E-commerce Shopping Cart
The main incredient of an E-commerce solution is the shopping cart software you choose to run. There are various solutions from web based to sophisticated software packages. If you have a large product catalog and customer base, you may require a high end complex software packages. Such packages will most likely need access to a database server. Many shopping carts are developed to work with a variety of data base technologies including but not limited to MySQL, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server. If you're new to e-commerce, with low volume sales, a web based solution may be sufficient and will allow you to get your site launched as quickly as possible.

E-commerce Credit Card Processing
The next step is to set yourself up to accept your customers' payments. You will need a way to accept credit cards, with a merchant credit card account. This type of account is generally setup through a bank in associated to a credit card company. If you have a merchant account, you will then be able to process your customers' purchases online in real time. Smaller operations with few customers may be able to save credit card information to a file and process purchases by hand. If you decide to process orders in real-time, you will need to find a host which allows access to an authorization gateway.

If you don't have a merchant account, and choose not to acquire one, you will need to implement a third party billing solution. With 3rd party billing systems your store name will not appear on the billing statement when they receive it. This can be a nuisance since many customers will not remember making the charge and attempt a charge-back without first contacting anyone. Another option for online payment is PayPal, which has it's advantages and disdvantages. The negative is that PayPal requires all users to sign up prior to making a payment. This is not the most professional of an appearance you may wish to present to your customers. However, there are no startup fees for PayPal, and the rates you will pay are much less then a merchant account.

E-commerce Security
Now that your shopping cart and payment system is in place, you need to consider security. You will be collecting sensitive customer data, such as credit card numbers, therefore you will want to use a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection. SSL encrypts the data between the host server and the customer, thereby preventing any third parties from accessing the data. Running an e-commerce site it is your responsibility to maintain secure connections for your customers so criminals can not obtain this confidential information. For larger sites setting up a SSL involves purchasing a personal digital certificate, which identifies you electronically to your customers. These technologies ensure your customers that their personal information will be secure and only visible by you. Smaller e-commerce sites could share a certificate that would be owned by the hosting provider. For any larger sites though you should consider obtaining your own certificate and server IP address. Security will be essential to obtain complete customer satisfaction.

E-commerce Summary
In the end, the hosting plan and the strategy you implement for selling on the web should be based on your needs. As your business grows you can enhance the E-commerce capabilities of your business. Netmation's web development team will work with you to devise an online environment that will include a well thought out and designed web site for your business with a reliable e-commerce solution. By asking a series of questions prior to web site construction the chances of achieving a successful web site that will meet your customers expectations will occur.