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Dr. Ecommerce,

I intend to open a multi-language website ( firstly in French and English ) to sell art and crafts products from Vietnam to the European market, America market and some Asian markets. I would like to act as an buying agent in Vietnam. How I can get started on-line. My biggest problem is that I don't have so much money to start a business .

So could you advise me on how to get started ? Where can I find useful information? How about the e-commerce potential in my market?

Thanks and Best regards.

Nicolas

Dear Nicolas

Thanks for your email and good luck with your venture. It sounds very interesting and I hope you succeed.

I'll answer you as best I can, however, I do not know the situation in Vietnam in terms of infrastructure, bank support, legal issues etc.

The first step is to set up a web site to market your products. If money is limited, but time is not, you would do best to learn the basics of designing a web site and set up an online catalogue of your products. You'll want to include substantial information about the products as well as images so your potential customers can visualise each item. You should look at various electronic shop web sites, particularly ones selling similar products to yours. Imagine you are a customer and analyse what you like and what you dislike about these web sites. Then, when you make your own web site, be sure to use this information to make a customer friendly web site.

You will also need to find a service provider who can host your web site. See what is available locally and also look at what is available overseas. Fortunately, you can put up your web site on any server in the world, so you can look at features such as price, speed, memory and support (this last is the most important issue in my opinion) rather than focus on location. You should also use an ISP that can provide you a secure server system for transactions (see below).

The tricky part will probably be dealing with payments. The normal means of payment for web sites is via credit card and you should contact your bank about establishing a merchant account for accepting credit card payment over the Internet. Some banks are reluctant to do this and you may have to try several banks, particularly if you do not already have an established business. You will also need to set up a secure payment system. A good ISP will help you with this.

Once you get your merchant account, you will need to convince people to trust you. Many consumers understandably worry about sending credit card information to unknown organisations, particularly organisations which are far away. So you may have to work hard to establish trust. This might involve such activities as promoting your company and web site so people become familiar with it; participating in art and craft and e-commerce related discussion groups in order to establish your identity and expertise in the field; providing a page explaining to consumers why it is safe to send credit card information over the Internet (many e-commerce web sites do this, take a look such pages).

Finally, you should check Vietnamese law about exporting arts and crafts. Many countries have laws to control this. Making a sale only to discover you cannot deliver would be embarrassing and damaging to your credibility.

As far as getting information, there is a great deal of information on the market. Our links page at http://www.ispo.cec.be/ecommerce/links.html will provide a lot of information. In addition, you should try search engines to dig up information and, perhaps most importantly, you should look at other on-line shops to see what they are doing.

I think you have an interesting idea and if you are willing to really work at it, I expect you have a good chance of success.

Dr.Ecommerce