alternatives to volusion

[rong]

I need an easy and cheap shopping cart software provider. Volusion look fantastic but all the reviews from customers are horrific.

I need / it offers (apparently) complete shopping cart software, web hosting, small monthly fee, no long-term contract, easy to use, looks ok, cheap.

It's for selling physical products, approx 120 different products, just want something that works for the first few months as if the business is a success I'll pay to get one made.

Anyone have any knowledge or experience of this kind of thing and want to offer some advice?

[a500lbgorilla]

What are you selling?

[rong]

Homeware (furniture, mirrors, candle holders, vases, cushions, jewelry, etc) that I've imported from Thailand.

[Keith]

Free Online Shopping Cart Programs & Ecommerce Software UK

cheapish hosting and the carts are thrown in

[Jack Sawyer]

shopify.com

when you get the bucks, you need drupal, drupal commerce, ubercart and a few good programmers and designers

[Galapogos]

shopify.com

when you get the bucks, you need drupal, drupal commerce, ubercart and a few good programmers and designers

+1 for Drupal Commerce when you can.

[rong]

Thanks.

Gone with bigcommerce for now, simple and cheap.

[Micro2Macro]

Would be interesting to see how this goes for you. What are your plans with this venture?

[rong]

Would be interesting to see how this goes for you. What are your plans with this venture?

Well, the longer term goal is for this to turn into a business that me and my gf can run and that will porvide an income that can support a family while also enabling us to travel a fuckton on the back of it.

In terms of a plan, I guess it's this:

1. Start selling from a market stall to see if there is as much interest in our products as we think (ie minimum outlay and just dipping out toe in the water). Whilst doing this we simultaneously have the website up and running (again the cheap toe in water thing) and do our best to create a brand that people recognise by having branded bags and hammering social media. We are fortunate in having good friends in the TV and music industry that will happily promote us a bit as well via things like facebook which will hopifullly help a bit.

2. If successful, expand our range as currently it's just things from Thailand. We're hoping for a Bali trip this year (similar type of stuff to Thailand) and also have friends who live in Brazil and we have a few ideas for things we can get over there. Will also go to India eventually as it's great value. Again, this highlights the imprtance of the travel, we love travelling, if that isn't part of the business model we'll bale on it. Long term we want 3 months minimum out the UK at least.

3. If still successful on the back of a range of products coming in from different counrties, open up our first shop, which will coincide with gettting a propper website created. This will probably be about 1 to 2 years into this venture.

4. If shop is successful, open up several branches around the UK, put a manager in each shop (will be family members at first who are already interested and we know we can trust), benefit from economies of scale, travel more, expand range.

5. Due to benefits of growth, start offering furniture range to larger businesses like department stores. This will be a purely business to business range that won't appear in our shops, higher quality modern furniture that will only be cheap and profiatble is bought/sold in bulk which a few shops in the UK wont be able to handle but a department store with a few stores around the UK could easliy do. For this, due to relationships with suppliers by this point, I won't have to buy upfront and then sell, but can order as required just having a few samples myslef.

6. I don't ahve a 6, this is as far as I've thought this through.

[rong]

Update for the one person who seemed interested and because I'm feeling good about it.

Started trading on a weekend market today. Was a great success. Sold just shy if £200 in spite of it being a quiet day by usual standards (ie sun was out and in cornwall that means people head to the beach). The market stall (it's indoors so less of a stall and really just a 3 walled room) is looking great, people seemed to really like our products even though the layout isn't optimal yet and only 80% of our product range was laid out. The website is up and running and we're hitting social media and again getting lots of positive feedback. So all in all a very positive start to this section of a process that began over a year ago. We need to average £200 in sales per trading day to be profitable long term although obviously hoping for much more but pretty chuffed to have hit that Target on day one as its not even tourist season yet.

[bikes]

grats sir

[a500lbgorilla]

Sounds like some good work.

[kevster]

Fuckin A, nice one.

I have similar (completely different in every way except the e-commerce bit) plans that could net me a good deal of cash per month for very little work. Early days yet - looking at September/October launch.

Drupal commerce looks very neat. Good shout guys.

[rong]

Drupal is great, but you need to know what you're doing.

[rong]

Rilla, can a put a link to my website? You guys can check it out, criticise, abuse me for it and hopefully some if you can like it on Facebook.

[rong]

Week 4 update:

Sales have dropped considerably. Have barely covered our rent on each of the last 3 Sundays. The sunshine hasn't helped. Moving to a bigger pitch tomorrow as our space seems really small and clostraphobic which we think will help. Also changing the layout as currently at a glance its difficult to tell what we sell, and a glance is all most people give you ad they're strolling about, so rearranging things to catch peoples eye better. We're also dropping our prices as we started much higher than we originally intended and I'm not sure why. In a nice upmarket boutique type shop our products would sell for twice what we're currently charging but on a market it's just not happening. Also as of this week the market opens 3 days per week so need to get thus right pretty quickly as we're entering our busiest period right now.

It's frustrating as everyone who enters our stall raves about our stuff but doesn't actually buy anything/much. So I can only imagine price is the issue. So we're gonna mix things up with the bigger pitch, new layout and lower prices and see how it effects things. This is surprisingly more difficult than I expected, although I never thought it would be easy. I'm still upbeat and confident as I believe in.my.products and my own ability, but I'm really hoping these adjustments make q big difference.

[bikes]

inform them that you are james mcavoy and this has the james mcavoy stamp of approval.

[Galapogos]

Rilla, can a put a link to my website? You guys can check it out, criticise, abuse me for it and hopefully some if you can like it on Facebook.

Rilla says to post your site.

[rong]

Update: exactly 1 month of trading.

The bigger pitch has had a huge effect, we now have a space that is 13ft wide and 14ft deep. People are far more comfortable wandering in to take a look at stuff which means I can interact with them and sell them stuff. I've also been busy in the shed and made some wooden stands to display certain items more clearly which also made an instant positive impact. It's also been helped by some rain which means more people walking around the market as a whole.

The price reductions of selected products had a fast and large effect which has prompted us to reconsider a lot of other prices as well. One particular tiered candle holder completely sold out at the new price which was still 7 times what we paid for it.

The last 3 trading days (ie since we moved pitch, changed display and cut prices) have been our most profitable yet.

It's interesting, as an economics graduate, how pure a form of market an actual market is. Adjustments happen quickly, both those you directly control (price) and the effects on demand. It's genuinely interesting to be able to make these adjustments in real time and see the direct effect.

One thing with noting, I'm amazed how motivated I am. I now work 7 days a week between my employed job and my business, and whilst it's tiring and sometimes frustrating and occasionally demoralizing, overall it's exciting and I genuinely can't wait for the next trading day.

I should really turn this into a blog.

[kiwiMark]

Awesome, man. Don't really have anything to contribute except that I would for sure follow said blog.

[jackvance]

Yeah sounds like a great side-income for you.

[rong]

T-shirts, all people want is large and extra large t-shirts. If I'd just spent 10 grand on t-shirts I'd already have made my money back.

[rong]

Think I'm about to expand into the stall opposite mine and open a t-shirt stall. The markup is huge and there seems to be a ton of demand. Plus sake level of man power can cover both so should work well.

[Micro2Macro]

I like that idea. Are you going to end up hiring someone to work it or will you be running both at once?

[rong]

Both at once. It's directly opposite ours, the walkway between is maybe 10ft, so one pair of hands should be sufficient. I've got sick and tired of people asking for the tshirts we have in other sizes. we bought about 50 or so in funny designs just to brighten up the store but seems silly not to take advantage of a very obvious and untapped market.

[rong]

Fuck dealing with the public! I'm all about wholesale. Fewer transactions, greater profit. That's where it's at.

[kiwiMark]

no more tshirts?

[rong]

No more market either. I'm now focusing on small alternative/hippie shops, garden centres and homeware stores selling them hippie stuff and funky alternative furniture, gifts and homeware.

I'm just turning up, blagging a meeting with owner/manager/buyer and pitching my stuff, carrying some samples in the boot of my car.

So far have 2 small orders from current stock($500 total), plus 5 stores want meetings in mid January to discuss larger orders to be ready for spring season. After all costs, I'm looking at approx half the total order is profit. My Target for January orders is $15k, which would clear me approx $8k once I've covered everything. No idea if that kind of profit margin is standard or sustainable but it feels good.

[rong]

Now have an investor. Hoping to ramp it up considerably. Probably a whole container this time. All eggs, both mine and investor's, will be firmly in one basket. If this works it will prob mean no need for a real job as this should support me. This ship better not encounter any pirates, can't get insurance for that.

[rong]

Just pitched to a large local high st retailer. Went really well, have a 2nd meeting booked as buyer didn't have much time (I just turned up out of the blue). Is such a buzz when it goes well.

[kiwiMark]

sicksicksick

Are you still getting the new non-market stuff from hookups in thailand, or has the whole game plan changed for this new deal?

Keep us posted anyway, hope it continues to go well - soon you and wiff will be able to compromise by just giving the kids christmas every day!

[chemist]

What happened with the website?