Yahoo! Small Business

This is the Yahoo! Small Business application which provides an online store solution to aspiring entrepreneurs.


http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/

This is a commercial application where users have to play USD 29.96 a month to use this service.

I would like to look at the features of such an application so that it can be compared to those of blogs, to appreciate how blog users have managed to turn blogs into retail sites.

SO here are the features you would get from a purpose built e-commerce site:

1. STORE DESIGN

Blogs match this feature well as you can download all sorts of templates and configure your blog pretty much like what you can do here.

2. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Yahoo can do these:

• Add up to 50,000 products to your ecommerce store using our simple wizard, or upload information from a spreadsheet or database.
• Create a detailed catalog of the products you sell online, with product descriptions, SKU numbers, sizes, colors, prices, and any other custom fields you'd like to add.
• Track product-inventory levels and set alerts to notify you when quantities are low.
• Integrate with existing order- and inventory-management systems like OrderMotion and StoneEdge to keep data across sales channels in sync.*

 

Apparently, blogs do not have any of these capabilities so blogshop owners need to manage their inventories manually.  Meaning there will be limitations in terms of what they are able to do.

3. SHOPPING CART

Yahoo's shopping cart feature can accomplish these:

• Choose a single- or multipage checkout, along with custom colors, fields, and buttons.
• Select your preferences, and your shopping cart and checkout pages will be created automatically — no coding required.
• Let customers see checkout totals before they pay. The shopping cart can automatically calculate shipping, tax, and discounts.
• Offer customers the ability to purchase gift wrapping or include a personal message with their order.
• Sell downloadable products like software, music, or gift certificates.
• Add tracking codes to the checkout process to keep track of important purchase data.
• Enable registered or guest checkout options [BETA]
• Provide streamlined checkout and detailed order history to registered users[BETA]

 

In comparison, shops made from blogs have to rely on very rudimentary and resourceful methods to process checkouts and orders, like emails and phone calls.

4. PAYMENT PROCESSING

 

 Yahoo can do these:

• Accept online payments via credit cards, checks, POs, and money orders, or process credit card payments offline.
• Accept and process payments via PayPal checkout or a merchant account (such as PayPal, Bank of America Merchant Services, or any other merchant account compatible with the FDMS Nashville payment gateway platform).
• Use FDMS payment gateway services at no additional charge. Please note that you must have a merchant account to use gateway services.
• Protect your business and your customers with multiple security layers.Learn more
• AcceptPay^® lets you electronically invoice customers and accept online payments—all in one place. You can give your customers the choice to pay with all major credit cards, eCheck or ACH, making it easier for them to pay you.

 

Obviously, you don't get this sort of sophistication with a blog platform.  Blogs utilize CODs and a lot of bank transfers.

5. SHIPPING

 

Yahoo can do these:

 

• You can use any carrier you'd like, including FedEx, USPS, and UPS.
• Encourage repeat business by providing free shipping.
• Set your own shipping rates by product weight, destination, order value, and more.
• Use integrated UPS functionality automatically calculate shipping rates, validate addresses, and insert package-tracking links into customer emails.

 

Blogshops miss out on the ability to integrate with logistic systems providers (in this case USPS or UPS) so a substantial amount of the benefits derived from automation and integration is lost out. Postal carriers can provide a lot of valuable services that streamline the processing and delivery processes, and hold much propositions for big businesses with a lot of orders to track and move.  But then again, blogshops operate on a small scale and they can dispense with this functionality.

6.  ORDER MANAGEMENT

 Yahoo can do this:

• Track and handle orders, returns, exchanges, and refunds with ease.
• Use our order and payment APIs to integrate your store in real time with external order-management systems, such as OrderMotion and the Stone Edge Order Manager.*
• Automatically print packing slips, and send emails to confirm orders, announce shipments, or notify customers of changes in order status.

 

These are order management functions that are not available on blog platforms.

7. MERCHANDISING 

 

Yahoo can do these:

• Cross-selling: Promote related items on product and shopping cart pages to encourage larger orders. You can define your own parameters or let our cross-selling tool determine which products to recommend.*
• Coupons: Create coupons to attract first-time shoppers, reward loyal buyers, and offer targeted promotions. Learn more
• Discounting: Offer customers sale pricing and volume discounts.
• Gift certificates: Increase store sales — particularly during the holiday season — by offering gift certificates on your site.*
• Reorder: Make it easy for customers to submit repeat orders based on previous purchases. [BETA]

 

These have marketing value which many blogshops do offer but are not automated.  I don't think this is such a big advantage over blogshops.

8. SITE STATISTICS

• Review data on web site traffic, sales, and referring sites with easy-to-read reports.
• Take advantage of Yahoo! Web Analytics for more in-depth, real-time reporting.* Learn more
• Use the information you gather to improve the efficiency of your ecommerce store.

 

These days there are so many free analytical tools out there that this feature can be quite easily substituted for by a blog user.  Google Analytics come to mind.

 9. MARKETING

• Search engine optimization: Get your site in front of potential customers by optimizing your pages for better ranking in search engine results.Learn more
• Search engine marketing: Enjoy exclusive discounts on search engine marketing campaigns from Microsoft ($75) and Google ($50).*
• Yahoo! Shopping: 20% discount off minimum bid prices for Yahoo! Shopping listings.
• Email: Drive new and returning customers to your site with custom email campaigns. Learn more

This is what blogshop owners lose out on.  They have a major problem with driving traffic to their blogshops and the Yahoo sites have SEO built in into these applications.

10. CUSTOMER SUPPORT 

Yahoo has these:

• Receive 24-hour toll-free phone and email support from our ecommerce experts.
• Access our comprehensive online help center for detailed instructions, tutorials, and more.
• Qualified merchants* can receive premium support from a dedicated account manager.

*Not available to all customers. Customers with more than $500,000 in annual online sales with Yahoo! Merchant Solutions can qualify. Qualification is subject to the discretion of Yahoo! Merchant Solutions.

These are available for bigger businesses, though, so they might not be a big deal for blogshops.

11.  HOSTING

Yahoo has these:

• Domain name and 1,000 business email addresses.
• Web hosting with unlimited disk space and data transfer. (Details)
• 99.9% consistent uptime for your store.*
• Data backup in multiple data centers to ensure your information is recoverable in emergencies.
• Servers across the globe for faster loading of your web pages.
• Proven ability to handle peak sales traffic.

 

Blogs provide FREE HOSTING and Blogger can pretty much match Yahoo on most of these.