New to UK e-commerce – the best solution for me?

[wryrych]

Hello,

We’ve been dealing in bike parts on eBay for some months and would like to start our own store. I’m operating from Poland (my partner’s living in the UK) and I’m in charge of technical issues. It is me who has to choose the best solution for us.

I’m new to solutions/e-commerce platforms available in the UK, so I really don’t know how to start and where to get help. The key word here is ‘to start’.

That’s why I have a few questions.
To begin with, we, as I wrote, deal in bike parts. The target number of products is I think 4000.

I’m quite tech-savvy, but I don’t know any back-end language. That’s why I’m rather not interested in open source solution without a support.

I think that a limit in a number of products and bandwidth is ridiculous, thus not interested in them.

A monthly subscription would be better, though I don’t know about any other solutions.

Truth be told, I don’t know what I can expect. What is available.

I will be eternally grateful for any help. I can provide you with additional information if necessary.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

First of all welcome to the forum.

It seems like you have done some research into your requirements so have you come up with any carts that you think might be suitable? If you are looking for a hosted solution without a product limit you could try the likes of ekmPowershop, eShop Systems or Free Webstore. OpenMindCommerce also offer a hosted solution although this is currently being updated to v2 of the software so I am not sure if there is a product limit or not.

I am sure UKBF users will be able to give you examples of other suitable carts so you should have plenty to look at and play around with. Most should give you the option of a free demo for this.

Best of luck finding the right solution!

 

[webgeek]

Though it may not fit all your requirements, I am familiar with a few people using Shopify...

 

[AmazingGiftBoxes]

Why don't you go to opencart website and try their demo of backend.

I am using opencart but at the begining I was afraid that I will not be able to use it, but it turned out that opencart is very easy to use.

You don't have any product limits, or anything like that, you can get hosting that suits your needs and that is it.

I am sure that you can even have a Polish version of opencart.

Give it a try, you have nothing to lose.

Jerry D

_________________________________________________________
Amazing Gift Boxes - Wholesale supplier of hand made gift packaging.

 

[Ninja Commerce]

Hi Wojciech

Welcome.

Firstly, have you looked at volusion? To be honest I don't know a lot about it, so I don't know how good a fit it would be for you, but I've heard good things.

Personally though, my recommendation would be wordpress with the wp-ecommerce pluging.

I realise this doesn't fit your request for a monthly subscription, but I think it's worth considering because:

It's pretty simple, and whilst it does lack some features that zencart and the such like offer, it's simplicity makes it easy to use.

You can install wordpress without any prior knowledge, it's dead easy, and then you just go to plugins in your admin panel, find wp-ecommerce and install that.

You will probably need to upgrage to the 'gold cart' but it's only $40.

All in all its actually really easy to get it working, and for any bits you struggle with you can almost certainly get a freelance developer to help get it working just right for at most a couple hundred quid.

The best part though is you then end up with a wordpress based site - this is great for SEO, which is good for your site in the long run. It's also pretty easy to customise without any technical know how.

Anyway, if that doesn't suit your requirements fair enough - it's not for everyone; but when I've used it in the past I found it pretty nice to work with, so it's worth looking at.

 

[Ross Knight]

Hi wryrych,

Hosted solutions are great but if things go well you are likely to hit a glass ceiling. If however you are aware of there limitations and they work for your business then they can be a great option. In fact even though I primarily work with larger eCommerce solutions such as Magento I personally run a Shopify store due to its ease of use.

I would however suggest that with 4k lines you may want more functionality (such as cross product promotions) in the longer term than may be available in some of the hosted options and as such if Magento could be a consideration for you in the future you may want to consider the hosted solution Magento Go. This way the learning curve from the hosted solution to the Community Edition (where you can apply customisations that will benefit your business) will be minimal.

Another potential plus of looking at Magento is the eBay connection, in fact it even has eBay extensions available which if you are still running your eBay store will save you time in Admin (as far as I am aware this is only available in the full community + and not Magento Go).

Anyhow I am not saying this is the platform for you but it is probably worth a look.

Ross

 

[wryrych]

First, thanks guys for a quick response!

It seems like you have done some research into your requirements so have you come up with any carts that you think might be suitable?

Actually I have done some research, but I mainly based my requirements on Polish e-commerce. And yes, I googled a little and found some platforms.

If you are looking for a hosted solution without a product limit you could try the likes of ekmPowershop, eShop Systems or Free Webstore. OpenMindCommerce also offer a hosted solution although this is currently being updated to v2 of the software so I am not sure if there is a product limit or not.

ekmPowershop seems pretty good.

Why don't you go to opencart website and try their demo of backend.

Will look at it. Thanks for suggestion.

Hosted solutions are great but if things go well you are likely to hit a glass ceiling. If however you are aware of there limitations and they work for your business then they can be a great option. In fact even though I primarily work with larger eCommerce solutions such as Magento I personally run a Shopify store due to its ease of use.

I would however suggest that with 4k lines you may want more functionality (such as cross product promotions) in the longer term than may be available in some of the hosted options and as such if Magento could be a consideration for you in the future you may want to consider the hosted solution Magento Go. This way the learning curve from the hosted solution to the Community Edition (where you can apply customisations that will benefit your business) will be minimal.

Hi Ross. I didn’t know that Magento has a commercial plan.

I’m sorry if I missed something but as far as open source is concerned, I’m a bit afraid. Don’t get me wrong. I use open source and even make it.
Yes, I know that open solution would be the best when it comes to control, flexibility but I fear a few things:

• what about if things go wrong? What about support? Waiting for a question to be answered in a forum?
• security – there is always a chance of braking things when upgrading
• how often do you have to update/upgrade an app?

Yup, These are things I can think of. 4k is in the long run. What matters is a precise control of the layout – I’ll be making own, and would like to have control over it.


SAAS seems to be better for smaller stores and I would like to avoid vendor lock-in trap – problems when migrating.


Perhaps it is a lack of knowledge, but yes, I could learn how to administer an open source solution. I’m a front-end web enthusiast so maybe there’s nothing to worry about?


Thanks again!

 

[Ross Knight]

Glad you have found the forum helpful.

Choices, choices ;-) I put forward Magento Go as a possible solution thinking that one day you may want additional control and venture onto the Community Edition with a good grounding in the backend. Go is a SAAS so the support would be there and ontop of a selection of themes you have access to css so can make any design changes you wish (assuming you are familiar with css). I would however suggest it can get expensive if you have a lot of product lines.

 

[shani1981]

Welcome to UKBF

 

[elissawilson]

Its really a good idea to start your own store. Create an ecommerce website for your store. And list your business in local online business directory. Post ad on classified sites about our store and what special services you are offering. Post press release and you can hire an seo guy to to do online promotion for your website.

 

[Websitehandyman]

I need to update this but it's a good starting place for what out there in terms of shopping carts - http://www.websitehandyman.co.uk/simple-list-shopping-carts/

 

[Greg Black]

SAAS seems to be better for smaller stores and I would like to avoid vendor lock-in trap – problems when migrating.

Not so, there are some massive sites running a saas model and more are moving to it every day.

It would be my preferred option from what you have told us, as Ross has said, Megento Go would be a good option, plus if you are worried about migration, you can easily migrate to a stand alone Magento store at a later date, though I bet you won't want to.

Cheers
Greg

 

[wryrych]

Hi again!

I think that Ross' suggestion is a very good idea and I think we'll opt for it. In the meantime I will give myself some time to learn Magento and how to administer it.

Thank you very much guys! You were very helpful! I hope this is a good option.

 

[globaltrader]

Open source ecommerce solutions are great in terms of functionality but setting them up is not easy though.

Why not consider eShop solutions like Prestashop, ekmPowershop, Volution. Also, 1&1.co.uk also have a hosted eShop solution but 1&1 has a bad reputation as a hosting company (you can Google this and see).

With 4000 items you need an eShop solution which will allow you to import the products as a CSV file otherwise it will be a nightmare getting them all online.

 

[nish]

thumbip for Prestashop, very popular opensource system with plenty of templates around. If you need any Prestashop template customisation work, I can help for very reasonable price.

Thank you
Nish

 

[jackmiller]

As per your requirements, you can go with any language and I think yearly subscription would be better for your appearance.

 

[Card Cutters Ltd]

Try Magento shopping cart. Its good that you have started searching before setting up a website as choosing a right cart is very important and hence, the e-commerce solution (online payment gateway). You can call us if you want and then we can hopefully direct you in the right direction and help you save some money as well. There is a lot out there in the market and you have to be careful in choosing the best option, just keep that in mind.

 

[wryrych]

As I said before, I chose Magento Go. Now, I’m working on a custom theme. As I’m familiar with web design/development, basically I know what is or what is not possible. But the problem is with Megento Go’s support.

I’ve posted 2 questions on their forum about Megento Go’s theme limits, but they haven’t answered me. It’s sad but looking through other posts, it seems that it is very difficult to get the answer to more advanced topics.

So guys, do you have any idea where I could ask about themes limits? Is it forum appropriate?
Are any of you familiar with designing a custom theme for Magento Go? I mean from scratch?

What I have are really simple questions.

I would be eternally grateful!

 

[Websitehandyman]

I think you might want to look at http://www.cs-cart.com they have a free version, I've not used that but the paid version (which is not cheap at about $400) is incredibly configurable and comes with loads of ready made templates. For products that need a lot of options, menu selections based on choices and unlimited postage and payment options I think it's a good buy and well worth looking at if only to rule out. Support is very good and the forum is active.

 

[antropy]

Why don't you go to opencart website and try their demo of backend.

I am using opencart but at the begining I was afraid that I will not be able to use it, but it turned out that opencart is very easy to use.

Another vote for OpenCart here - in fact I reviewed all the most popular shopping cart platforms and found OpenCart to be one of the best:
http://www.antropy.co.uk/blog/shopping-cart-review/

You can even sync your products with ebay with this plugin:
http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route=extension/extension/info&extension_id=4220