An online trading company is a trading company that operates primarily through the internet and its e-commerce tools. Similar to any regular retail company, online retailers specialize in buying goods from manufacturers and reselling them to consumers or other retailers. However, the online nature of this business makes it different and comes with specific benefits and limitations. Selling goods online offers enormous opportunities and advantages, since you can trade worldwide and save on organizational and administrative costs such as wages, office rent and others.

The main difference is that a 100% online trading company (with no physical stores whatsoever, just headquarters and warehousing facilities) requires virtual rather than physical infrastructure. An offline trading company needs offices, shops, warehouses and a logistics network that connects suppliers, offices and points of sale; An online trading company needs offices, storage space, powerful servers and websites, and a flexible logistics system that allows it to serve customers in many locations.

As you can see, online trading companies require less physical infrastructure, but they also need to be much more flexible to serve their customers. While a website is a useful addition for a regular trading company, for an online trading company it is an indispensable tool without which the company cannot function – hence the high demands on the website and host server's capabilities.

Functions of an online trading company
The main function of an online trading company is to purchase goods from a manufacturer and sell them on to retailers and consumers. A secondary, but nonetheless essential, task is to deliver the goods to customers, as usually online trading companies lack physical infrastructure, such as shops, outlets and other points of sale.

To buy and sell goods, an online trading company must set up a hub for transferring products from manufacturers to customers. In this case, that hub is a website. Just as a physical shop requires designers and marketing specialists to arrange and present products in the most advantageous way, a digital shop also requires specialists to guide customers through the possible buying options.

As for delivering goods, an online trading company can choose to either establish the delivery network itself, or outsource this task by entering into a contract with a logistics company. The online trading company then hands over its goods to the logistics company, which takes care of delivering the goods using its own network.

Key aspects of trading online
Although the goods or services sold by online trading companies will vary, there are some common elements due to the specific ways in which these companies market and sell their final products. Here are some of the main issues that you will encounter, regardless of what you are selling online.

Distance selling
A special category of online trading business is EU distance selling. E-commerce has made huge gains in Europe, and the online market is growing year-on-year. However, every retailer must understand the implications of e-commerce in the EU in terms of VAT. VAT rules are quite different for online sellers; for example, there are different thresholds for VAT registration (e.g. GBP 70,000 for the UK, EUR 35,000 for Poland or Italy, EUR 100,000 for Germany). There is no minimum threshold for providers of digital, electronic and broadcast services, who must apply VAT at the rate set by the country where the consumer is located.

Online stores and websites
Naturally, a website is an absolute must for any online business. Designed as an online store (describing the range of products available, their prices and features), the website must also include the following important sections:

Delivery and returns policy
Contact page, with a phone number, address, email address and other contact information for consumers to use
Online payment options
Online payment solutions
A way to accept online payments is by far the most important consideration for an online business. Your consumer must have a way to pay for your products and services instantly and securely. There are two basic ways to accept payments on your online store:

By using an online payment system, for example PayPal
By using a merchant account to accept direct credit card payments
A merchant account is a special bank account opened for online business purposes, in order to facilitate secure transactions between merchant and customer. Merchant accounts are set up by agreement between the bank and the merchant and they allow you to accept payments in many ways, usually by credit or debit card. Banks are actually not the only entities that can set up merchant accounts; this can also be done by other financial service companies that process credit card payments.