Shoppingcart Issue Never Mentioned - But Critical

[Amy Carczak]

I see many threads on shopping cart solutions but
I've never seen anyone mention the #1 Item that
many people face --- Multiple Websites.

With every other solution I've seen to date, when
you run multiple website businesses, you need to
have multiple shoppingcart accounts / licenses.

Sure, some will give you limited functionality like
allowing you to use different headers for each
product but there's a lot more that's needed
to make it truly unique in the eyes of the customer
(your customer).

For example, different websites need uniquely
branded support systems, chat systems, membership
systems, etc. So they really need the "look and feel"
plus the unique functionality to make them truly
"branded" and usable for multiple websites.

I know of only one solution that lets you run an
unlimited # of websites all with unique branding.
It's the cart I chose but I'm wondering if there's
anything else out there that does this?

... or am I the only one here that really cares about
this aspect of a cart?

Please throw in your comments and let me know what
you do to manage multiple Websites.

[Hyperbolik]

I've used Magento for multiple websites and had great success.

[homebot3]

Hi Amy, How the multiple sites are all managed?

[Dan Grossman]

If your business is large enough that you're operating multiple stores with big enough customer bases to need all those features, then you are big enough that you should have developers custom building your sites anyway, not using off-the-shelf cart products. Customizing cart templates just doesn't get you the kind of control you need to optimize conversion rates and minimize cart abandonment. You need to be able to control everything, to be able to totally change the checkout flow in order to test which way works best for your particular site.

[Amy Carczak]

The management is very simple.

Every time you add another business, a new
tab appears at the top of the work area / page.

So if you have 5 businesses that you run, then
you have 5 tabs. To move from one business to
the next, all you have to do is click on the tab.

It's kind of like adding work sheets to an Excel
workbook. Each time you add a worksheet, a new
tab appears ...same concept.

Basically, with one login , you can manage unlimited
businesses.

Make sense? It's really simple and intuitive.

[Amy Carczak]

Dan ...it's really just the opposite.

It's the small to medium sized business that
benefits from being able to run multiple websites
from one license / application.

Big businesses focus on only one business because
they're big enough to do so. Smaller operations
will more likely have multiple niche businesses and
don't want the added expense and management
headache of having multiple licenses / account log
in and control panels.

Premium Web Cart offers that option for the smaller
operation.

For example, say you wanted to run a membership
business and provide realtor training videos. You could
target the home realtors with one site, commercial realtors
with another and maybe foreclosure seekers with yet
another.

All real estate products but you can see how a more
focused sales message will convert at a higher rate than
trying to target all these groups from one generic real estate
site / sales pitch.

With other solutions, you need 3 separate licenses to
accomplish this.

Or you might might only have 1 product but want to have
multiple sales pitches. After all, there is no single sales pitch
that works for all people.

So why not have 3 pitches but still sell the same product?

Using the same example, 1 sales letter might emphasize getting
real estate listings, the next emphasizing real estate sales, the
next how to manage home sellers and customers.

All 3 pitches are still simply about real estate and the same tutorials
can be used (assuming all topics are covered) yet the sales letters
will attract different people for different reasons.

This is different than split testing since split testing helps you choose
between letters while this techniques uses all ...combine this with split
testing and you get a really powerfull system.

See what I mean?

1 license, unlimited branding for look, feel and function suddenly
makes all these possibilities possible because there's no added expense
financially or time wise to try these things for improved revenue.

;-)

[Dan Grossman]

So this is another thread to promote Premium Web Cart? Why is that? You've created several already, posted recommendations for it in a dozen other threads, and even posted recommendations in threads that had nothing to do with shopping carts. Are you working for, or affiliated with, that company?

[Amy Carczak]

Hi Dan

Premium web cart does not have an affiliate program so no, I'm not an affiliate.

I've also recommended the following:

X-cart - they do have an affiliate program but I'm not an affiliate

Snagit - No affiliate program

Frontpage 2003 - No affiliate program

ChargeToday - they do have an affiliate program but I'm not an affiliate

Blogspot Blogs - No affiliate program

RackSpace - No affiliate program

... but really, did you not see the lengthy posting that discussed a marketing strategy? Do you think my strategy is no good? Do you have an alternate software solution that can perform this strategy?

I talk about the things I know. I don't know how to program so I skip those sections as I can't add anything to the discussion. But the items I listed above, I know them well and use them, so it's what I talk about.

You'll notice that I never put in the BS posts like "I agree", "good point", etc just to get my signature file listed more often.

Am I here to get noticed ...yes, just like everyone else that has a signature file ...but if you look at my posts, they're always on topic and always attempt to add solid information to the thread.