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11

CHAPTER 11

11. Ecommerce

In the previous chapters we talked about making websites findable. We have also shown that
a web shop can be made findable in the same way as a "normal" website. In this chapter we
will delve deeper into the world of ecommerce. The term ecommerce stands for all financi-
al transactions we make on a website, and the webshop is of course the best example of this.

The Netherlands has between 70,000 and 90,000 webshops. This also includes the sites that
do not have a large-scale webshop, but some pages where products or services can be purcha-
sed. Statistically, 75% of webshops disappear every three years. New webshops take their place.
You could conclude that starting a webshop is easy. There are few technical and financial bar-
riers. Successfully operating a webshop is apparently very difficult. In the coming paragraphs,
we will look at what it takes to start and make a successful webshop.

11.1 What you need to start a webshop

To start an online store, you need to take a number of steps and actions:

A: You need an online strategy.
B: You need products.
C: You need website software.
D: You need to be able to organize the logistics.
E: You need to have knowledge of online marketing.

11.1.1 The online strategy (A)
Every business needs a strategy, including web shops. In an online strategy for webshops, as
with a physical shop, you make decisions about the range, prices, target groups and segments,
appearance and promotion. You also determine how your strategy can distinguish you from
your competitors.

11.1.2 The products (B)
Many webshops offer products that other shops also offer. Dropshipping is one of the reasons
for this. With dropshipping, a webshop sells products from a wholesaler. The wholesaler holds
stock. The web shop receives a 'product feed' from the wholesaler and only has to carry out
the sales transactions. The wholesaler delivers the product to the customer and the webshop
receives a margin on the selling price. We will look at this in more detail later.

If you want to start a shop, make sure you have products and services that will help you stand
out. Selling other people's products via dropshipping or affiliate marketing (we will come back
to this later) is usually only successful to a limited extent.

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