With the increasing popularity of e-commerce, more and more businesses are taking their operations online in order to target the numerous online customers who are looking for products or services they sell. However, for these businesses to be effective, they need to be able to establish a very rich online presence, provide unique and original content, showcase their products and services, offer a great customer experience, and engage the potential customers so that they can convert them into sales. All these tasks are carried out with one important tool, an e-commerce platform, which is basically software that allows businesses to create an online store for selling their products or services.

Types of e-commerce platforms

With more and more businesses taking their operations online, a host of e-commerce platforms have emerged, which can make choosing the best one to use very confusing, not to mention hard. Simply said, when you are starting an e-commerce website, there are two types of platforms that are available for you:

1. Managed e-commerce platforms, which are commonly known as pre-built or hosted e-commerce platforms
2. Content Management Systems (CMS)

If you opt for the managed e-commerce platform, your website will be hosted on a server that you do not own or have access to. You will have to choose a company that offers the service, and pay for it either on a monthly or an annual basis. The company will, however, set up your online store, and all you will need to do is upload your content, products, and services that you are offering.

On the other hand, a Content Management System is an open-source e-commerce platform, and unlike the Managed platforms, your e-commerce website will be hosted on your own server. This means that you have to purchase your own server and set up your online store yourself (most people will hire a website development company to do this part of them).

What is the benefit of each type of e-commerce platform

Before you make a choice between a managed e-commerce platform and a content management system when you are having your business website built, you need to understand the benefits that each of the solution offers you, and then decide which option is the best. Below is a look at the benefits of both solutions:

Benefits of a managed e-commerce platform

1. Fewer development needs

One of the best benefits of hosted e-commerce platforms is that they require very little development when setting up your store. Since the platforms are already pre-built, there will be very little web development taking place, which means that you can set up your website without any help, even if you do not have programming/development experience.

2. It is easy to manage

Managing an online store that is built using a hosted e-commerce platform is very easy. The back-end of the platforms is very easy to use, and it is designed for people with limited technical knowledge. In addition, since you are “renting” the platform from a company that offers this service, they will have very capable technical teams who are ready to help you in case there is a problem.

Benefits of content management systems

1. They offer more functionality 

Content management systems are open-source platforms, and thus they support more functionality – plugins, add-ons, themes, and advanced features – that cannot be found in hosted platforms.

2. Better customization 

Another benefit of the open-source solution offered by Content Management Systems is that they allow you to modify the features, thus allowing you to build a customized online store that is unique. This helps your business to stand out from the competition.

3. Ownership of your online store

When using a CMS-based e-commerce website, you purchase/provide the server used to host your website, as opposed to “renting” one. Therefore, you have complete ownership of your online store, and you can do with it as you please.

4. Can support large online stores

With content management systems supporting more features and functionalities, you can add as many products/services or classifications to your online store as you want. Therefore, you can be able to host a large online store with a very sophisticated e-commerce website with a lot of ease.

Conclusion 

Both hosted e-commerce platforms and CMS platforms come with their own benefits and disadvantages, which can make choosing between both very confusing. However, with the above information, you can be able to decide the most suitable platform for your online business based on your business needs.

The post Difference Between Managed Ecommerce Platforms vs. Open Source CMS appeared first on Latest Updates On : SEO and Ecommerce & Apps Development.

Why is Joomla so popular?
Joomla is very popular due to its inherent advantages namely:

Joomla is easy to install and use:
Joomla takes only a few minutes to download and install. It is very easy to use – easier than Drupal. This makes it possible to build any type of website on the Joomla framework – from the simplest ones to the most complex ones; including mobile apps, intranets or extranets or even blogs.

Joomla is multilingual
Joomla offers a development platform and supports more than 64 languages worldwide.

Joomla has a worldwide community
Worldwide there are many developers, consultants and experts of Joomla who together form the community and this community is always ready to share views and thoughts on issues related to Joomla.

Joomla offers an In-App contextual help system
Every App or website built in Joomla offers users the option of seeking help in case they require assistance or need to view options related to a web page. There is also a version checker that checks the version of the Joomla framework and also a link that connects to online resources.

Joomla has easy to use systems for:
– Media Management: For uploading and managing media files.
– Banner Management: For advertising such as click and campaigns and monetising the App.
– Contact Management: For adding contacts, departments and categories.
– Content Management: Advanced CMS with a WYSIWYG editor

Joomla offers advanced design capabilities such as:
– Responsive design
– Beautiful fonts
– A large library of templates and a template management system

Services offered in Joomla by TechIndia Software
TechIndia Software has several years of experience in development on the Joomla platform and offers the following services:

Joomla installation and website design
We are able to install the Joomla framework for you and suggest to you popular and feature rich Joomla website themes that will meet the needs of your product, brand or service. In case the themes do not appeal to you, then our design team can create customised website design as per your design brief. Our design team can also customize an existing theme

Joomla development
We can do any type of development on the Joomla platform, be it a simple website or a complex multi user portal. Our team of Joomla experts work closely with you to understand your needs and bring your ideas into practical shape and form. Mostly we do out-of-the-box Joomla development, but in case there are special requirements, then we can develop Joomla components or Joomla extensions such as a blog, a comparision chart, an online survey, a flipping magazine or even a comparison chart.

Software customization and integration using Joomla
The Joomla CMS framework has feature rich options that allow for easy integration with other Joomla/ PHP based or non PHP 3rd party components or applications. Wherever required, customization can quickly be done in any component or extension.

Joomla support and maintenance
We provide ongoing support and maintenance services for any Joomla based application or portal.

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