Selecting ecommerce technology

For a self-funded startup like Sunfitters, capital conservation is paramount. So spending needlessly on expensive technology is to be avoided at all cost. On the other end of the spectrum, free systems like zenCart and osCommerce have their own problems — most obvious being the lack of support and services. We selected Yahoo! Merchant, and here’s why…

First and foremost, Yahoo has a lot of experience driving traffic: something every retail startup desperately needs.

Second, Yahoo provides Akamai’s content delivery network at no extra charge. This may not sound like a big deal, but it really is if you plan on any sort of growth. The benefit is that copies of your content (like large product images) are distributed across the globe to servers very near to each site visitor. This has a phenominally positive impact on site performance… something that just cannot be achieved hosting your site in one central location.

Third, Yahoo provides 24×7 merchant support… something I’ve needed on several occasions during our implementation. With each call I’ve made so far, the agent was knowledgable and responsive. It’s just the kind of support I’d expect from an enterprise system, but priced for a small business.

Fourth, Yahoo provides a lot of pre-integrated services out-of-the-box, including shipping integration with UPS, payment gateway integration via Chase Paymentech, alternate payments via PayPal, order management with OrderMotion and integration with Quickbooks accounting software. We needed all these integrations, and integrating with Yahoo was a snap. (I only wish there was an easier way to integrate with Google Analytics… but we figured this out).

Lastly, Yahoo uses CSS style sheets to tailor design of your site. Breaking out of the cookie cutter Yahoo Store design is completely possible… but to do so, you have to abandon the clumsy store configuration interface and get your hands dirty with some code. Frankly, this is no different than any other solution; and it’s not as scary as it sounds. I’ll cover Yahoo customization in a separate post.

Are there downsides to Yahoo? Of course. You won’t get advanced personalization technologies… nor will you have the ability to enhance functionality with custom-built J2EE/PHP/Perl modules (outside the clumsy constraints of Store Manager). Also, Yahoo charges a small percent of every sale. But the benefits far outweigh the liabilities, in my eyes.