Choosing Ecommerce Software

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Actinic or Magento

Having looked at a variety of different ecommerce platforms, I believe that Actinic and Magento are the two best options available at the current time. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and it is important to choose the platform that best suits your needs.

Actinic

Advantages

Easy to use
Once the site has been set up there are usually very few problems to deal with
Produces search engine friendly web pages
Integrates with a wide variety of payment gateways
Actinic is an established company and has been trading since 1996
Well established online community with some very helpful members. If you encounter a problem with Actinic the chances are that someone else has experienced the same issue and the solution can be found in the forum. If it’s a new issue then there are usually people who can help.

Disadvantages

Real-time stock control is limited
Customer account / login facility very limited
You can only download orders from one computer
Software is not free ~ the software ranges from £265 up to £800. There are more expensive options if you want multi-user access or multi-site software.
If you want your webmaster to make any technical changes this involves sending them a snapshot of the site, they then make the changes and send you a new snapshot which you need to import. This can sometimes be a cumbersome and glitchy procedure.

Stock Control

Let’s say you have a shirt for sale and you have 10 in stock. Someone comes along and orders 8, so you have 2 left. Until you download your orders and then refresh your website by clicking the update button, the website database still has 10 pieces registered as the current stock level, so if someone else comes along and orders 4 of the same item, you will have taken orders for 12 shirts when you only have 10 in stock.

There is a plugin available that automatically downloads orders and then updates the website. This can be set to run at intervals of 10 minutes for example to minimise the chances of over-ordering. The main disadvantage of the plugin is that your computer needs to be left on all the time for it to work.

Customer Accounts / Login

With Actinic, customers can’t register as a member of your site in real-time. They can fill out a form that emails you their details, but you then need to create their account for them and email them their login details. Once they are a member they are not able to change any of their details in real-time. Again they would have to notify you if they wanted to change their address or password for example – you would need to make the changes for them.

Magento

Advantages

No software to purchase ~ Magento is Open Source Software
Access your website admin area from any computer, anywhere in the world
Multiple currency, multiple language, multiple store capability
Real-time stock control
Real-time customer account creation and login facility
A range of powerful Search engine optimisation facilities built-in
Your webmaster can make design and technical changes without affecting what you are doing with the site

Disadvantages

Magento is still in its infancy. The first version of the software was launched in 2008
Because it attempts to do so much more than other ecommerce platforms, the process of setting up a Magento website tends to be more complex and involved.
Website developers are still finding a few bugs in the system and some of these are taking a while to be fixed.
Magento uses a lot of server resources. Because of this Magento sites need more powerful hosting solutions. Whereas a busy Actinic site can be hosted for under £100 a year, the hosting for a Magento site will cost in the region of £350 to £700 per year.
The Magento community is not quite as active as the Actinic one. Many people have turned to the forum for help only to find that they get no reply.
There is no free tech support from Magento and the paid tech support is expensive.
Integration with PayPal and SagePay (formerly Protx) is straightforward but Magento does not integrate with as many payment gateways as Actinic.

Summary / Conclusion

Actinic is a good, reliable platform that is straightforward to use and is still popular with many website owners. So long as you don’t need to login and process orders away from the office, you don’t need real-time stock control or customer account facilities then Actinic can be a good, cost-effective platform to use.

Actinic is basically a single-user system. There is a multi-user version of the software which works fine for some people but has caused problems for other users with operating systems like Windows Vista. Even the multi-user version will not allow you to access your orders if you are away from the office.

Magento is a very progressive platform and I personally believe it will go from strength to strength in the years to come. The main disadvantage is the fact that it is still relatively new and therefore still developing. There are some really great features which make it preferable to Actinic for many people. Being able to see what people are searching for when they are on your site and seeing which products have been viewed the most are just two of the advantages of Magento.

I love the fact that I can register as a member of a Magento site in real-time and then use that registration to easily reorder items I have previously ordered. I also love the fact that there are no limits on the number of people who can access the admin area – this means that you can have several people processing orders while others work on updating products. You can also easily set permissions for different users. This means that you can limit access for some members of staff if, for example you want them to be able to edit products but not process orders.

This is all possible because the database is server-based, meaning that you can log into it from anywhere in the world. So if you run a small home-based business and want to go away for a while, you’ll be able to access your orders wherever you go, so long as you have internet access.
To date I have worked on or built over 25 Actinic ecommerce websites, so I am very familiar with the software, how it works and what to do if problems occur.

I am currently building my 6th Magento website and have a reasonable amount of experience working with the software, although I am still discovering some of the things it can do.

Ecommerce websites can cost anywhere from £1K to £10K to design and build, depending on a variety of factors. If you are thinking about setting up an ecommerce website, please complete my Ecommerce Website Questionnaire and return it to me at rob@matrix23.co.uk – this will allow me to better understand what it is you want to achieve and will enable me to compile an accurate quotation for you.

More Information

For more information about Actinic Business visit http://www.actinic.co.uk/products/business-ecommerce-software.htm

For more information about Magento visit http://www.magentocommerce.com/product/features (ignore the Enterprise Edition – that’s a different version of the software).

Please feel free to contact me for any further information regarding ecommerce websites.