After reading about all the ecommerce solutions available you should now have a really good understanding of what solution type is right for your business. In order to give you an appreciation of what will be involved in setting up your solution, this section has been written to explore the step-by-step process of configuring an online shop. Obviously, we do not have the space to cover every type of solution, so we have focused on shopping catalogues but the principals are very similar and, if you can get your head around an online catalogue, you will definitely be at an advantage.

Today’s software really is quite straightforward. As with anything, it takes a little time to feel truly comfortable with something new. A good example would be using Microsoft PowerPoint; most of us have seen people giving good, well-authored presentations using PowerPoint but few of us have had the time to really learn and develop our skills with the software. If you did have time, you would find it is a fairly simple template based bit of software that allows you to type in text, choose colours and even animate titles and images. Well, shop solutions are no different, as you are about to find out.

Think of your new online shop as an important project for your business with a start, middle and an end. You have started by taking the time to read this guide, so you are already clear on the relevant objectives of your project. The middle will be choosing the actual shop solution and achieving the tasks listed in this section. The end is going live with your shop and starting to sell over the Internet. You may be surprised how quickly your project can be delivered and after all this preparation - you are bound to succeed!