there is more to eCommerce than selling online
alias|solutions has partnered with Volusion ecommerce engine to provide our clients with exceptional online sales tools at a very fair monthly price. Instead of investing money to develop the back-end store functionality, we use a tool that has all of the online ecommerce functionality you need, in an easy to understand and manage online portal. The Volusion storefront is designed with the end customer in mind, so everything is as intuitive as it gets. When you hire alias|solutions to help you setup your online business, we design the site, help you get products setup correctly, setup all of the inner defaults for shipping, credit cards, billing etc and train you to manage and run your own online store. We give you a jump start into the world of ecommerce. What could take you 6-8 months to learn and setup we can do in 1-2 months. We understand ecommerce and more importantly we understand Volusion and what can and cannot be done.
so why Volusion?
First off, Volusion isn’t for everyone. If you don’t want to make money online, then Volusion probably isn’t the platform for your ecommerce store. Everyone else, pay attention. Volusion offers the features and ease of use that our customers demand. Yes, there are free ecommerce platforms and there are literally hunderds of other options. We thought about learning them all, but then decided to put our foot down. If you want ecommerce and you want to work with alias|solutions, then you are going to want to use Volusion. And here’s why:
1) It’s Wicked Easy of Use
The Volusion online control panel give you, the store owner control over every aspect of your Volusion store. What’s that mean? You won’t be held captive by your web guy, you’ll be able to change your own pricing, and you’ll be able to add a new product at the drop of a hat.
From your site’s appearance to inventory management… everything is at your fingertips. As with any eCommerce platform, there’s a learning curve, but in Volusion’s case, the curve may seem a bit steeper simply because it’s such a feature-rich platform. In the end, though, once you’ve learned the ins and outs, maintenance of your store becomes second nature.
2) Features
Speaking of features, Volusion is loaded. As far as numbered lists go, number 2 here is sort of a cheat, since we’ll be using specific features to bolster our case as we go, but a wealth of features is important in and of itself. You know where your business is right now, but you don’t know where it will be in five years. With Volusion, you don’t have to worry. As your business evolves you can rest assured that Volusion will have the features you need, even if you don’t know that you need them yet.
3) Integration
“Integration of what?” you may ask. Well, pretty much everything. With Volusion, you’ll be able to integrate with every major shipping company (and track your shipments), accept payment from every major credit card (as well as PayPal and Google Checkout) and the list just goes on and on. QuickBooks, Stone Edge, Pitney Bowes, Endicia… all of your favorite business tools work perfectly with Volusion. That’s even before we got our hands on it and created a Volusion auto responder that works with PowerReviews Express.
4) Support
With 24/7/365 telephone, email and live chat support, you’ll never be left without tech support. Of course,our customers also benefit from our SEO, marketing and IT consultation, but we’re talking about Volusion here (must focus on the task at hand).
5) Design Flexibility
This quality is near and dear to our hearts. With all of this talk about the more technical aspects of eCommerce, it’s easy to forget that to your customers, the look of your store defines it as much or morethan any other aspect. Luckily Volusion offers a wide range of design options and we’ve shown (on more than one occasion) that even their boundaries can be stretched to create the store that best reflects your business. ECommerce can be beautiful. Check out our portfolio to see the proof.
6) Security
Volusion is PCI/CISP certified and its sites are SSL encrypted. Quite simply, Volusion is extremely secure but its security doesn’t come at the price of accessibility. You can create multiple administrators, members only logins and you can track your administration history. It’s a secure, but welcoming environment.
7) Volusion’s Social Store Builder
These days, you can’t have a conversation about the Internet without eventually using the words “social media.” Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have changed how people communicate and have begun to change the way that people shop. Volusion’s Social Store Builder allows you to put your products directly on your corporate MySpace or Facebook page with links that lead directly to your store.
Customer Service
In this case, we’re talking about the service your customers will receive from your Volusion store. With features like integrated product reviews, one-page checkout and wishlists, you’ll be in the same class as the “big boys” of eCommerce no matter what size your business is. Customers have come to expect certain things from their online shopping experience and Volusion will not leave them wanting.
9) Marketing
One of the biggest challenges in eCommerce is marketing your store. You can stock your beautiful new store with the finest products in the marketplace, but if no one knows you’re there, it just won’t matter. In addition to Volusion’s integrated tools for eMarketing (search engine optimization, Google sitemap generator, etc.), Volusion also provides the features that allow you to excite your customers and encourage them to convert. The built-in coupon generator, gift certificate system and quantity discount generator allow your customers to shop the way they want to once you’ve successfully led them to your door. It’s this “Complete Experience” approach that demonstrates Volusion’s understanding of what it takes to market your online store.
10) Responsive to the Marketplace
With each major new upgrade, Volusion has shown that they aren’t simply reacting to current trends, but setting them. Other platforms have been slow on the uptake as the market has begun to demand new tools, but Volusion has consistently shown that they have an eye on what online consumers want, as opposed to simply trying to keep up with competing platforms. Volusion’s feature-rich environment didn’t happen by accident. It’s grown over time to become the most robust e-commerce platform in the marketplace…
There you have it. Ten very compelling reasons to make Volusion your eCommerce platform of choice. Of course, this list is by no means a comprehensive one. There are a hundred individual features that would each warrant their own blog post, but since we’ve just begun this conversation we wanted to start with very top-level information. However, we did promise you one reason not to use Volusion and we meant it.
Here you go:
1) You Want to Get Rich Quick
When we set out to write this post, the intention was to write something cute but irrelevant for this part. After all, we believe in Volusion and eCommerce. We have a ton of customers who have been extremely successful using this platform and we have a very large personal stake in its continued growth, so it would seem at odds with our own needs to say anything that has the potential to dissuade you from considering it; but the fact is that there’s money to be made on the Internet and that leads some folks to believe that it’s easy money. Well, we certainly won’t be the first ones to point out that if something seems to good to be true, it almost certainly is. There is money to be made, but successful eCommerce requires thought, commitment and work. Of course, we can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, but make no mistake, there is lifting to be done. That being said, Volusion can certainly make the load a great deal lighter.