Open source or hosted?

[davybull]

I have a current business with a crappy website. I would like to start an e-shop promoting part of my business offering personalised goods & gifts.

This will be my first e-shop and I can't decide whether or not to go with open source like OS commerce or a hosted service like EKM or Bluepark.

On alot of items I will need a text box asking for personalising info.

I've done a bit with dreamweaver and dont mind having a play myself but I don't have a huge amount of time!!

Cheers for any advice in advance.

Dave.

 

[Greg Black]

Starting with a hosted solution and a template is the quickest cheapest way of getting going. It would be my preferred route, assuming you find a hosted solution that meets all of your requirements.

I can't comment on the two you have listed as they aren't ones that I have ever considered.

 

[serendipitybusiness]

I would go with an open source version for flexibility you may have issues getting everything you need with a hosted solution and it doesn't really help you for future proofing. Woocommerce is a great system out of the box, its built on wordpress so if your main website is crappy it can take care of that at the same time, there is also a host of paid plugins that you can add for different needs (the array is growing rapidly and there is a solution for the text box need you mention). You can also buy templates in a variety of designs to get you up and running quickly with minimum fuss. The time and skill comes in with custom changes etc, but out of the box you can have an impressive site up and running quite quickly that you can build upon later.

Hope this helps

 

[Greg Black]

Starting with a hosted solution and a template is the quickest cheapest way of getting going. It would be my preferred route, assuming you find a hosted solution that meets all of your requirements.

I can't comment on the two you have listed as they aren't ones that I have ever considered.

Just follow up on my earlier comment, I have written a blog post that I hope you all find useful, it is my take on the steps that need to be taken before building an ecommerce site. (puts his tin hat on)

Where should I start when planning an ecommerce website?

 

[Chunkford]

Take a look at sellerdeck (was actinic desktop) and the engraving plugin by drillpine.

I've created a few shops using this setup and it works quiet well for a first timers into the ecommerce world.

 

[city_web_studio]

I believe going with Open source Solution will give you more flexibility and more support. You can also look for various other CMS like Joomla, Magento.

These CMS are easy to manage and you can edit the things using Easy Admin interface..

 

[Bluepark]

The benefits of a hosted ecommerce platform, at least from Bluepark's perspective, are that you're getting a mature and regularly updated software package with a wide variety of features.

You're also getting a fully managed and reliable hosting platform, tailored specifically for the software, with site data mirrored on a minimum of two physical servers, along with nightly backups. You don't have to worry about installing the software, and you don't have to worry about installing the free updates which get added automatically.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly of all, you're getting UK-based technical support.

However, to be fair and balance the equation...

The application source code is not "open source" - you can't modify it yourself, or pay a 3rd party developer to do so. For this reason, if you have a very bespoke feature requirement for the platform, and you have the technical ability to do so, you may prefer to install and host your own open source software package of choice.

However, again, it's worth mentioning that the more you update the source code of an open source package, the harder it is to upgrade it to a later version and retain your updates.

When it comes to ecommerce software, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. A software package can have thousands of cutting edge features, but if the mission-critical feature you need for your site is missing then it's not the right solution for you.

As far as our software goes, we do our best to develop and maintain as flexible a platform as we possibly can on an ongoing basis.

The best thing you can do is try them all! Take out your free trials, test out all of the software you're considering, ask existing users (not competitors!) for their opinions, decide what your priorities are, and consider your abilities and ambitions for the project.

That way you'll make a truly informed decision.

 

[j600com]

Open source or hosted is an argument that will go on forever and a day, you may as well be asking what's better cats or dogs?

The honest answer (which few on here will tell you) is that it doesn't really matter whether it's one or the other, it's about the company, service and support behind the software. There are bad open source solutions, there are bad hosted solutions, to make it even more complicated there are good open source platforms being provided by bad agencies. Magento is a classic, it's the buzz platform of choice at the minute - but the reality is you can get an awful magento solution and you can get a great magento solution (hosted is no different). Spend more time looking a companies credentials, background, portfolio, team and so on rather than the specific package they'll use to provide the solution. I would compare it to shopping around for a builder based on his tools rather than his portfolio of past projects. There are plenty of platforms/providers to choose from, shop around and look for those with a proven track record (preferably in the field that you are in). The majority of platforms will no doubt provide the basic eCommerce functionality you need to get started.

Have a read of this... http://www.lostferret.co.uk/blog/2012/open_source_e-commerce_software_pro-s_cons I agree with their view point.

Ps. the answer was of course dogs

 

[mit74]

hosting services may be the cheap and easy way of doing things but you will always have scalability issues later down the line. Of course many business don't need to scale up so it suits them.

And please if you do decide to go open source don't choose Magento. I think it's got a horrendous backend and dev time is double than some of the other newer carts.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Just going to say well done Rich from Bluepark - that was a really good post.
Bluepark got it in one.