Do you do ecommerce?

We had an enquiry the other day from a prospect asking if we 'did' ecommerce sites and what would it cost?

It's virtually impossible to price a development without knowing what you're going to develop so I started to ask some starter questions; what would they be selling, target customers, forecast volumes, product options and accessories, shipping rules...Nothing too taxing, you wouldn't have thought.

No answers were forthcoming so I helped them through a few points to think about that I subsequently realised maybe of some general interest.

Visualising your online shop as a bricks and mortar shop can help you think through what you want to achieve and how you're going to achieve it. With a traditional shop, you'd think about what customers see and think when they walk into your shop; what products you'd show them, how you'd stack shelves and group products, how would you up-sell accessories, what additional products would you have on display at checkout, what payment methods would you accept and how would you entice the customer to come back and buy some more.

The same thought process needs to be applied to an online shop. Thinking through these points will give you a better feel as to what you want to achieve and will help any developers to give you what you want in the most cost effective and efficient manner.