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ASP stands for Active Server Pages and is a scripting
language designed for use with a database.
I personally have run a shopping cart with 10,000 items using ASP and an
Access database. Access is not the most
robust platform, but it is simple to learn and can be configured on you local
PC. When looking for shopping cart
applications, my first qualification is will it do all of the things that I need
it to do. There are thousands of
different reasons to use a shopping cart and twice as many ways to configure
one. You need to make a choice based on
what is right for your business now and into the future. If you plan to sell only a few items then you
choice will be a lot different than a person looking for a full blown ecommerce
store with thousands of items that need to be updated on a continual basis.
When I am putting together a large store that sells many
items and need special features like recurring billing, discount coupons, like
item sales, and many other features, I look at only one application and it is
called VP-ASP. VP-ASP is the best most secure ASP shopping
cart available. It can be run on almost
any server, and can be configured to do everything you could possibly want to
do with your store. You can always hire
somebody to build you a store using whatever software you choose to use, but I am
of the opinion that a store owner should know everything about how their store
operates, including the software. I am
not trying to suggest that you time is best spent maintaining your store long
term, as a store owner your time is better spent marketing your products. But when you are first starting out and haven’t
made a sale yet, you should take the time to learn the software package and set
it up exactly the way you want.
That is one of the great things about VP-ASP, it is easy for
a beginner to set up and learn how to use.
And once you have it done, not only do you get a sense of accomplishment
you also will be able to fix any problems that arise in the future without
having to rely on somebody who doesn’t necessarily care that you are losing
sales because something needs to be fixed.
If you take to time to learn how everything works with your website you
will have peace of mind long term. That
peace of mind and not worrying about the small things will free you up to do
the really important things that need to be done with any website.
The three most important things with any ASP shopping cart
in my opinion are first the application, second the template, and third the
products. No I didn’t mention the
marketing because that is an entirely different subject. I am going to just run down a few of the
things that VP-ASP is able to do and explain why they are important in a large
ecommerce store.
- Customers
can build a wish list of items they would like to purchase in the
future. That is important because
customers don’t like to have to search through thousands of items twice if
they have already found items they want to buy.
- Credit
card encryption- First I will say you should already know why that is
important, but secondly I never store user’s credit cards, NEVER. There is too much liability, so I always
use paypal. (Peace of Mind)
- Discounting
and by customer pricing – VP-ASP will allow you to discount certain item
by percentage or flat discount or allow you to price thing differently for
certain customers. It makes it easy
to update you store with SALE items or have multiple types of customers
EX. Retail and wholesale.
- Built
in affiliate system. You don’t need
third party software or expenses to run your own affiliate system. This has so many advantages they are too
numerous to list but the biggest advantage is links back to your website.
- Secure
downloads – this is a great option when you are selling downloadable
items.
- Coupons
– You can run promotions with other sites or your email list that bring in
extra business. (HUGE)
- Gift
Certificates – Allows current customers to bring in new business for you
with no effort. And of course the
fact that some gift certificates are never redeemed or more is spent than
the certificate.
- Gift
registry – Allows customers to register for thing they would like other
people to purchase for them. Gets
your name out and you have the possibility of extra sales when the third
party comes to purchase the wanted items.
- Recurring
Billing – This item works really well for promotions like memberships that
give additional discounts. EX. Join
our club and get x% off of every future order for just $xx.xx per
year. Clubs make people want to buy
more and more of your stuff to make the membership with their money. When done right this is probably the
most profitable thing your business will sell. See how this works into the by customer
pricing also.
- Many
More – The above a just a few of the many options available to you when
you are setting up your store.
No application does you much good if you don’t have lots of
options available for you when it comes to template design. The makers now have some template designs available
right on their site, but more importantly there are lots of developers that are
supporting VP-ASP
with templates. This gives you enough
options to find exactly what you are looking for. I would advise you not to just buy the first
template you see that you like. Look
around and find one that you know you will be able to live with for a very long
time. Sure they are cheap enough that
you could change the look of your website as often as you want. But don’t fall into that trap. Customers like familiarity. If they have been to your site once they want
it to look the same the next time they return.
If at some point you do decide to change the look, then have a sale and
make a huge deal out of the change. Make
your customers know that you are making the changes for them and their experience
with your site.
The last thing is your products. First never sell anything that you wouldn’t
buy yourself. People don’t want crap
they want good crap. Have as many sharp
and in focus pictures of your product as you can. People want to see exactly what they are
going to buy from as many angles as there are.
If you are selling downloadable goods then have a graphic designer make
up some great pictures. Don’t use some
cheap cover maker and expect people to get real enthusiastic about it. I have run spilt tests for book covers and find
that people are willing to spend more and buy more often if the cover looks
great VS a cover that looks unprofessional.
That’s right they pay more and more often. You can sell the same content for more money
if the cover looks better. The laws of
value. When things are more expensive
then people believe that they are more valuable.
There are many free shopping cart programs available for
use, and they serve their purpose. I
will cover as many of those free programs and how to best put them to use in
future articles. If you are developing a
full ecommerce store you will not be disappointed by VP-ASP.
If you purchase VP-ASP shopping cart through one of my cleverly
camouflaged affiliate links above and email me the receipt, I will fully
support your installation and any future support you may need for as long as
you are running your store. Support and
helping people succeed is the sole purpose of this site, so I will help you
even if you don’t buy through the link, but it will not cost you one dime more
to also help me support this website. I
never try to disguise affiliate links, because I add value to the products I promote. I feel it is worth your while to have the
extra help available to you for just clicking on a link. I hope you do also.
Last update : 27-04-2008 23:38
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