Need a Tailored E-commerce Website Solution?

The rise of e-commerce has changed traditional business dynamics. Market factors including location, convenience, opening hours and switching costs have, in many cases, been rendered largely irrelevant. For local, national and international business the playing field has been significantly levelled. Producing a profitable, reputable, secure e-commerce website can be an easier task given well considered and thorough planning.

The success of any e-commerce website build depends on providing a first-to-last solution, from the initial consultations to quantify the needs of your business, through the design and secure implementation of the website, to post launch updating and ongoing monitoring.

Choosing the Best E-commerce Solution for your Business

Whatever the size of your business, whatever your range of products, there is every likelihood I can identify and deploy the appropriate solution for you. Below are the most frequently used solutions, though in no circumstances should this list be considered comprehensive.

1. Paypal: In cases where the product range is very limited then it is likely that a full ecommerce system would be overkill. Paypal offers both single buttons and a shopping cart system which can be integrated into a brochure style website and is ideal in circumstances like these, especially if you are not already using another online payment processing system . If you believe this may be relevant to your situation then this can be happily accomodated. Full information on their fee structure can be found on their website.
2. CubeCart: In situations where the product range is larger and where budget, future development and security are critical, then the recommended solution is an ecommerce system based on CubeCart – a tried and tested shopping cart system which benefits from the constant development that the open source community provides, the popularity of the software ensuring that feature and security enhancement constantly evolves to meet changing times. It fully integration with numerous payment processing systems, can allow you to specify a full range of shipping options, has inbuilt inventory functions as well as complete control over orders and customer details. Take the tour to get an idea of its capabilities.
3. WP e-Commerce: by GetShopped.org - ’…an industrial strength WordPress Plugin for selling digital and tangible goods online‘ which permits a well featured e-commerce system to be built right inside a WordPress site. Can be further extended using additional third-party extensions.
4. Marketplaces: If you don’t want to sell directly from your own website then alternatively you might think of opening a virtual shop on ebay, or if you deal in craft wares then perhaps Etsy or its UK near-equivalent Folksy might be more suitable.
5. Hosted e-commerce: Similarly not hosted on your own site but through a specialist provider, managed or leased eCommerce systems like Volusion or Shopify provide off the peg solutions. Though you can avoid the initial costs of having the website designed and launched, be aware that the monthly leasing costs can be high, along with the fact that some providers also charge a percentage fee for every transaction through the store.