15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

I Want To Sell An eCommerce Solution To Clients

by Sinistar
13 replies
  • ECOMMERCE
    • |
I'm a web developer/marketer and I have a client who has grown their business on Etsy/Ebay and now wants their own eCommerce site.

Of course they will need a new site along with an eCommerce solution which I will provide. They have a small inventory of around 50-60 items and I don't see it growing much larger than 100 any time soon.

What software do you recommend where I can sell it to the client but still have them need me to set it up and fix things/make changes down the road. I'm worried that if it's too easy and they can do it themselves, I'll lose future business.

I'm not a big fan of Wordpress and I'd rather build them an HTML site. Any recommendations on software to use for this?

And how do I sell this to the client and assure them they need me to set it up?
#clients #ecommerce #sell #solution
  • Profile picture of the author javarog
    Magento would be the answer
    Signature

    And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

    Abraham Lincoln

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8653375].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Liat
    You can try NopCommerce - an open source for ASP.NET platform.
    It is Magento parallel solution on ASP.NET

    Choosing open source solution will make them need you all the time ...
    You sell it easily to the customer - you providing them with free and customizable solution,,,, give them to read some negative reviews on products like volusion, shopify .... I am not telling they are bad - they just happen to have a lot of negative feedback....
    show them transaction fee of shopify.....

    and better - find some functionality they need that is not a trivial and show them it cost additional service / addon
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8654314].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jbthemummy
    Dude just go with Wordpress and Ecwid. Why don't you want the client to do it on their own anyways? You are helping someone out aren't you?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8654343].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi Sinistar,

      I would recommend Magento for several reasons, It is the most flexible, especially for a developer with some PHP/HTML/CSS skills, it has the largest most active open source developer community, and it is owned by Ebay, so it has strong financial backing.

      Don't worry about making it too easy, that will not cause you to lose your client. As your client's business grows they will have greater need of your services, not less. That is, unless you delibertly make things harder for them, then it could be less of you that they need the most. For that is surely how you will lose a client. A less successful client will have no choice but to fire you.
      Signature

      * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
      *       Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8659140].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jon Patrick
      Originally Posted by jbthemummy View Post

      Dude just go with Wordpress and Ecwid. Why don't you want the client to do it on their own anyways? You are helping someone out aren't you?
      Well, by that logic, all SAAS companies should just base their pricing on a one-time fee instead of recurring payments.

      But the idea in business is to make yourself indispensable to your clients whenever possible. Not to enable them to go off on their own without you.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8660695].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Irene Anum
        Hello Im a newbie who is yet to go on ebay but I think if one gives a good service and is transparent, clients will come back and there'll be new clients. I need some help. Im trying to set up a website using html. Ive opened an index.html and typed in some tags but after saving it I have a problem opening the file from internet explorer.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8660855].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mr XRS
    yes you should
    Signature

    http://admgt.manwaringweb.com/servlet/files/1920

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8659248].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
    Originally Posted by Sinistar View Post

    I'm a web developer/marketer and I have a client who has grown their business on Etsy/Ebay and now wants their own eCommerce site.

    Of course they will need a new site along with an eCommerce solution which I will provide. They have a small inventory of around 50-60 items and I don't see it growing much larger than 100 any time soon.

    What software do you recommend where I can sell it to the client but still have them need me to set it up and fix things/make changes down the road. I'm worried that if it's too easy and they can do it themselves, I'll lose future business.

    I'm not a big fan of Wordpress and I'd rather build them an HTML site. Any recommendations on software to use for this?

    And how do I sell this to the client and assure them they need me to set it up?
    Unfortunately you won't be able to build a professional e-commerce site with just HTML. You will need to work with a cart and that means scripting language, PHP, ASP, Ruby, etc.

    That being said I am a big believer of doing what is right for the customer. With only 100 products, you don't need a heavy duty cart like Magento, it is over kill and what gives our industry a bad name when we put something that is to much.

    Now, that being said, if you want a robust application with the customer continuing to need you, yet keep the cost low enough for them, think about using something like Spree commerce. It is built in Ruby on Rails and you can even pop it onto cloud hosting (I.E. Amazon AWS).

    Take a look.
    Signature
    Learn how to set up a powerful, functional yet easy to use e-commerce website at cartprep.com.

    Not sure what ecommerce solution to use? Watch my video walk through of popular shopping carts.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8659677].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author CamoCoder
      I agree. In this scenario, Spree Commerce would be a great alternative. They also have The Hub which handles all backend logistics and connects to any storefront. It's something to look in to.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8695211].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author lifetalk
    You'll be hard pressed on an html site performing anywhere near as well as a cart software will. You could go with the various cart softwares (Prestashop, Zencart, Open Cart, etc). If your client isn't very tech savvy, there's a very good chance they'll need your help in the future with extending certain functions or making structural/template changes and the likes.

    If, however, your client is tech savvy/geeky, whether or not you give them a difficult platform to run on, eventually, they won't need you. The point I'm trying to make here is that, I understand you want the client to stick around and be a source of revenue for you so you'd be inclined to offer to set them up on a platform they cannot independently manage (or at least make structural changes to). But in doing so, I would advise not introducing otherwise unneeded hurdles for yourself.
    Signature
    StrongNode.net - Migrate from your existing host and get 60% off the first month on any VPS!
     Contact: sales[@]strongnode.net
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8661253].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Go with a hosted cart, not a shopping cart script. The back-end features offered by most of the hosted carts are superior to all of the script-based carts, and offer a lot more insight and data uses. Short of running Magento Enterprise (NOT the free version) there isn't a single script-based shopping cart I would recommend to anyone.
    Signature

    -
    Ron Rule
    http://ronrule.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8661292].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I recommend WooCommerce whether you like Wordpress or not. It can easily handle thousands of products and there are NO huge recurring monthly fees to run the site. Install it and add your products and it's up and running without fees.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8663813].message }}

Trending Topics