Although most Web stores are probably set up with the expectation that the majority of orders will be received through the Web, the reality is that many customers prefer to use the Web to aid in the selection of a product and then to order by more traditional methods. You therefore need to ensure you are able to accept orders in as many different ways as possible.

Secure order form
The most basic way to accept orders on the Web is to set up an HTML form where users enter the items they wish to buy, their shipping address, and credit-card information. Using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) compatible server and browser will ensure that the credit card information cannot be discovered by third parties.

The use of an unsecured order form is not recommended. Even if you try to cover yourself with a disclaimer, the potential for litigation and bad publicity is too high should a customer claim (whether true or not) to have had his credit card details stolen when ordering from your site.

E-mail
Provide a dedicated e-mail address for customer orders but ask them not to include credit card details unless using secure e-mail. It is safer to have the customer include a telephone number so you can call back and get credit card details later - but remember you will need to respond very quickly to these e-mails or risk losing the order

Fax
Design your Web store so that after your customer has completed their selection they have an option to print out a completed order form for faxing. Try and have a dedicated number for fax orders to minimise the chance of getting a busy signal when your customer tries to fax through his order. Better still, consider using a service that converts faxes to e-mail, for example JFAX (www.jfax.com), UniTerra (www.uniterra.com), and Integrated Global Concepts (www.igconcepts.com)

Telephone
Accepting orders over the 'phone is relatively straightforward, however the global nature of the Internet does mean that you can expect to receive orders 24 hours per day. If you can not justify manning a telephone permanently, you may have to rely on a simple answering machine or voice mail service. Alternatively, there are now a growing number of companies that will accept telephone orders on your behalf (for a fee, of course) and then forward them on to you for fulfillment.

A growing trend is the integration of Web and telephony services. AT&T's "click to call" technology, for example, allows visitors to a Web site to simply type in their phone number and click on an icon to send the number to the Web site's call centre agent. The phone number is immediately relayed to an agent, who then 'phones back to answer any queries or accept an order.

Snail Mail
Many businesses still require to place orders through formal, paper purchase orders so make sure you include a physical address for this.