Before opening a webshop, the first question is to assess, whether the products offered are fit for sale on Internet. Where the potential customers are and navigate, and whether they are ready to buy this product without seeing it first.
The e-shop can be a part of the existing website or function separately, behind a link that takes the customers there. The simplest way of opening a webshop is to acquire a ready-made webshop package. It may contain management software, an URL address (if a separate address is needed), the server space, the infrastructure, and the visual design. The product pages of the webshop can be modified and updated with an ordinary web browser.
The products sold on the webshop must be well presented with photos and texts and clearly structured. Exhaustive and reliable business, contact, and product data contribute to customer credibility. The pages must show at least the conditions and terms of the sale, the postage and delivery costs, and the instructions for retracting and complaints.
Like all other web pages, the webshop is an excellent way to collect information and build a customer file. The customers must always be informed about the use of the data, and they must be told how they can refuse any other use thereof.
The ABC book of e-commerce is published in Finnish: under Tieke manuals.
How excellent the product may be, it will not sell itself. Marketing is needed to make the products and services of the cooperative known to the customers who would like to see buy them.