Before you begin to build a Web site or app of your own, there are some important questions you will need to think about and answer. The answers to these questions will drive the development and implementation of your e-commerce presence
WHAT’S THE IDEA? (THE VISIONING PROCESS)
Before you can plan and actually build an e-commerce presence, you need to have a vision of what you hope to accomplish and how you hope to accomplish it. The vision includes not just a statement of mission, but also identification of the target audience, characterization of the market space, a strategic analysis, a marketing matrix, and a development timeline. It starts with a dream of what’s possible, and concludes with a timeline and preliminary budget for development.
WHAT’S THE IDEA? (THE VISIONING PROCESS)
Before you can plan and actually build an e-commerce presence, you need to have a vision of what you hope to accomplish and how you hope to accomplish it. The vision includes not just a statement of mission, but also identification of the target audience, characterization of the market space, a strategic analysis, a marketing matrix, and a development timeline. It starts with a dream of what’s possible, and concludes with a timeline and preliminary budget for development.
You examine any successful Web site, you can usually tell from the home page what the vision that inspires the site is. If the company is a U.S. public company, you can often find a succinct statement of its vision or mission in the reports it files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For Amazon, it’s to become the largest marketplace on earth. For Facebook, it’s to make the world more open and connected. For Google, it’s to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. The e-commerce presence you want to build may not have such all-encompassing ambitions, but a succinct statement of mission, purpose, and direction is the key factor in driving the development of your project. For instance, the mission of TheKnot is to be the Internet’s comprehensive, one-stop wedding planning solution.
WHERE’S THE MONEY: BUSINESS AND REVENUE MODEL
Once you have defined a mission statement, a vision, you need to start thinking about where the money will be coming from. You will need to develop a preliminary idea of your business and revenue models. You don’t need detailed revenue and cost projections at this point. Instead, you need a general idea of how your business will generate revenues. . Basic business models are portal, e-tailer, content provider, transaction broker, market creator, service provider, and community provider (social network).
WHO AND WHERE IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Without a clear understanding of your target audience, you will not have a successful e-commerce presence. There are two questions here: who is your target audience and where can you best reach them? Your target audience can be described in a number of ways: demographics, behavior patterns (lifestyle), current consumption patterns (online vs. offline purchasing), digital usage patterns, content creation preferences (blogs, social networks, sites like Pinterest), and buyer personas (profiles of your typical customer). Understanding the demographics of your target audience is usually the first step. Demographic information includes age, income, gender, and location. In some cases, this may be obvious and in others, much less so.
WHERE’S THE MONEY: BUSINESS AND REVENUE MODEL
Once you have defined a mission statement, a vision, you need to start thinking about where the money will be coming from. You will need to develop a preliminary idea of your business and revenue models. You don’t need detailed revenue and cost projections at this point. Instead, you need a general idea of how your business will generate revenues. . Basic business models are portal, e-tailer, content provider, transaction broker, market creator, service provider, and community provider (social network).
WHO AND WHERE IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Without a clear understanding of your target audience, you will not have a successful e-commerce presence. There are two questions here: who is your target audience and where can you best reach them? Your target audience can be described in a number of ways: demographics, behavior patterns (lifestyle), current consumption patterns (online vs. offline purchasing), digital usage patterns, content creation preferences (blogs, social networks, sites like Pinterest), and buyer personas (profiles of your typical customer). Understanding the demographics of your target audience is usually the first step. Demographic information includes age, income, gender, and location. In some cases, this may be obvious and in others, much less so.
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