Tools for eCommerce: 1ShoppingCart

eCommerce has been described as an area that is still in its infancy and by all accounts, is only predicted to grow. Of course, if you want to get in on this trend and are in need of an online store, you want to make sure you have effective tools for eCommerce in place. In this week’s tools and resources article, we take a look at 1ShoppingCart – a subscription-based shopping cart platform.

How does it work?

1ShoppingCart is an eCommerce solution that will host your online store for you. Basically, it allows you to custom-design an online store that will match the look and feel of your current website, so that it gives a seamless feel when people click through to your store. It will work with however you are currently set up to get paid – whether that is through Paypal or a merchant account. There are different levels of subscription, from standard through to ultimate, which basically allow more features, such as products or affiliate management depending on what your needs are.

What are the features?

There are numerous features which they list here , but here are some of the basics…

Customising of your store, such as colour schemes and ability to add your company logo.
Secure check-out.
You receive email notifications of sales.
Some plans include email marketing.
You can set up features such as shipping costs, taxes and recurring billing.
You can hold, import and export client lists through 1ShoppingCart.
Ad tracking.
Form creation (such as pop-ups).
Tutorials available to help you set up.

Overall Assessment?

1ShoppingCart can be a bit complex considering all of the features that are available to set up, but at least they provide help services and tutorials so your questions are able to be answered. We’ve heard some comments that the email system is not the prettiest when compared to platforms such as Mailchimp which specialise in email, but this is probably to be expected when you use an all-in-one service (and there’s nothing stopping you from using a different email system anyway).

An advantage of using a platform such as 1ShoppingCart for your eCommerce needs is that as a large, well-known operator, your customers can be assured that their transactions are secure and their details looked after. The biggest strength of 1ShoppingCart is probably that it is a completely integrated set of tools that specialise in eCommerce – you can literally sell anything and add all kinds of billing features such as subcriptions and shipping.

One feature that we really like is that you can try 1ShoppingCart for a free 30 day trial period. This hopefully gives you enough time to figure out whether it is suited to your needs!