Ecommerce Start Up Strategy

Cliptomania Web Store Case Study The two cofounders of Cliptomania, Jim and Candy, did not have a ton of technical IT experience. Thus, they were going to face issues in setting up the ecommerce site because they lacked the know how to write HTML code or what software they would need to give the site the power to grow long-term. Because the company was just starting up, hiring an outside third party would have not been feasible.

Thus, they had to develop and fine tune a strategic plan to get the site up and running. Thus, the company decided to go with a hosting vendor who would take on the back end costs for a much smaller monthly fee. Yahoo! was ultimately the hosting service that was chosen. Yahoo! offers a number of services for smaller businesses without the resources to start up an ecommerce on their own.

Thus, Cliptomania could then utilize a number of resources, including, HTML code templates for site pages, a shopping cart software that made the customer buying experience safe and easy, and the security of Paymentech that handles all of the billing for all sales conducted on the site. The interface is incredibly easy to use, making the Cliptomania ecommerce store look incredibly professional for a very reasonable initial investment. This was ultimately one of the best choices for the company to take.

Cliptomania can thus use the security and reputation of Yahoo! To provide a safe and easy to use environment for customers. This ultimately allows the owners to focus on the other aspects of the business, as they do not have to spend too much time trying to be their own IT department. The services provided by Yahoo! empowered the site and allowed it to reach a greater consumer base, as it also comes with search engine optimization tools built in to the user interface design.

Such tools can help Cliptomania continue to grow, without having to spend more resources than necessary trying to reach consumers. With the wealth of easy to use marketing and analytical tools now at their disposal, Cliptomania owners could really create strong strategic goals that could then be easily monitored and evaluated with actual customer and sales data. Thus, Cliptomania could have a greater understanding of customer activities on their site in order to make any necessary adjustments to the site's design.

All of this came integrated into the package they purchased with Yahoo! As the site clearly continues to show signs of growth, there may now be a need to change this strategy that was so successful in getting the company up and running online. As the number of purchases increase, the royalties paid to Paymentech begin to not make as much sense as taking payment directly from customers on their own payment system.

Additionally, the site may want to grow beyond what the limits of the Yahoo! templates will allow it to. They must.