All that sounds good on paper, but to see how these solutions really work, we set out to test them in a real-world setting by building an actual store with each. Our guinea pig was a small retail store called Touch of Europe in Westport, CT, which sells bedding and gifts imported from Europe. When the test stores were completed, a jury of shoppers rated the design, navigation, and buying experience at each site. We were impressed with the value provided by these products. The ten products we reviewed for our story represent a range of scenarios available for small business.
Some products cost considerably less.
No matter which type of solution you choose, you'll get authoring tools for designing pages and creating a catalog, some level of order processing,and hosting. Many also provide reporting tools that help you keep tabs on online sales and the comings and goings at your site. But each scenario has its advantages and disadvantages. Online services and ISPs usually offer the most robust hosting services. But because they rely on third-party tools, these packages typically are not as well integrated as other solutions and therefore can be more difficult to use.