Creating Stores on the Web: Insider's Guide to Setting Up a Profitable Cybershop On the Web Series: Amazon.co.uk: Joe Cataudella, Dave Greely, Ben Sawyer: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Creating Stores on the Web fills an important gap in the current crop of e-commerce books, focusing on the general challenges facing would-be online sellers and providing resource pointers for the reader to clear each hurdle. This isn't a technical book but rather a pragmatic walk-through of all the issues you'll face when hanging your shingle out on the Web.

This book is great for anyone who is curious about how commerce on the Web works. It provides a rather comprehensive overview of each key topic, including business models, marketing, shipping, design, and payment processing. Most readers will be introduced to issues they hadn't even considered previously. The book is chock full of pointers to real-world sites that either illustrate approaches or provide key services like marketing or payment processing.

Aside from the process of building your own Web store, the authors also introduce you to the growing list of commercial sites that enable you to build a virtual presence with little or no up-front investment. Online auctions are also covered.

There are some screen shots, but the majority of the book comprises well-organised text, bulleted lists of options and tips. Even readers unfamiliar with the Web will follow the discussion easily and get a good grasp on the state of the art of Web selling. --Stephen W Plain, Amazon.com

Topics covered: Online market overview, business models, Web success stories, store design, product stocking, promotion, international sales, payment processing, electronic software distribution (ESD), shipping, online auctions and all-in-one store builders. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

This book covers three key informational areas that are relevant to the various communities of people who want to set up online stores:1. All The Basic and Inside Business Information About Setting Up a Mail Order Store 2. A Fundamental How-To About Doing Retailing on The Web 3. Basic Planning and Strategy Information For Existing Online RetailersExamples will be given throughout the book which will be drawn mostly from the story of how Joe Cataudella built Tronix Multimedia into a successful business on the Web. Examples include Usenet ad posts that don't work, banner ads that do, and expertise on how to organize Email programs and design store Web pages. Everything is covered, from shipping tricks to legal issues to customer service do's and don'ts. Most Web commerce is not going to be fancy merchant server setups that cost thousands of dollars. It's not going to be large stores that sell 1thousands or millions of items. It's going to be small unique outlets run by sole proprietors that set up Web stores as extensions to their existing stores. In addition, many new Web stores will be started by people who've never started a store before-- real or virtual. Both of these groups will want to keep their costs low and will need a lot of basic help getting things up and running and doing it cheap. This is their book.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

New to both business and the internet ? Read this! 18 Jan 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

There are many books about how to run a business. There are an equal number of books about how to use the internet and what the internet can do for your existing business. This excellent book cuts through the middle ground and covers issues of starting a business and selling on the internet in a clear, simple, straightforward way. Instead of reading six books, read this one first! Previous reviews have complained that it is piched at too simple a level. I think this is the beauty of the book - rather than give overly detailed technical or business information, you get enough to have an understanding of a topic. So, read this book first, THEN go and get the extra details that you feel you want. For example, rather than read a 300 page book on credit card clearing, you get 30 pages covering payment options. It covers just enough that you can go and talk to a merchant aquiring bank with a degree of intelligence.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Would have rated this zero crowns if possible 4 Sep 1999

The book is so basic it's insulting.

Tips such as 'You can avoid selling bad products by not stocking many of them .... that way you won't be stuck with lousy products and it keeps your inventory from getting too big' are hardly inspired commercial insights.

The analysis of other e-commerce sites such as L.L. Bean are equally basic, really just descriptions of the web pages, with no discussion on issues such as the economics or supply systems of these companies.

The authors clearly do not have the depth of commercial knowledge required to write a truly useful guide ...

Perfect Book for First Time Online Store Owners 6 Aug 1998

This book is a very good guide for the first time online store owners (especially good for someone who has never operated a retail store). The marketing, selling, and shipping sections were particularly helpful. The only drawback that this book has is that I don't think it goes far enough on the finer aspects of creating an online store -- legal issues, IRS issues, accounting issues, what could happen to your finances if your store should fail.