Bespoke shops vs Hosted shops

[Ethernetworks]

OSCommerce, Zencart, cubecart etc.
Is it worth the effort and is it cheaper than all the managed solutions e.g. ekmpowershop etc ?

Do hosted stores suffer from lack of branding or individuality ?
any SEO issues ?

[Page]

It all depends!

I suggest you start reading your way back through the posts.

[quikshop]

A frequent debate, it all entirely depends on your business requirements. Are you comfortable coding your own shop, do you need the sort of hand-holding service some hosted solutions offer, there are no advantages technically or for SEO in choosing one method over another as long as they do the basics well, so its whatever suits you, sir :D

[Ethernetworks]

I thought running a typical open source cart on a reasonable hosting package should work out cheaper than a managed solution - but when I look at some of the prices online (some as low a £11 /week) - I wonder how they do it.

[PrettyPaws]

Our EKM is around £25 a month, no limit on images/products and you can be up and running in 5 minutes.

[Ethernetworks]

Thats an amazing price

[quikshop]

I thought running a typical open source cart on a reasonable hosting package should work out cheaper than a managed solution - but when I look at some of the prices online (some as low a £11 /week) - I wonder how they do it.

You can get hosted services from £1 up to £5000 a month. We used Actinic and osCommerce for our first two shops and they were both great as far as they went.

With osCommerce we actually ended up paying more than your typical monthly hosted solution costs through paid for modifications to our shop, so I don't think there is that great a gap in overall cost between the two approaches.

Of the 3 main choices when considering building your own eShop (http://www.internetretailer.biz/partner/build_your_own_eshop.aspx?qsaid=144), it only gets unreasonably expensive when you get charged £5000 plus for a custom made shop by a web design company... and then more per change, extra for hosting and sadly all too frequently you then find out you don't actually own your shops website code and database anyway :eek:

If you prefer getting your hands dirty with the programming, I'd suggest going for an open source option. If you would rather just get on with running your shop with no technical or hosting worries, choose a hosted ecommerce solution (http://www.internetretailer.biz).

I'm struggling to find a good reason to get a custom designed shop created because open source and hosted solutions provide all you could ever need, but I'm sure I'll get a suitable suggestion :p

[cdorling]

I'm far from an expert, but I've been asking myself the same question as we need to update our shop. I'm warming to Cubecart. I may be wrong, but as I see it, it sits in belween the 2 ie I can host it where I want, within reason, (incl some very good offers from forum members), it's as good as ready to go (again, I think), and I can have a go at tweaking it.

[Chris Ashdown]

Many people often try to start a e-commerce site with hardly any money and wonder why they fail quite quickly. if you are considering it important to worry about such low start up costs, I wonder if you have sufficient working capital to have a realistic chance of making it work

The debate as to £20 pound per month or £500 plus for software is one way at looking at it, but if or when you make a go of it, you don't want to change systems after 18 months as you will be working extreamly hard and not have the time to upgrade to a completely new system that meets your new requirements

Our own route was to by the cheapest Actinic site and upgrade it as we grew untill we now operate 7 shops with Multi site multi user. This route has been helped by a fantastic active Actinic Forum, something other systems may fail on

[Ethernetworks]

cubecart is proven - over one million online shops
most of them using the PayPal/Google payment gateways.
ekmpowershop and the like are interesting - but they dont seem to have a massive roster of shops - and can they keep going at those prices ?

[JadeRose]

My zencart cost nothing and £45.00 p.a. to host, I was on the first page of google in 6 weeks with some of my prosucts and also had my first sale. I would prefer to have my bespoke shop.

www.themagicchest.co.uk

Kind Regards Bill

[Ethernetworks]

Good for you the Bill thats the spirit!

[quikshop]

cubecart is proven - over one million online shops
most of them using the PayPal/Google payment gateways.
ekmpowershop and the like are interesting - but they dont seem to have a massive roster of shops - and can they keep going at those prices ?

Not a surprising comment given that you use cubecart to promote your own ecommerce service.

We have a growing number of shop owners using our service, tiny in comparison with users of open source products, who are making significant progress with their businesses. To those that use our service, it is the right solution for their businesses, at a price that makes sense to them.

I am sure the same can be said about shop owners using EKM and other leading hosted ecommerce solutions.

Our shop owners also benefit from unlimited support and advice (http://www.internetretailer.biz/partner/qs_support.aspx) based on real world retail experience... does cubecart come with a module for that :p

To imply that the pricing policy of leading hosted ecommerce solutions might be unsustainable is to go against market realities.

[Ethernetworks]

well quikshop nothing is for free - are we going to see big money players
offering hosted online shops for £1.99/month ?

[quikshop]

well quikshop nothing is for free - are we going to see big money players
offering hosted online shops for £1.99/month ?

Those are typically hosting companies first and ecommerce services second, who use their £1.99 a month service as a loss-leader to gain market share.

It says nothing about the right solution for a shop owner. I take nothing away from cubecart, oscommerce or any of the other major open source products, they are all excellent pieces of ecommerce software.

But then our own ecommerce software (http://www.internetretailer.biz/partner/qs_internetshop_features.aspx) is excellent as well, and I'm sure EKMs isen't too shabby either, its just one part of a bigger equation when considering which is the best solution for your particular retail business :D

[jamie1183]

I have been building eCommerce websites now for over 5 years, I am a great fan of Oscommerce like said previously there are millions of people using these and if done correctly are very very good.

On the other hand I have clients wanting a coded shop from scratch which is fine but is normally much more expensive and not half as many features as OScommerce.

Take a look at these:
www.anokhisarees.co.uk (http://www.anokhisarees.co.uk) - Oscommerce built Shop (Very good sales turnover)
www.annajofashion.co.uk (http://www.annajofashion.co.uk) - One of our own PHP coded store from scratch
http://www.2jdesign.co.uk/fightwear - Oscommerce Still working on

The way we work is we would charge a fee to setup the shop design and configure correctly for example the oscommerce store would cost £650 - £850 this includes everything, domain hosting on our server for 1 year then we charge £49.99 per year no monthly charges but bandwidth fair usage applies but if you hit 40gb per month (Our Limit) you should be making enough money for your own server lol, some people may say thats expensive for an Oscommerce site as you can get them for £1.99 Per Month, but you get it professionally configured, free support and hosting on a dedicated server.

To build the custom shop from scratch would cost around £1500 with same hosting etc.

Basically my point is if Oscommerce is done correctly can prove to be a powerful and very satisfying script for alot less money than a custom coded store.

[imageonline]

For around the same amount of money as ekm, I chose Internet Retailer (Quickshop).
David designed the shop just as I wanted it. He is always on hand when I need free advice regarding marketing, or new suppliers. For me this was the perfect solution as I am no techie. Everything is done for me at no extra cost and I would highly recommend this service. Discount code also available if you contact me.

[boho]

Like all things the question of bespoke versus hosted is a case of horses for courses. If you have the skills to maintain and update the site then an open source product such as oscommerce is ideal, or if you have the funding to have a bespoke solution built from scratch then the same applies.

However the consideration factor for bespoke has to be how freely you can update the site, whether you are going to be paying for web designers/programmers everytime you need to make alterations, or whether you have the time and energy to keep making changes yourself if thats the route you go.

Many businesses make the mistake of either thinking they can set up their own site and then not doing a very professional job of it in terms of design, useability and security issues or paying someone else to create a bespoke solution they later find doesn't grow well with the business.

A hosted solution can be the ideal compromise for the majority of business owners, if the right host is selected. It enables you to concentrate your time on the important bit, your goods and services. You can also benefit from continued updates and upgrades keeping your solution up to date.

The strange comment about how providers can keep going at those prices seems to me a bit of weird thing to say, the software is produced once and is tailored/updated as necessary, therefore you have an ongoing economies of scale situation - so of course a host can continue.

I am extremely happy with mine (http://www.internetretailer.biz) and the level of personal service, the upgrades at no extra charge and the continued improvement and development which has allowed my business to continue growing and growing has been well worth going with a hosted solution - additionally I have the bespoke elements that I require.

[jofstar]

This really depends on your own capabilities as a web designer. Open software solutions can be a great way to get up and trading for free (although you need to consider the hosting costs).

There are some great hosted solutions, but shop around to find the best price for you. A good site is ecommerce-comparison. They give some good advice and have some great tools for comparing suppliers.

Again the solution you use rather depends on the size of your business. Open solutions are a great way to test the market, but when you are trading at volume you might want a level of support and professionalism behind your e-commerce solution.

[Jonesy]

I would say it depends on what you're selling, what options are open to you and what your long term goals are. I'm lucky enough to have a strong IT background so I built this (http://www.theringbox.co.uk/) site myself. But unless you can find a developer who can also do the design work, I'd guess it could cost an arm and a leg. I have total control and can make changes to my own spec. instantly (ish). Also, if you're selling a fashion item like I am then the site needs to appeal to that type of customer.

I do feel that a lot of CMS, or building block sites, look very "samey" if you know what I mean. However, with a bit of work they can look very professional, and provide not technical owners with a lot of flexibility for a lot less initial outlay.

[jamie1183]

Nice design, looks good, works well for what you are selling.

[MH1]

As mentioned horses for courses but OS can look much more professional with the use of a template, some of them look like they would have costed several thousand pounds to make.

The standard looking OS look is also as mentioned very samey and at least to myself very cheap looking, hence reflecting on the companies image.

[awebapart.com]

OSCommerce, Zencart, cubecart etc.
Is it worth the effort and is it cheaper than all the managed solutions e.g. ekmpowershop etc ?

Do hosted stores suffer from lack of branding or individuality ?
any SEO issues ?
You mention osCommerce, Zencart, vs managed solutions, but you can also get hosted shops using osCommerce (http://www.awebapart.com) via our hosted managed service, and hosted shops using Zencart via www.rentacart.co.uk (http://www.rentacart.co.uk) (another member of this forum),

You mention bespoke vs hosted shops but I see the bespoke issue for ecommerce is more split into fully bespoke, semi-bespoke, and packaged (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=278560)

With hosted ecommerce there is also the issue of open vs commercial vs proprietary (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=395726), and each approach has its pros and cons.

Out of the box, EKM has better SEO than the default osCommerce and default Zencart system.

There is also the issue of what you want from your ecommerce supplier, an automated DIY service, or a more handholding service.