Ecommerce is a term that, to most of us, means the ability to buy something from a shopping cart on the internet. While there are literally millions of websites that offer the ability to buy products and services online, the fundamental process is the same. Go to a website, find the product or service you wish to purchase, add it to your cart, pay for it and in some form receive it. Sounds pretty simple. If ecommerce is so simple, why do the majority of the millions of websites that offer it do such a poor job?
More than ninety percent of the ecommerce web development has been done on poor quality platforms that are either very cheap or free. Often the lure is the inexpensive nature of the platform, which by itself is not necessarily a problem. The most important first step of a successful ecommerce solution to your business is picking the correct ecommerce platform to run on. At Active Web Group we offer three main platforms to fit every business. We are professional website developers and designers that can work with any platform you currently have. When developing sites,we use three solutions that fit most all business needs which include, WordPress Ecommerce, Magento Ecommerce, and Custom Ecommerce Development. Each of the three Ecommerce solutions have benefits and limitations. It is our job at Active Web Group to determine which solution fits your business and your budget the best.
WordPress Ecommerce code is very inexpensive and you can put up a site quickly and easily. The problem is that unless you have deep experience in how to use and leverage this platform you will not realize any quality results. WordPress Ecommerce is perfect for small businesses with simple products and relatively low transaction volumes.
Magento Ecommerce is a robust scalable solution that can be used for almost any size business. Pricing starts at a fairly low level and rises based on how much custom work is required to make it fit in with your business. Magento Ecommerce is a complex product with a huge amount of flexibility in the code. The product is constantly updated with new options, which can greatly help keep future maintenance costs down. The Magento platform can be used for small to very large businesses and can handle huge amounts of transactions.
Custom Ecommerce Development has many advantages and is the typical choice of enterprise level or larger companies. Active Web Group designs custom shopping cart solutions with an enormous amount of flexibility and integration with a business’s current systems. Often integration, including feeds, promotional and price control as well as special inventory considerations are needed. When a business needs an ecommerce shopping cart to be flexible in every way, Active Web Group builds it for them from the ground up. Our shopping cart development can include complex quoting systems, as well as unique marketing innovations.
Hosted Ecommerce is becoming more and more popular. Active Web Group has designed a custom ecommerce site that is able to support unlimited store fronts. For a fraction of the price of a custom ecommerce web development or even a Magento ecommerce solution, a client can get the best of both worlds. Maintenance costs are lower and the platform is constantly upgraded at no charge. The difference is that with this solution, the business does not buy the code. They rent the store rather than buy. There is a great deal of flexibility in this solution and it enables a client to invest more in marketing rather than owning the programming code. One of the greatest advantages of this solution is that it gives a business owner the opportunity to own the code if they wish later. It is similar to a rent with an option to buy!
Contact Active Web Group to learn more about our Ecommerce Web Development Services!
