Choosing a website

[yoshi]

Hello,

I have been running my website for around 9 months and feel I am getting OK results. My subscription for the online store will be up in 3 months and I am looking for a new e-commerce platform for the shop. I initially went with the best value/price but have found the store lacks features which will help with the day to day running and repeat business. I would also like to open up 2 more shops within the next 12-15 months. I also really resent having to pay extra for extra items/categories. My provider is OK there support is great however they have no intention of adding the features I require despite what they tell me.

If it is not against rules I am asking if you can recommend any companies who may be able to help in this specific area, you do not have to post them here but feel free to PM me. As when I search google or research on forums all I come across is the same "google analytics" advertising.

I am looking for the features of:
- Members only section / site login
- Tick box agreeing to terms and conditions prior to each sale
- Possibility of registration by invite code only
- Good discount code functionality (ideally where I can track and offer commission to any affiliates)

And these two are a bonus.
- Good rates for expanding products
- Good discounts if opening multiple stores

Thanks if you help, I do not want make the wrong decision here. I dread to think the extra time spent re adding all my listings again when I chose the wrong provider.

 

[faradaykeynes]

I suggest have a look at Prestashop. Opencart, Zencart or even joomla has nice e-commerce extensions. Tons of feature and unlimited products and categories.

 

[jamesosix]

well it really depends on your own level of knowledge and experience when it comes to websites and physically operating them in every sense.

Will you have to pay somebody for the features you are looking for? In all probability, yes you will, unless you can do it yourself...

I personally think if you have a store and its doing well enough in some ways that mean you can/want to open another 2, and if your time is better spent on not working on the website, then I would say its well worth doing (paying somebody else to do it).

It all really depends.

Best of luck though

 

[Pressure Hosting]

Liked stated in the above post, this really depends on your level of expertise in web development. However your brief explanation suggests to me, that its going to be a complex website. Maybe you could design the basic parts of the site, such as home pages/contact pages etc, and hire out the more complex stuff such as your client areas.

Hope this helps!
Ross

 

[innofive]

Hello,

Looks like now you use some hosted eCommerce provider? The question is do you want to continue with hosted solutions, or switch to something like Opencart, or Prestashop on your own web site hosting

 

[finleydesign]

Hi,

Would really depend on what budget you have available, there are a number of packages or bespoke solutions which would suit your needs

 

[Faevilangel]

From your brief, it looks like you need an off the shelf system such as Opencart, Prestashop or Magento.

All should do what you need but you do need to be technically minded to set up a store on them, then you need to be able to export the data from your current site to the new one.

Costings will range in the £1k to £xxxxx range depending on who builds it, what other features you require etc.

The above options give you unlimited growth potential as you can do what you want with the store, you're not limited by the platform as you get access to the core code.

 

[ProjectOcto]

Put simply, using an off-the-shelf (OTS) package is a good option for those who have the time and patience to learn about managing the website themselves - finding and setting up the extensions etc.

Using an agency/designer to do the work for you on an OTS package also relies on their abilities (probably better than yours, but its never guaranteed they will be great either - look for track record) and also opens you up to their wider thinking i.e. what they have learned from other clients/industries.

Using a bespoke platform/website means that you get exactly what you want. Yes it will cost a little more that the £50/mth sites but you get to define the brief exactly, you'll get better support and you can trust in an expert.

 

[yoshi]

Thank you for the responses. I am going to try and keep a short reply but it never works that way, I have rewritten this 3 times now and am a little overwhelmed by the options. I am yet to sit down and look at all the options mentioned and will most likely get in touch with a few of you who have offered in the next month or so if I can not find an OTS. I am currently using freewebstore as it is approx £80pa. Just as it was cheap and available for what I needed.

My web design goes no further than coding a few pages using dreamweaver so I highly doubt I can manage myself. I did manage to set up my domain names etc… but that was hardly difficult. Just a little daunting for a first timer.

Lets make sure I have got this right. My options are as follows:

(I know I have to do more research into this yet, I just have limited time currently, I just want to demonstrate I am here viewing the thread and not wasting your time)

1. Find a better / upper market "Hosted commerce provider" (like freewebstore who I use now)

2. OTS essentially buying pre-made software. (I run one site currently but if I open 3-4 sites and learn myself this would be the cheapest option) However if I choose to do this I will also have to sort out my hosting. It will be hard work but I will learn 2 valuable skills in the process and I am all about bettering myself.

3. Paying someone to build something for me (they will probably use an OTS package) and then charge me for the hosting. (I am assuming OTS software is like dreamweaver but a little easier on the code)

I honestly do not know how I got as far as I did. My technical ability currently: I can set up my domain etc… using 123-reg without paying someone to do that and I have used dreamweaver to design a simple website. Although I never got as far as to hosting it. It was just to learn something.

I really would be interested in OTS building myself. If I understand correctly It may not be the best option currently but I have 3 months left, I can always pay for an extra 2-3 months service If it means I can open my other ventures without having to fork out 1k+ each time.

 

[yoshi]

I apologise about my grammar also. I am sure it is OK/readable but could be better.

 

[finleydesign]

We tend to work on bespoke/OTS systems where we tailor them to your requirements, as we have many years ecommerce experience ourselves we also tend to know what will benefit you as a company to help build sales and online presence.

We get more clients then ever, who have spent years slogging away at cheap monthly type approaches to really never get anywhere, so the initial investment is always worth it, as we advise nothing in life is free or cheap you will only get the results from the amount you invest and saying that it doesn't mean you need to re-mortgage your house to get top quality results at reasonable rates

 

[Freshwebservices]

Hi,
If you're serious that you might be running 3-4 sites, then you might want to consider Magneto - it has multi store capability, as does OpenCart I believe. This means each website is run from the same Magento installation, which is so much easier than installing a shop for each new domain.
However, Magento is resource hungry - cheap hosting won't deliver the speed you require with Magento.

 

[yoshi]

Thanks again for the responses, in relation to it running from one installation that is good. I am looking at magento currently as a first choice, I will attempt alone first (sorry you web devs out there, I know I did ask for your services) until my 3 months is up. Just a little overwhelmed with all these new programs MAMP, Traffic etc… taking up my desktop space. Looking at a lot of you guys offering services, what worries me is charging £50 a to add for each payment option. I would not be happy paying this for multiple sites. Surely a gateway provider's tech support can help me with all of this for nothing as I will be paying them monthly/commission anyway.

I am going to go off topic just a little as I am suspicious to these costs and I will tell you why. I visited a local marketing course/workshop which was suppose to be a give-back-to-local-youth which turned out to be a rip-off sales seminar where among trying to sell bulk sms text messages to local phone numbers, double sided business cards, Facebook likes and telling us to add them to linkedin. They were offering websites something similar to what eventually went with. I ended up paying £8 a month and they were offering the same package for £50pm but since we were part of the give-back-to-local-youth they were offering a 50% discount (for 6 months) to £25pm of a (12 month contract). I couldn't help but think "oooo lucky us". I asked a few questions about customising of the site backgrounds/layouts features and basically their "expert" was answering with responses such as "our basic layout is statistically proven" "please be quiet as there are 10 other potential mugs here who haven't figured out we have a deal with "insert online site provider here". I am sorry for ranting about this, I am sure you guys are professionals albeit out of my preferred price range a little (not marketing profs marking up entry level products) but this local seminar left somewhat of a bitter taste in my mouth.

Can anyone recommend a "friendly" forum for magento support? I am working my way though a youtube how-to channel to get started.

When you say magenta is resource hungry what should I be looking for as a priority for a smooth and clean site when buying server space? More CPUs? More Ram More GB? Unlimited traffic? In relation to running magenta. I will be researching this more alone but a nudges in the right direction.

I cam across 123-reg business hosting package where it was offered 1cpu/70gb/ult traffic for £18pm. I have quickly looked for the package again to post here and I am finding different packages cheaper where I assume you share server space for around £5pm, i assume you are sharing in this scenario. Obviously I will shop around before using 123-reg. Any recommendation of good value server/hosting providers would be appreciated?

 

[innofive]

Magento keeps improving perfomance from version to version. I've setup Magento CE 1.8.1 on shared hosting, and it generates HTML page in less then 1 second with free full-page cache solution.

 

[Faevilangel]

Don't touch 123-reg with hosting, go with someone reliable, I recommend Vidahost but for Magento have a word with @dx3webs who offer Magento specialised hosting

 

[Freshwebservices]

Hi,
Have to agree not to use 123-reg - I doubt their business model is appropriate for Magento hosting.
As for your concern -> "what worries me is charging £50 a to add for each payment option. I would not be happy paying this for multiple sites." Depending who your payment gateway provider is, you shouldn't have to pay for each website if you're using a multi-domain Magento installation. You will need, however, a multi-domain or wildcard ssl certificate