eCommerce (Shopping Cart System)

Usually about a month. It’s like building a house, the wall and roof (site & template) go up quick but the interior (information and products) is the slowest, plus there is a lot of behind the scenes work that still happens while the site is live. We have completed E-Commerce sites in a few weeks and some a few months (depending on the client’s speed at getting the information to us).

We do not enforce monthly maintenance payment but there are the usual Hosting & Domain payments that are made with any website to keep it active. This is usually around $300 - $400 per year.

Read more on:

• HOSTING
• DOMAIN NAMES

All products and information would be edited by you the client (tuition can be supplied). Any site layout & template modifications are usually done by the designer. Once you start to get used to the workings of the website, there will be no maintenance cost until you decide to upgrade the look of your site or add extra functionality.

In saying that however it is a good idea to take out a Support Package for those little surprises that occur in life and computers.

In some cases Shopify and other out-of-the-box ecommerce subscription systems are good but they can have a downside that you may not be aware of until you are heavily invested in the system. Here are some pros and cons of using these services.

Pros:

1. Newbie: good for smaller businesses wanting to test the water when it comes to selling online.
2. Cost: Initial outlay is minimal

Cons:

1. Expansion is an upsell: You can start you online store small, but when it grows and you need  specialised features these are usually provided and subscription add-ons. Suddenly you're not paying $50 a month but $250 with extra features that come as standard on our system.
2. You're on your own: There are help videos, and plenty of tutorials but even I have had difficulties in the past looking for features in Shopify type systems. How do you know what to search for when you don't know the correct term in the first place? You can give us a vague description of what you are wanting to do and we'll let you know the best way to achieve it with our system.
3. What happens when you become pro: you can do alot with Shopify type systems, some more so than others but when you want to get specific with design & functionality you still have to get under the hood and have to hire an expert to get you through this.

Feel free to call us, you may not need one of our eCommerce systems and Shopify may be fine. We do NOT hard sell and I've recommended Shopify to enquiries in the past simply because it's what was best for their business at that time.