Putting together an online store involves some planning. It starts with where you are right now. Do you already own a offline store? Are you selling things on e-bay or Amazon? Do you have a web site already, but it needs a payment module? Do you already have an online store, but you have to rely on a page editor or webmaster to adjust the inventory because you have no back office through which to do it yourself? Just getting started and don't have very much money? These situations warrant flexibility and exploration of available options.
Many storeowners are intimidated about the amount of additional work having an online store might entail. You already have one store which is a lot of work to maintain. Technology allows for options that can enable a centralization of data, with access to it from POS, online sales and a general ledger. Integration is the key. You don't want to have to manage two separate inventories. When you purchase an inventory item in your general ledger, it should change the count for that item in the online store and the POS database as soon as it is received. When a sale is made in the land shop, it should decrease your inventory both in the online shop and the general ledger, posting to the appropriate accounts at the same time. When you change the price of an inventory item in the general ledger, in the online store or through your POS software, it should automatically change it for all three.
The Zen-Cart Online Store below is a starting point. It is free software, which keeps the costs down, and will give you everything you need to get the online store off the ground. If your inventory is in a database already, it can be imported initially into the database online and will display immediately, with pricing. The next step would be integrating the POS, the general ledger and the online store.
Learn more about Zen-Cart e-Store
Try out Zen-Cart's Back Office, or watch a few five minute flash overviews:
Review the steps involved on the How it Works page. Communicate with our consultants to see what could work and what the possibilities are. Use the Contact Uspage or call 603-397-0405 and tell us what you're thinking. 
