This is not a discussion of investing in public E-commerce companies, rather I'm wondering if anyone in here is currently involved in running an e-commerce company?

There are a lot of poor forums on the net for e-commerce companies, so I figured I'd try here to see if anyone has direct experience. If so, can you share a little of your story? What do you do? What were some of the great challenges you came across or are currently facing? How does your supply chain work, and is it effective? What advice would you share with others?

I'd love to hear from anyone who has some direct experience.

Thanks for your time.

 

That's a big question.

 

Care to answer a smaller part of it?

 

I am loosely partnered with the owner of a growing search engine forumdig.com. I do mostly marketing. It's just a "side job" that I'm unusually well-qualified for, so I get significantly more output financially per time input than 99.99% of people would, otherwise I wouldn't be involved. I've sold things through ebay but that was several years ago and now the market is flooded worse than New Orleans.

I did some "consulting" with a friend's e-commerce firm because I worked in the distribution business for a couple years throughout college. I rebuilt his entire shipping strategy. The company bought 'raving' products out of china through his contact and sold them via his website primarily to southern california. His main problem was he previously used a hub after it hit the states, then came to his place, then went to the customer. I was able to setup blind shipments [he isn't involved physically] for about 60% of the product that hit the hub. He was able to downsize his operation and eventually did it out of his house and a small storage facility. He didn't even need a typical warehouse which he shouldn't have in the first place.

That's about the extent of my experience but my work experience is primarily involved in 35-45,000 lbs per shipment in power cable for off shore oil rigs, not overly applicable for shipping blenders or CD's or whatever the average e-commerce business deals with.

 

This is sort of the plan, however the program will control all of the logistics right from the order to delivery, without the use of any warehouse or inventory that I would need to hold. The program will also handle dealing with US/Canadian customs brokers. I have yet to see a program that handles the supply chain in this way. Most seem to work the way your friend's does, just managing logistics from shipping from a warehouse.

Were you able to set up the shipments through some sort of EDI direct with a courier company? (UPS, DHL, etc.)

 

I am not aware of a program that is that sophisticated while maintaining accuracy. The first courier company was a branch of a local company I'd used in the past in Houston. I used their branch in california to relay the packages to UPS from the coast because they are diverse in their services. I had to more or less set it up "manually" by making a lot* of phone calls. Basically I had a good middle man that could take complex directions.

 

Me either, and that's exactly why we're developing one. There are a few other key features that we're going to develop in so that we can truly do global commerce.

Define complex directions? Why couldn't UPS handle the whole thing for you?

Also, can you clarify "maintaining accuracy"? I'm guessing you're referring to inventory levels?

 

You aren't going to find off the shelf software that will do what you want, not even half. You'll have to have something built for you and you're looking a big bucks. You didn't say if your budget was $1K or $1000K so I won't pass judgement.

My biggest piece of advice is to make the transaction as simple and idiot proof as possible for the consumer. Every complication, every checkout step, every hurdle is an opportunity not to buy. They need to get in and get out double time without so much as a pause. You need to get the thank you for you order email out before they are given the opportunity to reconsider. All too often page after page of checkout and shipping instructions results in abandoned orders as each step offers the buyer a chance to think about whether they are really getting the best deal or whether they really want to buy it right now.

One click checkout is Amazon's biggest weapon. Click, click done. That means don't offer too many options or nested pages. When you ask for payment do the whole deal right there on one page. None of this select payment method and then to another screen where they enter details. Same for shipping. Offer a default free shipping option and one and only one express option. Don't allow them to shop shipping rates. Again, too much to digest and a hurdle to cross. Free shipping or overnight express. Free shipping is a must.

Cut the amount of effort required to pay and get out of the store to the absolute bare minimum possible. That is my advice.

 

Thanks for the reply Cthree.

I know that we will not be able to purchase software to do what I want. I'm not even considering it, I have a development team in place, and I have time to perfect it before I need to launch. That's not an issue.

I couldn't agree with you more on the issues with payment and usability. In fact, the software will make everything very transparent to the user and very easy to make the decision to buy before entering into any shopping cart. You've hit the nail on the head, and is one of the main reasons I've chosen this as my next venture - I believe I can do it better.

That end of the business I believe I have covered pretty well at the moment, my concerns are more with suppliers to e-commerce companies. I have a lot of experience in the traditional supply chain Manufacturer > Distributor > Retailer, etc. But does anyone have experience dealing directly with the producer while running an e-commerce company? Are they generally willing to work with you? Are they willing to set up an EDI link? I'm sure someone has tried at some point - but I personally don't know anyone who's brain I can pick in this case.