Lets run through some costs that you will need to budget. These do not
include your normal business costs for example buying stock or paying
your BAS and IAS. With an eBusiness you may not have the cost of
phyical offices or shops and the staff numbers needed may be much
lower. However there are still the normal business running costs that
need to be supported by the business.
It is always really important to build a business plan before you
start. So here are some of the base costs for an Online Business.
Domain and eMail
To run a successful website you will to have a domain name and
business email address. Visitors who come to your website may want to
send you messages and we highly recommend that you do not use a
personal email address. So you need a sales and an info email address
at least. Expect to pay around $59 per year.
To set up a .com.au domain name you need a registered business with an
ABN in Australia. You can expect to pay $99 for two years. You can get
cheap domain names but generally the service provider does not provide
the DNS hosting which is necessary.
Online Store Package and Hosting
eCorner provide 4 different packages for your online store. The key
difference is the number of products that are for sale on the website
although the packages vary in functionality. Our online store packages
include hosting and data as part of the package. That is not the same
with all providers so you should always make sure of the total cost of
hosting, data and website. Our Starter+, Merchant and Professional
Packages all integrate with Payment Gateways such as PayPal and eWAY
that allow you to accept Credit Cards Online. All of our Payment
Partners comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards
(PCI DSS).
1 - 100 Products: Starter Package = $77 / Month
1 - 100 Products + PayPal: Starter Plus Package = $93.50 / Month
1 - 1000 Products: Merchant Package = $115.50 / Month
1 - 5000 Products: Professional Package = $170.50 / Month
Graphic Design
If you have something special in mind for a custom logo or banner then
it might need to be designed by a professional graphics designer. In
general we would recommend that you get started with the designs
available from eCorner. These are very flexible and you can change
colours, add logos and banners.
If you want a special design it might cost around $1500 - $3000 but
take a look at what is available from eCorner for free first.
Custom Functionality
The packages that eCorner provide come with just about anything you
will ever need to run an eCommerce store. If you are starting a new
eCommerce business we would recommend that you use as much of the out-
of-the-box functionality as possible. When you online business starts
to make money for you then you can look at expanding and adding new
functionality. Web development will cost between $900 and $1200 per
day (or over $110 / hour). Once you add custom functionality to you
web store you then have to budget to maintain it as you move forward.
We recommend you stay as standard as possible.
Payment Gateway
If you want to accept credit cards online we recommend that you use a
Payment Service Provider and process the credit cards via a Payment
Gateway. There are strict regulations around the use and storeage of
credit card information which are regulated by the Payment Card
Industry via their Data Security Standards you can find more
information at their website www.pcisecuritystandards.org or through
your bank.
These have to be integrated into your website. eCorner has already
integrated a number of leading Payment Gateways including PayPal,
eWAY, Dialect Solutions, SecurePay and Worldpay. These are made
available as part of the package from eCorner. You will need to setup
an account with the Payment Service Provider (and maybe also your
bank) to take online payments.
Setup costs vary dramatically from nothing at PayPal up to $500. Some
Payment Providers will also charge an annual fee between $200 - $500.
You will pay transaction fees for each payment that you accept again
these vary greatly but expect from 1.1% + 30 cents up to 4.5%
depending on the Payment Service Provider. So check this out
carefully.
Your bank will also charge you some fees to setup you Online Merchant
Account these do not vary greatly from bank to bank but shop around
and ask questions.
Shipping and Logistics
eCorner provide a wide variety of shipping methods which you can setup
on your website. These handle just about any possibility. We also
provide some integration to Australia Post for calculating shipping
cost in the shopping basket.
The actual shipping cost to send your packages is not part of the
eCommerce package and you need to make sure that you calculate and add
shipping cost correctly. As a tip - free shipping is a great incentive
for buyers so we would recommend that your pricing absorb the shipping
cost when possible and you offer free shipping. You can tie that to
the value in the shopping basket which is always a good idea.
SEO and SEM
Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing can cost a lot
of money. Luckily if you have decided on eCorner you will find that
the websites have some SEO capabilities built in. You really just need
to follow the guidelines and advice in our FAQs and your website will
be search engine friendly.
Search Engine Marketing is a cost you need to consider carefully. We
have seen good web businesses fail because they spent too much on Cost
Per Click programs which were not targeted. Again we have some good
advice in our FAQs. The actual cost of programs like Google Adwords
and Yahoo Search Marketing will vary dramatically based on the types
of products you sell and the geography that you target.
As a broad guideline for an Australian targeted retail website, a
$50 / day budget will get you about 25 click throughs.
If you go to a SEO/SEM company expect to pay up to $2000 - $3000
dollars for advice and a campaign for 3 months. There are some very
good companies available.
SEM should not be the only method you consider for marketing. It is
important to look at the traditional advertisment and marketing
methods such as flyers, direct mail, print advertisment etc.
Automated eCommerce Estimates Tool
If you contact us at i...@ecorner.com.au we will send you a free excel
spreadsheet eCommerce Estimates Tool that can help you understand how
much you need to budget to start, your monthly cost and your
subsequent annual costs.
