17 January 2010
Hi Alex,

A customised site doesn't have to look like every other e-commerce site around. Most off-the-shelf products can be designed to fit around your own style and it's sometimes impossible to tell whether a webshop is a bespoke creation or popular e-commerce software.

You'll probably find budget will be your biggest decider. An off-the-shelf e-commerce package can cost just a few hundred pounds (or even free) but a fully customised, bespoke solution could easily run into many thousands of pounds.

Hope this is of some help.

18 January 2010
Hi Alex,

I figured I would reply if only to back up Simplewebhosting on this one.

It really does come down to budget.

Customised is always going to be better in my opinion as the system will work exactly how you want and need it to. If it's a particularly good development company they should be able to suggest some good cost effective solutions to match your business processes and save you time and effort on automating as much as possible.

You will also be able to have a design that stands out from others and completely make the shopping basket experience your own. However this can also be the biggest downfall of the site if it's not done right, so be aware of this.

For the off the shelve products, it is much cheaper in general, but you are limited by designs and functionality somewhat. This can, in some ways, be a good thing as the layouts are generally traditional so most visitors to the site should be able to navigate around the site no problem and be familiar with how to go through the basket area.

However be aware that if you start to customise an off the shelve one, it could run into much more than a fully customised system. I know someone who this happened to and it almost killed off their business.

The average prices for an off the shelve product that includes a decent design and set-up & support & some customisation, should be somewhere between

20 January 2010
Hi Alex,

I have been a customer of ecommerce sites in the past trying to decide on customised or off the shelf. As my business was developing in the early days I chose off the shelf solutions but rapidly found I was limited in what I could do. In addition it has hard to find a company that could offer more than just the basic website. This was fine at the start, but once my business grew it became problematic.

I chose a customised solution in the end because I wanted the flexiblity and control over the design, how the system operated and further down the line the ability to list products on ebay, amazon, connect to our accounts system etc.

Thanks, Rob

22 January 2010
Hi Alex,

You really need to think about what you want within your e-commerce website. How you want it to function and look.

Try having a look at other e-commerce website and take bits from them and tell your web team that you want to incorporate these features into the website, however the more functionality you have built into the website the higher the cost will rise.

We have quite a good range now of bespoke e-commerce websites so give them a look.

24 January 2010
Hi Alex,

I can understand how confused you are now.
It is always better to get a well designed ecommerce site backed with efficient and organised mechanics.

So if you are not a designer and a programmer who can create/customise the ecommerce package, I strongly recommend you to find a company who can do this for you within your budget; just like us.

The beauty of approaching a company is, your site will look great and unique along with all functionalities you need for your business and your provider/developer will be there for you if you need any help on it.

Hope any answer help you. Please feel free to contact me if you need any further queries.

Kind Regards

Leo

24 January 2010
Hi Alex

Like most things you get what you pay for and it's your budget that will not doubt decide what exact route you'll want to take.

I would certainly stay away from "off shore" companies. It's far better to deal with a UK based company with UK based programmers.

Also i would also advise that you carefully look at all the clients that a agency has said they have worked with and perhaps randomly contact one for a reference. There's alot of agencies who say they have worked on a project and haven't !

Best of luck with your project.

28 January 2010
Hi Alex,

I would recommend going with one of the better Open Source ecommerce packages and finding a company who know it inside out and can incorporate the modifications and enhancements you need to make it uniquely your site.

Why do I recommend this approach over a bespoke site? Well, there are several reasons.

Firstly, it is likely to be a lot cheaper.

Secondly, well-established packages like osCommerce , Zen Cart or Cube Cart have a huge range of mods and enhancements ready to plug in, plus the invaluable support of a huge OS community to help you if the going gets tough.

And thirdly - if you get a bespoke solution built and something happens - a new version of the programming or database language and it stops working, or you fall out with the company, or they go out of business - then you can have BIG problems. On the other hand, if it is open source then there are lots of competent and knowledgeable companies ready to pick up the baton.

28 January 2010
Hi Alex,

As many of the other companies here have commented, off the shelf can usually be too limiting, and we moved to creating our own customisable solution just for the sheer joy of being able to create a new design and/or features for each client without knowing we were going to be limited by the product we had chosen to use.

There's pros and cons to selecting an open-source and closed-source solution. Open source is great for support and community support, but as they're pretty popular and open, tend to get hacked more (consider how there's more viruses for Windows and Mac purely based on popularity). Closed source is at least a little more secure and less well known or open to anyway to see it's internals, but it can cost more, though not always...

Consider also what support you'll get with whatever package you go for. It's now a legal requirement in the UK for web developers/designers setting up an eCommerce site to follow certain rules [http://tinyurl.com/y88ppl9]. If the company you're investigating doesn't ask you or offer you these questions, then maybe you should steer clear as you'll be liable as the designer.

Also, check what payment gateways they support. Cheapest will be PayPal that won't require an IMA (Internet Merchant Account) set-up, but this can lead to charge-backs to your customer for fraudulent transactions by defualt than if they use an IMA provider such as SAGEPay (was ProtX) or PayPoint (was SECPay), which offers more protection. You could also look at a brooker/bureau such as WorldPay (though last year they lost their PCI compliance though kept it quiet).

Jay.

16 February 2010
There are so many options available out there. The most popular eCommerce system being Magento. There are some restrictions, but there are plenty of plugins out there which allow you to do almost anything and most importantly expand. Systems that do not allow you to expand, will quickly become out of date and you will most likely need a redesign in a year. The best thing to do is decide on a realistic budget, make a list of exactly what you want your shop to do, all the functionality. This could include pre-orders, email newsletters etc.

The more time you put into it, the more of an accurate quote you will get from the web company. With all this information, they should be able to give you the available options, whether it be bespoke or an off the shelf system.

17 February 2010
Given many of the replies to this question, thus far ...I am reminded of turkeys voting for christmas! There are many good off the shelf packages free to use or paid for which can be adapted to suit a client's requirements. However the key word is "adapted". Unless the client business is simple, like a shop, there are many things which must be considered in the round of the entire operation. e-commerce is more than building a shopping cart for product sales.

Bespoke need not be more expensive but it is vital to set out your requirements precisely, too many people do not do this and suffer delays and other issues, because they have not considered for a particular function.

The old addage measure twice, cut once, is just a useful today as it ever was.

I have been asked on numerous occasions, "How much will a web site cost me for 500 products?" The one statement leads you to a myraid of responses ... What sort of products? how many categories? how many sizes? what is your stock position? how do you deliver? Who will do the product photos? etc etc!

So analyse your business process, determine how much needs to be conducted via the network, and who will be users to the enterprise, give potential providers a schedule of your requirements and ask for some preliminary discussions with the potential providers.

You may get near to the sort of answers you require and the project you need. Remember the success of your business is in your hands, if you went to a solicitor for advice you would not expect them to give you a "question and answer" booklet!

Regards

Brian Hull

19 February 2010
Hi Alex,

Ecommerce solutions that are already out there are the best way to go. There is no need to reinvent the wheel and it is also much more cost effective. Clients that have come to me with custom built e-stores always come with a sob story of how they spent thousands of dollars on a customized store that has a thousand problems. Why not use a system that has been improved upon over the years. A good designer can always customize the look and feel of the site to make it unique to your company.

I hope this helps.

Jeremy Morris
Moonwolf Media

24 February 2010
Hi there,

There are many 'off the shelf' products that you can use in order to achieve the result you are after. Sometimes trying to think of all the little intricacies you would like for the cart is a lot harder than you first anticipate where as the pre-built shopping carts offer all that you want and more in terms of quirky little functionality details that you can usually enable and disable to suit your needs.

If you are clever (and instruct the right designer) you can customise an 'off the shelf' package so that it looks completely bespoke. You just need the imagination and experience from the people who know how.

Good luck :)

9 March 2010
Speak to an experienced web developer and a web designer that are local to you. VERY IMPORTANT. Avoid the "website salesman" More than one web professional will be involved in your on-line selling site.

Check testimonials by calling your favourite short-list of potential web designers/developer past clients. Do not go for the cheapest option.

Good luck

J

17 March 2010
The best option is to select an e-commerce platform that fits your functionality requirements and then find a company that develops custom websites based on that platform.