2010 Miva Merchant Review: Overview

• Purchase a License or Lease a Monthly
  Hosted License
• Includes Customizable Modules to Improve Shopping Cart
• Customizable Shopping Cart
• Search Engine Friendly

Note: This is an older review of Miva Merchant done in 2010. To see the latest about what this ecommerce solution has to offer, check out our 2011 Miva Merchant review.

Miva Merchant Review: Expert Shopping Cart Review

Miva Merchant is a very popular ecommerce shopping cart software solution that is used by thousands of online businesses. It is an extremely reliable and flexible ecommerce solution with extensive features that will provide merchants with the tools they need to be successful. Miva Merchant is based out of San Diego, California, and also offers ecommerce stores a variety of other business and marketing services. They also offer a very extensible platform if you are looking to open one or more additonal online stores, in addition to your primary site. The Miva Merchant system has numerous features and tools that will allow online store owners to customize their ecommerce experience however they see fit. Review the scores of Miva Merchant further in the report card chart above, this will help in deciding if this ecommerce solution is right for your online store!

Store Design Tools and Catalog Management

One of the best parts about Miva Merchant is that merchants can use their Store Morph Technology™ to control the look and feel of an ecommerce store with their page templates. It allows store owners the ability to showcase and display their products however they prefer. This includes all of the product descriptions, buttons, and search functionality which can be customized to try and maximize sales through an optimal design. Once you have your design, you can add many products into the Catalog Management system. Once loaded, you can assign all of the attributes and product information. The number of products depends on the package purchased. Miva Merchant provides a monthly service in which you lease out their license, or you can purchase the license up front for lifetime control and use. See below for a detailed pricing breakdown.

Product Merchandising and Order Processing

The Miva Merchant ecommerce solution will allow you to easily merchandise all of your products in a way that will highlight quantities in stock, which will generate sales. Providing online shoppers with more transparency will allow them to feel better about their online purchase. In addition the system will help display related products so that you can upsell your customers on accessories or other items they might want. When a shopper does place an order, you will have a great processing system and customer management tools which will allow you to successfully fulfill all orders.

Affiliate Management and Marketing Tools

Having an online store with Miva Merchant does not automatically attract customers to the site. However they provide merchants with great marketing tools and affiliate management software to quickly expand their reach online. The marketing tools will also help highlight promotions and discounts so that you can help convert as many visitors as possible into paying customers.

Online Storefront Customization: Miva Merchant Modules

What makes Miva Merchant unique, in comparison to all other ecommerce software solutions in the same price point, is their compatibility with 3rd party APIs. While many online shopping carts are compatible with some 3rd party softwares, Miva Merchant has an entire suite of 3rd party tools that they call "modules." With Miva Modules, online store owners can better customize their shopping cart solution to fit their needs. Miva Merchant Modules include email marketing tools, better affiliate management tools, customer management tools, and so much more. This allows merchants to better customize their Miva storefront and make it unique to their needs. This wide range of available tools truly does make Miva Merchant stand out in the crowd.

Miva Merchant Packages

There are many packages available for someone wanting to use the Miva Merchant ecommerce software. Customers can choose between a monthly fee in which they are leasing out the Miva license, or they can purchase the Miva license outright. When paying the monthly fee, merchants do not have to worry about hosting, as this is included in the monthly cost. When buying a license, merchants will have to choose a hosting company that can support the Miva Merchant platform. Luckily, Miva has over 30 affordable hosting partners with the knowledge and technology to ensure your Miva storefront runs smoothly.

For those wanting to pay a monthly fee, packages range from $59.99 per month to $129.95 per month. Each package varies slightly, but to see the differences, check out the Miva Merchant feature list provided on this site. If someone wants to purchase the license outright, the cost is $995 total with Miva Merchant hosting as low as $5.95/mo. Review the Miva Merchant feature list and Miva Merchant customer reviews to learn more.