Hosting Solutions
e-Commerce Hosting Solutions
Shopping Cart Providers
A shopping cart system allows an online shopper to collect items and then, when the user is ready, to purchase the chosen items with a credit card Shopping cart solutions are generally shared solutions which are “bolted” on to traditional web sites to enable users to select and purchase goods.
They are usually for companies and businesses that want a simple, secure order and payment solution that they can quickly add to their sites; shopping carts tend to appeal to aspirational and low online sales sites because of its ease of use and set up but limited functionality outside of taking orders and credit cards. Paypal is the dominant shopping cart provider, but competitors also include Shopify and Google Checkout.
Summary – Decent and easy solution if you just want to accept payments on your existing site.
E-commerce Hosting
Hosted E-commerce is a solution that provides a wider range of e-commerce functionality in an on-demand environment. This a fancy way of saying its similar to basic web hosting, but with built in ecommerce functionality. Not only will the company physically host the site, but they also offer authoring tools, product catalog, shopping cart, transaction processing, and order management.
E-commerce hosting is for people who need more functionality than just a shopping cart but do not have the time,budget, expertise, or appetite to build a custom solution.
Custom E-Commerce Solutions
Custom e-commerce solutions are enterprise or custom built e-commerce solutions that are built from a wide array of e-commerce packages (like Magento),content management systems like Drupal, or totally from scratch They can require substantial investment of upfront capital, time, and ongoing maintenance and resources. Companies need to generate enough revenue to cover the costs required for this solution.
Also, plan for at least 6-12 months to scope and find an acceptable solution and for a firm to build it for you.
Summary – For those who have the budget, expertise, and appetite to build from the ground up. Many choose to customize existing hosted e-commerce platforms as well.
Outsourced E-Commerce
Outsourced e-commerce are providers who offer a total Do-It-For-Me e-commerce solution for companies and firms. Outsourcers not only build, create, and host the solution, but also provide online marketing, customer support, and fulfillment. In exchange for this, the providers take a 20% to 30% revenue share from all online sales.
Companies that use this solution tend to sell high margin good such as software or branded consumer goods, where selling online is ancillary to their current business. Since outsourcers take a cut of total sales, they focus on companies who already have a large critical mass of online sales; at least several million dollars.
Providers include Digital River (DRIV) and GSI Commerce, which was acquired by Ebay.
Summary – This is not a viable solution for most companies.