Choosing an ecommerce solution

[dcart]

Of course. You are right. Many retailers need individual solutions. Opencart is ideal for most e-commerce. It has reached the golden mean between functionality and simple management.

 

[kev598]

Yup 100% agree with you there. Its definitely faster on the admin end. Looks better with the new GUI too. Not much has changed on the front-end though. Granted there have been some big changes to the back-end code which now solves a lot of plugin/module compatibility issues BUT I still prefer v1.

There is simply not enough of an impact in v2 that's makes it worthwhile to migrate an existing running v1 shop to v2.

We deploy new site on v2 as it just makes sense but existing shops.. nope. Keep them where they are and optimise the hell out of them!

I think Magento is a good option for small businesses. It will allow them to grow when they need to. the problem with these newer ecommerce solutions like Shopify (yes its not that new) is when you want to grow your stuck! then trying to migrate to another solution is damn near impossible. A small business will need to weigh up the pros and cons very carefully if they plan on running an ecommerce business long term s to which solution they should choose. My recommendation 99.99% of the time is Magento more often than not simply because of the multi store functionality.

Yes, I agree with you. You still have one more year to go. I think maybe with the time, Magento will create some better migration tool, so it won't be so long to migrate all data properly.

However, due to the simplicity of the admin panel and more features to come in the 2.x versions, I'd rather move the 1.x store to the 2.x.

And actually, it is interesting that you've mentioned Magento is suitable for small businesses. As I noticed, not so many small companies choose Magento, but definitely, it gives you room for growth.

 

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[dcart]

I think that the best solution is open source software. The support of the community is huge. The possibilities of expansion are also huge (thousands of extensions) and much cheaper. For starting entrepreneurs these features are the most important.

 

[elsnermagento]

Magetno is the best platform to develop your ecommerce store. Also Mageno is now consider as a ecommerce leader.

btw thanks for sharing good information.

 

[dcart]

I fully agree with you but Magento is the most difficult e-commerce platform. Many sellers have a problem with it or need to hire a specialist to handle it.

 

[elsnermagento]

I fully agree with you but Magento is the most difficult e-commerce platform. Many sellers have a problem with it or need to hire a specialist to handle it.

I also agree with you, non technocal person can't handle it.

But for any technologies, business security is first choice for business owner. That's why people choose Magenot for ecommerce. Without high security you can't run your sucessful online business.

 

[fisicx]

But for any technologies, business security is first choice for business owner. That's why people choose Magenot for ecommerce. Without high security you can't run your sucessful online business.

What a load of codswallop. There are plenty of secure platforms people can use.

Magento has it's niche but for Mrs Miggins selling knitted bobble hats it's the wrong choice.

 

[elsnermagento]

What a load of codswallop. There are plenty of secure platforms people can use.

Magento has it's niche but for Mrs Miggins selling knitted bobble hats it's the wrong choice.

I am not talking with you so don't interfere.

People have different opinion ok.

 

[elsnermagento]

What a load of codswallop. There are plenty of secure platforms people can use.

Magento has it's niche but for Mrs Miggins selling knitted bobble hats it's the wrong choice.

Then let me know why people choose magento?

 

[elsnermagento]

It may be the best solution for some but that doesn’t mean it’s the best for everybody.

Can you please tell me which is best Ecommerce solution and why?

 

[Aleksander_Gramm]

Hey
What about PWA (Progressive Web Applications)?

I agree, Magento 2 is the difficult solution for non-tech person. But, if your business is growing you need the complex solution. Magento 2 gives PWA-studio. It is evolution.

 

[fisicx]

Can you please tell me which is best Ecommerce solution and why?

There is no 'best'. There is only the most suitable for the particular project.

Did you read the opening post:

There is no right or wrong answer in which type of system to go for, all have their advantages and disadvantages and every websites needs are unique, no website will ever be the same as another.

 

[dcart]

But for any technologies, business security is first choice for business owner. That's why people choose Magenot for ecommerce. Without high security you can't run your sucessful online business.

I absolutely cannot agree with the opinion that Magento is more secure than other systems. Opencart took first place at CMS Critic Awards. This should give us food for thought. Opencart has changed a lot in recent years.

 

[Aleksander_Gramm]

I often see that Magento store owners don't install security patches. It seems carelessly.

 

[fisicx]

I often see that Magento store owners don't install security patches. It seems carelessly.

No different to anything else. I've got a client who hasn't updated in years - they are scared something will break if they do.

 

[dcart]

I often see that Magento store owners don't install security patches. It seems carelessly.

No different to anything else. I've got a client who hasn't updated in years - they are scared something will break if they do.

The argument of @elsnermagento is therefore unacceptable.
You choose the platform according to your needs and skills. Magento is extremely difficult. Therefore, the needs analysis should start with Opencart, which is the golden mean. If OC is not enough you go to Prestashop or even higher to Magento.

 

[Aleksander_Gramm]

No different to anything else. I've got a client who hasn't updated in years - they are scared something will break if they do.

They use this argument all the time.
But this argument suffers from a two-fold fallacy.

 

[muviereck]

A lot more goes into building a successful e-commerce business than you might think.

 

[antropy]

A lot more goes into building a successful e-commerce business than you might think.

Exactly and the core focal point (aside from what your are selling) is a website that draws customers in. Alex

 

[RjMaan]

Yeah, i agree with you that there are number of advantages of eCommerce but the admin has to face huge competition as well.

 

[antropy]

Yeah, i agree with you that there are number of advantages of eCommerce but the admin has to face huge competition as well.

I think the admins should delete this user - could even be a bot. Paul

 

[RjMaan]

Haha no sir. I am not a bot i am real human. Actually i was saying that in eCommerce every admin of store have to face a lot of competition because i am planning to create a C 2 C eCommerce store.

 

[antropy]

i am real human

Good to know.

i am planning to create a C 2 C eCommerce store.

Have you looked at multimerch.com?

Paul

 

[RjMaan]

Have you looked at multimerch.com

Thank you for this suggestion.

 

[evhow90]

Open source platforms would always be my recommendation rather than solutions such as Shopify. Though they are great for start-up businesses who want something easy to set up, they don't lend well to complex scalability.

Wordpress/Woocommerce is a personal preference.

I can also recommend TSP host as UK hosting company. Not without its issues (especially their cheap cloud hosting) but the VPS servers are reliable. Having the live chat instant support is really important, which makes them my choice.

Hope that helps, Emily

 

[HomeWrking]

Have we mentioned the delightful WooCommerce - better than the hosted solutions, professional, easily customised and runs on WordPress. Great out of the box and plenty of developers on hand to help you on your way.

 

[Swati Patel]

Nice to read only, but when we have to choose we always in double mind or confused. So as we see current market trends, Magento won the race. Because of its newest version.

 

[Romoi]

We get a lot of questions on the forums asking for the best ecommerce solution, and why members to tend to promote their favourite, I thought I would I would write up a post on the options available to you...

What are the types of ecommerce solutions

There are 3 main types of ecommerce solutions available, Hosted, Open source / pre-built and Custom, all offer their own advantages over each other, and below is my run down of these.

Hosted Solution:

A hosted solution is where a company run the website for you, you have a part of their website for your needs and they take the hassle away the technical expertise on running an ecommerce store.

It's primarily aimed at new ecommerce stores, pricing ranges from free to £100 a month, you get a customer support line to speak to someone (this might be an extra add on) and some form of ticketing / forum system where you can get support from the company or other users of the software.

The biggest players in the market are EKM Powershop, Big Cartel, Shopify, Bigcommerce and Magento Go. All vary in pricing and features.

The main advantage of this option is the lack of technical expertise needed, you are just left to run the website (adding products etc) while they do all the bits you just don't want to do.

You're limited to what you can do to your store though, you will be able to change how the store looks but adding new features is normally a big no.

Pre-built Software

A Pre-built solution is an off the shelf system which has already been built and you can either buy a license (paid) or use it for free (open source). The paid software normally comes with some form of customer support and the free versions normally have some form of forum for users to help one another.

This type of solution is primarily aimed at the developer market, allowing website developers to offer a low cost solution to website owners to get an ecommerce store, the choice of which software to use will depend on the developers preferences.

The software normally needs a understanding of development to do customisations although there are websites which sell themes and plugins for most of the common carts.

Paid Software options include Cubecart and CS Cart, open source software there is Opencart, Prestashop and Magento

The main advantage of these options is you get the source code, and you can literally do anything with the site, you want to build new features, go ahead but you will either need to be technical minded or have someone who can do it for you as you will need to install and set yp the site, and do the general maintenance.

Custom

This is where you go if you have a totally unique idea that no system will currently do, it might be a new way to do a certain function or to link it to other software you use in the business (fulfilment etc). You're in the land of the big bucks and this is primarily aimed at growing businesses which just need something more than what other systems offer.

Costings can range from a few thousand into the millions, depending on your idea and who you get to build it.

Conclusion

There is no right or wrong answer in which type of system to go for, all have their advantages and disadvantages and every websites needs are unique, no website will ever be the same as another.

So how do you decide which one to use? Research, look at the options they all offer, work out how much you could afford to spend on the solution and work out which one fits into your website projections (no point getting option #1 if you grow out of it in 3 months etc).

Finally test your website solution (trial or demo basis) before signing up, testing will tell you if the solution is the right fit for you.

very helpful

 

[Borim]

I constantly used OpenCart for all my web shops but for current one I keep in my mind I will try WooCommerce/Wordpress, I want to see how it works in comparison with some real live example. I have heard many good things about it, I do not expect much, but will use that still.

 

[Martyn Thompson]

There are so many these days, reading through this brought back memories!

 

[waiz]

i think Woocommerce should be a way to go, i have used Magento and PrestaShop as a normal user, and i also have done some coding for PrestaShop , but there are too many complications working with these platforms for normal user, not easy to work with, need tech knowledge, lots of issues comming frequently. Woo is easy to use and understand.

 

[mikespencer]

Woocommerce is my favourite as it is quick and easy to use.

 

[acjones2000]

I'm currently going through this process. I've found that the likes of Shopify etc are great for low involvement products and businesses e.g clothes but if your product is more complex and your business operates across multiple sites/sells abroad etc the best solution is Magento.

 

[axelrich]

Good points, I guess it's the requirement of the business that actually defines its suitability to the ecommerce solution.

 

[Diane1]

Yes totally agree with you, and we also have to make it sure for e commerce platform that whether our team can use it or not. We also have to make it sure first.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Open-Source ecommerce platforms such as WooCommerce and OpenCart offer a large variety of themes and plugins, not to mention large community based support.

Avoid website builder 'online shops' such as those from Wix or GoDaddy as they are very restrictive in terms of options and in particular payment platforms. Plus, if you decide down the line you have outgrown it you'd need to start from scratch elsewhere...

 

[antropy]

I'm currently going through this process. I've found that the likes of Shopify etc are great for low involvement products and businesses e.g clothes but if your product is more complex and your business operates across multiple sites/sells abroad etc the best solution is Magento.

Magento is also very expensive to maintain. Alex

 

[TheoNe]

A very well written and informative piece for any business or would-be merchant currently looking to choose the right eCommerce software for them.

 

[Paulo1Chop]

I think the best advice is to start small with the solution that is user friendly straight off the bat but also has the flexibility to be scaled as and when you're ready