With our MarketSmart system, we have tried to limit the number of platforms in which my team specializes to maximize the value of our staff’s time with our clients. Our primary focus is on the tool sets that carry our customers’ messages such as websites, social media, email marketing and app development. Our core system comes with the tool set to develop lead generation funnels, but we also have clients who are driving traffic to buy immediately online. We have integrated our system into many preexisting shopping cart platforms, and we are still trimming down the options.
Our initial ecommerce pack is a low-cost solution to jump start your online sales programs. We give you the ability to control your product line and take orders. Here are the current platforms we are exploring. Each has slightly different feature sets:
Limited Product Solutions: PayPal and Google cart. These tool sets are simply purchase buttons that can be added to any page or post in the system. Ordering is through a trusted source, but this set a limited feature set. We can rely on WordPress and MailChimp to handle many communications and specials.
Amazon Web Store : Because my clients have used Amazon as a model for ecommerce done right for 15 years, we are exploring the many tools Amazon provides that can integrate with all of Amazon’s Web Services such as online sales, fulfillment, warehousing, etc. This tool set has a relatively low barrier to entry and integrates well with our system. It can also be scaled. My Amazon rep in North Dakota has shown me many examples of these tools driving lots of sales, relying on the Amazon backbone for high conversion rates.
Compliance is handled primarily by the service provider with the above ordering services.
Below this line, more of the responsibilities for security and compliance fall on your shoulders. (Well, we can help.)
WP-ecommerce: This is the platform on which our current e-commerce starter pack runs. It includes a great feature set. This product also allows for multiple payment options including Authorize.net. It has been a perfect tool set with just the right amount of features to get my clients’ feet wet in e-commerce. There are many options for integrating this product into the site.
Cart66 : We are just starting to explore this product. The integration with MailChimp may be more streamlined and we are certainly interested in its wide feature set.
Magento: This is the product of choice for many online marketers. This product is a very robust tool with slightly more complex integration and customization. Integration with WordPress as the content manager / publishing platform really makes this tool set hum..
xCart : This is for clients who need a custom experience on a stable high-end product. We partner with EvolveSystems to provide this ultimate solution for integration with your current systems for inventory management, point of purchase sales, etc. Don and his team really have this tool set nailed down allowing us to design the interface leaving the development to the xCart pros.
Remember our core tool set and e-commerce add-on are designed to get you rapidly selling online. They are the starting point and after a discussion about your e-commerce needs you can decide how feature-rich you want your initial launch to be, and the rate at which you make improvements.
