1. Introduction

This blog aims to test of the old adage:

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

I have been teaching and advising people on how to run an e-commerce business for many years and now is the time to put all this advice into practice – on my own store. Can I do it myself, or should I stick to telling other people what to do?

Over the next 12 months I plan to post updates on my experiences of setting up an e-commerce store from scratch. And when I say from scratch I mean ‘from scratch’, as of 1st Jan 2009 I don't even have a product to sell.

So, this will be a warts and all account of my year on the e-commerce frontline.

Who should read this blog?

It should be of interest to anyone running or involved in running an e-commerce store.

You could be thinking about selling online. You might have been lucky enough to be given the role of running the new online store for the companies existing business (basically you were the one who seemed to know computers best - so you got the job - on top of all your other jobs!). Or you might have been running a store for a number of years and would like improve what you have.

Whoever you are, if you are involved in e-commerce there should be something for you!

Questions that this blog should answer in the next 12 months:

• How much does it cost to setup online?
• How long does it take to put a store live? And what processes are involved?
• How can I build traffic to my store?
• How can I increase conversion rates? And what is a good conversion rate?
• What laws are important in e-commerce?
• How much will my online store earn me in the first year? A lot I hope!

The Rules

Like all good games there must be rules. The rules I have given myself for this 12 month e-commerce experiment are as follows:

Rule #1

The first rule of the e-commerce project is:- I must talk about this e-commerce project.

Rule #2

The second rule of the e-commerce project is:- I MUST talk about this e-commerce project. Shameless self promotion is the order of the day. Something I am not known for, this is why it takes the first 2 rules.

Rule #3

Sell a product online, rather than a service. I want the store to offer a product that has to be shipped, this should help expose any issues with couriers and returns.

I am looking for the 'ideal' product to sell online, so I the product must fit my rather faddish criteria:

1. Niche - it must be a niche market. I don’t want to be a superstore selling everything.
2. Fit through the letter box - this gives the opportunity to send the product out using Royal Mail, rather than a Courier.
3. Something I can happily sell and believe in.
4. A product that is unlikely to be returned - i.e. not clothes and shoes.

Rule #4

There must be scope to make money. That is what is all about at the end of the day.

Rule #5

Post an update on Monday of each week.

Rule #6

Dedicate between 4-8 hours per week on the project. This is all the time that I can give. I have a full time job, two children and I want to run a couple of triathlons this year.

This still devotes up to 52 working days to the project, and judging by Jonathan Briggs’s article 'Costs and budgets for ecommerce' this is ample time to create and manage a basic online store.

I also believe this to be the amount of time many companies would be willing give over to starting out in e-commerce. Either with an existing member of staff running the online store to their existing role (something I hear a lot from trainees) or someone setting up an online store in their spare time (while working on the proper job).

Rule #7

Be open and honest. Post the good, the bad and the ugly.
Part of this openness will be a monthly summary sheet showing key performance indicators such as turnover, profit and visitors.

I also plan to track the time spent on this project so a cost can be associated to each task.

Executive Summary:

• Turnover (this month): £0
• Turnover (year to date): £0
• Profit (this month): £0
• Profit (year to date): £0
• Total Hours (me only): 0
• Total Cost (me only @ £20 per hour): £0
• Unique Visitors for (this month): 0

Personal Summary:

• Weight: 83kg
• Alcohol (units):0
• Tea (cups):0
• Cycled (km):0
• 5k run PB: n/a
• 20k cycle PB: n/a

And finally

Of course it could all go very wrong! The store could fail to get any visitors, proving that everything I teach people about e-commerce is wrong. If it does all go wrong I suppose I could always become a teacher!