Quick Look E-Commerce Product Survey
I get many e-mails and phone calls asking which e-commerce products I recommend. This issue is a survey of e-commerce products I know about and trust.
If you're starting from scratch, I recommend that you shop for e-commerce products in this order:
- Shopping Cart/Store-Building Program that suits your business
- Payment Gateway compatible with shopping cart program
- Merchant Credit Card Account compatible with payment gateway
- Affiliate Management Software compatible with shopping cart program
- Accounting Software compatible with shopping cart, affiliate management software, and order fulfillment software
There are thousands of programs on the market, and there's no way my picks can be comprehensive or even complete. However, you may find them helpful as a short list that will lessen the confusion in setting up an e-commerce system on the Internet.
Here are my quick shopping guides to e-commerce products:
Quick Look: Shopping Cart/Store-Building Programs
If you're confused by the huge variety of shopping cart/store building programs, perhaps this will simplify it for you by identifying and describing some of the best in their category. We've made no attempt to be comprehensive, only helpful. See the short list
Quick Look: Payment Gateways
Securing a payment gateway that works with both your shopping cart/store building program AND your merchant account is vital. Here are my candid comments on your options. The list is US centric but includes choices for many other countries and regions. See the short list
Quick Look: Accounting Software
Here are just a few popular accounting packages that are used in small to medium e-commerce businesses. There's a gap in order management software that only some of these packages fill. See the short list
Other E-Commerce Needs
In previous issues we looked at two other important needs:
New Ecommerce and Web Marketing Articles
Each month our team of link editors scours dozens of online periodicals and resources to find key information on e-commerce and Web marketing. With so much new literature available to you, how do you find what you need quickly and painlessly? Here's a selective and searchable database of article and resource links to help your research and keep you up-to-date in the field. (Links gathered in a given month are usually available during the second week of the following month.)
