Tag: e-commerce options

  • Fifth Blog on e-commerce: 3d cart

    Fifth Blog on e-commerce: 3d cart

    Here is how e-commerce works. Ecommerce marketing is the practice of using promotional tactics to drive traffic to your online store, converting that traffic into paying customers, and retaining those customers post-purchase. … You can use ecommerce marketing to promote your online store as a whole or to drive more sales for specific products. Optimized E-commerce sites will remember what you have purchased, become familiar with your particular taste or workout preference, and suggest items that may be of interest to you. Most online sites begin without any offsetting strategies that could give buyers an equivalent online experience.

    3dcart is a privately held technology company that develops e-commerce software for businesses. The company was founded in 1997 with headquarters in Tamarac, FL. 3dcart develops electronic commerce application for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems.

    3dcart was founded by developer and architect Gonzalo Gil as Infomart 2000, and development started in Tamarac, Florida in 1997. 3dcart was released to the public in 2001. 3dcart platform was created to maximize opportunities for retailers, and manufacturers. 3dcart was 100% bootstrapped, until Jan 2010, when it closed $1.25 million in funding. It saw major growth, when it was announced as the preferred ecommerce solutions for fulfillment by Amazon. In March 2017, the company announced partnership with Square Inc. to integrate and accept credit card payments through its platform.

    3dcart is a cloud-based e-commerce application to create an online retail store, utilizing Microsoft .NET 4.5 and other technologies, including AngularJS, Elasticsearch, Lucene and Entity Framework 6. The 3dcart e-commerce platform has a user interface that features administrative e-commerce tools, which clients can use to manage their online stores. It APIs for storefront as well as multiple shipping and payment interfaces, such as FedEx, UPS and USPS. 3dcart integrates 2checkout, Stripe, Solidcommerce, api2cart and other providers in its payment system.

    For a burgeoning online retailing operation there are several core building blocks with which to make your business a success. A competent web hosting service is critical as is a reliable payment processing gateway, but even more core than those is your ecommerce shopping cart platform. With that focus in mind, 3dcart does a very solid job providing e-tailing startups and fast growing operations the features they need to move forward, especially around mobile customers. While its feature set isn’t quite as deep as that of our Editors’ Choice winners, PinnacleCart and Shopify, it’s well worth consideration.
    • All-inclusive Everything you need for creating an optimized eCommerce website with a customizable online store and shopping cart, complete with a blog for content marketing. Web hosting and domain names are included, and there’s no need for additional eCommerce tools or services, whether you sell physical or digital products.
    • Customer-Friendly Your online shop is built for the best of customer experiences. Easily add high-quality product information and images, and let your customers view, edit, and save their shopping cart as they see fit. Implement eCommerce personalization via cross-selling recommended products.
    • Great-looking With a wide selection of mobile-ready themes suitable for any industry, anyone can start selling their products online now. Our leading eCommerce website builder gives you full control over your website’s look and feel, and you have total access to your theme files so you can customize them to match your brand.
    • Synchronized Sell on social media, multivendor marketplaces, and other channels to grow your eCommerce business and increase sales. Sync your products and orders with eBay, Amazon, Google Shopping, Facebook, and more, with centralized inventory management in your 3dcart store — a necessity for multichannel eCommerce.

    Affordable unlike other eCommerce software solutions, 3d cart does not have setup fees, transaction fees, or hidden fees. Starting at just $19/month.

    Sources:
    https://www.thebalancesmb.com/the-future-of-ecommerce-1141738?utm
    https://www.3dcart.com/

  • Fourth Blog on e-commerce websites – Wix

    Fourth Blog on e-commerce websites – Wix

    Wix.com Ltd. is a cloud-based web development platform that was first developed and popularised by the Israeli company also called Wix. It allows users to create HTML5 websites and mobile sites through the use of online drag and drop tools.

    Along with its headquarters and other offices in Israel, Wix also has offices in Canada, Brazil, Germany, India, Ireland, Lithuania, the United States, and Ukraine.

    Users can add social plug-ins, e-commerce, online marketing, contact forms, e-mail marketing, and community forums to their web sites using a variety of Wix-developed and third-party applications. The Wix website builder is built on a freemium business model, earning its revenues through premium upgrades.

    Wix was founded in 2006 by Israeli developers Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Wix was backed by investors Insight Venture Partners, Mangrove Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, DAG Ventures, and Benchmark Capital. The company entered an open beta phase in 2007 using a platform based on Adobe Flash. By April 2010 Wix had 3.5 million users and raised $10 million in Series C funding provided by Benchmark Capital and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Mangrove Capital Partners.

    In March 2011, Wix had 8.5 million users and raised $40 million in Series D funding, bringing its total funding to that date to $61 million.

    In June 2011, Wix launched the Facebook store module, making its first step into the social commerce trend. In March 2012, Wix launched a new HTML5 site builder, replacing the Adobe Flash technology. In October 2012, Wix launched an app market for users to sell applications built with the company’s automated web development technology. Wix’s software development kit lets app developers create and offer web apps to the millions of Wix users around the globe.

    By August 2013, the Wix platform had more than 34 million registered users

    Overview
    Wix offers everything you’d expect from a quality website builder. This includes hundreds of easy to customize templates, an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and access to the Wix app market. Regardless of your skill level or technical know-how with Wix, you can create an impressive website in a matter of minutes.

    In addition to a quality website builder, Wix offers a selection of tools to help you grow your business. These include SEO features, a reliable eCommerce platform as well as a newsletter builder. And the best part is that Wix is always adding new features so you can rest assured that your website will also be relevant and up-to-date.

    Features
    Looking for an effective user-friendly platform to run your online store? Wix might be what you’re looking for. Their eCommerce dashboard is easy to use, and their drag and drop interface works well for beginners. You can easily create any type of store and can even add a shopping cart without any technical knowledge. Other useful e-commerce features offered include the option to accept discount codes and coupons.

    Payment Options
    Wix’s eCommerce accepted forms of payment are a bit limited, but customers receive the basics such as PayPal and Authorize.net. Setup is easy, and you have the ability to include a few other payment processors in their add-ons section.

    Plans and Pricing
    Wix plans that include eCommerce features are straightforward and succinctly listed on their plan menu with features and services offered for each plan. Their specially tailored eCommerce plan is $16.50 per month and includes 20 GB of bandwidth and storage, free domain, online store, and is Wix ad free. Additionally, their eCommerce plan comes with a plethora of valuable vouchers and apps at no additional cost and the option to connect your current domain.

    If you wish to upgrade and opt for their VIP plan, you can enjoy all the features offered with their eCommerce plan, but with additional perks of 10 email campaigns a month and a professional site review for $24.50 per month.

    Customer Support
    Members can take advantage of Wix’s comprehensive customer support. There’s a help center where any questions you may have will be answered as quickly as possible. In addition, Wix offers useful, easy to follow tutorials and how to’s on all aspects of the platform. If that doesn’t help, there’s also a FAQ and a forum where you can post and browse other questions.

    Sources:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wix.com

    https://www.thetop10sites.com/ecommerce/wix/

  • Blog Series on E-commerce websites

    Blog Series on E-commerce websites

    Welcome to our series on the best e-commerce platforms to sell on. Over the next ten weeks we will be exploring the advantages and disadvantages of each of these platforms for your companies website.  Square Online Store, WooCommerce, X-cart, Zen Cart, Magento Open Source, OpenCart, PrestaShop, osCommerce, JigoShop, Drupal Commerce, WP ecommerce, Ubercart, Wix, Big Cartel, Jimdo and Ecwid.

    A complicated past
    Social media has long provided marketers a more cost-efficient and targeted way to reach potential customers. Using Facebook user data and targeted advertising, brands can reach their exact consumer based on real data points, rather than “spraying and praying” on other channels such as TV or print.

    At the same time, with talks of a retail meltdown after swathes of big-brand bankruptcies and shop closures around the world, over the past decade, retailers big and small have increasingly moved from brick-and-mortar to ecommerce.

    Given these two concurrent trends, it would seem like a no-brainer for businesses to jump on the social commerce bandwagon. However, while it might seem like a match made in heaven, the fact is that this is not the first time social and shopping have had a fling, and traditionally, it has not worked out. After all, Twitter tried a buy button to drive sales through its platform, and it then gradually phased it out after it failed to hook consumers.

    The big problem is that with an abundance of shopping and social options available, consumers simply aren’t using social platforms to buy products. Social media plays a vital role early on the sales funnel, as a research tool and influencer, but to date, most consumers are still not buying directly via social platforms. In fact, a recent study shows that less than one-half of Facebook users have ever bought a product after clicking on a post or a link in a post.

    From the outset, social media platforms have offered an invaluable resource for marketers to drive sales online and in-store by reaching the right audiences through targeted advertising. In fact, recent studies suggest that as many as 87 percent of ecommerce shoppers believe social media plays a vital role in helping them make shopping decisions.

    However, while social platforms have always been a marketer’s dream, in recent years, we have witnessed multiple leading social media platforms trying to bridge the gap between social and shopping by facilitating direct purchases within their platforms. And with the introduction of more integrated shoppable ads on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, there have been whispers that 2018 may be the year social commerce gains traction.

    But while social giants are trying to wriggle out of the position of middleman and get behind the counter, are the models of social media and ecommerce really a match made in heaven?

    In order to further understand where e-commerce is going we should look at where it has been.

    E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

    Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction’s life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online liquor store inventory services. There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is supported by electronic business.

    E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:
    • Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants
    • Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales
    • Business-to-business buying and selling;
    • Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media
    • Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange
    • Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters)
    • Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services
    • Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.
    • Contemporary electronic commerce can be classified into two categories. The first category is business based on types of goods sold (involves everything from ordering “digital” content for immediate online consumption, to ordering conventional goods and services, to “meta” services to facilitate other types of electronic commerce). The second category is based on the nature of the participant (B2B, B2C, C2B and C2C);

    On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international business. Data integrity and security are pressing issues for electronic commerce.
    Aside from traditional e-commerce, the terms m-Commerce (mobile commerce) as well (around 2013) t-Commerce have also been used.

    • E-commerce markets are growing at noticeable rates. The online market is expected to grow by 56% in 2015–2020. In 2017, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 2.3 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 4.88 trillion US dollars in 2021. Traditional markets are only expected 2% growth during the same time. Brick and mortar retailers are struggling because of online retailer’s ability to offer lower prices and higher efficiency. Many larger retailers are able to maintain a presence offline and online by linking physical and online offerings.

    E-commerce allows customers to overcome geographical barriers and allows them to purchase products anytime and from anywhere.

    There are two ways for marketers to conduct business through e-commerce: fully online or online along with a brick and mortar store. However, online retailers cannot offer the physical experience that traditional retailers can. It can be difficult to judge the quality of a product without the physical experience, which may cause customers to experience product or seller uncertainty. Another issue regarding the online market is concerns about the security of online transactions. Many customers remain loyal to well-known retailers because of this issue.

    Over the next 10 weeks, our blog series will be focusing on the different e-commerce platforms and what is used in certain sectors of the market.

    Sources:
    https://www.adweek.com/digital/will-social-media-and-ecommerce-ever-really-get-together/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce

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