How To Choose Your Ecommerce Software Solution
You've decided you want to start your own ecommerce store. After doing a simple search on Google, you find 1001 different providers who are all claiming that their solution is the ultimate solution for you. So, how do you decide?
I've decided to write up a quick guide on what you should look out for and consider when choosing an ecommerce software solution provider. Since your entire online store will be powered by the solution you choose, it might be disastrous if you choose a solution without a bit of research. I've listed down the 8 things to consider when shopping around for an ecommerce software provider.
Ease of Use
This is by far the most important criteria when deciding on an ecommerce solution. Why? The reason is simple. The process of building an online store does NOT make you any money. You only make money when the store is built, launched and you've driven some targeted traffic to your site. That's when people start buying and you start making money. The actual process of building your store doesn't make you any money.
So, choose a solution that's intuitively easy to use. Almost all modern ecommerce software use a point and click graphical interface. However, each provider's solution differs in how easy it is to use. Shortlist a few potential solutions and try it out. Most providers have a free trial or at least a video/screen shot of their interface. Choose the one that you're most comfortable with and let's you create your store quickly.
If you have a large number of products, make sure you choose a solution that lets you import your product data from a spreadsheet. This is important because adding products via the solution's interface is normally slower than adding it into your spreadsheet. You'll still want to use their interface to add products initially. However, if you have many products (hundreds and thousands), you'll get your store created more quickly using your spreadsheet and importing it to your store.
Ecommerce Software Features
Another thing you want to pay attention to is the features of the ecommerce software solution. You don't need to choose the solution that is the most "powerful". A lot of people will compare solutions side by side and choose the one that's the most powerful. Although it may seem to make sense, it's not the best way to get started.
Instead, check that the solution can do what you want it to do. Are you selling downloadable goods? If so, does the solution support instant product downloads after an order is confirmed? If you use drop ship suppliers, does it offer a drop-shipper/supplier module that automatically notifies your supplier when an order is made?
Think of what you want your store to do and make your choice using that. There's not much point doing a side-by-side comparison of solutions with their features and choosing the one with the most features. It's a proven fact that almost nobody uses ALL the features available in good ecommerce solutions. So, just choose a solution that meets your current and future needs.
Scalability
It is important that your chosen solution can grow with you. Although you almost always start small, you want something that will handle your needs as you grow. You do not want to invest so much time building your store on a platform and then finding out 6 months later that it can't handle your store's success. Although that's a good problem to have, choosing a platform that will scale with you is even better.
Especially with hosted solutions, make sure your provider can provide more powerful server setups should you need them in the future. Most are willing and able to upgrade your server package for an extra fee.
Hosted or Licensed
There are generally 2 types of ecommerce software. Ones that are licensed and ones that are hosted. Which one do you choose? I'd recommend you choose a hosted solution almost all the time.
Why?
It's almost always easier to get started with a hosted solution. You don't need to worry about installation or compatibility problems. Just fill in a form and you're building your store. Don't waste time figuring out how to install and setup a licensed software especially if this is your first time trying it out.
The only reason to get a licensed solution is when the hosted ones don't do what you want. Since licensed solutions generally include the source code, you can hire a programmer to customize the software to your needs. However, this can get pretty expensive pretty quickly.
Great Customer Service
This may be a given. However, I must highlight this because your online store is your business. So, any time wasted when your store is not working properly means money poured down the drain. So, it is especially critical to find a provider who responds intelligibly, accurately and promptly to your questions and problems.
Beware of companies that give you standard "cut and paste" answers that aren't 100% relevant to your questions. It shows that they've adopted a cookie-cutter mentality when it comes to customer service. You cannot afford to waste time searching and hunting around for answers to your questions. Even if the provider you choose is more expensive than others, go with them if their service is good. This is something you should not save on.
Server & Software Stability
This is especially important for hosted solutions. Make sure the provider you choose can provide you a stable platform. A store that is not online can't make you money. So, always ask your provider what is their "uptime guarantee". You're also advised to enquire about their contingency plans and how they monitor their servers for maximum uptime.
Search Engine Friendly Solution
Although search engines aren't the be all and end all of traffic generators, it's nice to get free organic SEO traffic. Make sure your ecommerce software solution generates static, keyword-laden URLs. That is a must since search engines generally do not like dynamic URLs. A dynamic URL contains "?" (eg. http://abc.com/index.asp?id=1&cat=492). Stay away from such solutions.
Check that your solution automatically generates a Google sitemap for easy indexing. Other things to look out for are a good linking structure, ability to enter your own page names, titles and headers. These let you generate search engine friendly store pages so you can claim your share of the free organic search engine traffic.
Marketing Tools Included
The better ecommerce solutions will normally include some marketing tools in their package. These help you get started immediately without spending any extra money on 3rd party tools. Marketing is literally the life blood of your online business. So, that is what you should focus your entire attention on once your store is built. The key is to start driving targeted visitors to your store immediately.
Although there are many things to consider before choosing an ecommerce software provider, you shouldn't feel intimidated. It is always better to take action and get started with your store rather than wasting too much time hunting around for the "perfect solution". A less than perfect store generating some revenue is better than a perfect store idea that's never launched because you can't find the perfect solution.
Hopefully this short guide has taught you the things to look out for and the questions to ask your prospective ecommerce software provider. Now, take action and get your store built today! | 
