One of the first questions people ask when considering starting an online store is “what is it going to cost?” The answer is: “that depends”. Of course, most people hate that response, but it’s true. Many of the costs associated with having an online store depend on which route you take in setting up and managing your store.

For example, while we recommend Zen-Cart, if you use a hosted shopping cart, you may have low set-up fees but there is an on-going monthly fee for that service. If you select a cart that you can host yourself, you may experience a larger upfront cost with getting the software installed, configured and customized for your use, but the tradeoff is that there is no on-going cost for the use of the software. Depending on your skill level, you may be able to do the set-up yourself erp woocommerce.
Here is a list of items that could involve a fee (one-time or on-going). No sample fees are shown because these will vary by provider. However, as you research these as part of your planning for your online store, you will have access to the fees for the services you select.

Products

• Inventory
• Drop-Ship Fees and/or Warehousing Costs

Website and Shopping Cart

• Website Development – DIY or Professional
• Website Hosting – Shared Hosting or Dedicated Server
• Shopping Cart Software – open source, proprietary or custom

Payments

• Merchant Account and Gateway and/or Payment Processor (example: PayPal or Google Checkout)

Shipping

• Two options: you pay for it or the customer pays for it. If you offer Free Shipping, you have to cover that cost, usually through your pricing.
• Packing materials

Customer Service

• 800 telephone number
• A second phone line, or one phone line with a service that offers a special ring tone for your customer service number.
• Optional live chat service
• Optional help desk and ticket system
• Your time to respond to email and phone questions

Resources

• Software for various tasks to make them easier to complete.
• Books, articles, memberships and other resources that you will want to access or join.

While there are many free resources online and you can do very well with them, it does take time to do the research and keep up to date with what’s important and what is not as well as to stay on top of alerts and other news that impacts your business. It will also take time to learn who really knows what they are talking about and who is just inaccurately parroting someone else.

At the start of this article, I mentioned that we recommend Zen-cart for your shopping cart. With zen-cart, you will find that you get maximum value for the dollars that you spend to get your store up and running and for on-going maintenance. The software is designed so that it is easy to manage your store and when new versions come out, it is easy to upgrade without losing functionality. If you haven’t already looked into Zen-cart, why not do so now?

La gestión de su Tienda Online Woocommerce nunca ha sido tan rápida, fácil, económica y rentable como puede serlo con DAF ERP. ¡Crezca con nosotros y expansione su marca!