Cindy’s Other Blog

Recencently I have been considering starting my own ecommerce site. In my research I have come across, and gone through many shopping cart software reviews. There seems to be two types of solutions available: hosted software and licensed software.

Licensed software is software that you purchase/download on to your computer in conjunction to it there was also free software. One of the biggest advantages to the licensed software is the fact that it can be easily manipulated and tailored to fit your specific needs.

Hosted Software also has many advantages; amongst these are the many different services that they provide which includes but is not limited to: credit card processing, comprehensive reporting features, live support, and marketing help. These services are hosted on the providers site and for a monthly fee you have complete access to them, however, unlike licensed software they do not belong to you and can not be downloaded to your computer. Charges would be based on what service and how many services you would choose to have on your computer.

So what shopping cart systems get the best review? I guess it’s really going to depend on what you yourself feel comfortable with. If you have a lot of computer savvy, the open source free software might be right for you. However, if you prefer not to hassle with getting something up and running yourself, then choose the hosted solution.

The most most educated way to go is to just, give it a try, many hosted companies offer 30 day trials and no matter how many reviews you read nothing will give you more information than just trying it out yourself. A free trial, will allow you the opportunity to see if the software can be tailored and customized to meet your needs. You will also be able to test, first hand, the customer support options the software hosting company provides.

Taking word of mouth, in this big business decision is not the best route to go. Make sure you spend ample time researching and first hand testing of the software. You do not want to have your website up and running with customers already flooding in just to discover you have made a poor decision on you shopping cart software.

For the most part you want to keep it simple and easy so that your customer has a good understanding of the process. The last thing you want is to lose business because the customre found you software applications to be overly complicated or confusing. Always make sure the customer can easily pay for there purchase, know clearly their shipping options, and be able to concact and communicate with you.

The internet has become a powerful shopping tool in our society. Now anyone is able to set up an ecommerce site and be able to reach a wide range of customers all over the world. Having the right tools will ensure that you are successful in your endeavor.