If you’re considering launching an eCommerce application from your blog or CMS it’s an exciting time right now. Shopify is in private beta and provides the simplest union of blogging and eCommerce ever seen. The eCommerce module for Drupal 4.7 is due on the 1st of June and is looking fantasic, but the real killer app will arrive with the eCommerce module for Drupal 4.8. Which way should you jump – Shopify or Drupal?
Shopify
Brilliantly simple and dripping with style, Shopify provides the perfect platform if you’d like to dabble in eCommerce. If you’re new to eCommerce and you’d like to make an easy entry with a small investment it’s perfect. If you’re a power user looking for a robust and customisable solution it’s also perfect. A very clever feature is the integration of blogging into the core app, so even if you don’t have a blog you can launch a store and blog simultaneously using Shopify.
Like most eCommerce apps, if you’re looking to do some trickery with invoicing and payments Shopify might be a bit too basic. If you’re selling your own products it works fine, but if you want to sell on behalf of several others, and everyone needs to be paid individually, you’ll be own your own trying to work out the tricky payment splits. This is the classic ‘broker’ problem most eCommerce apps can’t handle out of the box.
eCommerce in Drupal
The plans for eCommerce in Drupal 4.8 are very promising. The ‘broker’ scenario above is covered, and some smarts for invoicing and payments will be compiled into the solution. Versatility is the big selling point for eCommerce in Drupal 4.8 – it will provide functionality to overcome the problem which has plagued other solutions for years. It will be an exciting time and I know plenty of online entrepreneurs are anxiously awaiting the release. If you’re running a Drupal Content Management System (CMS) and you’ve been dreaming of entering the eCommerce arena, this is just what you’ve been waiting for.
Either way… it won’t float without marketing
Building an online store has always been the easiest step in the quest for eCommerce success. The hardest part is still the marketing. Regardless of what you pay for your store or how you set it up, the hardest part is driving traffic to your store, converting visitors to customers and building a customer base. Neither solution changes this.
The new marketing tools provide a platform better than ever before to launch a successful store, and integration with these tools, along with an appropriate strategy, is the key to eCommerce success. This is why the two solutions outlined above are brilliant. Both fit with guerrilla marketing and blogging. Both can syndicate content. Both have a beautiful theming engine under the hood.
Choose your weapon, it’s your choice – both Shopify and eCommerce for Drupal 4.8 promise to be outstanding. Just remember: the tools have become better, the deployment is getting easier, so never before has the correct strategy been so important.