We are now going to delve deeper in to the engine of your eCommerce site by looking at the different types of solution that are available and trying to understand how they may relate to your business model.
It would be hard to argue that shopping catalogues are not the most common sales platform on the Internet but that is not to deny that many companies make serious money on the web through other trading models.
Booking is a very obvious example as booking flights and hotel rooms is one of the most popular activities on the web. Subscriptions can be a big money spinner for content providers and online marketplaces like eBay attract millions of buyers and sellers.
We are going to go through the main types of solution one-by-one. You may want to jump straight to the model that best suits your business (using the menu to the left) or take the time to read about all of the options as you might get some new ideas for developing your online trading.
Firstly, we will cover the four main trading models of:
- Shopping solutions;
- Booking and Reservations;
- Membership and Subscriptions; and
- Content management.
There are then some additional sections looking at:
- The databases behind these solutions;
- Using solutions to sell Internationally;
- The plug-ins that can add extra functionality; and
- Advanced solutions like accounts and CRM.
We are going to start then, with Shopping Solutions.
