s Directory has approximately 400 providers and 800 solutions – and more coming every day.  There are so many solutions and solution providers and such rapid advances in eCommerce – no wonder your head is spinning.

FitForCommerce’s mission is to help you through the maze and give you a clear path to take.  There is a methodology to follow when trying to make your decision; we call it doing your “eCommerce Due Diligence”.  FitForCommerce Consulting and eCommerce Know-How.com are two ways we can help online retailers with these important decisions.

One of our favorite quotes is “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there”.  Unless you take the time, do your homework, and really understand what you need, how can you tell which solution is right for you?

Step 1: Define your strategy

Who do you want to be?  What is your demographic?  Who are your customers? Who is your competition? 

Step 2:  Define your goals

What are your business objectives?  Come up with your business plan.

Step 3:  Assess your organization

Do you have the right skills in-house to support your objectives?  If you achieved your sales goals tomorrow, do you have all the tools and resources to support those goals (staff, fulfillment, customer service, etc.).  If not, are you ready to ramp up or do you need to scale back your revenue goals?

Step 4:  Figure out what you need to reach those goals

Determine your requirements. Separate your must-haves from your nice-to-haves.  Think about what you need right away and what can (or should) be phased-in.

Step 5:  Find the technologies and solutions that fit what you need

Do your research on them.  Check their references.  See demos. Go over your requirements with them in detail.  Make sure that they are a fit with you, your requirements, your culture and your organization.

Obviously, it is not as easy as “Step 3 – check!”.  There is a lot to learn and analyze.  Here are some tools, resources, and examples to get you started.

  • Before you can begin looking for the right solution, you need to clearly and completely define your requirements.  This is a rigorous exercise.  The more time you spend on it upfront, the less time (and money) you will spend “fixing” it, after the fact.    Don’t do this at a high-level. Be as thorough as possible. The devil IS in the details.
  • To really understand what you need, you should check out your competition.  And you should learn what the best practices are for the features and functionality you are considering.
  • Create your RFP (Request for Proposal) to send out to providers.  Or use our Opportunity Corner. Again, the more thorough you are, the better.
  • Once you have your requirements and your RFP, you have to narrow down the every-increasing number of solution providers to figure out who you should start talking to.  This is challenging.  Often, people just see who one of their competitors is using.  But you don’t know how that is working for them. And they are not you.
  • Use Solution Finder to put in your high-level requirements, so you can start with a more manageable list of providers who might be a good fit.
  • You can post your high-level requirements and be contacted by providers who think they can help you.
  • Once you have a list of solutions to consider, educate yourself about them and the companies that offer them.
    • Come up with a list of key questions to ask.
    • Learn about the providers.
    • Learn about their solutions.
  • Educate yourself  – there is a lot of good information out there.  Including on this website.  Check out “Popular Topics” and other “How To's”.

Educate yourself – there is a lot of good information out there.  Including on this website.  Check out the links below:

HOTPOLL

What do you use as your primary web browser?








EssentialKnowHow