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Ecommerce Assignment 2 

Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4

Step 1. Pick a Product

An E-Commerce Site that Sells Guitars.

Step 2. Decide on Payment Methods:

What payment methods are available – how will your customers pay?

Research how you would setup to receive online payment. Some questions you might want to address are: What payment methods will you accept? How much will an online payment service cost you? How are you going to report this to your customers? This must be realistic and match the product.

Some payment methods that are available for online orders are:

These are payment made through a provider such as:
  • PayPal
  • Stripe
These Services require an account to be created with them. The Information they provide will need to be entered in your website builder, like WordPress, to allow payments over your website. These services accept credit card payments, or allows a customer to pay from their account. It is free to set up an account with one of these services, however there is a fee for transactions that are handled by them. The fee is usually around 3%. Note: WooCommerce and Shopify have a payment processor built into them.
This is a network that electronically transfers money between bank accounts. It is available in the US. This type of payment requires the exchange of credit card information such as a routing number and an account number from a bank. The customer will usually decide to use this method or not due to the need to have access to the accounts or an ACH payment service provider. Some ACH payment service providers are:
  • Gusto
  • Stripe
  • Bill.com
  • Stax
In this type of transaction fees for an ACH Transfer, the customer is on the hook to pay the fees. Some ACH service providers may charge you, the seller a fee as well. Stripe charges a 0.08% fee and caps it off at $5.00.
These payments may be:
  • Google Pay
  • Apple Pay
  • Samsung Pay
Mobile payments are simplified for a customer using their mobile devises. Their credit card information is automatically entered for them. To implement this payment method to a website you are building with code, you will need to follow developer guidelines provided by the payment service. If you are using an Ecommerce platform on a WordPress site, no coding is required. There is usually a Mobile Payment activation option.
This service allows for a single click payment method over an e-mail by using an invoicing platform. Some invoicing platforms work with payment service providers like PayPal and Stripe. Invoicing platforms such as:
  • QuickBooks
  • Zoho
  • Xero
  • Wave
  • Harvest
The customer will receive a bill through e-mail. Then the invoicing platform will generate a method on what payment type the customer wishes to use. For example, a credit card or directly from a bank account. You, the seller, can choose what form of payments you will except.

Given the information above.  I would probably start by using Online Services Providers like PayPal.  Since we are using WooCommerce, I will probably end up using their Online Service provider.  It will end up coting me about 3% on every transaction.  If I’m selling a guitar, the final cost may vary.  If I’m selling a brand like Fender, I’m looking around $850 based off of the research I did last week.  Where as a Squire, Fender’s more affordable brand can go for around $200.  At 3% a Fender may cost me about $25.50 and a Squire may cost me $6.00.  

I also would look into accepting mobile payments.

I would plan to report this to the customer through the Cart on the website, much like you see on most sites.  Or add payments accepted information on the bottom of my home page so the customer can decide if they are ok with those payment methods before they have already spent their time shopping and placing items in their cart.

Step 3. Decide on Shipping Methods and Costs:

Given I am selling a physical product, I would have to ship it to the customer.  The price of shipping a guitar depends on shipping services and weight of the guitar.  Electric guitars on average weigh an average of 6 to 9 lbs. and Acoustic guitars weigh on average 3 to 5 lbs.

Shipping Services & Estimates:

If you were to ship a guitar with the dimensions, space the item will occupy is considered when shipping, 45”x 10”x 24” with the weight of 9 lbs. across the length United States, this is the dimensions for a heavier and larger than average guitar. Estimates are:
  • Standard Ground Shipping Estimate: $107.78
  • 3 Day Select Shipping: $261.90
  • 2 Day Air Shipping: $378.01 to $454.84
  •  Next Day Air Shipping: $514.88 to $546.90
For an average sized guitar estimates are:
  • Standard Ground Shipping: $80.84
  • 3 Day Select Shipping: $140.98
  • 2 Day Air Shipping: $199.09
  • Next Day Air Shipping: $226.38.
FedEx – Estimates $32 to $389 If you were to ship a guitar with the dimensions 45”x 6”x 16” with the weight of 18 lbs. to a nearby city in the Midwest United States estimates are:
  • Standard Ground Shipping: $31.49
  • FedEx Express Saver Shipping: $71.21
  • FedEx 2 Day Shipping: $83.62 to $93.68
  • FedEx Priority Shipping: $148.25
  • FedEx First Overnight: $181.42

It’s recommended to ship the guitar in its original case from the manufacturer.  However, if the guitar is used and does not have its original case you may have to purchase one.  You can get them from Uline or Eco Box.  Uline is more specific for guitars and may be an easier way to go.  Here is a screen shot of their pricing.

Guitar shipping box sales chart from https://www.uline.com/BL_7906/Guitar-Boxes
Shipping Guitar Boxes from https://www.uline.com/BL_7906/Guitar-Boxes

I would probably use UPS or FedEx to ship the product.  I’m leaning more towards FedEx due to the cost being less then UPS.

I will report this information to the customer through the cart page on the website and possibly on the bottom of the Home Page.

Step 4. Decide on how you would like to setup your website:

What do you like in a website? what will you include in yours? Research what you like or dislike in websites and setup a ‘site map’ of pages for your website. Before you design your own ecommerce web site, you need to consider each element of the web design.

Sweetwater Online Music Shop Logo Musician's Friend Logo
Guitar Center
Screenshot of Guitar Center's Web Site
Sweetwater
Screenshot of Sweetwater's web site
Musician’s Friend
Screenshot of Musician's Friend's web page.

I don’t like when an “Subscribe” or “Discount” pop up as soon as I open the web page. This happened when I opened both Musician’s Friend and Sweetwater’s sites.

I did like how all the images drew you into the product. They all used white backgrounds on their webpages to not draw your attention away from the product. Guitar Center used light behind the guitars to bring your focus on them.

A good E-Commerce web site should have and be:
  • User Friendly
  • Easy to Navigate
  • A Definite Target Audience
  • Have Quality Images of its products
  • Clearly show the Price for its Products
  • Easy to use checkout cart
  • More than one payment option
  • Customer Reviews
  • Have multiple security features
  • Information relating to shipping and returning
  • If an Item is currently available or there is a wait for an item
  • Mobile Friendly

Crate&Barrel

Crate and Barrel's Home Page.

This E-Commerce web site draws your attention in and focuses it right to the information in the middle without overwhelming the user.  The site uses Breadcrumbs so the user knows where they are at in the web site.  It also has easy to use navigation menus.

https://www.crateandbarrel.com/ – Crate&Barrel Web Site

A Bad E-Commerce Site will have or be:
  • An Undefined Target Audience
  • No Pricing on the Products
  • Lack of Market Research
  • Lack of Security
  • Non-User-Friendly Checkouts
  • Bad Shipping Information
  • Lack of Customer Support
  • Poor Web Page Designs

ARNGREN

Screenshot of ARNGREN dot net.  

This web site is overly cluttered.  It appears to be out of date.  I saw Christmas themes on the bottom of the site.  Its navigation menus are cluttered and sometimes confusing.

https://www.arngren.net – ARNGREN

Answer the following questions for my ecommerce website:

  • Easy To Navigate
  • Do Not Over Clutter it
  • Use images that align with the product
  • Good Security
People who already play guitar looking to expand or people who are learning to play and may be interested in a starter guitar.
I will use a rather plain color scheme. A lot o f white with black, and use some reds and blues. The colors will be softer. I don’t want to overdo it. I want the products to stand out more than the color scheme.
I am thinking of doing a top menu on the page with drop down menus. Similar to what is on my test site.
The Logo will feature a guitar. There will be buttons that allow the customer to select the product. The images will be smaller and light files so load time will be faster.
I want to allow for safe and trusted transactions.

Create a ‘site map’ of all the pages of your site. Decide which page will come up first, what it will link to and the interactivity of all pages at your site. This could be hand drawn storyboard, then taking a picture and submitting or drawn using a software.

Here is a rough draft outline of my E-Commerce web site. Ecommerce Site Map Draft

This illustrates the flow of my E-Commerce web Site.

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