An Instant Storefront with SoftCart
By Bill Pitzer
If you're in a small to mid-sized company that wants to offer products on the Web, you've undoubtedly heard horror stories about how hard it is to keep your storefront operational. Running a simple business-to-consumer storefront often requires a staff ready to support the back-end transaction management systems that are needed to offer both a robust interface for the user and a secure environment for the customer data. A new breed of commerce server providers (CSPs) has emerged to handle the day-to-day operations of your site. More than an ISP, a CSP handles everything, including the hosting of the site, ensuring it's backed up regularly, and enabling integration with different payment processing options. However, once the infrastructure is in place, you still have to decide which e-commerce software package is going to provide the flexibility you need while still being easy to set up and maintain.
On the same note, what if your online storefront is successful beyond your wildest dreams? Is the solution you choose going to be scalable so it can handle extensions to the original design? I've sifted through the myriad product offerings that seem to have sprung up almost overnight, and this month I'll explore SoftCart 5.0 by Mercantec.
The product is for organizations that want a presence on the Web, while delegating day-to-day operations of the site to a CSP. Shoppers log on and orders are shipped out with a minimum of upfront configuration and ongoing maintenance headaches.
