Posted by: Heather Green on November 27
I don’t know if you noticed…but it’s that holiday time of the year. I was in Georgia where my cousin had totally decorated her house inside and out (complete with four foot tall nutcrackers outside the door) by the Friday morning after Thanksgiving.
So, here’s a seasonal question…are there any Web 2.0 shopping tools or services that you recommend? Out of curiosity I would like to try some out and also talk to a few enterpreneurs on the podcast.
I'm very interested in your topic. I'm an entrepreneur who launched www.BugsGoneWild.com a few months ago. After it was featured last month in USA WEEKEND Magazine, the weekend supplement to USA Today, business has boomed. My next step is to add an internal shopping cart capability to the site. Right now, I use the shopping cart capability of Cafe Press.com, where most of my merchandise is manufactured.
For Gadget Geeks Retrevo just launched a new meta-search for online deals, rebates and coupons. If there's a short-term deal on the web for the product your searching it pops up in a tab on the left. For example, there's a today-only deal on Sony Cybershot if you search "sony dsc-h2". More general searches like "digital camera" bring up all kinds of deals from multiple deal finder websites.
Check our Vinfolio (www.vinfolio.com) which sells an extensive range of fine wine aimed at the collector and enthusiast through a web-based business model. Our new ecommerce site features the latest in web technologies such as personalized RSS feeds notifying you of new arrivals that match your detailed wine search criteria, widespread use of AJAX within the site (i.e., those instant pop-up windows), and even a few blogs like mine dispensing practical wine collecting advice (called The Wine Collector). We also offer personal buying services for wine not in current inventory and a range of collector services from our free online cellar management software (VinCellar) to on-site inventorying, personal selling services, and full service storage.
Just check www.shopify.com - best web20 shopping tool.
There is everything you need from shooping cart and web20:
- simple administration
- ajax
- and many more web20
I love www.etsy.com, a marketplace where thousands of people sell only handmade goods.
I've been really liking Imagini because its visual and delivers some unusual and very cool ideas. The downside is that its based in the UK and links to UK stores. Still very interesting way to find gift ideas though.
Holiday Bright Lights is a company located in Omaha, NE that sells outdoor holiday decorations and artificial greenery. They also design and install exterior decorations for businesses and homes. They sell their products online or through magazines such as Frontgate or Hammacher Schlemmer and they work with companies around the country that are also in a seasonal industry that will install the decorations in other markets (i.e. Lighthouse Landscape Lighting on the east coast).
Threadless.com is great. Users submit t-shirt designs, and Threadless prints, sells and ships them.
I would recommend GuideBuy.com. This is a comprehensive online shopping portal and social shopping community. Members can get savings, stay in touch and even make money with their GuideBuy account.
FastCommerce.com is WEB 2.0 Ecommerce Software
http://www.fastcommerce.com
Web 2.0 is simply software delivered over the web, via an Internet connection. But the big deal in Web 2.0 ecommerce solutions is that web-based ecommerce software now rivals in-house solutions in features and functions, and also in speed. A web-based application is great if it only does one thing like email, less great if it runs the whole of your business, right? Guess again.
Among the number of trends driving innovation in ecommerce software is the development of WEB 2.0 technologies that not only deliver low-cost ecommerce applications, but deliver speed and performance as well. Speed for the online store customer as they roam an ecommerce site, and speed for all the ecommerce utilities that drive the business end of the ecommerce software.
The ultimate goal of WEB 2.0 ecommerce software is to replace in-house and legacy systems with ecommerce web applications that offer the same features and functions, but at lower costs. Web applications can also be updated on an ongoing basis so that the Web 2.0 ecommerce application incorporates the best possible ecommerce web applications available at any time.
Google, and now Microsoft, are now offering many applications as web 2.0 applications. The FastCommerce.com ecommerce solution delivers ecommerce applications on this same model. We've developed an ecommerce software that enables small to medium sized business to have access to a single-system that can run the whole of their online store and online business are one application, delivered over the web, delivered at and no or low cost. FastCommerce.com's Web 2.0 ecommerce includes a website, online product catalog with related products, order capture and order processing, a shopping cart, contact and customer management, as well as shipping, inventory and more.
All the tools are there in a high performance and inexpensive ecommerce solution that will let small business grow their online stores while not having to worry about costly investments, or having an in-house IT department. With the FastCommerce.com Web 2.0 software, Internet retailers can focus on running an ecommerce business, on customer service, not on hardware and software support.
FastCommerce.com will being rapidly developing products and features to its main ecommerce software: the goal is not simply to be an ecommerce shopping cart provider, but a platform that gathers together all the features and functions (for example, ERP) that a small business need to run the whole of their business. FastCommerce.com is a small business ecommerce utility that is pure Internet Web 2.0 in easy of use, speed and performance, and at low or no cost for businesses large and small.
About Fastcommerce
Fastcommerce.com provides business management software to small businesses, delivered on demand as a service via the web on a free or paid monthly subscription basis. We provide small businesses with a complete fully integrated package that run their entire operations, from inventory control, sales, marketing, support, online catalog, e-commerce, backend order processing and built-in UPS and Fedex shipping tools.
The only requirement to use our software is an internet connection. Unlike a traditional software company, our small business customers do not need to buy and maintain expensive software and hardware.
Small Business E-commerce Technology Company Introduces Features Designed To Reach Markets Beyond eBay
New Web 2.0 e-commerce technology company FastCommerce.com announces the introduction of Google Products as a part of a larger strategy of giving on-line businesses access to a growing number of new marketplaces beyond eBay. While eBay offers small business entrepreneurs access to an immense market for on-line sales, it also presents continual challenges to small companies running on razor-thin margins. Recent changes in policy at the on-line auction site highlight the risks of running an on-line business with only one marketplace strategy.
San Mateo, CA (PRWEB) February 16, 2008 -- New Web 2.0 technologies offer access to a growing number of marketplaces for those on-line sellers who have traditionally relied on one large marketplace vendor to drive sales. For http://www.fastcommerce.com [FastCommerce.com __title__ Enterprise E-commerce Small Business Price], the introduction of Google Products is just the first step in powering merchant access to these new and growing opportunities.
eBay has proved to be a large marketplace for selling on-line, but it continues to present challenges, even disruptions, to the small business entrepreneur looking to succeed in on-line sales. There are upfront fees for listing products, an expense regardless of whether the item is sold. eBay sellers also go up against a large number of direct competitors, which drives down profit margins for the majority of sales. Low margins compete with incremental expenses and changes in policy to make it more difficult for many small companies to build a profitable on-line business.
Moreover, eBay is only one marketplace at a time when the number of successful market venues continues to proliferate. The introduction of Google Products as well as Google Check-out highlights the need for moving beyond a single market strategy for increasing sales. The challenge and the opportunity for on-line sellers is to have access to an inexpensive single-system e-commerce application that can power both market reach and on-line sales.
E-commerce technologies that are market neutral enable the small business entrepreneur to compete in an array of marketing venues. http://www.fastcommerce.com [FastCommerce.com __title__ FastCommerce.com: Enterprise e-Commerce at a Small Business Price] automatically publishes its merchants' product catalogs to Google products. Or again, FastCommerce.com offers both Google Check-out and PayPal. With FastCommerce.com on-line merchants are not fettered by the strategy of a dominant industry player.
For example, David Pogue of the New York Times, in a review of Microsoft's revamped Office Live, points out that its integrated ad-word campaign tool is limited to only two search engines. As he writes, "You can place ads on Microsoft's search sites and Ask.com, which together represent less than 8 percent of search engine popularity. If you are going to advertise, you'd almost certainly prefer the exposure of the Big Two- Yahoo and Google- but they are not available through Office Live."
Small business entrepreneurs need access to inexpensive, single-system ecommerce applications that are easy and quick to set up, easy to use, and which let their users grow their business without growing their costs. For a low fixed monthly fee, FastCommerce.com allows a merchant to sell 2,000 product without transaction or user fees: small business entrepreneurs can grow their business at a fixed price with no hidden or incremental charges.
Finally, new Web 2.0 e-commerce technologies like FastCommerce.com offer an array of features that can power the whole of their on-line business. Gone are the days when a simple, cheap "shopping cart" can take small businesses to the next level. According to FastCommerce.com CEO Charles Han, today's small business e-commerce applications have to encompass all aspects of running a business, including detailed reports and analytics, order and customer management systems, and more. As he states, "It has to be enterprise in scope but with a small business price."
No less important, Han argues, "Today's small business e-commerce systems must also power the merchant's marketing. It is publish or perish, to search engines, shopping comparison sites, or retail search sites. On-line sellers do not have the skills or the time to do this themselves. They have to have an enterprise platform that connects all the dots for them."
I have been running a site web templates . Paypal is one of the good and easy option for shopping cart. Now web 2.0 become famous. will try soon.
We have been running a very successful online laptop shop with web 2.0 look like design. We used free php/mysql based shopping cart and created our own web design template for it.
This laptop shop is no No. 1 on Google.
I think the best web 2.0 storefront on the market is level four storefront, based here in the U.S. with excellent support.
This is an entirely flash based storefront that leverages the flash player and has some of the craziest features out there for designers to truly use.
You might consider looking at them at
http://www.levelfourstorefront.com
FlexCart.net is an upcoming next generation shopping cart which will provide ultimate user experience (UX).
Web 2.0 technology makes site looks good and more attractive. The sections of the page load fast because of Ajax controls. We Developed semi-automated Free Online directory submitter tool with .net and Ajax.
In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.