Ecommerce Super Heroes: The Best of 2011
Whenever there's a merchant in need, these award winning ecommerce solutions are here to save the day!
BEST SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Your online store won't be a success unless your customers can find it online. This is where SEO comes in, but only some of the best ecommerce software solutions know how to use it right. To win in this category, a solution must make SEO a primary focus on both the back end and front end of its ecommerce software. SEO must go beyond the simple abilities to edit URLs, Titles, and Meta tags and instead should encompass many of the necessary factors that Google and other search engines take into consideration when ranking a website.
Winners in the Category of
Best SEO for an Ecommerce Solution
BigCommerce: First Place
BigCommerce is known for its SEO, especially since it was optimized by SEO Expert Aaron Wall. Through BigCommerce, you can control 301 redirects, image attributes, URL structure and naming conventions, Title and meta tags, keyword density, and more, all while ensuring your site loads fast on a W3C valid, ASP framework.
AmeriCommerce: Second Place
While AmeriCommerce did not win first place, it comes in at a close second to BigCommerce. AmeriCommerce doesn't have the name power of Aaron Wall behind its SEO, but it still provides a number of important features like 301 redirects, static URLs, the ability to edit and control URL naming, structure, Title and meta tags, and even includes an auto-SEO tool that helps ensure your keyword density is well optimized.
Pinnacle Cart: Third Place
Pinnacle Cart came in just above CoreCommerce and 3dcart to steal a third place slot in this category. Some factors that made Pinnacle Cart standout include breadcrumb navigation, the ability to edit URLs, 301 redirects, alt attributes, and more.
MOST INNOVATIVE
In the world of ecommerce software, some companies pave the way while others have a more "wait and see" attitude when it comes to adding new features. The most innovative ecommerce solutions are thought leaders in their industry that are often the first to market with new features and tools. Merchants using these solutions always have an edge over their competition, as they can dive into the newest ecommerce trend before the rest of the world even knows it's a trend. If you're an early adopter, then consider one of these ecommerce solutions.
Winners in the Category of
Most Innovative Ecommerce Solution
CoreCommerce: First Place
While most ecommerce solutions release updates a few times each year, CoreCommerce updates their software on an almost monthly basis. They let their merchants help prioritize what features to roll out next and are often the first shopping cart on the market with new and competitive features.
AmeriCommerce: Second Place
While AmeriCommerce isn't always the first to market with a new tool or feature, this company will customize anything their merchant's request. Some innovative features from AmeriCommerce include remote carting, the ability to manage multiple storefronts through one admin panel, and a robust API.
3dcart: Third Place
3dcart is paving the way when it comes to ease of use, social media tools, and mobile commerce. While they aren't always first to market, they are often the ones who take a feature and make it better.
BEST SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
These days, social media is just as important as SEO and because of this, the best ecommerce software solutions are making it a primary focus. From selling on eBay to tweeting coupon codes, social media provides any merchant with a great opportunity to increase sales, boost customer service, and build a trustworthy brand online. The below ecommerce solutions shined in all things social media, making merchants happy enough to tweet about it.
Winners in the Category of Best Social Media
Tools for an Ecommerce Software Solution
3dcart: First Place
3dcart's update midway through 2010 took this ecommerce solution to the next level, and social media was clearly a primary focus. Through 3dcart you can integrate your Twitter feed, sell directly on Facebook, incorporate social bookmarking tools, manage your store with your iPhone, and even add a blog to your online store. The addition of a blog put 3dcart over the top, so if social media is your marketing tactic of choice, then 3dcart is for you.
BigCommerce: Second Place
While BigCommerce and CoreCommerce were neck and neck, BigCommerce took second place because of its OpenGraph support, IntenseDebate integration, and Disqus integration features, in addition to the social media tools that helped CoreCommerce make the list.
CoreCommerce: Third Place
Selling on Facebook is a must for any merchant wanting to build brand awareness, and CoreCommerce was one of the first ecommerce solutions to make this possible. Beyond selling on Facebook, you can also integrate your products with Twitter, let customers share your productso on Facebook, and add social bookmarking to your products.
MOST EXTENSIVE STOREFRONT FEATURES
Storefront features are a bit different than marketing tools, social media, and SEO, as those features cover both on and off-page tactics to increase your sales. Instead, this grouping of features focuses mainly on tools to improve your storefront which may include design tools, sitewide discounts/clearance rules, level of customization, reporting tools, ability to manage products and categories, and much more.
Winners in the Category of
Most Extensive Storefront Features
AmeriCommerce: First Place
AmeriCommerce is not always the easiest to use ecommerce solution, but this is mainly because its feature set is so robust. There are a variety of storefront management tools that make AmeriCommerce stand out from the competition, which includes an easy to use API, remote carting, multi-store management, multi-level discounts, and much more.
CoreCommerce: Second Place
CoreCommerce has almost all the features of AmeriCommerce in this category, but is lacking in the arena of remote carting and API integration. These are really the only two factors that set these solutions apart in this category, so if these factors are less important to you, consider CoreCommerce, which scored the highest on ZippyCart for value for the money.
3dcart: Third Place
3dcart comes in at a very close third for this cateogry, and was only dinged because its reporting tools and sales/clearance rules are not as extensive as CoreCommerce or AmeriCommerce. Like CoreCommerce, 3dcart does not offer remote carting or an API, but also like CoreCommerce, 3dcart is a great value for the money.
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
Customer service goes a long way, especially if you think you'll need some help along the way when running your online store. To determine who has the best customer service, our panel of experts took several factors into account including customer reviews, technical support tools, ability to contact an actual person instead of a recording, and of course a 3 month period of secret shopping during Q4, the busiest time of the year for ecommerce.
Winners in the Category of Best Customer Service
From an Ecommerce Software Solution
CoreCommerce: First Place
With a 93% customer approval rating, a great merchant review score, and an abundance of help tools at anyone's disposal, CoreCommerce easily won first place for best customer service. Through CoreCommerce, you can connect with in-house U.S.-based help via LiveChat, telephone, 24/7 ticketing, Twitter, Facebook, and even GetSatisfaction (which they interact with regularly). Customers rave about CoreCommerce and feel like their needs matter, which makes CoreCommerce a must if customer service is your number one requirement.
3dcart: Second Place
Through 3dcart, you can chat or call for support 24/7 which is a huge plus, but you may find yourself waiting a few minutes for someone to pickup, which brought its score down a bit. You can connect with 3dcart on Twitter, but will have a harder time contacting them on Facebook.
AmeriCommerce: Third Place
AmeriCommerce has amazed merchants both big and small, and is best known for their knowledgable support team that will talk merchants through almost anything and help customize a variety of features. Their one downfall is the lack of LiveChat support and the fact that you may sometimes need to leave a message when calling in for help.
BEST OVERALL MARKETING TOOLS
Marketing your online store takes a lot of work if you don't have the right tools, but the best ecommerce software tries to solve this problem. To earn an award in this category, ecommerce solutions must provide basic marketing tools like upsells, cross sells, and email templates, but should also provide stand out features like email marketing, affiliate management, LiveChat, social media tools, SEO, and more.
Winners in the Category of
Best Overall Marketing Tools
Pinnacle Cart: First Place
Pinnacle Cart is the only award winner that provides both a licensed and hosted shopping cart solution. With Pinnacle Cart, you will receive FREE LiveChat, email marketing, affiliate marketing, social media tools, top notch SEO, and so much more. Pinnacle Cart is a great option for someone with marketing savvy that wants to build a brand.
CoreCommerce: Second Place
CoreCommerce is a trend setter in many ways, and this innovation continues with its marketing tools which include mobile commerce optimization, social commerce tools, SEO, email marketing, and more. CoreCommerce is only lacking in LiveChat features, so if this is important to you, consider Pinnacle Cart instead.
3dcart: Third Place
Like CoreCommerce, 3dcart was a close contender in this category, but lacked free LiveChat. 3dcart does, however, provide an abundance of great marketing tools especially in the arenas of social and mobile commerce.
Awarding the Best Ecommerce Software
At ZippyCart, we hire a panel of ecommerce experts to independently judge hundreds of ecommerce solutions each year. This panel then scores each solution based on 15 different factors, which we combine to give each shopping cart an overall score for the year. This year, ZippyCart decided to make a few changes which included increasing the scoring factors, adding a weighted algorithm, and creating awards for categories that our readers have been asking about.
Why Trust ZippyCart's Opinion?
If it's your first time visiting ZippyCart, you may feel a bit skeptical, as it's possible you've been burned by review sites in the past. Luckily, ZippyCart is different. We take the time to review only the best ecommerce software, rather than waste your time with advertising and information about solutions that just won't cut it in today's competitive ecommerce space. Also, unlike other review sites, we do not take payment to rank and rate the ecommerce solutions that appear on this site. When it comes to these awards, not a single ecommerce solution paid us to be considered or to win. Instead, these awards were earned on merit and merit alone.
Our independent panel of ecommerce experts have two great things going for them: 1. They're experts and 2. They're independent. We keep their names quiet to insure they can't be bought and we don't second guess their conclusions. This ensures that we provide you with unfiltered, unbias, and honest advice to help you achieve success selling online!
