Thanks to E-commerce, we can buy without experiencing the waiting-line in a store. E-commerce is evolving and now we heard “social commerce” which starts to take hold and loyal customers to promote a brand and store. To build an easy-to-use shopping experience, you must choose a web-based application that can offer a diverse set of tools and components.
To start the list, I chose paid carts and free offerings. There are a large number of good, free, open source shopping carts out there, but this review is the top-choice of e-commerce clients.
Magento Community
Magento is the most popular and modern eCommerce platform. Magento chosen is what most clients prefer because it is flexible in terms of theme and design.
Benefits:
– No limits (such as SKU number, storage, etc)
– Full access to templates and code
– More than 5000 modules in MagentoConnect
Some do not recommend this; after creating a design for a Magento platform, after several weeks or months of design development, it appears that there are platform limitations or some other reasons.
Magento Go
This platform is also created by Magento but this one evolves on a software-as-a-service (SAAS) model. Since this is a paid service, you will expect better performance than a free one. One of the few advantages is the hosting solution. Another one, Magento Go as being a SaaS ecommerce platform generally manages any payment card merchant which is a great benefit. Last, it is much faster to set-up. There are plethora of attractive store themes, and tools for basic customization.
Benefits:
– Hosting is not needed
– Upgrades are automatic
– It is the best SaaS eCommerce system
Volusion
In the ecommerce space, as the saying goes, Volusion is probably the 800-pound gorilla. It is one of the most popular ecommerce shopping carts out there. Volusion has a user-friendly interface and offers large feature set enable the customers even without much technical know-how. The online store builder provides one-stop shop for clients who need free online store templates, SEO & marketing tools, and pricing options.
Joomla VirtueMart
VirtueMart is an Open Source E-Commerce solution to be used together with Joomla! (and Mambo). Some clients who have existing sites using Joomla CMS, they choose VirtueMart. It takes advantage of the Ajax technology, product feeds and much more.
WordPress
WordPress is not just a very user-friendly blogging platform but you can start your own online shop through plugin that allows you to sell products from your WordPress blog. There are countless ways to unleash your products to all those potential customers using e-commerce plugins for WordPress. Some of e-commerce plugins are Ecwid, eShop, WP e-commerce, Shopp, and PHPurchase.
ekmPowershop
If there is a rival on e-commerce space, it is Volusion vs. ekmPowerShop. ekmPowershop is an easy to use hosted ecommerce software solution. From what I read from the reviews of ekmPowershop, it appears to be largely favorable. It is said to be quickest and easiest way to setup your own online shop. This is not a bad solution for a small business. If you’re looking for a hosted shopping cart and worry about the technical side, ekmPowershop is all you need to get started selling on your own ecommerce website.
Channel Advisor
When I first use the Channel Advisor, I was looking for a particular feature which let me easily sort out the viewing issue of a certain transaction. But I think this is now resolved. The good thing about ChannelAdvisor is it supports eBay, Amazon and Pixmania as well as Comparison Shopping sites such as Shopzilla and Paid Search sites such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. So if you want to track your progress on eBay and Amazon, especially, this is everything you need.
Amazon Webstore
Amazon Webstore is pretty new. Take advantage to the powerful name of Amazon, so whether you’re a new eCommerce business owner or looking for a place to promote your existing web store. Amazon’s existing base is superb so if you don’t want to spend money and time in to marketing or design, Amazon Webstore is worth a look.
Leave a Reply