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MD at Bay Tree Cookware
30 September 2009 12:33pm
Hi
Ww are in the process of setting up a start-up multichannel retail company which will have >3000 unique products. It has been suggested that Magento may be suitable to use to keep costs 'reasonable'.
So far I have found that most suppliers have limited experience with Magento and also demonstrable and relevant retail e-commerce experience that can confidently link in epos, inventory mangement, financial reporting from seperate suppliers.
I would be interested to hear others views of Magento or whether a bespoke soution is more effective and from any experienced retail web design/e-commerce/seo suppliers.
Many thanks
Nick
CEO at Computed Synergy
01 October 2009 07:37am
Hi Nick,
Magento is relatively new and very well designed eCommerce platform. I personally advise all my clients to go for it.
Benefits
Disadvantages
Being relatively new, you are limited to the payment gateway integration modules that ship with the software, but throw in a few extra $$ to get what you want.
Few other small problems
Regards
Faisal
Managing Director at Progenit
01 October 2009 07:39am
Is this green field site or do you have the other systems you mention in place already?
I'd avoid a bespoke solution unless you have a product / service combination that needs a very specific user journey. Event then you'll probably be better off making it fit an existing template.
MD at Bay Tree Cookware
01 October 2009 09:26am
Fiasal/Matthew
Thanks for your comments. Interestingly the first supplier I met with initially suggested Magento. After I met with them and prepared my requirements specification thay came back and suggested a bespoke build. I dont believe my user journey requirements are anything different from other retailers although I am looking for a fairly comprehensive soultion for this greenfield build.
This is a start up company but I want something that can scale for future growth. Who are the web developers with retail experience that I should speak too?
Nick
CEO at Computed Synergy
02 October 2009 10:19am
Nick, I would be happy to help by recommending which solution to choose if you can send me your requirements at faisal at computedsyergy.com
Regards
Faisal
Director of eCommerce at Maginus Software Solutions
13 October 2009 21:06pm
Nick
The winner of a recent award (last week at ECMOD) in Multichannel Retailing for both IT Platform and Ecommerce Supplier is Maginus. You may want to check us out as a good comparison!
Mark
Head of Ecommerce at Lovehoney
26 October 2009 17:01pm
I'd take a good look at where you want to go with the site. There's a lot of platforms as you've seen, but beyond simple "some products and a checkout" what are you wanting the site to do?
Normally, I'm vehemently anti-platform, as it instills a culture of "sticking in X, crossing fingers and hoping for the best", rather than tailoring the experience to your specific user base & the business objectives. For example, what do you see the big issue being in a years time? Keeping price competitive? Attracting new customers, or retaining existing ones? How important will brand be to you?
Remember, a database is a database, and as long as your other systems aren't completely archaic, you'll be able to get feeds between them and whatever system you choose pretty easily. Be warned though - a lot of platforms have massively overzealous integration requirements ( well, those agencies have to pay the bills "somehow") - if you're a start up and can take some integration offline whilst you prove the business model, then you'll save yourself a lot of time and money.
Business Development Manager at Cabinet UK Ltd
26 October 2009 17:03pm
I've looked at Magento for a high profile client and found it incredibly expensive: the enterprise package starts at $8900 and that's PER YEAR (and you can't even have gift certificates if you don't have the enterprise version). There are many other open source e-commerce products out there with a decent developer community and much much cheaper.
Founder & Director at Pack Smart Limited
02 November 2009 13:07pm
Nick
Hope you're getting on OK with your software sourcing - Just thought it would be worth mentioning that I head up a fulfilment company. Have you had any thoughts on how you're doing this side of the business. We fulfil for a few ecommerce companies/businesses some of which are on Magento....
Nick Walker