The best e-commerce solutions and software around
Part of the Additional Pages Index
When people ask us whether COG is suitable for their shop/client with its specific requirements, it's tempting to say "Sure, COG is for you" and worry about the consequences later. But the truth of the matter is that we cannot cater for every combination of features, and that's cool, we do what we do incredibly well!
For everyone else there's a boggling selection of free and paid solutions and we'll do our best to help you decide which one is for you. After all, you deserve to make an informed choice!
Feature requirements
Before you jump head-first into a project, you need to sit down and try to consider all the features you need. If you read How complex is my (e-commerce) project? you can get an understanding of the importance of this step. To get you started, read through this list and jot down your thoughts about your shop:
- How do you want to get paid? PayPal, Protx, Authorize etc? If you are flexible here it can be a great advantage.
- Do you require complex shipping? Shipping calculations are one of the "stumbling blocks" of e-commerce and can easily confuse and complicate a project. Again, flexibility is an advantage.
- How complex is the product catalogue? Catalogues that follow easy rules tend to be easy to get online too. Similarly if all the products are bespoke then things can get a bit messy.
- Does it need to integrate into an existing website? If you already run a website and you'd like to run a shop too, will the shop need replace the site? or sit side-by-side with it? Sometimes it's better to replace an entire website with a shop. When this occurs you need to find all the features of your website too, like blog, news, RSS feeds and so on.
Now you'll probably be thinking one of 2 things: "Oh, dear it's looking bleak" or "I think I can do this". Either way, there are always options...
"Simple" shops
If you're shop is simple, logical and everything just makes sense, then you'll probably be safe with an off-the-shelf solution as your features will undoubtedly be solved already! Other than COG, I've tested and enjoyed these free solutions:
You should head over to our "general e-commerce" forum and ask us what we think of your situation!
"Complex" shops
By any measure, complexity tends to mean "expensive". You will probably need to hire a web-development company to create a bespoke shop, or modify an existing free solution (see the above list) specifically for your needs. Finding the right company is beyond the scope of this article, however, if you get in touch with your local funding bodies (like the Prince's Trust, or Business Link) they will undoubtedly be able to advise you of good, local companies to use!
Thanks for the read!
I hope that this article has helped you in some way or other, feel free to join the forums and get in touch!
