All ecommerce businesses can choose between either using a free or a hosted shopping cart. The shopping cart is one of the most important parts of an online retail store. Customer orders depend on an efficient and reliable cart solution to sum up the total number of products, calculate the cost, accept the customer's credit card and complete the payment processing. A website shopping cart is just one aspect of an ecommerce solution, which also includes hosting, store design and other features that are necessary for creating an online store. The free or open source version can be downloaded and used by anyone that already has a website with hosting.
A lot of people are interested in using a free website shopping cart for their site, because the fact that it costs nothing is very appealing. Another main benefit is its flexibility, this type of software can be fully customized. There are numerous features available, which are comparable to that of the hosted shopping cart. It's becoming a very popular solution for people who want to create an ecommerce business without a lot of money to spare.
There are just as many if not more disadvantages for choosing to use a free over a hosted shopping cart. Here are just a few obvious disadvantages:
- Programming knowledge and technical skills are needed to set up and customize the website shopping cart to match the look and feel of your ecommerce store
- Site must already have web hosting
- Upgrades are not always guaranteed and if there are upgrades available, you might be asked to pay for it along with additional features
- Lacks basic support, you have to look for the answers to your questions on support forums
- Servers are often overloaded with too many sites, which can lead to slow performance or even downtime
- No automatic security updates
If you can't decide between either using a free or hosted shopping cart, you need to try out both shopping carts software solutions. The free version can be downloaded and installed on a website that already has hosting. You can usually try the hosted option free of charge for a limited time depending on the e-commerce solution.
What you need is a full service all-in-one hosting, design, and marketing software made specifically for e-commerce businesses. A hosted shopping cart that lets you set up your store in minutes, and provides powerful tools to help with SEO, product marketing and mobile commerce. Check out the best possible e-commerce solutions available at http://www.makeanonlinestore.com and try them out yourself absolutely free, no credit card required!
What you need is a full service all-in-one hosting, design, and marketing software made specifically for e-commerce businesses. A hosted shopping cart that lets you set up your store in minutes, and provides powerful tools to help with SEO, product marketing and mobile commerce. Check out the best possible e-commerce solutions available at http://www.makeanonlinestore.com and try them out yourself absolutely free, no credit card required!