Which ecommerce platform/solution do you use?

Hey Jblox,

Just to let you know, I'm not a seller - I work for a 3P inventory management tool. That said, I'll answer your questions based on what our customers have shared with us about their ecommerce experiences.

1.Which ecommerce platform do you currently use?
There are a variety out there that suit different needs. Some of the most popular options are Shopify, Bigcommerce, 3dcart, Magento, and Woocommerce.

2. Which kind of solution do you favor, hosted or open source/custom? Why?
This depends on your comfort level designing, building and maintaining a site. Sites like Shopify, Bigcommerce and 3dcart are all hosted. They offer pre-built store themes and designs that can be customized to suit your needs. For ecommerce "newbies"with no prior website experience, these seem to be the favored site solutions. But, if you have some web dev experience and are a DIY kind of person, Magento is a good tool. It's open sourced, so you have free reign. There's also a Magento forum community where other users share tips and code. Cool way to connect with other developers and learn some good stuff for your site.

3. Do you sell products through an Amazon or Ebay store? If yes, then do you feel that these platforms allow you to build a brand identity as well as some of the other solutions?
We have customers who sell on both Amazon and eBay. It's harder to build a brand identity on these marketplaces (perhaps even harder on Amazon than eBay), because there are policies regarding directing traffic away from the site. You have to be careful NOT to advertise your shop or products in a way that leads buyers off of Amazon and to your website. To win sales against competitors, listing optimization is key, as well as good feedback, fast shipping, etc. The benefits to selling on one or both of these marketplaces is that you don't have to do much marketing. People are already shopping here. You just need to make sure your products show up first in the search results.

4. If Amazon/Ebay allowed more customisation and allowed you to use a custom domain, would this option be attractive to you?
Not a seller, so I can't answer this based off of personal experience. I'm sure you'll receive some helpful answers from others.

5. Do you feel that any of the current ecommerce solutions that you’ve used cater well for consumers using mobiles and tablets?
I'm not sure how some of the website solutions translate to mobile. I'm sure the more popular ones have smart navigation. Both eBay and Amazon have seller apps, so you can access them from phones and tablets. Some ecommerce management software (like the company I work for) also offer tablet and smartphone navigation. I think this will become more and more common. People are shopping from their phones now. You should be able to run a business from your phone too (at least, that's what we believe).

Hope this helps. Welcome to ecommerce! We're glad you're here.

Tiana with ecomdash

Opencart

Self hosted only - rather opensource or paid cart software. Hosted solutions can go away tomorrow or raise their rates without notice and you would have to start over. If you host your own, you will have it even if the software stops being developed.

I sell on amazon and ebay though don't use their stores, I just list on them and sell on them occasionally.

No, I would not use stores offered by amazon or ebay - see the answer to your second question.

Yes, Opencart has responsive templates as well as mobile solutions/apps available so I have no problems selling across all platforms.

if you don't know much about coding & don't want to get into the headache of self hosting .. then try shopify

- Shopify and woocomerce
- Hosted because they are not messy
- I have my own products
- Obviously
- Both shopify and woocommerce care mobile traffic exceptionally well

Using hosted or custom eCommerce solutions depend upon your needs.If you are tight in budget and looking to start your eCommerce store then I would say hosted ecommerce solution is better way.
Choosing an eCommerce platforms all depend upon your business needs.