Sales & Marketing Articles
E-Commerce Software for 3 Products Reviewed By Mary Fifield, Contributing Author

If you believe the industry buzz, taking your business online should be easier
than ever.

A number of manufacturers sell turnkey e-commerce solutions.
These enable you to design a store site, create and maintain
product catalogs and process orders and payment, all with one
system. But all solutions are not equal: Price, ease of use
and flexibility vary widely.

So how do you choose a system that is affordable, easy to configure,
and will help you seamlessly deliver your products to your customers?
With the needs of small-business merchants in mind, we’ve reviewed
three products: StoreFront Web Creator, ecBuilder Pro 5.0, and O’Reilly’s
WebSite. These range from a basic storefront package to a more
robust, multipurpose system. All are priced under $800 (U.S.).

Product Review: StoreFront Web Creator describes a basic storefront
solution that uses predesigned templates.

Product Review: ecBuilder Pro details the features of a more
sophisticated but still competitively priced storefront builder.

Product Review: O’Reilly’s WebSite gives the lowdown on a storefront
builder popular with small businesses that have complex e-commerce
needs and strong IT experience.

The table below offers a quick comparison of the three turnkey
e-commerce solutions.

Quick Product Comparison

Feature ecBuilder Pro 5.0 StoreFront Web Creator O’Reilly’s WebSite Design wizard Yes Yes Yes Imports from existing databases Yes No Connects directly to databases; supports dynamic content Shopping cart Yes Yes Yes Automatic order processing Yes Yes Yes Real-time credit card processing No Yes Yes Integration with other systems No Yes Yes Secure Web pages/order encryption Yes Yes Yes Highly customizable No Yes Yes Price $187/yr including hosting $199 $799 Technical skills needed Low Moderate High

As this information indicates, e-commerce solutions vary as
widely as business needs do. Understanding your needs, as well
as your budget, will help you make sense of the myriad of product
information and make the right decision as well. Read the reviews
for more details on these products.

E-Commerce Software: 3 Products Reviewed Product Review:
StoreFront Web Creator Product Review:
ecBuilder Pro 5.0 Product Review:
O’Reilly’s WebSite