chadly
10-30-2005, 12:25 AM
Hey guys,
Thanks to those who provided input in my earlier thread looking for "cart reviews". Well since then Ive begun exploring some more advanced cart systems, and even full scale CRM apps - but Im not quite sure IF its even necessary at this point, OR worth the inflated price tag.
---
Heres a quick background:
*I currently operate a small ecommerce site, and have been using Paypal. We are on track to gross around 100K in sales this yr, and it has only been a part-time venture up to this point, so next yr I anticipate those numbers to double, even if we stayed with Paypal. So after learning about what some robust carts & CRM apps can do for your biz, Im very intrigued and excited about where this can go.
----
But of course now Im in the dilemma of whether to invest in a full scale CRM app - or go with something scaled down, yet a bit more enhanced from some of the basic cart apps, i.e cubecart, x-cart.
So Im curious, what path did those of you that were in a similar position at one point take? And if you didnt go full scale CRM, do you wish you wouldve b/c of scalability, or does a robust cart work just fine?
Currently I really use no other apps for inventory mgmt, email automations or accounting, so Im virtually starting from scratch, and want to do it right the first time, and of course it would be ideal to have an all-in-one package. But my main concern is that if I went with something like Netsuite, we *probably* wouldnt really need half of the features for the first year or so.
With that in mind, would you still recommend going full scale CRM and just grow into it, or would it be better to save a few thousand dollars and use something cheaper to get us by for now, and phase into CRM? We *could* afford it if needed, but as a small biz owner of course you always hate to spend money frivolously.
So would it be relatively easy to migrate to Netsuite at a later date, or in your opinion would it be worthwhile to just go for it if we can afford it now? Maybe a CRM app would accelerate our growth and pay for itself...
Here are the apps Ive been most impressed with after 2 weeks of research (correct me if Im wrong about the classification of any)
Full scale CRM:
Netsuite
Salesboom
Salesforce
Commence
InterpriseSuite (final version isnt available yet, so Id hate to use something that will be unstable for years to come)
Scaled down CRM/cart apps:
Monstercommerce
Ablecommerce
Cactushop
ecommercetemplates.com
I would very much appreciate any opinions or anecdotes you can share, or recommendations for others you know about that arent listed.
Thank you.
Thanks to those who provided input in my earlier thread looking for "cart reviews". Well since then Ive begun exploring some more advanced cart systems, and even full scale CRM apps - but Im not quite sure IF its even necessary at this point, OR worth the inflated price tag.
---
Heres a quick background:
*I currently operate a small ecommerce site, and have been using Paypal. We are on track to gross around 100K in sales this yr, and it has only been a part-time venture up to this point, so next yr I anticipate those numbers to double, even if we stayed with Paypal. So after learning about what some robust carts & CRM apps can do for your biz, Im very intrigued and excited about where this can go.
----
But of course now Im in the dilemma of whether to invest in a full scale CRM app - or go with something scaled down, yet a bit more enhanced from some of the basic cart apps, i.e cubecart, x-cart.
So Im curious, what path did those of you that were in a similar position at one point take? And if you didnt go full scale CRM, do you wish you wouldve b/c of scalability, or does a robust cart work just fine?
Currently I really use no other apps for inventory mgmt, email automations or accounting, so Im virtually starting from scratch, and want to do it right the first time, and of course it would be ideal to have an all-in-one package. But my main concern is that if I went with something like Netsuite, we *probably* wouldnt really need half of the features for the first year or so.
With that in mind, would you still recommend going full scale CRM and just grow into it, or would it be better to save a few thousand dollars and use something cheaper to get us by for now, and phase into CRM? We *could* afford it if needed, but as a small biz owner of course you always hate to spend money frivolously.
So would it be relatively easy to migrate to Netsuite at a later date, or in your opinion would it be worthwhile to just go for it if we can afford it now? Maybe a CRM app would accelerate our growth and pay for itself...
Here are the apps Ive been most impressed with after 2 weeks of research (correct me if Im wrong about the classification of any)
Full scale CRM:
Netsuite
Salesboom
Salesforce
Commence
InterpriseSuite (final version isnt available yet, so Id hate to use something that will be unstable for years to come)
Scaled down CRM/cart apps:
Monstercommerce
Ablecommerce
Cactushop
ecommercetemplates.com
I would very much appreciate any opinions or anecdotes you can share, or recommendations for others you know about that arent listed.
Thank you.