E-Commerce - Product Strategy - 1

The first and foremost aspect in e-commerce is to decide on theproducts to be offered online. If one is already into a specific domain (forexample retail apparel) and wants to extend into online space, then the nextmove becomes easier. If one is interested to get into e-commerce domaindirectly in the first place and has to decide on the products to be sold,exhaustive research needs to be done.
There are many goods and services that can be offered online.Typically, they can be classified into following broad categories:

1. Physical products (like books, electronics, apparel, lifestyle and deals)

2. Services online (like online marketplace, travel bookings, tax filing, video-on-demand and group-buying)

3. Digital Downloads (like ring-tones, mp3 music, wall-papers and images for websites)

4. Classifieds (like matrimony, jobs and property)

Each category of the products has its own unique characteristicsthat needs to be considered while making them available online.
Some of the physical productsare big in size and quite expensive. The packaging and delivery needs must beconsidered carefully for such products especially from cost perspective.
One might think that providing servicesonline should not be that challenging. While it is true that fulfillmentand delivery are not quite difficult, providing the functionality itself is notthat easy. Keeping the customer hooked on to the site to avail more services orrepeat service is the key in this case. Earning the trust of the customer insome of the cases is also equally challenging.
The typical challenge with digitaldownloads category is the digital rights management. The digital contenthas to be procured from authentic source while paying due attention tocopyrights. The complexity involved in delivery of the digital goods throughvarious channels (like Web and SMS) cannot be undermined.
Classifieds is an area, whichhas been traditionally available in print medium. When it was moved online, itwas the exact replica of mixed classifieds (sulekha, freeads etc) available onthe Web too. Later, the specialized areas - like only job sites or only matrimonysites - have picked-up and delivered good results in India. There needs to be agood enough incentive for two or more parties to come together on a classifiedssite to avail the service.
Identification of a domain is the first crucial step in starting ane-commerce venture.