One way to expand a business that has already achieved a certain amount of success on eBay is to develop its web site. Many of the sellers profiled in preceding chapters encourage the shoppers they acquire from eBay to make subsequent purchases from their web sites. They devote considerable effort to making their web sites customer-friendly and able to conduct e-commerce.
The Jake’s Dog House site (http://www.jakesdoghouse.com) is no exception. One thing you notice the moment you view the home page is the slogan: “Cool Stuff for Cool Dogs.”
The site’s appearance is due, in part, to Infopia’s Marketplace Manager software. “Infopia redid our web site, and we have very strict and certain requirements as to how we want to present ourselves. The site looks awesome and is performing well.” Infopia provides the company with its own shopping cart and checkout system. The Jake’s Dog House web site includes a number of other features that you can’t duplicate in an eBay Store. When you decide to create your own web site you should consider including them as well:
The Jake’s Dog House site (http://www.jakesdoghouse.com) is no exception. One thing you notice the moment you view the home page is the slogan: “Cool Stuff for Cool Dogs.”
The site’s appearance is due, in part, to Infopia’s Marketplace Manager software. “Infopia redid our web site, and we have very strict and certain requirements as to how we want to present ourselves. The site looks awesome and is performing well.” Infopia provides the company with its own shopping cart and checkout system. The Jake’s Dog House web site includes a number of other features that you can’t duplicate in an eBay Store. When you decide to create your own web site you should consider including them as well:
- Multiple search options When you set up an eBay Store, you can let your customers search your merchandise by keyword. When you create a web site, if you have a programmer to help you, you can set up multiple types of searches. Jake’s Dog House lets shoppers search for merchandise by breed of dog and by the brand of the merchandise as well.
- Extensive customer service information eBay Stores do include sections such as About the Seller and Seller Policies. But with a web site, you are able to separate your customer service information into multiple pages. Jake’s Dog House has separate pages entitled About Us, Customer Service, Policies & FAQ, and Throw Us a Bone, which includes contact information.
- Links to other web sites The more useful information you include on your web site, the more return visits you’ll have. Jake’s Dog House includes a page full of links to eBay and PayPal, as well as animal hospitals and animal welfare associations.
Although the web site is operating well, Stein realized he needed to integrate all of his sales the ones made in his retail stores as well as those online. “We needed more automation, between our integration software, our point-of-sale software, and our online management.” He doesn’t want to have inventory mixups occur for instance, if he sells one item twice in two of his stores, forcing one customer to wait while new stock is ordered. Marketplace Manager coordinates sales information and inventory data for all of his storefronts so each one is working with the same information.
