Open cart is just as the name suggests, an open source eCommerce solution which is a free alternative to other paid eCommerce platforms that you can use to get started. Open cart is a drag and drop solution that is easy to use and has a lot of cool features to get your business going.
Features include support for unlimited products and categories, support for templates, support for multi languages and currencies, support for user product reviews and ratings, integrated payment gateways, integrated tax and shipping weight calculation, among many others.
To start using it, you just have to download the software client and install it. You have the option to use their hosting solution or to host your store by yourself.
Zendesk is a platform to take care of customer service. Zendesk is a cloud-based software that can be used to lower customer support costs and improve your eCommerce website’s customer service. It will give you complete control of customer support by integrating itself into your store.
You can manage customer support through the most popular channels including email, social media sites like twitter and Facebook, chat messaging, voice, and by user generated tickets, among many other features.
You can start using Zendesk today as a free trial, with pricing for Zendesk plans at $5 for the essential, $19 for the team, $49 for the professional and $99 for the enterprise.
Authorize
You will need a payment gateway to process payments through your eCommerce website. Authorize.net offers you one of the best payment gateway services around. With authorize, you can start selling more and save time and money.
You can count on it to be reliable and secure. It will let you accept payments online, by mail or telephone, via retail physical stores and mobile payments!
Pricing for the service is a fixed rate fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, a one-time set up fee of $49, a monthly gateway fee of $25 and additional fees not included in the starter package which are unique to each transaction.
Besides your payment gateway, you will also need a merchant account. A merchant account is a place where money sent to you through payments is put on hold until you receive it in your bank account. You need a good and secure service provider that can offer you the best option.
Avantgate offers you a streamlined solution with its global payments platform, designed to be easy to set up and start accepting payments worldwide. It can be set up in more than 30 languages for more than 45 payment methods, and it supports over 130 currencies!
To use it, you can either sign up for the growth plan and pay a fee of 3.99% plus $0.99 for every transaction, but you will be limited to 15 products per month. For the standard edition, you’ll pay a fee of 4.99% plus $2.55. The enterprise edition is custom priced.
Mailing lists are one of the most popular marketing strategies used by online businesses, and might be the best marketing solution for online marketing to date. It is safe to assume that no eCommerce business is truly complete without a solution for a great mailing list.
MailChimp has proven to be one of the best email list building and managing tools around and is very popular. It has features such as flexible design for brands of any size, easy integration with established eCommerce platforms, powerful automation and analytics tools.
You can use it for free if you have up to 2,000 subscribers, and send up to 12,000 emails a month. If you plan to have more than that, you can subscribe to the “growing business” plan for $25 a month and upgrade to the “pro marketer” plan for $199.
Lucky orange is a great analytics platform that offers a lot of cool features that you would normally only have the chance to get using separate software clients and online platforms. You will have access to a user friendly dashboard to see stats about your page.
Besides its great dashboard and its analytics capabilities, it will also create a recording of what every visitor did on your website in real time, as well as provide heat maps.
You can try lucky orange with a free 7-day trial. Pricing starts at $10! You can also get small business, medium and large plans for $20, $50 and $100, respectively.
Zopim
Zopim is a chat suite that can easily integrate with your eCommerce website, which is great for giving customers live, real support on your site no matter where they are. You can use it for free, but you’ll be limited to just one chat. You can get more by buying the basic, advanced or premium plans for $11, $20 and $44, a month respectively.
Hootsuite is a platform for managing your social media activity in one place. With HootSuite, you’ll be able to engage your audience and listen to what they are saying about your brand across many social network sites, among many other things through their excellent dashboard.
You can use it for free or you can buy a “pro” plan for $8.99 a month, billed annually. If you want more features and support, get a custom priced “business” plan.
Worldwide brands is a drop shipping service that you can use to find suppliers around the world that can supply you with merchandise to stock and sell through any major retailer like Amazon or through your own eCommerce website.
By signing up, you’ll have access to many online profiles of suppliers around the world, so you can choose the best based on your eCommerce needs.
Replace myself is a company offering outsourcing services in the Philippines. It can be used to hire teams of people to outsource some of your heaviest eCommerce duties, like fulfillment and customer support, so you can concentrate on the business side of your online company!
You can use replace myself services by paying a $97 monthly fee or a one-time fee of $997!
