Posts Tagged ‘best ecommerce’

Best Ecommerce Shopping Cart Selection

June 11, 2009

Making the right selection of an ecommerce shopping cart is about giving you the best opportunity to succeed in online business. A shopping cart that simply does not work as intended can not only be a headache for you, but also for those who are attempting to buy from you. Those who are having trouble may opt to leave and buy from someone else. This lowers your profit or could diminish it all together depending on how severe your problems are. It is very important to have a shopping cart that works and does what you need it to do. Below are some things to look for in making the best commerce shopping selection possible.

Maintenance is Made Easy

You may be thinking at this point that you will only be selling a few products on your site. However, countless people have become successful online and they want to offer new brands of their products or simply offer other items all together. Therefore, I always encourage people to find a shopping cart that will allow them to easily maintain their products. If it does not, then it really does leave you at a disability of expanding your business in the future.

The Shopping Cart Meets Your Needs

Unless there is simply no way to get around it, always try to find a shopping cart that meets your needs perfectly. Although PHP developers are plentiful, they do not always like to work on pre-existing code that they are not familiar with. It takes them more time to learn the code before they can actually make changes to it. Since this is the case, it will often pay off in the long run to pay a little bit more for a shopping cart that is already in perfectly working condition for you upon its initial setup on your website. Not only this, but the developer is also responsible for maintaining this portion of the script instead of you forking over money to get it updated as well after each time the shopping cart is upgraded to a newer version.

Trim the Fat!

Many people make the mistake of getting a shopping cart that has a ton of features. They feel that more features means much more value. However, this is really a misconception. More features frequently means that it will be more confusing for you to update. As well, it could cause your ordering process to be more complex, which is something you want to avoid in the world of ecommerce. In theory, you ideally want to get the information from clients as quickly as possible to not allow them the time to change their mind. Therefore, asking unnecessary questions, having a 10 step order process, or anything as should be avoided when possible. Finding a shopping cart that simply meets your needs is more ideal than one with too many features.

Customer Service is Important

Even though the script looks professional in the demo, it does not always mean that the documentation you receive when you make the purchase is going to be of the same quality. Undoubtedly, the best of developers may need help from the company in getting it setup properly. The unfortunate part is that not all companies do a good job of helping their customers. This means that this is something you should check before you make the purchase. It can simply be done by contacting them with a few questions about the script. Typically the timeframe that it takes for them to respond as well as the quality of their response is something you can expect as well if you have other questions after the purchase. It pays off in the end to check all your bases possible before buying any shopping cart software.

Grow by leaps and bounds with software to skyrocket your business (and without hiring your own software development team): email marketing software, content management system software, and ecommerce shopping cart software by Interspire.

The Best Parts & Benefits of Online Ecommerce

May 27, 2009

The Ecommerce industry is continuously growing. Right now there are millions of websites online, the majority of them are business related which sells either a service or a product of some kind. Whether you are just now getting in or you are preparing to make the choice, hopefully the benefits discussed below about the ecommerce industry will help you decide whether it will be right for you or not.

You are your own boss

This is worth a lot. I had a corporate job where I work eight to five every day. It paid my bills, it kept my family in a comfortable home, but I absolutely despised the idea that I would never move on past where I was currently at. I had pretty well reached my max position I was capable of without attending more college. Although the cost of living raises were imminent, I knew that I would never be able to build onto my house or have a really nice car. I was stuck. Going into the ecommerce industry brought some excitement back to my life. No longer was I limited in my salary. Instead, the opportunities were endless, and the profits I made would be going into my pocket and no one elses. This is what being my own boss was for me, it was not just about setting my own hours. I was prepared to work as long as I knew that the payoff would be coming to me and no one else.

Low Setup Cost

As mentioned, I had my own home, a family, and had a regular daily job. I did not hit the lottery jackpot and was never capable of investing a ton of money. This was one of the biggest benefits in setting up an ecommerce store. Without too much cash, I could get something moving. This is not to say that you should assume that you can get started with no money. To be quite honest, you must have a marketing budget and you should have enough to get a website developed, assuming you can not do it yourself. However, your marketing budget does not need to exceed more than about $40.00 per month initially to get your business moving.

Very Little Overhead Expense

The problem with brick and mortar companies is that they really do need to make a lot of money to justify overhead. When you are paying electric and water bills, possible rent, and everything else that comes along with owning a business on main street, having a bad month at the beginning can cause you to close your doors or send you into bankruptcy. The benefit of ecommerce stores is that you can expect to have a bad month or two, maybe even a year, this will not mean that you are out of business before it even began. But, the vast majority of people are capable of eating some of the expenses throughout the growing pains of getting an online business established.

Your Potential Customer Base is Endless

Another problem with brick and mortar businesses is that they are reliant on the traffic that drives by while their doors are open. Luckily for you, in ecommerce, your doors are never closed. As well, your traffic is not just going to come from your small town in Oklahoma, but everyone who has access to the internet across the world. Your loyal customers can be from all 50 states, and maybe from other countries depending on what your intentions are with your ecommerce store.

Grow by leaps and bounds with software to skyrocket your business: ecommerce shopping cart software, content management system software, and email marketing software by Interspire.