Which is best to choose - shopify , 1and 1 or ekmpowershop

[wajidm]

Hi, I want to start online selling and was exploring some e-commerce shop build options with 1and1. To my disappointment the templates are rubbish and extremely restrictive with very poor looks.I do not want to go ahead with the and then started looking for other options and stumbled upon ekmpowershop and shopify.

Could experienced users help me to decide the best ones to choose for newbie like myself. I do not want to take too much technical hassle to build things from scratch so a custom made solution would really do.

Please forward me your experiences and thoughts

 

[Ninja Commerce]

Of those choices, I would say Shopify without question. 1&1 shop is just a cobbled together product to upsell to customers. 1&1 don't specialise in websites, they specialise in hosting. Shopify only exist to provide ecommerce sites.

That said, I would actually recommend having your own site built (or doing it yourself) on a platform such as Wordpress (with woocommerce plugin) or Magento.

Those platforms have various SEO benefits and give you more freedom. They do require a little more start up effort, but it is well worth the investment.

And using one of those platforms you only need to pay for hosting (less than £5 a month) rather than paying the higher fees charged by the other solutions.

With Shopify you will be paying a monthly fee (£20-100 I think) plus a transaction fee for each sale. Not huge amounts, but the investment in having a wordpress site built will soon pay for itself.

That's my personal view at least.

 

[wajidm]

Thanks for your advice I will explore both the options. One thing is for sure that I am not going to work with the 1and1. They are just rubbish.

 

[Parcelhub]

Shopify is by far the easiest platform for a new business / eCommerce rookie, and some of their themes are outstanding such as the Retina Austin theme

 

[Matt Thorpe]

Shopify is certainly your way to go. It's not perfect but it's great to get up and running. You have to pay for extra apps if you need additional functionality but they aren't expensive, easy to install and far cheaper than asking a developer to do it.

It also has some lovely designed template, is fully mobile responsive and has a nice, simple back-end.

 

[JamieM]

With Shopify you will be paying a monthly fee (£20-100 I think) plus a transaction fee for each sale. Not huge amounts, but the investment in having a wordpress site built will soon pay for itself.

There is no transaction fee if you use Shopify Payments (powered by Stripe).

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi,

Welcome to the forums.

Shopify is quick and easy, but not very cost effective and not as good for scaling and the long term.

I'd echo @ThinkTraffic's post and recommend either WordPress + WooCommerce, or OpenCart instead of Magento.

OpenCart or Magento are great for traditional eCommerce stores - especially ones selling a lot of normal products.

WordPress + WooCommerce is great for bespoke products, fashion, and for showing off a smaller number of products in a lot of detail - so less traditional eCommerce stores.

OpenCart is lighter weight and easier to use than Magento, so unless you have a specific need for some of the functionality Magento offers (which it doesn't sound like you have) we normally recommend OpenCart.

Any decent web host will let you install WordPress, OpenCart or other popular platforms in a single click.

If you want to avoid getting stuck in you can then get a developer to set up your store for you. You can select a free or premium theme as a starting point, and can quickly get something very professional looking up for a reasonable price.

As your hosting and site are then separate and not tied into a propriety system where you get overcharged for hosting, you can save quite a bit in the long run. For example you can get good eCommerce hosting for just £10 per month, and normal web hosting for quite a bit less.

Your first year costs should be similar to using Shopify, depending on how involved you want any developer to get, and after that you'll be saving.

You'll then have a professional platform you can take anywhere and do anything you like with, and that will scale better with your business as it grows.

I hope that helps.

If you have any questions feel free to get in touch.

Best of luck,

Dan

 

[wayzgoose]

Have a look at freewebstore aswell. You can have a good play without it costing you a penny.

 

[JackThomas2015]

We've been with ekmPowershop for years, they are a fantastic company. Don't know how they haven't been mentioned already to be honest. The support you get is fantastic, we tried Shopify and it took ages to get hold of someone for help and 1+1 is just terrible. For the price you pay at ekm it's similar to other providers but you get much more for your money, the themes are great and easy to edit. It was that easy to set up, that we never looked back to be honest.

 

[oldoakey]

Ekm powershop all day, cheap to set up easy to use, plenty of good templates and excellent back up. At only £25 per month its a snip.

 

[R.O.T.]

Not answering your question exactly, but I would recommend bluepark .co .uk. if you want an out of the box option. customer service is brilliant. I've been with them for a few years and have 3 sites. I moved to them from EKM and am very please that I did.

 

[Groggy]

+1 for Bluepark! Very good for UK businesses. Has most tools builtin already - no need for apps.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

No they're really not. If you're going to go the self hosted route then 1&1 are one of the worst choices available. If you want to go for a hosted solution, then their shop builder doesn't compare at all, so is probably also one of the worst choices available in that category.

We're obviously biased but I do think a self hosted solution is better in the long run, as you can have a more professional and unique store, and it's much cheaper in the long run.
So if you don't want to get stuck in to anything technical, avoid it completely and get it built by a professional. Then just host it on professional eCommerce web hosting. That way both the website itself and the hosting are likely going to be higher performance.

 

[Blue Annie]

Before you hand over your cash, please trial as many hosted options as possible. You can do this for free usually for either 14 or 30 days. You need to be aware of what you had handle first and this will go some way into giving you an inkling. Then you can decided hosted or not. Super duper no1, number 2 or number 3. Please do this first.

 

[wajidm]

Many thanks for all your comments. It was really really helpful. I have managed to play with shopify , ekmpowershop and 1&1 . I have left 1&1 for sure and there is no return ever to them. Tried Shopify and they are really good and v easy to set but their pricing strategy looked a bit complex for a new startup like me so settled my mind Ekmpowershop. I am finding them really and help over the phone is amazing.

 

[maxfox44]

Having used hosted sites such as shopify and own hosted like opencart, magento and prestashop. I'd say opencart is the way forward. Yes, you will need to do a little bit of homework to understand it. But in a short space of time, you will really know your shop. I'd spend my monthly budget on good hosting, free opencart and use the rest for marketing stuff like Adwords or photos of your products.

Good luck
Max

 

[Donna77]

I have used both Shopify and EKM. I would strongly recommend Shopify over EKM. Have been with them for the past year and love how simple it is to take payments with Stripe, plus there is a good community of app developers which you can tap into. The fees are simple and transparent and you can chat online 24/7 with technical support. I left EKM because the service was dreadful and their templates are clunky.

 

[CurtisW]

Magento!
Buy a theme from themeforest.net (about £50) highly professional and mobile friendly.
Uploading the theme is easy and there's loads of step by step tutorials on youtube.
I use hosting from virtualnames.co.uk (£40 per year) customer support is brilliant.
If you are selling online you'll also need an SSL which they will set up for you.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

If you have any experience with WordPress you could consider WooCommerce which is extremely popular.

 

[Tom Porter]

Shopify! Although add-ons can be quite expensive per month. Opencart and WooCommerce is a cheaper option.