Best Online Ecommerce

There are advantages and disadvantages of using an online e-commerce platform. The primary disadvantage is that you are required to pay a monthly fee to use the cart, and you can’t move your cart elsewhere. That being said, there are some significant advantages which include managed industry-level security, customer support, diverse layout templates, easy to use administrative interface, marketing features, credit card processing, and automated tax and shipping calculation. For these reasons, and more, an online e-commerce platform is very effective for many businesses, especially if there is a need to have the store up quickly and you are uncertain how well you will do selling the products online.

Of the numerous online e-commerce options available, one stands out from the crowd as the best for both feature set and value. My choice is Volusion. Volusion is a full featured e-commerce solution which means that they provide the hosting, shopping cart, payment gateway integration, and credit card processing. They offer 5 pricing plans which range from $19/mo to $149/mo. I have compared several of the top ranked hosted e-commerce options and volusion had the lowest starting price and the best features.

Ok, so let’s look at the specifics:

Hosting: The storage space of the $19/mo plan is 500MB, bandwidth allowed is 2GB, and they provide FTP access.
Layout Design: There is a website builder, free templates and premium templates, ability to customize, and thumbnail and large image views.
Shopping Cart: The maximum number of products at their $19/mo option is 100, but of course you could always upgrade to their next plan if you find you need to have more. You can sell both physical goods and Downloadable goods. There is also a built in POS system.
Credit Card Processing: There is real-time credit card processing, and they allow other payment methods which include checks, echecks, and C.O.D. There is also in-house credit card processing, and a fraud scanning protection. To use Volusion’s Merchant Program there are no fees except a transaction fee of 2.17%.
SSL Certificate: Volusion Pro SSL (1 year) $79 (an SSL certificate is linked to your domain name).

Merchandising

Free, ready-to-use templates: Over 120 to choose from, which is great since you will likely need it to integrate into your existing website.
Showcase your products with vZoom: Allows you to mouse-over an image to see it larger (a great effect).
Unlimited product options: Highlight the colors and textures of your products with their swatch tools to let shoppers browse and view each product option.
Product comparison: Product Compare tool to view multiple product details side by side.
Soft add to cart: Allows customers to add products to their cart without leaving the product page instead of directing shoppers to checkout.
Integrated one-page checkout: Reduces abandoned carts and lost sales by creating a seamless form of customer checkout.
SmartMatch technology: Track unlimited combinations of product options to keep your inventory current.
Unlimited product photos: No limit to the number of product images you can add for each product.

Marketing

Daily deals: Deal of the Day feature, and you can blast this promotion to your social channels.
Search engines optimization: search engine optimization (SEO) toolbox.
Coupons and discounts: Create customer promotions: ie. 20% off or free shipping.
Customer reviews for real-time feedback: Customers promote your products by adding reviews.
Emails and newsletters: Full email and newsletter system.
Products “Wish” lists: Benefit of placing items on a wish list for future purchase.

Social and Mobile

Sell products on Facebook: Customizable Social Store to list products directly on your Facebook page and run promotions.
Post directly to Twitter and Facebook: Share your latest announcements, promotions and daily deals without ever leaving the admin.
Manage YouTube Videos: Add videos to your product pages.
Like it! Tweet it! Pin it!: Built-in sharing capabilities.
Reach your customers on the go: Mobile-optimized version of your online store.

Management

Stay connected to your customers: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool with multiple email accounts included.
Keep tabs on your inventory: Keep track of what you have in stock with alerts when you’re running low.
Process your orders in a snap: Advanced collection of order processing features. Quickly view and approve your orders, either individually or all at once.
Know where your business stands: Real-time performance data. Reporting capabilities include popular products and categories, and custom reports.

Security

PCI Certified: Exceeds PCI standards with security screenings and installation of advanced hardware.
Volusion CDN: Makes your storefront load faster. A CDN, or content delivery network, consists of tens of thousands of servers located across the globe, allowing customers to pull your site from the server that’s closest to them.
Control store access: Designate which members of your team can view various parts of your store admin.
Best-in-class hosting technology and 99% uptime guarantee.

Support