Meantime IT

Selling effectively on the web

The right e-commerce solution for your needs...

Whilst the basic premise of selling on the web might appear quite simple - you put your products up, people buy them - there are a whole host of choices facing you when you decide to start selling goods online. The first choice: off-the-shelf package OR bespoke? And, actually, there are three choices here, not just two.

Just who should use the off-the-shelf package?

You could buy a package - and heaven knows there are plenty out there to choose from! You might choose a package if you meet any of the following criteria:

  • You are simply experimenting with e-commerce and don't want to make a large commitment.
  • You have limited funds and need a cheap solution.
  • You don't expect to have the level of sales on the web that would justify investing in full blown e-commerce.
  • You don't have any particular styling or functional requirements.

And who should use the bespoke route?

You might choose to develop a fully bespoke e-commerce solution and, if that is the case, then we'd love to talk to you. A bespoke solution will suit you if:

  • You have a strong brand and want a site that reflects that identity and doesn't just look and feel like other e-commerce sites.
  • You have requirements for cross-selling and up-selling that won't be met by a package solution.
  • You want to build processes into your software to ensure your e-commerce runs according to your company's standards and procedures. For example, this might be a post-sales courtesy call or perhaps the automatic generation of supplier orders.
  • You have multiple staff working on the site with different access requirements. For example, the person maintaining stock or picking from the warehouse will not have the authority to process refunds onto credit cards.
  • You need to integrate with other software packages, such as Sage or Mail Order Manager.
Meantime has offered us an exceptional and innovative service allowing our business to grow beyond all expectations.
Paul Reilly, managing director, Coniston Corporate Ltd Coniston Workwear Coniston Corporate Embroidery

But what about the third way?

In conjunction with the design agency EatSleepThink we have developed an entry level e-commerce website which can be branded up to suit your business. This is not a package - each deployment of the software is unique - but it does provide an entry level version of our usual offering, which can be scaled up according to your business requirements, as your e-commerce becomes more successful. Quite apart from cost, one clear advantage here is that as your online business grows, you can enhance your site, without having to move from one package to another, avoiding the need to re-enter data for you products, customers and orders.

If you are already running an e-commerce site, you may have heard about 'PCI compliancy' - something that may even be causing you a headache. You can read about PCI compliancy here on this site or go to the PCI's own site by following the link 'The PCI's DSS Compliancy website'.

Examples of e-commerce sites, Peach Accessories and Betty and Babs
Examples of e-commerce sites, Sixpenny Bears and Purely Mineral