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Request Advice for E-commerce host upgrade - Shopify, you fell short!

by catfish007
11 replies
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Hi Friends

I have an online jewelry company. We are using shopify and are running into functionality roadblocks everywhere. Our competitors seem to have MUCH more functionality in their shopping cart, upsell suggestions, organization, promotions, inventory tracking, checkout procedure, etc.
We are looking for a new platform that has the functionality we are looking for. Some example of functions we would like are:
1 - Shopping cart automatically ads a specific free item when order reaches a certain amount
2 - We can select specific items to be suggested that match the item in they are looking at (this is available in shopify aps, but still seems limited)
3 - shopping cart automatically makes shipping free when order reaches a certain amount
4 - Shopping cart has easy upsell options built in like (check box for gift wrapping for $5)
5 - Flexible promotional system so we can do buy one get one free, multiple tier discounts (buy 100 get $10 off, 200 get $25 off, 300 get $50 off, etc)
6 - must also have aspect for a sound highly successful website - good for SEO, inventory management, manual sales entry, Easy to enter new products w/ tags and categories.
7 - One page check out
8 - Handle thousands of products and $1 million+ sales
9 - Any other important features you would recommend

Our models are zales.com and evesaddiction.com. Although we are not that big yet, we are growing and those are models we are looking to reach.
I have been suggested wordpress, joomla, magento, bigcommerce, and others but not sure which ones have the flexibility and functionality we want in a website.

Any insight from the experts would be GREATLY appreciated for this big decision.
#advice #ecommerce #fell #host #request #retail #shopify #short #upgrade
  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    Hey catfish, go see ronrule as he has a eCommerce set up as best as i have seen. this is his web site Ron Rule | ECommerce Expert | Development Advisor and a recent WSO I got from him that I hearty endorse http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-.../757513-0.html

    Just contact him and ask him about it, he will tell you what you need to do. You can tell him I told you, or not, it really doesn't matter. I would recommend getting his WSO though, it will make you a lot of money with modt any eCommerce site.
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    Tim Pears

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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    Magento Enterprise. $15k year but worth it. Top plugins, top developers, top features.
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  • Profile picture of the author kjamesnv
    Magento Community is Free (mostly) and has the ability to meet all your requirements either stock or with extensions.
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  • Profile picture of the author catfish007
    Wow, 4 responses and 4 different answers! I can see this may be a little more complicated than I thought. I just ran into another roadblock with shopify...The thank you page is a dynamic link so I may not be able to use it with adroll.

    The structure and customizability just isn't there.

    Is Magento user friendly like shopify and big commerce?
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  • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
    Originally Posted by catfish007 View Post

    Hi Friends

    I have an online jewelry company. We are using shopify and are running into functionality roadblocks everywhere. Our competitors seem to have MUCH more functionality in their shopping cart, upsell suggestions, organization, promotions, inventory tracking, checkout procedure, etc.
    We are looking for a new platform that has the functionality we are looking for. Some example of functions we would like are:
    1 - Shopping cart automatically ads a specific free item when order reaches a certain amount
    2 - We can select specific items to be suggested that match the item in they are looking at (this is available in shopify aps, but still seems limited)
    3 - shopping cart automatically makes shipping free when order reaches a certain amount
    4 - Shopping cart has easy upsell options built in like (check box for gift wrapping for $5)
    5 - Flexible promotional system so we can do buy one get one free, multiple tier discounts (buy 100 get $10 off, 200 get $25 off, 300 get $50 off, etc)
    6 - must also have aspect for a sound highly successful website - good for SEO, inventory management, manual sales entry, Easy to enter new products w/ tags and categories.
    7 - One page check out
    8 - Handle thousands of products and $1 million+ sales
    9 - Any other important features you would recommend

    Our models are zales.com and evesaddiction.com. Although we are not that big yet, we are growing and those are models we are looking to reach.
    I have been suggested wordpress, joomla, magento, bigcommerce, and others but not sure which ones have the flexibility and functionality we want in a website.

    Any insight from the experts would be GREATLY appreciated for this big decision.
    While I am a big fan of the hosted shopping carts you may need to take a look at the open source applications as they should be able to do all of it real well. Magento is probably the most powerful and would most likely be the best suggestion it just has a learning curve, especially compared to Shopify and you can't go with cheap servers.

    You can also take a look at PrestaShop and Opencart that should not only provide that functionality but have a good developer base as well with plugins and modules to add functionality. Just make sure you have quality servers to make the sites quick and fast (i.e. dont use cheap shared hosting).

    For hosted platforms, take a look at Americommerce. I am using it for a new client right now and it is very powerful and has a set of rules you can set up but will admit it has a steep learning curve.

    Mind you, all these platforms are going to cost you more then the standard Shopify platforms but should be well worth it if you are growing your business.

    For open source, budget about $100 a month for servers, bandwidth and SSL. It will run you about the same for Americommerce depending how many products you have.

    Unfortunately in Shopping Cart land, you have to decide between easy to use or functionality. Hope this helps.
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    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.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    Another vote for BigCommerce here.

    To answer your question about Magento: it is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of user-friendly. If you aren't a full blown developer and CSS expert you can plan on outsourcing just about everything!
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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    If you want to replicate zales.com and plan on $1m+ in sales, you can afford Magento.

    Magento is not as easy to use than Shopify but its more flexible and robust than any other mentioned carts here so far.

    The good and the bad thing about Magento is its features. Its tough to use and learn at first, its slow because it runs all these features in the background that you might not need to begin with..... however its one of the best platforms out there to run complete, fully integrated e-commerce business. I am talking warehouse management, sales channel syncing, merchandising and customer support.

    If you want zales.com and have a budget for it, Magento will deliver.

    Not to mention Magento is used by 25% of all e-commerce stores out there. Some of the sites running Magento (enterprise):

    1. Nike
    2. Toms
    3. Zumiez
    4. Stella & Dot

    Sites running Shopify and BigCommere: .... well, a bunch of mom and pop shops....

    I wrote this post not to hate on any of the other carts out there, its just that I ran through the same process as you are about to. I had same questions that you are having right now.

    I had e-commerce sites on Shopify, businesses I sold that ran BigCommerce, and websites I brokered that were powered by OpenCart, and to me it was all a bunch of shit. They're not flexible and not scalable.

    Another thing, you can find just about anything about Magento online, just google anything that comes to mind about magento and you will most likely find your answer. the community and the amount of people working with magento is immense.

    And to wrap it up, Magento is capable of handling 2-5 orders per second. Thats almost 200,000 orders a day. Can any of the hosted platforms out there do that?
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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    You know, I was searching around for a decent example of a Shopify store, and I remembered I've read a study about Rovio's angry birds store partnering up with Shopify to sell plush toys.

    So i went to their site Angry Birds - Home Page and it looks like Angry Birds are now running Magento too..... oops! sorry Shopify
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      Shopify is a great little platform and is perfect for many small shops. Don't poo poo small mom and pop shops, remember we have all been there once and the platform for Rovio may not be the right platform for a 100 SKU shop. A perfect example, a girl I know opened a Magento powered shop for a single product with lots of variation. That would have been a perfect Shopify store and Magento was the wrong route in my humble opinon . I still think BigCommerce is my favorite platform but realize it does fall short in a few areas. I am playing with Prestashop right now and I see what I like so far.

      I am all for hosted applications when I can do it, unfortunately they don't always fit. The closest I have seen to the Magento's and Prestashops of the world is Americommerce but boy was the admin panel designed by a programmer. Makes no sense to the non-coders of the world. But so far it has everything built in (affiliate, wholesale, etc.).
      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.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    ^ Agreed. When you are staring out or want to test the market, hosted solutions like Shopify are the best. However, the OP is talking $1m in sales and competing with zales.com ... that's a different subject
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