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Why Choose a Custom e-Commerce Store When You Can Get Cheaper Hosted Solutions?
E-commerce solutions are in great demand and there is a wide range of solutions that are being offered. E-Commerce may be considered as the sales aspect of electronic business. E-commerce plays a key role when you have decided to enter the world of internet sales and marketing. There are two main solutions in this area, custom and hosted. The solution we provide is a hybrid so you need to know what these two solutions are. Before deciding which solution to choose you should first determine what you need. This will help you identify what is the most suitable solution for your business. Below are a few ideas that might help you analyze and decide which solution is the right one for your business.
What is hosted E-commerce solution?
If you are in need of a shopping cart website quickly this is the solution you need. If you are looking for a different solution to a shopping cart or you have more time then you would be better advised to look at custom solutions commensurate with your budget. After signing up for a hosted solution, if you don’t have much data and its already in the right format, then this should be able to get up and running after just few hours or days. Your website will be pre-configured by the hosted solution provider when you purchase the package. Usually having this solution, keeps you from worrying about upgrades and updates. The solution provider will take care of the maintenance. Hosted websites generally use standard templates so you can get started quickly.
Hosted e-commerce usually costs much less than a custom solution. It works exactly like you are only renting the website to use it. There is generally no way for you to be able to customize the code. You will have a limited set of options but because of the need to make the code generic sometimes this leads to greater complexity and a long learning curve.
Why choose a custom e-commerce store?
At its core the answer to this question is related to how you view your business. If you want to stand out from the competition as a major player, then this is really the only solution. With a custom e-commerce solution you are in control of every feature and because it is made with your exact business needs in mind, you will find there is going to be no need for a long learning curve for you or your staff. This solution will allow you to have control over more than just the look of your site but the software coding and also crucially the back-office and marketing features.
You are able to make modifications according to your business needs. There is no need to wait for some standardized update like with a hosted e-commerce solution. If you were to pick any of the major merchants on the web under any category you will find they are using a custom solution.
Costs will definitely be higher than the hosted e-commerce solutions and there will also maintenance costs for this kind of solution. This is the main issue you need to contemplate if you are choosing the right solution for your business. Consider all the aspects of your business from the time and budget to where you see your company in the market place and you will be easily able to determine which solution is right for you.
The obvious question is whether there is a solution that has all the benefits of the speed and cost savings of a hosted solution with all the selling power, customization and flexibility of a custom solution. This hybrid solution is what we provide by leasing you custom solutions.
