HELP - E-Commerce Websites - Jungle

[rmdesign]

Hi,

I am currently looking to have some kind of e-commerce option attached to my website and am interested in any good advice. My current website will probably need re-developing and have some kind of e-commerce section added but not drastically changing the site from my existing layout. I am a self employed graphic/print professional and have been looking at several options such as print re-selling from guys such as sense creative. This company are offering me a website designed with hosting for about £400.00. This seems like quite a good deal, but like the old saying "buy cheap, buy twice". What I don't want to do is invest money for it not to work. I recently have tried a free test on an e-commerce package from 123 reg, and found it a little confusing..? If there was a way of doing it myself it would be good way of saving some money but with so many companies offering this service it would be nice for someone to advise on my way forward.

Look forward to hearing from anyone who may be able to help.

[wood1e2]

Personally I would stay clear of hosting inspired website solutions.

We can obviously quote for a bespoke solution and design, but we would be a little more expensive than £400.00

There is a guy on here that offers cost effective e-commerce solution...openmind, I haven't used it but never heard anyone say anything bad about. Give him a shout. :)

[awebapart.com]

It is probably your business model which will dictate which way to go. If you want to be a print reseller where the reseller takes care of most things, then you will need a print reseller website supplied by the print reseller. If you want to take more of an active middle-man role, selling print services on your site, providing more of a one-stop shop and handholding service for your clients, and sourcing the actual print services from a number of suppliers, then having your own ecommerce site might be the better way to go.

Just remember that not all hosted ecommerce solutions are like the 123-reg ecommerce service, which is pretty much an automated DIY service aimed at the mass-market provided by a big hosting company, where you are left to your own devices to figure out how to use the system to create your site. For instance our ecommerce website solution (http://www.awebapart.com) is much more of a handholding service offering advice and setup of the initial design, even though the client handles the content management, and since our system is a sitebuilder cms (content management system) with an ecommerce system, it is well suited for clients who want an online shop as just a section within their overall website.

Depending on your existing website, both a print reseller website and a hosted managed solution may not be the way to go if you cannot migrate your existing website over to the new platform. In which case you might want to think about either having 2 separate websites, or getting a semi-bespoke ecommerce solution (where the ecommerce system is hosted on your existing site's hosting).

[garysumpter]

Have a look at our portfolio at www.sitewonders.co.uk

I also wrote an article entitled 'Buy Cheap, Buy Twice' at http://www.kentsmallbusiness.co.uk/website-design/buy-cheap-buy-twice-2.html

If you want to PM a number over I will give you a call and explain the best way forward!

Regards

Gary Sumpter
Sitewonders Limited

[awebapart.com]

I also wrote an article entitled 'Buy Cheap, Buy Twice' at http://www.kentsmallbusiness.co.uk/website-design/buy-cheap-buy-twice-2.html
Gary, you have a typo in that article, 5th paragraph, prople > people

Whilst "Buy Cheap, Buy Twice" can be true for a number of situations, personally I'm not a big fan of the phrase, for a number of reasons, including:

1. it can get overused, especially on this forum (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22buy+cheap%22+%22buy+twice%22+site:www. ukbusinessforums.co.uk&hl=en&filter=0), often without an explanation of why it is being used

2. it can also be misleading, after all there is also the business concept of 'economies of scale' to consider too, which allows some suppliers to reduce their prices. Economies of scale works well for Tesco and its customers. In the web market, economies of scale can work in favour of the buyer in terms of supplier bulk buying of certain components, and the use of off-the-shelf components and solutions, and the automation of certain processes. Economies of scale can also work against the web buyer too, e.g. in terms of cheap hosting, which is cheap because the host stuffs so many websites on the same server, thus reducing the hosting performance.

3. when it is applied to getting a website, it can sometimes lead people down the more risky and more expensive custom design and development route, when a cheaper less risky off-the-shelf solution would have been more appropriate - it can also give people a false sense of security when they should really be feeling less secure due to the higher risk involved. By all means go for that expensive custom designed custom developed website if you need it, where you pay a few grand upfront as a deposit, but make sure you also spend good money on getting your client-supplier contract (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=372601) in place too to protect yourself.

4. if it is taken as gospel truth, it opens the door for the unscrupulous suppliers to creep in offering over-priced products and services of little value. People should not automatically assume that because it is expensive it is good, they should still do their research.

5. it says cheaper is always bad, and expensive is always good, but it is not always as simple and as black and white as this. What you pay is one factor, but what you get is more important, but equally the "you get what you pay for" phrase has its grey areas too. It can also be a contradiction for some suppliers to say the "buy cheap buy twice" phrase in isolation, since the supplier is putting down a cheaper supplier, whilst probably not being the most expensive supplier themselves, thus putting themselves down in relation to the suppliers who are more expensive than them.

The important thing with any price for any product or service, is for you to understand what you are getting and the good reasons why it is priced that way, why it is cheaper or more expensive than other products or services. If you ask a supplier why their product or service is more expensive than another supplier's offering, and the only thing they can say is "Buy Cheap, Buy Twice" without giving you good reasons why their offering is more expensive, then you should start to worry.

[openmind]

Hi,

I am currently looking to have some kind of e-commerce option attached to my website and am interested in any good advice. My current website will probably need re-developing and have some kind of e-commerce section added but not drastically changing the site from my existing layout. I am a self employed graphic/print professional and have been looking at several options such as print re-selling from guys such as sense creative. This company are offering me a website designed with hosting for about £400.00. This seems like quite a good deal, but like the old saying "buy cheap, buy twice". What I don't want to do is invest money for it not to work. I recently have tried a free test on an e-commerce package from 123 reg, and found it a little confusing..? If there was a way of doing it myself it would be good way of saving some money but with so many companies offering this service it would be nice for someone to advise on my way forward.

Look forward to hearing from anyone who may be able to help.

The Sense Reseller system is actually a hybrid of Open Mind Commerce. The core code is the same as the OMC system. We have worked with Sense for a number of years on their reseller platform and they are now rolling out the new eCommerce system to all their resellers using our code so don't worry about the cost element, Sense have just got an extremely good deal with us ;)

It's not a hoisted system either in the purist sense (no pun), the license cost just includes your hosting on their dedicated server network.