WordPress

WordPress is an open source Web tool for creating websites and blogs. Launched in 2003 it has quickly become a power house platform.

We started using wordpress as a platform in 2006, we saw it’s potential very early on. Back then there was a solid community of designers and programmers that were working with it and we made the call to exclusively design in wordpress. Since then we haven’t looked back. As a platform it grown from strength to strength and to this day still remains our go to choice of platforms. We are proud wordpress users and encourage anyone looking to build a website from the ground up to look at using it.

In the years since taking it on we have built websites, blogs, commerce sites, clubs, community pages, forums, websites in just about every industry, even backend data housing sites for Sydney’s largest children hospital. It truly is only limited by your imagination and continues to be a rock solid base to build from.

Shopify

Shopify is an excellent small to mid point eCommerce platform for small and medium sized businesses wanting to create an online store. They have good price point to entry and the platform is solid with very little down time in our experience. Shopify experts are hard to find as for a long time the web design side of the platform has been weak and not as customisable as something like WordPress. However unlike other platforms you don’t have to build your site directly in it Shopify. When we built the website for Draytons wines in the Hunter Valley we were able to very effectively build the site completely in WordPress and then use Shopify as the add on eCommerce section. When you click on the shop function you are taken to the shopify Site and then can seamlessly return to the main page at any stage. It has good reporting and is a great way to enter the field of eCommerce and can support you as you scale up. Shopify online has a good Sale POS function that bolts directly on. And works well with an iPad or a dedicated computer or laptop. The software is easy to use and quick to bring new staff up to speed. Online Shopify works well and is usually quick to load, even with slow internet connections. There is an ever grow community of Shopify businesses and this platform should be around for many years to come. Its nice to see our ever growing list of Shopify designed sites and online stores.

Vend

Vend is a more recent player in the field of eCommerce platforms launching in 2010. They are positioned as a POS front end business and we have had great success in implementing their systems. We use Vend because theirs are secure and sound and just work. Vend have a good list of compatible hardware which is important as hardware producers to come and go. The Vend app interface is easy to use and quick to navigate with a logical usability. Vend is a great solution for those who just want a great secure system up front and don’t have a huge need for a backend warehousing solution like a full online retailer. They are a great system for coffee shops, Restaurants, Fashion Boutiques, Health and Beauty stores. Vend also works offline which is a huge benefit for these industries. As a stand alone POS system it works well with competitive pricing and a nice selection of features. Vend sales are constantly growing and is positioned nicely to be in the market for a while to come. Vend stores are popping up all over the place because of their POS feature selection.

NETO

We understand the complexities associated with running a business that requires a website and an inventory system, que NETO platform. The NETO platform is a great business system we have used a lot before. We are actually official NETO Partners, this means we get special system and product training, and access to support that other website development companies and businesses don’t. It is an excellent all-in-one solution for large scale online retailers with warehousing need. It has great integration with eBay and you can globally assign each product and update all sales channels with in a single place. This means when you change a price in one place it updates it in all other places, like eBay, on your store front and in the facebook shop. Neto plugs in nicely to some other applications like Unleashed. This is a great warehousing system we have used that gives total control over reordering automatically when stock levels get low. In 2017 Neto released its own version of inventory, and we have had great success implementing it into businesses that need warehousing software. Neto’s strength lays in its ability to scale. From a few products to thousands we find it a great platform to work in. Neto also has some great customer segmentation features. Regardless if you use the paid version of netomail or if you use mailchimp, being able to segment your customers into lists you can market directly to is an awesome feature. Online NETO offers a free trial for 14 days so you can take a look around if you want to try before you buy, or we have our own site you can play with to start to test it out and see how it all works together.

I like the fact that Neto has a great local presence and an excellent support line. Generally we act as a help line for our own customers as sometimes, like any growing support team the Neto direct customer service can leave you waiting a while. We work in the Neto system everyday with our customers and are constantly training up on new features. Like our business they pride them self on their support abilities and it shows when there is an issue. We have always found the Neto system great to code in. We can get some great results programming a site with in the system and changes can be made quickly and easily. Most of our customers still call us when there is a problem and we can jump into the back end of their Neto system and fix it quickly. As we are a preferred builder by Neto, we are always kept up to speed with their forecast time line, its great to know which features Neto are working on and what to look out for to improve our customers using Neto. We have been installing Neto systems for many years now and they have the quickest growth in business features in all the platforms we work in.

Become a data driven with great reporting. NETO has a fairly accountable list of predefined reports you can choose from. They do have a team that can create custom reports, but to-date none of our customers have ever required them. The reports are easily retrieved. You simply click on a button from the reports section and set a date range. The online reports are then downloaded. You can also view them in a few formats including CSV to further edit and are substantial enough for most commerce and stores. The data is set out nicely from start to finish and can easily be added to other apps. In 2015 NETO announced a JV with Telstra.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a plugin made for WordPress. It has a huge following and community of users and developers and is one of the longest standing partners of WordPress.

The ecommerce woocommerce plugin has been around for many years. We have been using WooCommerce as an eCommerce plugin for WordPress since it launched in 2011 and have loved its progress. It started a little slow but over the last 2 years it has made serious grounds making it a real contented for a full professional eCommerce solution. It integrates perfectly with PayPal and when matched with WordPress it creates an excellent robust solution. It also has a lot of themes plugins that add additional functionality to what is does as a standard plugin and are usually pretty easy to edit. Woocommerce is excellent at collecting data you can use to help direct your business. Being able to edit and work with data is a major key in helping make important choices.

WooCommerce paired with WordPress in an excellent way for small to medium sized business to get into eCommerce. It is inexpensive compared to the other bigger eCommerce solutions and is not a monthly subscription based business model. So costs can be kept low. I love the customization you can do with it. We get many clients who want to put their own personal touches deep with in the WooCommerce functions them self and so far we have always found a way to make them happen.

It is also a great way to avoid merchant applications. You can use PayPal for all your transaction and only pay a small commission on the items you sell. This always helps to reduce the cost of running a business in the early days.

WordPress blogs are still growing so its nice to have an active, growing community to bounce ideas and get help with unique customisation requests. You can tell the popularity of woocommerce by the amount of millions of times it has been downloaded.

eBay

eBay is a shopping market place where consumers go to buy anything and everything. One of the biggest considerations to think of when opening any kind of bricks and mortar or online shop is, how will customers find me. eBay is one answer. Why not put your online shop right in the middle of where everyone is already shopping. There are positives and negatives for doing this, as there is with everything else in life.

eBay charge you fees. Fees on eBay are what I call rent. If you want to put a shop smack bang in the middle of the busiest shopping centers in the world, they are going to charge you rent. This is a fact. But rather than worry about it build it into your costings, as everyone else has to, and start getting sales quickly online.

You have to compete on price. This is also a fact of being in a busy area. You have to start by competing on price. Once again this is not such a bad thing. The market on eBay is busy and price is important to a customer. Look for ways to add value to your customers. Remove any barriers to purchase by spending the time to put a great description of your product and many great photo’s.

You can build your list. eBay have strict rules about pointing their customers away from eBay. They don’t want all of their hard work to just get taken away from them. But you can work within these rules. You can communicate with your customers after they have purchased. You can ask if they would like to be part of your future marketing campaigns and include them in your direct marketing strategy.