Ecommerce host

[drdachel]

Folks,

My brother and I will be adding an separate ecommerce arm to an existing technology based firm. I am very new to ecommerce and have been looking high and low on the internet for a host that would provide all in one services.

This site is for high end hardware ($1000 and up) with some fairly large firms so I'm looking to have a very professional website. We have a designer that should do a bang-up job.

My wish list of services are the standard items like bandwidth, customer support availability etc. However, I'm hopeing to find a host which provides an all-in-one business solution which will allow me to manage my customers, keep track of bookkeeping, market to customers etc. Something akin to ERP and CRM, but not that full featured. I've certainly found software out there that does this, but all I can find is software separate from the web host. Any ideas if there is a host which offers any of that.

If not, what small-business softwares integrates(direct export from host) with the web site. I'm trying to avoid data entry.

The firm's site is currently on GoDaddy.com. They barely knew what I was talking about.

Any suggestions on where to locate this would be useful. I've been searching web for 5 hours plus so far.

Thanks,
Dan

[brian.mark]

I beleive that NetSuite can do everything you're asking about. We were looking at a few parts of their suite, but they did offer everything that we were thinking of. We didn't need it all, and couldn't find a way to integrate our current stuff with what they offer, but it did seem like a great package if you were starting from nothing.

They seemed really responsive when we asked for a sales call. They should be able to handle just about everything you need.

Brian.

[ADAM Web Design]

I think you're looking too hard for something that, in all likelihood, doesn't exist.

Hosting is a cutthroat business, with so many people concerned about cost that most companies have adopted the practice of offering only the most common components/languages/software packages with their hosting, if they even offer any at all.

You might find shopping cart software, or perhaps a series of ASP components, but that's about as much as you'll ever get from your host.

So what I would do is take your task and split it into five smaller ones.

Part 1: Find the packages (3-5) that interest you most, and look at their hosting requirements.

Part 2: Pick 3-5 hosts that meet or exceed the requirements for at lesat one of the packages.

Part 3: Ask on here or on as many hosting/review boards as possible if anyone has any prior experiences with the three hosts you've picked out.

Part 4: Repeat process with the software.

Part 5: Make your decision.

The few hours of homework you do will save you a TON of grief in the long run.

To get you started, here's a host that will let you configure your hosting plan any way you wish, in addition to their packages:

Sectorlink. I have a dedicated server with them, and no I'm not a reseller (I used to be at one point, but it became cheaper for me just to get my own box with them.)

As far as the software goes...I can't really help you, since I believe in building my own, customized to spec.

[roban]

I host with Bluehost.com and have an ecommerce site online with them. They offer Fantastico which has, among other things, Cube Cart (which I use)Zen Cart and OsCommerce. All parts of their regular package.

[Corey Bryant]

You mght also talk to Josh and Martin over at http://www.sitetutor.com - they might be able to help put something together for you.