Hi All, I'm hoping I could get some advice from experienced members of this forum on something I have little or no knowledge of. My friends Dad is hoping to get his existing business online. He sells a range of organic food. I would imagine the sales wouldn't really be too huge for the first few months, but a new porduct he would be putting online around March would be extremely suitable and could definitely generate substantial profit. He basically wants to "sell online". I think that if he went for an all-singing all-dancing site built on a magneto e-commerce platform it would be too much too soon. However, come 3/6 months time this may be something that could be more suited to his business. I was thinking of looking to get the site designed in a simple HTML format and use paypal buttons to allow transactions before making a decision to get a redesign/redevelopment once his new product range comes online. Can anyone advise me as to the limitations of using Paypal in this instance? And, what are the additional costs involved in creating a online shop linked to his merchant account using an magento (merchant bank charges, etc.). I will be asking him to speak to his bank manager about a lot of details, but I thought I would try to see if anyone could give me some answers beforehand so I don't overload him with questions. Many thanks guys. Any advice is greatly appreciated
If he's got an existing business, my recommendation is to either commit to a high-quality, and full-featured store, or don't do it at all. Almost every, "test the water" type of entry that I've ever seen has failed. What happens is that you haven't really put anything (time or money) into making it online, so after a few months when your expectations aren't met, also because you haven't put anything into it, you pull the plug. On the other hand, when you go online, with high expectations, but at the same time actually committing to making it work, you are much more likely to develop a solid and worthwhile online presence.