Jumping e-commerce system (Woo? Opencart? Summat else?)

[japancool]

I currently use BigCommerce. Very happy with it, it's lightning quick and does more or less everything I want.

I don't want to move, but I've exceeded their sales limit and my costs have gone from $109 a month to $399 a month.

So I'm considering other solutions. I've used Woo before, and didn't really have an issue with it, but have no idea what spec a server I would need to self-host. I've never used Opencart. I prefer, if possible, to work with Windows systems (don't yell at me), but I'll work with Unix if I have to, although I would need help configuring it to make sure all security holes are patched.

What sort of cost would I be looking at to replicate my current site in Woo/Open/AN Other system? And what about ongoing costs, besides the server?

Trying to figure out if it's worthwhile, or whether I just swallow the cost increases. I don't want this to crop up again when and if I breach their next sales threshold.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

A specific server is an option, but would it work on standard hosting?

Your site appears to be relatively standard - do you have any special specs or features?

I think if you move you could probably stay around your current cost (max), but there are a lot of variables to consider.

 

[Paul Carmen]

Would you try to do this all yourself? As if so the hosting costs and a few plugins/payment setup are all you need to worry about if you went the Woo route again. I would have thought max £40-50 a month for a decent 24/7 supported VPS server.

If you need someone to do the migration and build for you, then it's worth getting a decent analysis on the site itself and its functionality, plus anything you'd like to improve as part of the process and then getting a proper quote.

I'm happy to pick this up and get the web team to have a look if you want to PM me.

 

[japancool]

Your site appears to be relatively standard - do you have any special specs or features?

If you need someone to do the migration and build for you, then it's worth getting a decent analysis on the site itself and its functionality, plus anything you'd like to improve as part of the process and then getting a proper quote.

There's nothing particularly special about the site - it's not using any special features (at least, not at the moment), just your standard search, categories, images etc. and Stripe/Klarna/SuperPayments integration.

Would you try to do this all yourself? As if so the hosting costs and a few plugins/payment setup are all you need to worry about if you went the Woo route again. I would have thought max £40-50 a month for a decent 24/7 supported VPS server.

I think I'd be comfortable setting up the site myself, once the system is installed. I wouldn't be confident setting up the server - I'd be paranoid about missing some crucial security flaw that allowed someone to hack the site.

 

[Shopclicks]

Take look at Krystal's Business Hosting. The Emerald plan would be enough for your store:

https://krystal.uk/hosting/business

Can you download your products to a CSV from BigCommerce?

 

[japancool]

Can you download your products to a CSV from BigCommerce?

Yep. Migrating data shouldn't be an issue (images might be fun though).

 

[Paul Carmen]

Installing WordPress is pretty easy, a good hosting company will work through the security settings with you too.

 

[fisicx]

Most hosts have a built in Wordpress installer and security settings. Once installed woocommerce has a wizard to help you set things up ( which you can skip if you want). Add the wordfence plugin and you get 2FA to protect the site. Akismet will block the comment spammers. There are csv importers you can use to get all the products online. Or there are services that will migrate you products from the old site to the new.

All you really need is a bit of help on the tricky bits. Which means asking here or paying for a bit of help.

 

[japancool]

There are csv importers you can use to get all the products online. Or there are services that will migrate you products from the old site to the new.

Yeah, I used one of those last time. Can't remember which one though.

All you really need is a bit of help on the tricky bits. Which means asking here or paying for a bit of help.

Which bits would you say are the tricky bits?

 

[fisicx]

Which bits would you say are the tricky bits?

Mainly the importer. Especially if you want all the images.

Wordfence can be a bit of a pain to configure as can your server settings. You may also need some tweaks to htaccess to keep Google happy.

 

[antropy]

What sort of cost would I be looking at to replicate my current site in Woo/Open/AN Other system?

Have you got a link to your current site and a list of the most important features you need replicated that a platform that OpenCart probably wouldn't have?

And what about ongoing costs, besides the server?

Very hard to say - it depends on how much regular maintenance it needs and how much work you want doing on a regular basis?

We have clients with successful OpenCart sites who pay for hosting but spend literally nothing else. We have clients who are always working on the sites with new features and spend thousands a month.

Paul.

 

[japancool]

Have you got a link to your current site and a list of the most important features you need replicated that a platform that OpenCart probably wouldn't have?

japan-cool. uk

It's nothing special - I imagine most systems will have all the features I use out of the box.

 

[Dave]

@japancool If your happy staying with a SaaS platform then Bluepark is great alternative to BigCommerce Etc. UK company, good prices / support and no sales limits.

 

[antropy]

japan-cool. uk

It's nothing special - I imagine most systems will have all the features I use out of the box.

The design definitely looks very 2010.

I mean feel free to contact us, [email protected] for a very quick estimate to rebuild it in OpenCart.

Paul.

 

[TeemuEAS]

I currently use BigCommerce. Very happy with it, it's lightning quick and does more or less everything I want.

I don't want to move, but I've exceeded their sales limit and my costs have gone from $109 a month to $399 a month.

So I'm considering other solutions. I've used Woo before, and didn't really have an issue with it, but have no idea what spec a server I would need to self-host. I've never used Opencart. I prefer, if possible, to work with Windows systems (don't yell at me), but I'll work with Unix if I have to, although I would need help configuring it to make sure all security holes are patched.

What sort of cost would I be looking at to replicate my current site in Woo/Open/AN Other system? And what about ongoing costs, besides the server?

Trying to figure out if it's worthwhile, or whether I just swallow the cost increases. I don't want this to crop up again when and if I breach their next sales threshold.

I know we should all be rooting for the small guy, but I do have to recommend Shopify. The path of least effort, most tools, least compatibility issues, a lot of support.

Teemu, EAS

 

[japancool]

I know we should all be rooting for the small guy, but I do have to recommend Shopify. The path of least effort, most tools, least compatibility issues, a lot of support.

Teemu, EAS

If I've got to move, I'd rather not do it to another SaaS system.

 

[japancool]

I mean feel free to contact us, [email protected] for a very quick estimate to rebuild it in OpenCart.

The main concern would be the ongoing costs for hosting/support etc. The aim of the exercise would be to significantly reduce costs - if I can't achieve that, it's not worth moving.

The design might look a bit dated, but it's easy to navigate and my customers like it, so that in itself isn't a huge issue, at least not at the moment.

 

[Shopclicks]

The main concern would be the ongoing costs for hosting/support etc. The aim of the exercise would be to significantly reduce costs - if I can't achieve that, it's not worth moving.

So, if you moved over to Wordpress/Woocommerce for example, outside of the site build, you can get your PCI/DSS compliant hosting for £228/year. If you were paying more than £280/year for someone to keep your theme & plugins updated on an eCommerce site, you'd be paying too much. The only other fixed ongoing costs would be for any premium plugins you want to use (not usually required).

 

[japancool]

If you were paying more than £280/year for someone to keep your theme & plugins updated on an eCommerce site, you'd be paying too much.

Would that be straightforwards to do myself? The last time I used Woo, it wasn't for long enough to need to update anything.

 

[Shopclicks]

Would that be straightforwards to do myself? The last time I used Woo, it wasn't for long enough to need to update anything.

It's sometimes good to have someone to call on if anything goes wrong But yes, you could do it yourself. I normally test updates for conflicts before updating client sites.

 

[japancool]

It's sometimes good to have someone to call on if anything goes wrong But yes, you could do it yourself. I normally test updates for conflicts before updating client sites.

Hmm. Sounds like I might need a sandbox for that.

 

[Shopclicks]

Hmm. Sounds like I might need a sandbox for that.

For a simple eCommerce site like yours, you'll possibly never run into a problem. You only need to update once a month generally and you just run a test purchase to make sure everything is working as it should.

 

[AlanJ1]

The design might look a bit dated, but it's easy to navigate and my customers like it, so that in itself isn't a huge issue, at least not at the moment.

Genuinely curious on how you know this? Mind me asking what your conversion rate % is?

 

[japancool]

Genuinely curious on how you know this? Mind me asking what your conversion rate % is?

I wouldn't disclose that in public, but it is (as far as I am aware) in line with the industry. Most sites in my sector are similar in appearance. I can point you towards my competitors and you can compare - some of them look like they're from the 90s!

But I base it on feedback from customers and also their behaviour on the site. The biggest thing that made a difference lately was hiding out-of-stock products. In my view, what is important in terms of useabiliy (for my customers) is how easy it is to find what they're looking for, and that comes down to how items are categorised.

Then again, I'm not wedded to the design. If I can find a better theme on Woo, I'll happily switch to that. I've already changed the design once, there's nothing stopping me from doing it again, if I can see a good reason to do so.

 

[japancool]

There's a few things BigCommmerce doesn't do which I would want - I can't see customer wishlists (which would help with planning restock orders), and there's no way to send out a notification to customers of items on their wishlist coming back into stock.

 

[AlanJ1]

I wouldn't disclose that in public, but it is (as far as I am aware) in line with the industry. Most sites in my sector are similar in appearance. I can point you towards my competitors and you can compare - some of them look like they're from the 90s!

That's fair enough. Thanks for replying.

 

[DontAsk]

Hmm. Sounds like I might need a sandbox for that.

I test all my (Opencart) code in WSL2 on a local Windows PC.

 

[TeemuEAS]

If I've got to move, I'd rather not do it to another SaaS system.

Oh! You want to have the solution running locally? If so, there is a diminishing number of possible solutions out there with any support or further development. But you knew that, sorry. I believe Shopware 5 is still out there?

 

[Shopclicks]

Then again, I'm not wedded to the design. If I can find a better theme on Woo, I'll happily switch to that. I've already changed the design once, there's nothing stopping me from doing it again, if I can see a good reason to do so.

If you do this, be very aware that some themes can really slow your site down and you may lose your core web vitals passes. I can recommend the Neve theme (free or premium).

 

[japancool]

That's fair enough. Thanks for replying.

It's a fair question. Although I've doubled my turnover this year, I want to double it again to get to where I want to be, and anything that gets me towards that goal, I will do!

If pictures of dancing girls on the front page would work...

 

[japancool]

Oh! You want to have the solution running locally? If so, there is a diminishing number of possible solutions out there with any support or further development. But you knew that, sorry. I believe Shopware 5 is still out there?

No - I'll host it on the cloud, but I don't want to be tied to a system provider.

 

[japancool]

If you do this, be very aware that some themes can really slow your site down and you may lose your core web vitals passes. I can recommend the Neve theme (free or premium).

Yeah, any changes will need testing. My plan would be to replicate the site and create a migration plan for the data, do a test migration and test the performance of the site before doing a final migration and going live.

 

[japancool]

Hmm. What about page redirects? I guess I will have do 301 redirects for all my page URLs?

What effect wil that have on my SEO? Or can I structure my URLs in Woo to be identical to the BigCommerce ones?

 

[Shopclicks]

Yeah, any changes will need testing. My plan would be to replicate the site and create a migration plan for the data, do a test migration and test the performance of the site before doing a final migration and going live.

You could start now on a staging domain.

Hmm. What about page redirects? I guess I will have do 301 redirects for all my page URLs?

You can replicate your url's.

 

[japancool]

You could start now on a staging domain.

That's the plan. Will order Krystal's basic Emerald plan today, if I have time.

First order of the day is to replicate the site.

 

[Shopclicks]

That's the plan. Will order Krystal's basic Emerald plan today, if I have time.

First order of the day is to replicate the site.

Brilliant. There's generally two ways to go with Wordpress. Standard block editor or Page builder (like Elementor). Elementor is easier and design-wise, you can do pretty much anything without coding. But, it will slow the site down. This can be overcome with a plugin like Nitropack which will get you past core web vitals.

 

[japancool]

Brilliant. There's generally two ways to go with Wordpress. Standard block editor or Page builder (like Elementor). Elementor is easier and design-wise, you can do pretty much anything without coding. But, it will slow the site down. This can be overcome with a plugin like Nitropack which will get you past core web vitals.

I assume Woo will have a default theme that I can customise? I vaguely recall doing tha tlast time.

I can code HTML and CSS if necessary, but I'd prefer not to have to.

 

[Shopclicks]

Yep, the default Woo pages work but are pretty basic. You can pretty them up with css. The theme you choose will have it's own Woo design but still basic. For the rest of your pages, I'd recommend just using a HTML block and code inside that. I don't use the rest of the available blocks.

Or you could go down the Elementor path and design all of your pages with complete flexibility (including Woo with the premium version).

 

[AlanJ1]

It's a fair question. Although I've doubled my turnover this year, I want to double it again to get to where I want to be, and anything that gets me towards that goal, I will do!

If pictures of dancing girls on the front page would work...

I don't know the market at all, but the site seems "dark" to me was my first overall impression.

The site seems to be good in terms of core functionality though.

 

[japancool]

I don't know the market at all, but the site seems "dark" to me was my first overall impression.

I'll admit that's my personal choice. I find bright white sites unusable and they hurt my eyes, so I altered the theme to use primarily black. I could go to a grey background as a compromise, but it does give the site a look that is different.