Nov 30 2020

How to adapt my business to online sales?

How to adapt my business to online sales is a question that millions of companies have been forced to ask themselves in the face of global pandemic situation caused by COVID19.

While the digitization of businesses has been a general trend adopted in recent years, there is no doubt that the current health situation has confirmed that the off-line online sales system is lagging behind; forcing businesses to either take the leap and open an online sales channel or improve and incentivize their existing digital strategy.

In order to sell products or services online, it is essential to take into consideration a number of legal aspects related to data protection, e-commerce, advertising, consumer law etc. All e- commerce must comply to be able to operate legally in the online market.

Steps to adapt a company to sell online

The first step that any business must consider to start selling online will be identifying the specifics of your business: classify whether it is a B2C or B2B business, establish the sales channels through which you want to operate or develop a digital marketing strategy suitable for your business and goals. Likewise, make sure that you comply with the applicable laws. It is a key factor to start any online store.

For this purpose, it is essential that each website dedicated to online sales has a series of legislation and Terms and Conditions which dully notify the user about all information that is imposed by applicable law.

Do I have to modify something on my website to sell online?

Each e-commerce must follow a number of legislations that allow its users and customers to obtain the essentials information that the legislation provides. Thus, you should count with:

The Services of the Information Society Act (LSSICE), it will be necessary to have a Legal Notice that identifies the details of the website owner.

Regarding the e-commerce privacy policy in which the ground for legality and the purpose of processing data collected through the website, for example, the duration of data storage or the existence of international data transfers are reported. This legislation must be implemented in all sections where data is collected (registration, contact form, etc.) on the website, and this must be in accordance with the different purposes of processing that the e-commerce intends to conduct under the data protection regulation.

Likewise, it is crucial to have the Notification and Cookies Policy which includes a configuration panel, so that website users can select the cookies in said panel in a granular way in accordance with the most recent indications from the Spanish Agency for Personal Data Protection in the Guide on the Use of Cookies of November 2019.

On the other hand, all e-commerce must have the Terms and Conditions which set out all the rights and obligations of the company and users in relation to the sale of products or services through the website, such as price and method of payment, deliver time, methods of return or information regarding the minimum period of fourteen calendar days to exercise the right of return, for example, granted to customers by the General Consumer and User Defence Act.

Specific regulations for e-commerce

During the process of drafting various regulations and Terms and Conditions which you intend to implement on an e-commerce website, you should take into account all the obligations that applicable legislation impose on online stores, including: