Archive for ecommerce

admin | April 26, 2012
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Best Ecommerce solution for small business

small business ecommerce solutionsWhat are the top 3 open source eCommerce solutions for your business?  

It’s an important decision as your business will need at least the basic features, and probably a few more, and to best sell and manage your products and orders. 

Since we’re talking about small business, our aim is to provide rock-solid proven solutions that out-of-the-box will provide all or just about all the basic features you will need to start selling online.

Our eCommerce solution web firm, Coding Capital, has worked with all the below ecommerce solutions as well as many others that didn’t make the list.

But these are the best and one in particular, which we define at end of article, is our favorite and what we put most of our clients on these days.

Top 3 Open Source Ecommerce Solutions 

(in no particular order)

  • OpenCart
  • Prestashop
  • ZenCart

A Quick Note …

They all start to sound the same, and some kind of look similar which isn’t a bad thing as a familiar eCommerce layout is best for your customers, but there are other similarities which we recommend. 

We’ve installed, configured, designed and customized most of the carts and we have whittled down these carts because:

  • they have proven records
  • their popularity is a testament to their functionality
  • the have solid software frameworks which is very important because a complicated cart, like Magento, will create more headaches for you and cost more to maintain

 

OpenCart – 9 out of 10

The code structure is very clean and logical and makes customizations much more easily than many other platforms. This is crucial to your business as it will allow for easier and more reliable site maintenance. 

Might seem mysterious if your not technical but this is one of the most important aspects of your online store. It’s like knowing that under the hood, you’ve got a solid engine…even if you don’t know how to change the oil.

The administration module is clean and attractive and simple to use. So many other carts have terrible admin back-ends, like osCommerce. Everything is ready and available in such a way that is familiar to anyone with any admin experience. And if not, you’ll learn it quickly. 

Some important OpenCart features:

  • unlimited categories
  • unlimited products
  • unlimited manufacturers
  • templatable
  • multi-language and currency
  • product reviews
  • product ratings
  • SEO friendly urls
  • auto image resizing

 

Prestashop - 8 out of 10

Prestashop is a solid and very popular platform that has quickly grown over the last 3 years. It has an impressive list of features and a straightforward GUI for the front and the back-end, although the back end takes a day to get used to. 

The install and configuration for this one-stop shop is doable even for the web novice.  

Some important Prestashop features: 

  • Unlimited categories, subcategories and products
  • Product customers’ evaluations and comments
  • Quantity discounts
  • Wish list
  • Featured products on homepage
  • Top sellers on homepage
  • Product image zoom
  • Customer referral program
  • Loyalty system (points)

 

ZenCart - 7 out of 10

ZenCart is a good cart to beginner and small business and those who want to keep their online presence relatively simple. It’s basic framework allows to make minimal changes to design and layout without too much fuss but if you want a very different look or require much more customization in features and / or design, a more sophisticated cart, you’d be better off with one of the others above.

Some important ZenCart features: 

  • Quantity discounts
  • Easy to install
  • Advanced template system
  • Merchandise Pricing options
  • Products can be marked as free or Call for Price
  • Featured products
  • Minimum or maximum quantities
  • Product attributes
Category: ecommerce, internet business |
admin | November 12, 2011
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Which PayPal account is right for me?

So, you have your business and your website and you now want to sell your products and/or services online. You’re new to having your own e-commerce store but you’ve heard PayPal is an affordable and capable way of allowing your customers to pay for your products via your website.

This is true but the question you’re asking is what options does PayPal offer and which is best for me?

Here’s a review of the 3 different payment methods:

3 PayPal Payment Options

The PayPal back-end experience in terms of reports, search, payments received or paid out, etc. are basically the same between the 3 different accounts. The main difference is the user experience and some tasks you might or might not need to do.

 

Website Payments Standard (Without Cart)

Whose it for?  For novice e-commerce webpreneurs whose website does NOT have shopping cart software.  You can use this option if:

  • you do not have a shopping cart on your website
  • have limited products (max 15 – 20)
  • do not nor expect to have high sales volume
  • know some basics of html (or willing to learn)
You will need to manage your products in PayPal. After you setup the products, PayPal will generate html code snippets (the Buy button) to paste into your product pages. When user clicks the buy button, they are redirected to PayPal site that will display your company name and provide the shopping cart experience you don’t have on your site. The user can check out on PayPal and return and continue shopping.

 

Advantages:
  • if you do not and will not have shopping cart software
  • have limited products
  • can work with basic html
  • no SSL certificate needed
Disadvantages
This option is meant for most basic and limited shops – to provide a workable solution. Any serious e-commerce with products and volume will have graduated to other options.
  • difficult to manage – not admin friendly
  • not meant for 25 products or more
  • knowledge of html
  • generally poor user checkout experience
Cost:
YOUR MONTHLY
SALES		 YOUR FEE PER
TRANSACTION		 EXAMPLES
$0 to $3,000 2.9% + $0.30 $3.20 fee on a $100 sale
$3,000+ to $10,000 2.5% + $0.30* $2.80 fee on a $100 sale
$10,000+ 2.2% + $0.30* $2.50 fee on a $100 sale

 

Website Payments Standard (With Cart)

Whose it for?  For new e-commerce webpreneurs whose website DOES have shopping cart software.  This is an excellent economical option for the new, or fairly new, webpreneur (internet entrepreneur). It removes all of the listed disadvantages above!

Advantages:
  • costs only if you sell
  • most of the shopping cart experience is on your site
  • manage products within your own site admin
  • no SSL certificate needed
Disadvantages
There really aren’t any disadvantages except .. for the big one … having a user redirected off your site while they’re checking out.  Not the biggest deal as you’re getting going, but as your site grows and as you mature as a Webpreneur, and study conversion rates during the checkout process, you will see the extra benefit and extra sales you will get from a user checking out on your site!
Cost:
Same as above.

 

Website Payments Pro (With Cart)

Whose it for?  For serious e-commerce webpreneurs whose website has shopping cart software and who has improving or moderate to high sales volume – or planning on being there soon. You want this option if:

Advantages:
  • you have a pro shopping cart on your website (NOT plugin)
  • have many products (more than 30 – 50)
  • expects or aiming for moderate to high sales volume
  • is in it to win – long term & serious
Disadvantages
There really aren’t any disadvantages (except as listed below) … you get the big advantage of looking like a webpreneur e-commerce pro by having users checkout and pay on your site. But the disadvantages are: 
  • additional set monthly cost plus percent
  • need SSL certificate for you site
Cost:
$30.00 Monthly fee plus …
YOUR MONTHLY 
SALES2		 YOUR FEE PER 
TRANSACTION		 EXAMPLES
$0 to $3,000* 2.9% + $0.30 $3.20 fee on a $100 sale
$3,000+ to $10,000 2.5% + $0.30* $2.80 fee on a $100 sale
$10,000+ 2.2% + $0.30* $2.50 fee on a $100 sale

Finally, Webpreneurs …

If you’re starting out, and serious about at least a 6 to 12 month commitment to your online business, you would be best served by at least Option #2.

Payment Pro is for serious ecommerce stores with sales and volume and making the most of their site.

Option #1 is really for begginners or for infrequent or known customers who know you and are trustworthy of the process because of their knowledge of you.

Best of Luck!!!

Category: ecommerce |