How to Make an Online Product Catalog
According to industry researcher Plunkett Research Ltd., nearly $150 billion in online sales transactions took place in 2008. Yet there's always room for even more e-commerce stores. If you'd like to get started in the online world by creating your own product catalog, first decide whom you're selling to and what products you want to offer.
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Things You'll Need
- Shopping-cart program
- Product inventory
- Website
- Web hosting
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program
Instructions
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Set Up the Shopping Cart
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Download an online shopping-cart program that will allow your customers to check out. Several free programs are available, including ZenCart and FatFreeCart. Fill out any required details, and then download the software to your desktop.
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Install the shopping-cart program on your website by uploading it to your Web host. If your host lacks an upload utility, free FTP programs such as FileZilla can help.
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After you've uploaded the shopping-cart program, input the basic settings you'll need for your online product catalog, including store name, contact address, and telephone number.
Configure Your Products
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4
Create categories to make your online product catalog orderly. For example, if you're creating an online flower shop, you'll need categories for romance, birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions.
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Add products to the appropriate categories. Don't forget to upload pictures, insert a full description of features and benefits, and establish an appropriate pricing structure. You may want to add configuration options, such as color or size, or even offer a product-rating feature.
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Configure shipping and handling charges by setting preferences in your shopping-cart program. You can set up your charges according to product weight, number of items being shipped, or a flat-rate fee of your choosing.
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Enter information on payment options. Most shopping-cart programs allow free and simple integration with PayPal and Google Checkout, in which case all you need to do is enter your PayPal address or your Merchant ID details for Google Checkout.
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Test your online product catalog before your site goes live. You'll want to ensure that your online shopping cart works correctly and that your payment system is set up properly.
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Tips & Warnings
Not all online shopping cart software is identical. See cart vendor guides for specific editing instructions.
