Got a great business idea?

Author: Kerrin Hardy

According to a Nielsen report in February 2008, over 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase. This equates to a staggering 875 million potential customers for your online store.

With free, open-source shopping cart softare like Zen Cart, you can display your products exactly the way you want to. There are no limits to the number of products you can sell, from one or two to tens of thousands – Zen Cart can scale to meet your needs.

Consumers tend to stick to what they know when it comes to shopping online, according to Nielsen. Sixty percent of online shoppers say they buy mostly from the same site, proving that online shoppers are uniquely loyal. “This shows the importance of capturing the tens of millions of new online shoppers as they make thier first purchases on the Internet. If shopping sites can capture them early, and create a positive shopping experience, they will likely capture their loyalty and their money.” said Jonathan Carson, President of Nielsen Online.

By using your local knowedge and experience together with your product expertise it is possible to beat the household names when it comes to online shopping. Your attention to detail and personalised customer service will win customers over time and time again. If the customer decides they would like to ship part of the order direct to their Grandma and would also like it gift-wrapped, you can be far more flexible and accommodating than some more well-known online stores and this will be reflected in your growing number of loyal customers.

In selecting sites on which to shop, one-third used a search engine or just surfed around to find the best online store. One in four relied on personal recommendations. “Recommendations from fellow consumers – whether they are people they know or fellow online shoppers – play an enormous role in the decision-making process. The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last year means that this reliance on word of mouth, over other forms of referral, looks set to increase.” said Carson.

Utilise the in-built marketing tools like Product Reviews, Tell-A-Friend and search engine friendly product listings to effectively market your products in Zen Cart.

So, do you have a hobby that you would love to turn into a profitable business? Do you want to start a business but are not ready to give up your day job yet? Then an online store may be the right solution for you. Take a look at the features of the shopping cart software available and think about which features are most important for you and your business idea. It will be a steep learning curve and an online store can be just as much work as a ‘bricks & mortar’ store but with much lower outlay required and with less risk, it may just be the start of big things to come for you.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ecommerce-articles/got-a-great-business-idea-1255875.html

About the Author:

Kerrin Hardy is the author of the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart, a must for anyone using the number one free, open-source shopping cart software – Zen Cart.