Review: Selling Online

If you're a small business just in the planning stages of setting up an online store, here's the book I'd recommend. Carroll and Broadhead begin with sober advice for the would-be merchant. They see overinflated expectations as a chief problem, and guide the reader through 18 questions that help assess their possibilities for success -- and failure.

A chapter on "Options for Building an Online Store" describe some of the various shopping cart programs available and give a checklist of features to look for in selecting your software. Next, the offer a wealth of tips for every aspect of building an effective store. They walk the reader through merchant accounts and online payment processing. Next, they provide tips on security issues and ways to prevent against credit card fraud against the merchant.

A strong chapter on marketing strategies follows, surveying the various ways of promoting the store. The volume concludes with tips on building customer loyalty, future methods of online payment, and comments from a panel of Canadian merchants responding to particular keys to success in operating an online store in Canada.

While the book is slanted toward Canadian merchants, the book includes both examples and resources of US-based stores. This is an excellent start-up tool.

In early November the book was not available through Amazon.com or BN.com, but can be obtained from Chapters.ca, Canada's leading online bookstore, through this link: