E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the term used to describe the buying and selling of goods and services via the internet. Besides the sale of physical products, it is possible to sell digital goods, subscriptions and services on the web. It is also becoming increasingly popular for organisations and charities to provide donation buttons on their pages.

Online shopping is an area which has seen tremendous growth in recent years. It is now considered essential for businesses and individuals in retail to have an online presence. In the past, the costs involved in developing websites with e-commerce capabilities often meant that only larger retailers could afford to take their business online, thankfully this is no longer the case. There are now several applications available either for a small fee or free of charge designed to let you manage all aspects of online retail.

Taking Secure Payments

Thanks to services like PayPal, getting set up to take secure payments online is very straightforward. There are two types of merchant accounts offered by PayPal, Website Payments Standard and Website Payments Pro. If you use the Standard account, users will be redirected to the PayPal website to complete their transaction. This can be circumvented by registering a Pro account allowing payments to be taken without users having to leave your website. Both accounts accept payments via credit and debit cards regardless of whether the paying customer has a PayPal account themselves.

Whichever payment gateway you decide to use, if you want users to be able to make payments without leaving your site, you’ll need an SSL certificate. This is a virtual document attached to domains indicating that they belong to a bona fide organisation or individual.

At rootsy we offer everything from PayPal set up to the design and development of your store front, content management system and the purchase and installation of SSL certificates.

Security

We take online security very seriously and offer ongoing support for all our customers with e-commerce websites. Ongoing maintenance is essential to ensure that software is kept up to date and free of potential vulnerabilities.

Our work

See our work for e-commerce examples including:

• Eco Bohemia: a fully featured online shop selling ethical clothes and products
• Minna: an online store for a London based fashion designer
• Serein: a record label and store allowing the sale of music in both physical and digital forms
• Nesterova: an online jewellery store featuring an e-commerce plugin to extend the core functionality of WordPress to allow the sale of physical goods online
• Silk Street Hot Seven and Silk Street Music: featuring custom booking and payment forms forms

To discuss your e-commerce website requirements, contact us on 08448 707 806 or send us a message. We would love to chat.