Forum Moderators: buckworks
I'm looking, with an eye toward the future, for an ecommerce package that has it all -- easy to use, cross selling, top 10 best seller lists, specials, coupons, customer product reviews, customer order history, realtime shipping calculation, search that actually works (doesnt return irrelevent results) all that jazz! maybe even a mailing list campaigner built in would be nice.
I've been looking at a package called StoreFront ($1000 or $120 a month) but if anyone has any other suggestions please feel free to share them. I know the prices vary widely between packages.
Some people have recommended osCommerce because its free but is it really as good as the commercial packages?
Thanks and good luck to all the stores out there.
-Andrew Yoder
"top 10 best seller lists" I love when our competitors list their best sellers. And as a shopper I'd never trust one of those.
You didn't request one of the most important cart features: Search engine compatibility.
You risk getting badly burned if you select a cart based on how many bells and whistles it pretends to offer.
I would stay away from StoreFront it isn't developed very well and will cause you a headache if you want to extend it or develop new features. We built 20 sites using it before giving up.
I think jsinger is right 'bells and whistles' should not be the reason to buy a shopping cart system.
Search engine optimised pages are really important, or at least have the ability for you to change the HTML without breaking the programming (which StoreFront doesn't). Do you have programming language preference?
Gareth
For us, we try to run VERY lean and therefore wanted a fully functional, pre-built, 3rd party system. We didnt want to have to hire an IT guy and a web dev guy, so we went with Volusion. Its very easy to set up and maintain and has a fair # of "built ins" such as the ones you mention.
It does have drawbacks such as the inability to make seemingly simple modifications unless you shell out 6K for the full license. For us though, it was the stability of their product along with practically zero maintenance that was the selling point.
Having said that, some of the features you mention are important sometimes, it depends on the demographic of your customers.
To select an ecommerce pacakge, I would suggest that the first choice is between open source and commercial. The key here is technical expertise and support. If you want to save money, take care of the technicals yourself, and be dependent on volunteers for support, open source is the route. If you want more guaranteed support and porbably an easier installation and configuration process, go with a commercial package.
If you got with open source, it's got to be OS Commerce or Zen Cart.
If you want to go with a commercial package, I would suggest that you look for it by searching for "Ecommerce software" in Google, as if ecommerce vendors can't optimise their own listings, how good will the results from their packages be?
Then choose from someone who has a big user base, as that implies lot's of features, reasonable reliability and that they will be around in a few years time. That's basically how I choose any software.
Chris Barling
I would personally add that I think the way to go is with a paid solution as to me that buying a supported cart is the way to do business.
I would also steer clear of Storefront6, as an ex customer I can tell you it is badly coded, after 5 years still has bugs and is in general an out of date product.
I generally recommend Xcart if you want a PHP solution - lots of support and good features and low cost.
If you want asp.net then astnetstorefront is the one to go for, not to be confused with SF6 mentioned above, this one again has plenty of features and good support.
Hope this helps.
So look for one that has plenty of third party ad-ons. You may not know carts but the people who enhance carts do. They won't waste their money building products for dead-end carts, of which many exist.
Go to the Stoneedge (order processing software) site, for example, to see the fairly large number of carts their products support.
One key thing missing in our ERP software (supports our e-commerce website) is -- good SEO. As others said, SEO is a must if you are running an ecommerce website.
The newer release of the software promises more SEO stuff but for right now, we are running our own battle!
Hope this helps!
Search engine optimised pages are really important, or at least have the ability for you to change the HTML without breaking the programming (which StoreFront doesn't). Do you have programming language preference?
I agree. I can program and I'd like access to the nuts and bolts if possible as well as good search engine capabilities. I don't have a preference although I suppose the packages that used open source languages like PHP, Perl, MySQL and the like would be cheaper as there wouldn't be a need for licensing.
For us, we try to run VERY lean and therefore wanted a fully functional, pre-built, 3rd party system. We didnt want to have to hire an IT guy and a web dev guy, so we went with Volusion.
my business is lean too. how much was the cost of Volusion?
I generally recommend Xcart if you want a PHP solution - lots of support and good features and low cost.
which version of x-cart?
If you got with open source, it's got to be OS Commerce or Zen Cart.
I think I may just start with open source until I hear enough buzz and rumors to ever move to a commercial package. I can handle a little coding. I've heard people mention OSCommerce ad infitinum but not Zen Cart. What's your preference between the two?
Decide if you want asp.net or PHP first, then choose from that point. Xcart or aspnetstorefront.
The latest version of Xcart is stable/secure and well supported, there is third party support if needed - I think it costs around $500 which really is peanuts imo, buy, install, promote your business is the way to go.
I have had no problems with the cart. It was easy to set up and customize and there is plenty of support through the forum.
