Choices for Ecommerce Software
A Home Business Article Contributed by Elizabeth Fox-Wise
Choices for Ecommerce Software
You have made the decision you are starting an ecommerce business but what will you need for software? A lot of that depends on the nature of your ecommerce business and your own personal skill level with ecommerce software.
Basically, you have three choices. Knowing what your options are for ecommerce software, and which option fits best with your needs and skill level is the first step.
Out of the Box or Plug and Play Ecommerce Software
Basically put, "Out of The Box" or "Plug and Play" software is exactly what it's name implies. All the software you will need to build your ecommerce business is inside the box!
Some of these Out of The Box Ecommerce software packages are simple to work with, others can be quite difficult to use. However, typically the difficulty level of this approach is determined more by your site building experience and abilities and/or if you have the time and innate ability it will require to learn the basic programming skills you will need. Ecommerce Software packages come in many different price ranges.
The basic rule of thumb that "you get what you pay for" has never been more true than it is with ecommerce software. This might be one area where your ecommerce business does not want to buy the cheapest package available. A couple of hundred dollars savings on an ecommerce software package could turn in to a few thousand spent later if you have to bring in a software programmer to help you out.
Be realistic when assessing your own skill levels and if you are going to choose an "out of the box" ecommerce software package, make sure you choose one at your current level.
Ecommerce Software Provided by Web Hosting Company
Another option for ecommerce software is to find an all inclusive package from a web hosting company. Some Web hosting sites do not offer ecommerce software, but many do.
If you are considering using software provided by the Web Hosting site, it is still necessary to review that software and see if it is right for your ecommerce software needs.
Some hosting companies offer attractive deals which provide a lot of extra services if you use their software. This could include detailed statistics of what your customers do once they get to your site as well as extra benefits such as some free marketing done on behalf of your ecommerce site.
However, some hosting companies will also require things from you in exchange for this use of their ecommerce software. That could be things such as allowing banners to be placed on your home page.
Assess and evaluate if this option will work for you.
Build Your own Ecommerce Software System
The third option is chosen much less frequently by ecommerce businesses, especially small start ups. Mainly because this is by far the most expensive route to take.
Building your own ecommerce software is typically left to the large corporations who can afford to hire a team of IT professionals and can wait up to six months for the job to be completed.
For the small ecommerce business, either "Out of The Box" ecommerce software of Web Host Provided software are usually the only realistic two choices.
