Setup Online Store with Google Apps

Building a brand as a small merchant on the web is challenging. For those us selling our own products on the web as small brand owners, Google Docs is a really convenient tool.

Google Docs is free. It includes word processor, spreadsheet, etc. and with 1G of free storage ($5 a year for additional 20G). Unlike Microsoft Office, all the files are stored on Google's servers and can be accessed anywhere from home, office, hotel room and Starbucks. This is really a godsend for those us who are always on the road but need to keep an eye on our online business around the clock.

Most of the time, it is used as a back office tool. For example:

• Some of us use it to manage inventory and orders.
• Some use Google Spreadsheet to collaborate with distributors to drop-ship products.
• Collaborate with suppliers and factories with product specification and design.
• etc.

However, few realize that we can also quickly build online stores using Google Docs and Google Checkout; and, you don't really need to hire a techie to do that!

If you have a specialty product that you want to market and sell it online, you can create a shopping site specially for your own product in a few simple steps.

In the following example, let us show you how to setup a small online store for selling freshly roast gourmet coffee bean to local upscale offices.

Setting Up a Google Checkout Merchant Account

In the first step, you need to setup a merchant account for Google Checkout. Google Checkout is an online payment process service similar to Paypal. You need to specify your bank account in Google Checkout so that you can receive payments for your online sales into your bank account. You can follow the instructions in Google Checkout to accomplish this.

Use Google Checkout Store Gadget Wizard

Once you have the Google Checkout merchant account to receive online payment for your sales, You need to generate a Store Gadget to link with your merchant account, by using the Google's online store wizard. Click on the Create Online Store Now button and follow the steps:

Grant Your Merchant Account Access to the Store Gadget

Click on the Grant access button in this step:

Add Your Business Address

The wizard will ask you to fill in your business address, email and phone number. This is the private information will not be disclosed to your online customers. Gmail is a good tool for our road raiders. For those us always on the road, we can use Google Voice to link phone numbers into our cell phones.

Add the Online Information of Your Business

Fill in the shopping site's information. This information will be made available to your customers when they make a purchase through Google Checkout.

Fill in Financial Information of Your Business

Fill in tax information of your business.

Sign Term of Service Agreement

Click on the Complete sign up button:

Your Merchant Account is Now Linked with the Store Gadget

Now you are ready for the next step - loading your actual product catalog into your store gadget. You will also receive an email from the Google Checkout's team at this point to report your progress. Click on the Next button:

Grant the Store Gadget Access to Your Google Documents

The product catalog will be stored in a Google Spreadsheet. Therefore, you need to sign into Google Docs to grant access to your Store Gadget to your documents.

Create Your Product Catalog in a Google Spreadsheet

Create a spreadsheet named landi bean inventory, with the following format. You can copy the following template to do this. After you are done, make sure to Publish as a web page.

Load Your Product Catalog Into the Store Gadget

Now your product catalog is stored in the spreadsheet. You ready to load the catalog into your store gadget simply by selecting the document in the wizard:

Preview Your Online Store Gadget

Once the product catalog is loaded into the store gadget, you are now ready to preview it - to take a peek at what it is going to look like when it is embedded in your shopping site.

Generate the Store Gadget HTML Snippet

The HTML Snippets are used to embed into your shopping site. This Snippet, can be inserted into a shopping site using Google Sites , to sell freshly roast gourmet coffee bean to local upscale offices.