Website - Am I ready to build an e-commerce website with SquareSpace? - Part II - Payment Processor

The backbone of the website is the e-commerce engine behind it that will "run" the business.

Currently, SquareSpace does not allow for any other payment processor apart from Stripe that is not available in India. Hence, an Indian payment processor is required that needs to be integrated with the website to manage financial transactions.

A lot of names have popped up in my recent research, such as CCAvenue, EBS, PayZippy etc. Each of them collect one-time setup fee, transaction cost (credit/debit card) as a percent, annual maintenance costs, etc. and are associated with and support different banks and credit/debit cards. For a comparison of the many options available in the payment processor market in India, check out this link:

http://techaloo.com/comparison-of-payment-gateways-in-india/

Website - Introduction to an open-source ecommerce CMS tool - Prestashop - Part I

I stumbled upon an interesting open-source, e-commerce CMS tool called Prestashop today. I researched its features on their website, and it looked pretty cool. I tested out a checkout process on their sample template and it works seamlessly and just like a lot of shops online.

I still am in the process to know more about this NEW website builder, considering that I have been paying more attention to SquareSpace over the past few weeks (almost to the point of finalizing), however, it is my duty to make an informed decision as much as possible while creating an EXCELLENT website while trying to make it AFFORDABLE.

I do not want to be judge Prestashop based on the open-source Wordpress tool since I haven't discovered much about it. However, I do not want to get an experience like Wordpress for my website where you have to depend on the developer and user communities for answers to some difficult questions on maintaining the website, or even simple ones. I will need to thoroughly scrutinize how Prestashop works to come to a conclusion.

One great feature I observed from its demos on Youtube was that, Prestashop offers very concise and informative analytical reports on the back-end based on how your shop is doing. This is very good in terms of getting a clear picture of the status right away, instead of accessing some other tools to get that statistics which are key factors in making business decisions.

Another great feature, just like Wordpress, the back-end dashboard of Prestashop allows for a simpler way of managing tools and pages on your website. I am comfortable with this feature since I got a hang of the way Wordpress is on the backend.

Now, there are some questions I might have for the Prestashop customer support:

1. Can I use custom fonts?
2. If there are newer versions of Prestashop, how will my website adjust? Can I move to new version without any data loss? Is support available for older version? 
3. How can I integrate a payment gateway with Prestashop?

....and others as I discover some more features.

Overall, I would say I am still a few days away from understanding Prestashop holistically to make any decision.

 

Website - Am I ready to build an e-commerce website with SquareSpace? - Part I

I have been doing some research for some weeks now on SquareSpace and I am finding very positive reviews all over the place. That's a good sign because if a lot of experts suggest this to be a good CMS, chances are it really is!

So, until today, here's my observations and opinions about SquareSpace:

1. The backend config seems pretty similar to Wordpress which I have used earlier. It's alright.
2. The scope of displaying large, wide, high-resolution images is the key to beautiful SquareSpace websites. Most of them use the power of images to tell their story (sell their product). SquareSpace rules in my mind due to this factor.
3. The layout of the templates in clean and has a good finishing.
4. The content placement possible in templates is intuitive. For example, when a person is browsing for products, he has a gallery to scroll and select and read further.

My readiness to independently (without the help of a third-party website developing company) create and build an e-commerce website with SquareSpace:
1. As of October 3rd, 2014, I am not exactly aware of all config tools on SquareSpace dashboard.
2. I need some more with the existing templates. For example, I like the Ishimoto template that allows for scrolling through large gallery of product images on the landing page. But clicking on the images does not take you to the product, but allows to move across the gallery. Simply put, I need customization on some higher level.
3. Content is key. I need a very powerful, original content: images, placement of images in proper blocks with text, beautiful fonts, product descriptions with a creative outlook, etc. This is very specific to what within a website is being referred to.
4. What pages do I need? About Us
5. Customer support email should be care@the100thmoon.com.
6. The About Us page should feature images of the two wonderful people behind the project. Pictures need to be very jovial, smiling or laughing, bright, colorful. I should have beautiful hair, makeup, and a dress on. Dushyant should be well-dressed and happy. A professional photoshoot is required for this purpose. No exceptions. This page holds a very special focus.