AJPark

There are many reasons to have a website.  Equally, there are valid reasons for not having one.  So the first step is to be clear about your reasons for having a website.

Do you want to communicate information to your customers?  Do you want more visibility for your business?  Do you want to sell more goods to a wider customer base?

Challenge your reasons.  Do you really need a website if your business is purely local?  Your time might be better spent joining local groups, such as your Chamber of Commerce or advertising locally, to get the results you want. 

If you decide that having a website is right for you, then you can either build the website yourself or work with a web developer.

Creating a website is an exciting and often challenging experience.  But, with planning, and an understanding of the process and the issues to consider, it can be rewarding and also deliver outstanding results to your business.

Here’s an outline of what you need to do:

Register your domain name

The domain name is the unique identifier that will enable customers to find you online. If you are already trading under a name, then you will want to use the same name online.  Domain names are registered on a ‘first to register’ basis, so don’t be surprised if you find that your name has already been registered.  If that is the case, then you may need to select a variation — possibly adding an ‘s’ or ‘nz’, or even a word describing your business — to give you a unique domain name that can be registered.

Visit a registrar like www.domainz.net.nz to see if your domain name is available and, if it is, register it.

Protecting your retail name

If you have not already done so, you should consider registering your retail trading name as a trade mark.  Your trade mark should cover online trading as well.  Registered rights give you the exclusive right to use your trade mark throughout New Zealand, even if you only have a single shop in Wanganui, for example.  But once you start to trade online, your trading space is without borders.   As a starting point, you go could to www.iponz.govt.nz to check that your retail name is not already registered.  Be aware that other rights may exist that only an expert can advise you on. 

Website development

Only you know what your website needs to say, and what’s most important.  Others can help you, but the vision must be yours. 

The key parts to developing a website are:

• Deciding what the website is trying to achieve and how it fits with your retail business.
• Making the content easily available, current and useful to your customers.
• Ensuring that your website structure is scenario-based.  Customers want solutions rather than straight information.
• Making a continued commitment so the information you provide online is current and relevant.
• Ensuring you have the resources in place to handle sales and other enquiries quickly. 

Ownership of intellectual property

Setting up a website often involves creating intellectual property.  This can be a fraught area if ownership is not clarified in writing at the outset.  A website has many parts, including software, words, images, and music to name a few.  If a dispute arises the default position under the current Copyright Act would mean the retailer would own some aspects of the website while the developer would own others.  This is not an ideal position for anyone, but it is also a situation that can be easily dealt with by having an agreement in place to clarify ownership of intellectual property rights from the start.

You should also get a warranty from your website developer to state that what they have done for you is not an infringement of any existing intellectual property rights.  

Hosting your website

You must have a space set up specially on a web server where your website will be “hosted”.  You can theoretically host a website on your computer, but this is not recommended as response times will be slow.  This could frustrate and alienate your customers.

There are many businesses that offer web hosting services.  Check them out to see who will serve your needs best.

Making the sale

There are many e-commerce payment choices to consider.  You need to give your customers a facility to send their credit card details to you (either by email or through your server) and give them confidence that those details will not be captured by a hacker.  An alternative choice would be to use a third-party global payment processing system, for example PayPal.

A shopping cart facility would enable several products — on one or many pages of your website — to be selected and paid for using the cost-calculated facility.

You may decide to run a database of available products.  This can be managed by you, or outsourced to a third party.  It would include product details, prices and so on, which are updated by the website program as the shopping cart is filled. 

Your e-commerce payment facility must allow you to separately set up a way of accepting and receiving payments.  A visit to your bank will be the easiest way of working out how to do this.

Alternatively, ask those successful retail websites what system they use. You may be surprised at how helpful others can be.

Statements on your website

Every retailer must know what they can and cannot say when selling goods or services.  You need to be aware of your duties under the Fair Trading Act, Consumer Guarantees Act, Sale of Goods Act and Advertising Standards Authority codes.  Other industry specific laws or codes may also apply to how you sell your goods and services.

As a start, you must ensure all statements made on your website about your goods or services, (or about your business in general), are accurate, unambiguous and do not create a misleading impression.

Also remember that having an online presence extends your potential customer base beyond New Zealand.  Depending on the product or service you are selling, you should be careful not to breach another country’s state or federal laws. An example would be selling alcohol online.  Different age limits apply in different countries.  If you want to avoid these types of issues, you should consider making a clear statement on your website about which country (or countries) your website is directed at.  If applicable, also consider having some form of age restricted access built into your website.

Again, it pays to get expert advice on how you can, or cannot, trade in any particular country. But, as a start, organisations like New Zealand Trade and Enterprise will have knowledge you can tap into.

Terms and conditions

You need to think carefully about the terms and conditions that will apply to the sale of goods on your website.  You also need to make sure that these terms and conditions are clearly displayed and accessible to customers.

Terms and conditions include:

• the currency that you have priced your goods or services in
• any other costs associated with buying your goods or services, such as GST and postage
• how you will accept payment for your goods or services
• how your goods or services will be delivered
• your returns policy
• indemnities and warranties
• data protection
• testimonials
• frequently asked questions.

Conclusion

Once you have taken the plunge, the pathway to having an online presence can improve your profile and extend your customer base all through the click of the mouse.  Take time to plan how your website will look and work.  That way, you’ll be happy with the results — and your customers will be too.

An edited version of this article was published in NZ Retail, February 2010.

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  Corinne Blumsky

  Partner