Despite all the advances in the e-commerce industry over the last five or so years, one thing has remained the same. It is still a challenging task to set up your own e-commerce site if you are a SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) and do not want to hire someone else to put it together. Plus, there are very few out-of-the-box solutions for the SME looking to implement e-commerce. 

So what is a SME owner to do without investing a lot (well, thousands, anyway)? 

One approach is working with WTC on the basics of an e-commerce site. WTC offers e-commerce capabilities, whether it be selling a special e-commerce package or offering e-commerce tools as part of a larger package. 

The advantage to working with WTC on e-commerce issues is convenience. You do not need to totally overhaul your server setup while adding the capability to take orders online. There are some additional cost benefits. Instead of having to invest in e-commerce software, you can piggyback off the investment already made by WTC. 

So exactly what are you looking at with an e-commerce account at WTC? You are looking at three separate areas of functionality:

• an online catalog for displaying products
• allows visitors to order products
• process credit card transactions

Once you acquire all the pieces, you'll need to put them together. This is not as big a deal as it sounds, but you should expect to tinker with processes to get everything operating correctly for your business. The best way to understand the process is to visualize the online shopping experience: 

1. A visitor sees that snazzy item on your website catalog and wants to buy it.
   
   
2. They place the item in a cart and when they are done shopping; they check out and order the product. The system will estimatie any applicable sales taxes and shipping charges.
   
   
3. Credit card information is stored so that you can process the transaction. 
   
   

Setting up an e-commerce website puts the global market at your door and it is easy to implement.  Using the e-commerce tools available from WTC can be one way to translate sweat equity into a profitable venture for your business.