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Ecommerce is not about
selling
by Claudie Clot, CEO of advancis.com
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2. So, what is ecommerce?
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Eventually, managers will realize
that a site designed to sell products is different from one designed
to achieve complete customer satisfaction. How so? First of all,
not everything is for sale. Information is offered to educate
the consumer or customer as well as ensure that he or she is
making the right decision. But more importantly, the site is
designed around customer's needs. On certain occasions, a prospect
will come to your site because she needs to buy your product
to solve her problem. On other occasions, a prospect might come
to your site to learn how to solve his problem. Your site will
deliver exactly what each type of prospect needs. Sometimes it
is a solution; sometimes it is advice, sometimes it might be
a recommendation to look for another solution that better meets
their needs. The content is different, the web site structure
is different, the way a company organizes its Internet resources
is different.
Take for instance, Eyewire.com.
Eyewire sells royalty-free photo CDs, fonts, clip arts and other
resources targeted at the desktop and Web designers' markets.
The company uses a customer-driven ecommerce strategy. Consequently,
the site's content and structure is largely determined by the
audience's needs. Consider how the company describes its site:
"More
than a hard sell. At Eyewire, we understand the creative process.
It's more than simply finding and purchasing the right image.
It's also about inspiration and learning new ways to achieve
the look you want. The Eyewire web site is filled with extras
to help you get from concept to completed project. Application
tips and tricks, columns on design issues, free downloads, and
more. You might even find a few distractions along the way."
(Source:
Eyewire Single image guide). Contrast this approach with a site
whose pages feature descriptions and thumbnails of photo CDs
next to an "ADD TO SHOPPING CART" button.
And because achieving customer
satisfaction varies from industry to industry and from business
to business, so will the structure and design of web sites. Remember
there are no web site templates; web page templates maybe, but
no site templates.
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