Which eCommerce Platform Is Best?
Published on 5/19/2019
Russ Colburn - Cart Partners CEO
Throughout the 20+ years I've been involved in eCommerce, one of the most common and difficult questions is "which eCommerce software should I use". As the owner of Cart Partners, my first answer is – yeah, you guessed it – Cart Partners.
Now that my sales response is out of the way, the answer is "it depends".
There are a lot of follow up questions that must be asked in order to answer the above question, and I'm happy to guide you through them.
Are you a developer?
Many platforms offer low cost, do-it-yourself options for setting up your online store. Magento, Shopify and others have decent drag and drop admin consoles that allow you to put a site together. But there is a reason there are hundreds of 3rd party development companies creating websites on these platforms – it ain't that easy.
Some development skills are needed to get that website up and updated. And then you will have to find the time to maintain it.
I have numerous friends who launch and take down dozens of websites a year that each sell a few products. They like the quickness in which they can put up and take down basic templated stores. They are developers who can tweak and add features without too much work. For them, these are the perfect platforms.
What is your budget?
If you aren't a developer who can setup and create their own store, then you will have to hire a company to do it for you. Recent surveys have determined that a Magento store can cost between $10k and $125k to build depending on complexity and features required. The average is about $75k.
Though many of the platforms offer low entry pricing, costs quickly escalate. Hiring a 3rd party to create the store, then adding additional features that carry additional monthly expenses can quickly take that $50 a month price point to thousands per month.
Which features do you want?
As stated above, additional features cost additional dollars. Which features you want might put the price out of reach. For instance, Magento licensing for a store generating less than $1 million of revenue a year, including hosting, is $40k per year. If you host it yourself, it would be $22k per year and you still need to provide hosting.
Shopify is a little less pricey. They start at $29 per month, but that plan is limited. Need more than 2 login accounts to your backend? That's extra! Do you want to use your own bank to process your credit cards? That's a 2% fee on all orders! Plus, you are still having to have a 3rd party develop the store, or you will have to do it yourself.
How can Cart Partners help me?
Because of these and many other questions, we created the Cart Partners platform. We have a low entry cost starting at $1,000 to get your store set up. For that initial fee, you work with a development team who will set up your store for you.
Our monthly fee is then determined by a percentage of your monthly revenue. For low volume stores, that rate is 2.5% with a minimum of $75. There are no extra costs for logins, number of products, number of customers or for any of our features. We have a strong belief that our clients deserve every feature and benefit that we can offer to help them be successful. Ultimately, that's our primary goal- helping them realize success.
Still confused? We can help. Give us a call at 855-265-2876, email us at sales@cart-partners.com, or fill out the form on the homepage and someone we will be happy to give you a free consultation.
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