Global eCommerce

sales are estimated at

QAR 2993 billion

MENA business-to-

consumer sales are

expected to reach

$ 15 billion

by 2015

33%

of consumers in

MENA make

online

purchases

More than 28% of

total online sales

world wide are made

using mobile

devices

Qatar’s eCommerce sales

were estimated to have

reached QAR 2,190

millions

in 2011

82%

of the population in

Qatar use the internet

66% of

consumers in

MENA use the

internet to

research products

Building an effective eCommerce site: An introduction

A brief history of eCommerce Why use eCommerce?

eCommerce adoption Things to do before you adopt eCommerce

Some useful definitions

Create opportunities to build

new relationships with

customers and other online

users

Use innovative and creative

marketing ideas to reach

audiences with specific

needs or interests

Business-to-Business (B2B): Selling products or services to other

businesses.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C): Selling products or services to end

consumer (man-in-the-street).

eCommerce catalog software / solution: An online site

management system with catalog management functionality typically

including products, shipping, sales tax, sale pricing, sales, payment

processing, order processing and marketing features.

Shopping Cart: Functionality on an eCommerce site that maintains a

list of the products selected for purchase by a customer. The shopping

cart functionality can be standalone (using an HTML or other product

presentation format) or part of an eCommerce solution.

Payment Gateway: An internet service that connects your

eCommerce site with your Merchant Account. A gateway accepts

order information and connects to your Merchant Account to authorize

and transfer funds.

Merchant Account: A bank account service that enables online credit

card transactions. (See also Payment Gateway).

Gateway vendors

ePayment vendors

Shopping cart vendors

Stay open for business 24

hours a day, 7 days a

week, around the globe 24/7

Manage more than one

online business at the

same time as your ‘offline’

business

Reduce costs with lower

start-up and operating

costs and reduced sales

and advertising costs The emergence of eCommerce

capabilities arose from the need

to share details of goods

shipped by sea; this led to

development of tools to allow

the electronic exchange of data

– known today as Electronic

Data Interchange (EDI)

Netscape arrived, providing users a

simple, browser to surf the internet ,

and a safe online transaction called

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Online retail shopping is becoming the

norm for shoppers. People around the

world are more comfortable in using

eCommerce to buy their products.

Shoppers rely on personal

computers or even mobiles

to perform their

purchases

Born 1984… In 1994…

In 1995… In the 1990s…

In 1990, Tim Berbers-Lee

proposed the development of the

“World Wide Web”. In 1992,

CompuServe offered online retail

products to its customers.

Today…

Two of the biggest names in

eCommerce were launched:

Amazon.com, and eBay.com. The

emergence of these two sites

continue to affect the eCommerce

landscape to this day

1

Understand your market demand.

Keep up-to-date with current trends.

Use tools like Google Trends to

check the popularity of a product.

2

Research your

competition.

How do they

do business online? What works

well? What would you change?

Where could your site fit into existing

services?

Talk to your website

developer about the customers

you are hoping to target. Do not

try to cater to everyone; your

primary audience should be your

primary focus.

3 4

Think about where

your website is

hosted. Hosting

your eCommerce

site in the country in

which you plan to do

most of your

business is typically

easiest.

Think about design.

Your website must

appear professional

and credible.

Customers should be

able to locate what

they are searching

for within three

‘clicks’.

5 6

Find the right shopping cart

software which allows you to

process orders, issue

invoices and calculate VAT

in a way that suits your

business.

Set-up payment methods either

through an online payment

provider, or a bank and payment

gateway.

7

8

Confirm how you

will arrange

delivery of your

products

9

Search Engine Optimization

(SEO) plays a big part in online

marketing. Write a blog post for

each major item that you sell, or

use paid advertising such as

Google AdWords or Facebook

pay-per-click marketing.

Gain more loyal customers

by engaging them in online

discussion and providing

regular updates on your

products and services

Tim Berners-Lee: A

British computer

scientist, best known

as the inventor of

the World Wide Web