Looking to start an e-commerce website for my business

[lloydi]

we have used http://www.ekmpowershop.com/ at work, its £24.99 per month but very user friendly and has a large support base forum and lots of plugins, its easy to add paypal etc too, might be worth a look if you want to get started with little startup costs involved.

[CzarJunkie]

If using Paypal why do you need to capture any personal data on the site? just let Paypal control all that info and use paypal to do invoicing etc.

That's fine as long as you're always thinking small. There's a lot more to e-commerce than just capturing a one off sale. If you want to market to existing customers and make the most of your marketing opportunities, you need to store and capture customer data.

[akimba]

Photo engraving doesn't seem to me to be big market for returning customers and as he starting from scratch I cant see him having a massive marketing budget to start off big. But yeah if does turn into something other than a cottage industry then I would look at capturing customer details on the site.

[daven]

Photo engraving doesn't seem to me to be big market for returning customers and as he starting from scratch I cant see him having a massive marketing budget to start off big. But yeah if does turn into something other than a cottage industry then I would look at capturing customer details on the site.

Agreed - that's what I did, I 'capture' the details (address, Name and email) on the accounts software if I need it. I am just about ready to upscale and will be looking at ssl and other payment providers but my profits in the first year would have been mostly taken up by such fees. Unless you know you have a solid business that will convert online I would keep costs to a minimum. Why buy a large warehouse when a corner shop will do to start with?

[lloydi]

another place worth looking at is Esty, its cheap to sell on there and a mate of mine has had some good orders for his paintings and prints

[CzarJunkie]

Photo engraving doesn't seem to me to be big market for returning customers and as he starting from scratch I cant see him having a massive marketing budget to start off big. But yeah if does turn into something other than a cottage industry then I would look at capturing customer details on the site.

I suppose you'd only advise he spends a minimum on web hosting too? Site speed and site security are two of the main concerns for customers today.

No matter what e-commerce platform you are using or what payment gateway, I'd ensure both are hosted to give your customers confidence. Scrimping on web hosting is a huge mistake for any e-commerce site.

[EvilBoB]

I like prestashop and have used it several times (www.prestashop.com) It's very configurable and with only a bit of knowledge you could be up and running in no time. There is also a good range of addons available and the free modules in their forums are good.