Honey Bee Buzz Marketing Blog

Shopping Carts Compared

Lots of our clients want to have shopping carts.  This is a very good approach to business on the internet, regardless of what kind of product or service you offer, even if you are a non-profit organization.  Once you have a visitor on your site, you want to make the most of the opportunity.  Carpe Diem!

There are many ways to go about this, and they are based on your current website structure and whether you want to add to it, or change it completely.

Below is a list of shopping cart software.  We’ll be updating as we go along, so bookmark this post and check back often.

• WP eCommerce – plug-in for WordPress.  Takes unflinching tweaking and research, but is great once you get it going.  Integrates nicely with the look and feel of your current site/blog.  Has many limitations, but is great if you want a simple shopping cart without having to shell out $3000 to $30000.  Yes, the number of zeroes is correct.  Some of these shopping cart softwares are exorbitant.  But worth it as an investment when you are a large company.
• Magento – also OpenSource, but like WP eCommerce, does not handle recurring billing.  Who wants recurring billing?  Wine of the Month clubs, membership sites such as associations, video rentals/exchanges (think Netflix), etc.  Magento has many more features and controls than WP eCommerce, but misses a hot new market – membership sites.
• MemberWing – allows for “teaser” sections, multiple levels of membership, seems to be free.  Landing page is very unsophisticated.  This is either good, because it’s free, or bad, indicating an overall lack of sophistication.  The levels and teaser ability are good signs.
• Marketer’s Choice – similar to Shopping Cart 1.  Some of the major information marketers are using this, including Bob Bly.  Autoresponders, affiliate program, recurring billing (which is good for membership sites or subscriptions).
• Quick Shop – WordPress plugin.  Sounds simple.  Provides sidebar widget shop, products covered in posts or pages.  PayPal or EFT.

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Honey Bee Buzz Marketing Consultants