Imagine being able to sell your items 24/7 anywhere in the globe without even spending half of the day managing your business. Some might think it’s too good to be true. But for those familiar with online businesses, this is a very attainable goal.
Starting an online shop can be the answer to anyone’s financial aspirations. With a business that sells to anyone from anywhere at any time, growth is but natural. At the present, more and more customers who are looking to purchase something begin their research online. Some of these customers decide to make the purchase online after window shopping.
But setting up an online store is not exactly an easy task. A lot of those who tried simply ended up in frustration. From designing the storefront to setting up payment gateways, there are a lot of tweaking, compatibility issues and security measures that need to be done.
With all the effort involved, not all online shops end up with a smooth sailing operation that is hassle-free for customers. When customers experience glitches on the site, they do not think twice about turning back.
Most business owners turn to developers to do the job, which cost thousands of dollars. Aside from that, after the website is done, owners still need them to help run the site because there will always be technical concerns that only programmers know how to handle.
A continuous business relationship with a site developer means continuous expenditure.
Having read about all this made me think twice about opening my own online shop. So I looked for alternative solutions. That was when I found Volusion which is an online shopping platform that lets you build, market and manage your store. My Volusion powered online shop has been up for over a year now and so far, business is good.
WHAT IS VOLUSION?
Volusion is a complete e-commerce website builder that lets you use hundreds of tools to build, manage and market your site all in one place. It also provides stable and scalable hosting and offers personalized and dedicated support.
Let us take a look at the Volusion’s features
Store Builder
No need for programming skills with Volusion’s free and premium design templates. Either choose any of the templates and start your store immediately or customize it a bit to give a more personal touch. If none of the templates match what you have envisioned, then you can build a custom website with the help of an expert design team.
Once your storefront is done, it is time to add products. You can create detailed product listings with not just images but videos and other rich media. With automated features, get notifications on which items are running low on stock and stop the sale of items that are out of stock.
Payment options are essential to every store and lacking a secured payment gateway can cause customers to turn back. Accept payments through PayPal and all major credit cards and keep your customers safe with SSL certificates.
The advanced shopping cart software not just helps your process orders but also automatically updates your stock levels.
Mobility is key and accesses your store through your mobile phone or smartwatch. Yes, Volusion is smartwatch compatible, so you can process orders, view real-time results, edit products, and contact customers anywhere you are at any time.
Design
Shoppers don’t just look at how easy to use and smooth sailing your website is. Customers love beauty. Who doesn’t? And in the world of online shopping, without the tangibility of things, your customers do not have a store or products to feel, smell or even taste(if you are selling food). Which is why you need to compensate visually.
Through the responsive templates that Volusion created, your store is fit for any device. With a flawless look on any device, your customers will appreciate the beauty of your store anywhere, anytime. Since more and more customers use mobile devices for shopping, you have the opportunity to sell more with a mobile responsive store.
Choose from over 300 plus e-commerce templates crafted by expert web designers to match every niche, product line or industry. With countless options to style your site, the only limitation is your imagination.
If you think none of these beautifully made templates still suits your preferences, you can work with Volusion’s team of website design experts to help you build a more personalized and unique store.
Marketing
SEO is king. You need to rank high if you want your store to be noticed by the public. Good thing Volusion has advanced, user-friendly e-commerce SEO features to help customers find your site. With these tools, you can configure your store’s meta data information which is what search engines use to know more about your page.
Other features you can enable under the Search Engine Friendly URLs section are search engine friendly URLs, canonical links and full URL for Home Page canonical link. All of these fully optimize your store.
Expanding your reach means expanding your business. Volusion is seamlessly synced with Facebook, Amazon, eBay and other platforms allowing you to reach a bigger market.
Another tool you can use to entice more buyers is the daily discount coupons that you can create. Create promos and have your daily “deal of the day” to keep customer’s coming back and have regular store followers.
And one of the best marketing tools ever is the mailing list. Keep your customers coming back and get them to purchase from you again with personalized emails and newsletters.
E-commerce
With tools for pricing controls, stock level counts, multiple size and color options, categories and much more, you can manage your whole inventory or product catalog to make your storefront more user-friendly while keeping you on top of all the numbers.
Make your store a world class shop with features like vZoom, integrated lightbox, and color swatch. You can show your product at their best appearance just like how the big players do it, and the difference is you do not have to spend thousands of industrial light and magic.
Process orders using any device and easily setup your merchant account to accept payments. The whole order fulfillment and payment process have been made easy by Volusion.
Hosting
Volusion offers reliable and secure hosting for your shop. With redundant server technology, you can rely on fortress-like data security. Let Volusion handle your store’s security. Enjoy top of the line security as Volusion ensures that your store has PCI certified annually.
Keep your costumers confident in purchasing from you with their financial information by purchasing affordable SSL certificates as Volusion lets you purchase them at a fraction of the price.
At a 99.9% uptime guarantee, you will not have any wasted moments nor displeased customers. Working with Akamai, Volusion leverages tens of thousands of servers world wide to ensure that its Content Delivery Network performs at lightning fast speed.
WHO SHOULD USE VOLUSION?
An online store can be a viable source of income. Others open shops for extra cash while others rely solely on them to make ends meet. Volusion is a great partner in opening your online store. Volusion is beneficial to:
- business owners who want to expand their business online
- single parents in need of extra income
- entrepreneurs who cannot afford the overhead costs of a physical store
- Full-time employees who want extra cash
- Full-time employees who want to quit their jobs
- students who want to make money
Anyone who wants to earn extra money and has a brand to sell online can benefit from building an online store powered by Volusion.
MAIN BENEFITS OF VOLUSION
Opening an online store is one of the best solutions to the financial challenges that we are experiencing in this economy. In the U.S. alone, retail e-commerce sales have grown into a 304.1 billion dollar industry. Here are the reasons why building a store with Volusion can help you improve your finances
Reduced Overhead Costs – online shops cost less, and with an all in one solution like Volusion, all you need to pay for is your monthly fee. With other online store builders, you need to pay for separate SEO marketing and web hosting service providers.
Sell on a Global Scale – reach the far corners of the globe and keep your shop open in all time zones as your shop never needs to close. Earn more by making your brand accessible to virtually anyone who has access to the web.
Easy Store Management – Volusion allows easy updates and management of your inventory, product catalog, and overall storefront to keep you on top of your store’s metrics. With the e-commerce features that Volusion provides, you can create a world class shop that is accessible to any mobile device and desktop in the world.
Support – Although Volusion is a one-stop shop, there are times when you will still need a helping hand. Get all the support that you need via phone, chat, and email from a team of knowledgeable experts.
PRICING
Depending on your store’s requirements, Volusion has a flexible set of packages to give you exactly what you need. What’s good about these packages is that all of them are very affordable.
Mini | Plus | Pro | Premium |
$15/Month | $35/Month | $75 | $135 |
Unlimited Storage | Unlimited Storage | Unlimited Storage | Unlimited Storage |
No Transaction Fees | No Transaction Fees | No Transaction Fees | No Transaction Fees |
100 Products | 1,000 Products | 10,000 Products | Unlimited Products |
All plans include: | Mini plan and: | Plus plan and: | Pro plan and: |
Online Support | Phone Support | Priority Support | Priority Support |
Social Media Tools | Newsletters | Amazon Integration | Dedicated Account Manager |
Facebook Store | Ratings and Reviews | eBay Integration | Unlimited Products |
Mobile Commerce | Abandoned Cart Reports | API Access | |
Automatic Tax Rates | Import/Export | CRM |