In the past yes, but these days there are hosted solutions (e.g. Big Commerce Enterprise or Demandware) that can cope with any size e-commerce. In addition, their API's allows for limitless expansion, configuration and integrations.
Upvote
0
You have to invest in this side of your business and that means you will have to take a leap every few years to catch up with things. We have use Intelligent Retail for the last six years and the latest responsive site has had a big impact on sales. They offer knowledgable support and understand the needs of our business. Since they were taken over a few years ago things have really changed and I wouldn't hesitate at recommending them to other retailers from our experience.
Upvote
0
You're right Matt, Woocommerce is ok when you first start out and don't have much money to invest but when things start to grow you really need to work with a partner that knows what they are doing and gives you the scalability that your business is going to need for the long term. You have to be ready to invest in upgrades as technology evolves, like the change to responsive. It's like who handwrites receipts in-store any more?
Upvote
0
Intelligent retail, there's much better options out there, i didn't find their system that impressive, functional or anything.
Upvote
0
Well each to their own. I can only base it on our experience and it's nothing but positive. Development over the last two years has significantly improved their offer and we're benefiting from increased sales because of it.
Upvote
0
Ive spoken to a few folk who have migrated over to Shopify and been delighted with the results
Upvote
0
@AJWo I would be interested in hearing what drove your decision to switch to shopify? We are currently going through the same debate Shopify or Magento 2. We are actually in a unique position in that we have a site that has been designed on both but making the decision one or the other is proving tough.
Upvote
0
Challenge for Magento at the moment is the transition to Magento 2. The talk is that within 12-18months Magento 1 will cease to be supported from a security patch perspective making any sites still running on it more open to being hacked.
We're looking at re-platforming or moving to Magento 2 at the mo
We're looking at re-platforming or moving to Magento 2 at the mo
Upvote
0
The best solution depends on your business goals. If you're serious then you should go with an established expandable cms solution, which one again depends on your goals.
The reason why not having a completely bespoke build is good is due to the updating of security issues. Unless of course you have a very high development budget, in which case you would be able to develop it all in house.
If you are planning on international sales then something like Magento is very good for this, other wise there are various other options like Opencart, Prestashop, Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress. Wordpress is good (with an e-commerce plugin) as you have very good SEO and blogging capabilities.
It is best to avoid solutions like Wix etc as you will end up getting locked in, your data is not your own and it can be virtually impossible to move your content to a new website. It is not entirely impossible as you can scrape the content from the live site and populate a new database but this can be expensive.
The reason why not having a completely bespoke build is good is due to the updating of security issues. Unless of course you have a very high development budget, in which case you would be able to develop it all in house.
If you are planning on international sales then something like Magento is very good for this, other wise there are various other options like Opencart, Prestashop, Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress. Wordpress is good (with an e-commerce plugin) as you have very good SEO and blogging capabilities.
It is best to avoid solutions like Wix etc as you will end up getting locked in, your data is not your own and it can be virtually impossible to move your content to a new website. It is not entirely impossible as you can scrape the content from the live site and populate a new database but this can be expensive.
Upvote
0
I've personally been using Magento for more than five years. It takes awhile to get your head around it, but it i believe it's the best for significant sized, heavy duty stores, with a large inventory. It's flexible and there's a big Magento community of developers creating new extensions and new customizations.
It's initmidating for some users and a bit overkill for many applications, but if you're hoping for long term growth and a CMS system that grows with you, i suggest Magento wholeheartedly.
It's initmidating for some users and a bit overkill for many applications, but if you're hoping for long term growth and a CMS system that grows with you, i suggest Magento wholeheartedly.
Upvote
0
I have been using Shopify as I have big dreams with my business and it's great for you if you are serious to use.
Load times are fast. Always up and changes can be done fast and simple for the most part.
Google likes Shopify and index well + rank accordently. Tons of apps options to enhance the feel and solve your problems such as keeping up with the stock or whatever your need might be.
Finally support is great and they help you out if you need it
Load times are fast. Always up and changes can be done fast and simple for the most part.
Google likes Shopify and index well + rank accordently. Tons of apps options to enhance the feel and solve your problems such as keeping up with the stock or whatever your need might be.
Finally support is great and they help you out if you need it
Upvote
0
For people with little knowledge about programming, or no time for maintenance, both BigCommerce and Shopify are excellent options, they both offer SSL included, service is excellent, uptime is 99.99% and you can start with a free trial and less than 29 per month. Shopify offers more flexibility in terms of apps and add-ons, but you do have to pay monthly fees almost for every add-on, thus, it is important to choose the ones you really need.
Upvote
0
Ηere’s what you need to prepare to set up your online store :
Product details (product name, description, price, weight, images)
Company write up / description - what's your company about, beliefs, vision, etc
Payment gateways - have you decided which one to use to accept payment from your customers? Or do you prefer to use offline payment methods as in customers can pay by cheque, money order, bank transfer?
Shipping - which courier service provider do you want to use? Or do you prefer to use the postal service? Are you planning to offer free shipping?
There are some basic things you have to search.
Product details (product name, description, price, weight, images)
Company write up / description - what's your company about, beliefs, vision, etc
Payment gateways - have you decided which one to use to accept payment from your customers? Or do you prefer to use offline payment methods as in customers can pay by cheque, money order, bank transfer?
Shipping - which courier service provider do you want to use? Or do you prefer to use the postal service? Are you planning to offer free shipping?
There are some basic things you have to search.
Upvote
0
S
Steven001
- Original Poster
- #354
I disagree on the custom solution being expensive if you are a developer. It's the best solution as you will have a unique looking website with as much or as little functionality as is required for the business. Tailor made is the ideal solution and it doesn't have to more expensive than buying cheap hosting, a cheap domain name, a decent SSL certificate and a small monthly fee for an eCommerce payment gateway service.
I have tried many of the one click solutions like Magento and tbh I detest them all. They are very hefty processing wise as they have to deal with all business scenarios and they are limited in the sense that the website will look very much like all the others who have chosen the same platform and it will be difficult to create custom pages which make you site stand out from the rest. On top of that I found there is nothing out there which combines the functionality of a forum with an ecommerce site so I had to build my own.
I have tried many of the one click solutions like Magento and tbh I detest them all. They are very hefty processing wise as they have to deal with all business scenarios and they are limited in the sense that the website will look very much like all the others who have chosen the same platform and it will be difficult to create custom pages which make you site stand out from the rest. On top of that I found there is nothing out there which combines the functionality of a forum with an ecommerce site so I had to build my own.
Upvote
0
Nice piece @Faevilangel, clear and straight to the point. I will always look for something custom before going with any prebuilt one. If there's not enough time I will just go for something like Shopify or Bigcommerce. For small to medium companies, the hosted solution (serverless) does the job most of the times because it allows the focus on the sales/business rather than the bugs 
Upvote
0
That's the wrong way round.
Why would you start off going for a custom solution, which takes much longer and is more expensive, before looking to see if a pre-built solution, which may already do exactly what you need, can work for you?
Upvote
0
Great piece of advice. Anyone still using Zencart btw? We did some wonderful projects with it years ago, but its growth and community support has stagnated for a long time.
Our current choice of ecommerce solution are Magento, Prestashop and Woocommerce, depending on the business need, budget and their 5 year plan for growth.
Our current choice of ecommerce solution are Magento, Prestashop and Woocommerce, depending on the business need, budget and their 5 year plan for growth.
Upvote
0
@antropy you either don't have the skills or enough understanding about it, which it's fair enough but if I were you, I wouldn't comment on that. You sound like so many other "experts" where things are so easy just until you get your ears in and then you need a that "expert" who will charge at least £50/hour to fix stuff. Nothing it's easy as it sounds if you are serious about business.
I did not say it's the cheapest option, and I've even mentioned that if there's not much time allocated for the project I will go for a prebuilt option. Is down to every individual's resources.
Without going too much in details, this is why personally I will go for a custom one whenever it's possible:
1. If you've got the skills and the right understanding to build a bespoke web/mobile application based on modern Design / Development / Content/DB Architecture, which I have. Guess what? It will barely cost any cash but time.
2. Security and privacy come first, and when you use any prebuilt system, you open yourself to a new world, a dark one. I care about the business and my customer's data; therefore I will use services like AWS, Stripe etc. and let them look after it rather than having everything in one place. For someone with no experience, of course, it's better to have a prebuilt one, but if there's poor maintenance, they are a target as there is a hacker attack every 39 seconds. Google a bit about any prebuilt solution, e.g. `opencart security vulnerability` then you will understand what I mean if you don't already know?
3. Now you wonder, why do you open yourself to a new world, a dark one if using a prebuilt solution?
Very simple, and I will name a few reasons:
- You need to install the whole bundle on your server on which you have no idea what's going on and every script in it. By doing that you load loads of other libraries and creates a crazy amount of dependencies which usually produces an extra load to the server and severely impact the application speed and of course the user.
- Everything sits in one place, and one "open door" is enough to lose all the data. Funny enough, you might not even know, and your client's data could be on the black market ( Google it )
4. Usually, these prebuilt solutions rely upon plugins to make them more "e-commerce efficient", plugins which are the one type of the "open doors" I was talking. You won't only create even more dependencies, but you will rely upon other developers to come up with a fix if there is any vulnerability so that you can be safe again, but if they don't? You know what's next.
5. A prebuilt solution will never accommodate all your business needs and things can and will get expensive when you want to customise it. But of course, it depends on the business complexity and growth.
If I were to, of course, I would recommend solutions like Wordpress, Magento, Prestashop, Shopify etc. but I will never say are the best, especially if there're no concerns on resources.
The list could go even more. I'm not saying that we should not look into prebuilt solutions but what it could sound cheap at the beginning can turn into a dangerous monster. I've used most of the solutions out there, and sometimes I wish I wouldn't.
Now, if you still think that "That's the wrong way round", I appreciate your own thoughts, and of course, it's my personal view on how the web works.
Thank you!
I did not say it's the cheapest option, and I've even mentioned that if there's not much time allocated for the project I will go for a prebuilt option. Is down to every individual's resources.
Without going too much in details, this is why personally I will go for a custom one whenever it's possible:
1. If you've got the skills and the right understanding to build a bespoke web/mobile application based on modern Design / Development / Content/DB Architecture, which I have. Guess what? It will barely cost any cash but time.
2. Security and privacy come first, and when you use any prebuilt system, you open yourself to a new world, a dark one. I care about the business and my customer's data; therefore I will use services like AWS, Stripe etc. and let them look after it rather than having everything in one place. For someone with no experience, of course, it's better to have a prebuilt one, but if there's poor maintenance, they are a target as there is a hacker attack every 39 seconds. Google a bit about any prebuilt solution, e.g. `opencart security vulnerability` then you will understand what I mean if you don't already know?
3. Now you wonder, why do you open yourself to a new world, a dark one if using a prebuilt solution?
Very simple, and I will name a few reasons:
- You need to install the whole bundle on your server on which you have no idea what's going on and every script in it. By doing that you load loads of other libraries and creates a crazy amount of dependencies which usually produces an extra load to the server and severely impact the application speed and of course the user.
- Everything sits in one place, and one "open door" is enough to lose all the data. Funny enough, you might not even know, and your client's data could be on the black market ( Google it )
4. Usually, these prebuilt solutions rely upon plugins to make them more "e-commerce efficient", plugins which are the one type of the "open doors" I was talking. You won't only create even more dependencies, but you will rely upon other developers to come up with a fix if there is any vulnerability so that you can be safe again, but if they don't? You know what's next.
5. A prebuilt solution will never accommodate all your business needs and things can and will get expensive when you want to customise it. But of course, it depends on the business complexity and growth.
If I were to, of course, I would recommend solutions like Wordpress, Magento, Prestashop, Shopify etc. but I will never say are the best, especially if there're no concerns on resources.
The list could go even more. I'm not saying that we should not look into prebuilt solutions but what it could sound cheap at the beginning can turn into a dangerous monster. I've used most of the solutions out there, and sometimes I wish I wouldn't.
Now, if you still think that "That's the wrong way round", I appreciate your own thoughts, and of course, it's my personal view on how the web works.
Thank you!
Upvote
0
I'm a Senior Developer with 14 years commercial experience, spanning various London web agencies and have been head of web teams at FTSE 100 companies. I now employ several other developers. What's your background?
So you're contradicting your previous points and expecting shop owners to spend their time becoming experienced developers and build their own shops?
There's some sort of point here but in my experience an open source solution will have vulnerabilities patched far quicker than a custom one. We host ~100 OpenCart sites and any issues we've had are due to customers using weak passwords, not OpenCart itself.
So you write everything from scratch because you don't want to trust anything pre-built? Why not go back to writing assembly? Ever heard the term "standing on the shoulders of giants"?
You're right, plugins can be a weakness.
Wrong. Good code is flexible code and it should be easier, quicker, better to customise a good platform rather than re-write it all. There are loads of other problems with a custom solution, such as a client is often stuck with one developer - no one wants to pick up another developer's sloppy code.
WordPress and Magento are not great. My detailed technical views on Magento here:
http://www.antropy.co.uk/blog/the-lure-of-magento
Sounds like you used Magento and got stung.
As above.
Paul
Upvote
0
Latest Articles
-
What Carphone Warehouse, Microsoft and Uber Have in Common: They Started in a DownturnThere's a comforting myth that you need a booming economy to start...- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
What Makes a Small Business Actually Sellable?There's a question that a lot of small business owners never think to...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
Why Your Team Keeps Asking the Same Questions (And What to Actually Do About It)Every small business owner knows the moment. You're halfway through...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
At What Point Do Courier Losses Just Become a Cost of Doing Business?If you sell physical products online, you already know the feeling. You...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
What I Wish I'd Known Before Using AI in My BusinessSomewhere between the headlines promising AI will transform everything...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
