Internet e-Commerce: Business Plan
Phase Two –Logistics

An important part of starting an online business is the creation of a business plan that will guide you through the various phases of your venture. The first phase of an internet e-Commerce business plan is creating your business’s identification, or what you will sell and who your target audience is. The next phase of an online business plan is to consider the basic logistics of how your business will operate.

This phase of your internet e-Commerce business plan is where many of the details of your business are worked out. It includes researching the various services available to you as a merchant and how your business will interact with your customer.

A few of the logistics that need to be worked out for your internet e-Commerce business are:

Inventory
Will you be able to keep all inventory at your home, or do you need to procure additional space in a warehouse? This is where you have to decide how much inventory is necessary to keep around in order to meet your customers’ purchases in a timely manner. In the beginning it may be feasible and even necessary to keep your internet e-Commerce products at your home. If this is the case, define at what point (revenue wise or volume wise) you will want to move the inventory to another location.

Shopping Cart
Another logistic of your internet e-Commerce business is how your customers will be able to purchase your items. Will you have a shopping cart set up online, or do they need to call to place their orders. Most online stores do most if not all of their business on the web, but if you sell larger items it may be more practical to have your customers reach you offline to discuss the purchase.

Payment Processing
Most online business owners work with a third party company to process their internet e-Commerce credit card business. This allows an online store to accept its customer’s credit cards as a form of payment while not incurring a lot of headaches to go with it. Some service providers will also handle the other forms of payment. You will have to decide which of these avenues is right for you, and then research companies to find who is capable of handling your payment processing needs.

Shipping
Once you figure out how your internet e-Commerce customers will be able to pay for their purchases, you have to figure out how you are going to get the items to those customers. What shipping options will you offer to consumers? Will you be able to fill overnight shipping needs, or do you want to stick with standard post? Who will you use as your carrier, and what will your shipping labels look like?

These internet e-Commerce logistics may seem like minor details, but it is very important to figure them out up front. Selling your product online is only part of the process. Your customers have to be able to make the purchase, and you must be prepared to get their items out to them in a timely and professional manner.