3rd party e-commerce solutions such as Volusion, Big Commerce, Pro Stores, Network Solutions, Yahoo Small Business, Shopify, Open Cart, 3D Cart, Tomato Cart, Zen Cart, Foxy Cart, have all the bells and whistles that you could imagine. We wanted to find a great e-commerce solution to offer our clients so we went on a mission to find the easiest shopping cart system out there. After months of free trials and testing, we have found a couple of great solutions for you.
Shoppe Pro Stores
1) Shoppe Pro ($12-$25 per month depending on level of service purchased)
Shoppe Pro is a women owned company and has what I call, Girl Power! It allows customization of the "do it yourself" template which will enable us to make your shopping cart site look fabulous. Entering categories and products is very easy and intuitive. Shoppe Pro is a great choice for our clients because it is easy to use and isn't overwhelming like some of the more major store solutions available. It has just what you need to sell online. Shoppe Pro has great customer support available by email or by phone. This system allows for adding in a multitude of products and product variations like color and size and adding images to the products is very easy.
Shoppe Pro is a women owned company and has what I call, Girl Power! It allows customization of the "do it yourself" template which will enable us to make your shopping cart site look fabulous. Entering categories and products is very easy and intuitive. Shoppe Pro is a great choice for our clients because it is easy to use and isn't overwhelming like some of the more major store solutions available. It has just what you need to sell online. Shoppe Pro has great customer support available by email or by phone. This system allows for adding in a multitude of products and product variations like color and size and adding images to the products is very easy.
Here is a picture of a product category page listing the products available in that category. Here, both descriptions, photos and price shows with the items in the category list. The category pages can be designed with unique header graphics as shown in the graphic below with the belts. They have documentation and tutorials available and best of all, we know how to set up the stores for you and are experienced with this already with previous clients so we do all the hard work of making it look pretty and you can enter the products on your end from the web. No software is required and no HTML knowledge is needed to manage your store.
Here is a picture of a product display page. Note the photo can click to enlarge and product item variations like size are shown. The system allows both Paypal and other credit card processors such as Link Point and Authorize.net. There is no free trial but at $12 to start, you can sign up and if you don't like it, they can cancel your account.
Here is a list of how to choose if Shoppe Pro is right for you:
Here is a list of how to choose if Shoppe Pro is right for you:
- You have many categories in your store like (Belts, Purses, Apparel).
- You want a custom look for your store and category header images for each category.
- You want web pages in your store, as well as store pages like (about us, shipping policy etc.
Wazala Stores
2) Wazala Store ($9.99 - $29.99 per month depending on how many products you have in your store)
Wazala is a very simplified e-commerce solution. You can insert it into an existing web page and it appears embedded in the page. It has a unique navigation system where you click on an arrow to slide to the right to view products and categories. It has only one look and feel that you can apply on either a white or black background.
Wazala is a very simplified e-commerce solution. You can insert it into an existing web page and it appears embedded in the page. It has a unique navigation system where you click on an arrow to slide to the right to view products and categories. It has only one look and feel that you can apply on either a white or black background.
The look is set for every page. The admin system is very simple to use to add products and categories and you can have multiple click to enlarge photos and options for your products like size and color. Wazala is simply one of the best carts I have worked with. The only downside is the look and feel and style of the cart is pre-set and you can not change it or the way it behaves. No software is required and no html knowledge is needed. Wazala has email only support, but they do get back to you fairly quickly. Wazala has a 15 day free risk trial.
Here is a list of how to choose if Wazala is right for you:
Here is a list of how to choose if Wazala is right for you:
- You have a website or hosting already and want to add a store onto it.
- You don't mind a very simple (yet effective) approach to displaying your products.
- You have Authorize.net or Paypal as your payment gateway (those are the only two it supports)
How you get started
Both solutions above are really good, they both have their different purposes and levels of complexity. If you aren't sure which one is best for you, let us know about your project plans and we can help you decide and tell you which would work best for your online store solution. Whether you have an existing store, or are starting fresh, Silver Buckle Services can set up your online store for you and get the ball rolling for you. We are Wazala affiliates so if you decide on that option, please sign up through our Wazala page to become a customer under our affiliation.
Here are some things you will need to have first before setting up a online store:
How long does it take and how much do you charge to set them up?
Wazala Stores
With Wazala store, about 2-5 days depending on how many products you have $65 an hour, typically Wazala stores take about 5- 10 hours to set up ($325 to $650)
Shoppe Pro Stores
With Shoppe Pro store, about 2 weeks - the longest part is the design process, Silver Buckle Services will custom code your store design and make it have it's own background, left nav bar color and graphics and header graphics. We also will set up each web page for you and set up a general template theme for your entire store and website. Typically these projects run from $1200 to $2500 depending on the number of products and categories you have.
Why the difference in price?
Wazala's design is already preset, there is no designing work needed, the store is already set, we just set it up and enter in the products and categories and insert it into your existing website pages. With Shoppe Pro, we have to custom design and code a template for your site and incorporate that on each page and set up the categories and information for your site design on a per site basis. Typically there is more involved with a Shoppe Pro site.
Contact us to get started on your e-commerce project.
Both solutions above are really good, they both have their different purposes and levels of complexity. If you aren't sure which one is best for you, let us know about your project plans and we can help you decide and tell you which would work best for your online store solution. Whether you have an existing store, or are starting fresh, Silver Buckle Services can set up your online store for you and get the ball rolling for you. We are Wazala affiliates so if you decide on that option, please sign up through our Wazala page to become a customer under our affiliation.
Here are some things you will need to have first before setting up a online store:
- A standard Paypal account (they take 3% off your transaction and no monthly fees) or A Paypal Payments Pro account (they take 3% off your transaction fees, act as your merchant and gateway account provider and will process the cards and keep your user on your website rather than taking them over to paypal to checkout with a credit card.) They also have a $30 monthly fee and a SSL certificate is not required.
- If you don't want to use Paypal as your merchant bank, you will need to acquire a merchant bank account a internet secure gateway account and SSL certificate. Each of these have monthly fees and transaction fees associated with them. We suggest using Paypal if you want to avoid all these fees. We suggest using Authorize.net as your gateway provider and merchant bank and SSL provider. An active SSL (Secure Socket Layer encryption) certificate is required if you do not use Paypal as your transaction provider.
There are three parts to an on-line transaction
1) the system that collects the credit card information from the buyer
2) the system that charges the credit card and encrypts the transaction securely
3) the system that sends the money to your bank, Paypal does all three of these things in one account, if you use something other than paypal, then you need to get providers for all three of these parts, 1) merchant bank account, 2) gateway account and 3) SSL certificate. - A list of your store categories
- A list of your store products and descriptions and pricing and some kind of product number identification system to identify your products
- A set of photos for each product
- A monthly budget in mind for your e-commerce store project
- A person to put in charge of interent sales, they will need to answer emails and manage the orders coming in to ensure that they are sent out in a timely manner.
- A person put in charge of entering products and keeping the product information up to date. There is nothing more disappointing then going online to order a cool pair of jeans you think you have found, and then try to order them and find out they are no longer available. Keeping up your product information is really important.
- A person in charge of the website and keeping the home page current with sales and specials and new information or products you have available. Keep it fresh!
How long does it take and how much do you charge to set them up?
Wazala Stores
With Wazala store, about 2-5 days depending on how many products you have $65 an hour, typically Wazala stores take about 5- 10 hours to set up ($325 to $650)
Shoppe Pro Stores
With Shoppe Pro store, about 2 weeks - the longest part is the design process, Silver Buckle Services will custom code your store design and make it have it's own background, left nav bar color and graphics and header graphics. We also will set up each web page for you and set up a general template theme for your entire store and website. Typically these projects run from $1200 to $2500 depending on the number of products and categories you have.
Why the difference in price?
Wazala's design is already preset, there is no designing work needed, the store is already set, we just set it up and enter in the products and categories and insert it into your existing website pages. With Shoppe Pro, we have to custom design and code a template for your site and incorporate that on each page and set up the categories and information for your site design on a per site basis. Typically there is more involved with a Shoppe Pro site.
Contact us to get started on your e-commerce project.
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