2011 nsCommerceSpace Review: Overview

• QuickBooks™ Integration
• Top Notch Reporting and Statistics Available
• Inventory Management Tools
• PayPal™ & Google™ Checkout Available
• Integrated Shipping Options Through UPS,
  USPS, FedEx, and More!

Network Solutions is a well-known name in the world of ecommerce, as they provide a variety of services including SEO, Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, email marketing, domain registration, SSL certification, and more. With all of these services, it is expected that they would also be a great option for an all-in-one ecommerce solution like Network Solutions CommerceSpace (nsCommerceSpace). This shopping cart solution includes over 50 professionally designed templates to choose from, access to HTML and CSS, and a highly search optimized storefront in 3 packages which vary based on server space, bandwidth, number of products, and email capabilities. Merchants who use nsCommerceSpace often enhance their online store with different 3rd party plug-ins, some of which are free while others cost a low fee. Merchants typically choose Network Solutions CommerceSpace because it provides a 20% multi-store discount, which allows ecommerce experts to run multiple stores from the same platform. To learn more about what makes Network Solutions CommerceSpace unique, read the expert nsCommerceSpace review below.

2011 nsCommerceSpace Review: Shopping Cart Report Card

Shopping Cart Feature	ZippyScore (out of 5.00)	Shopping Cart Feature	ZippyScore (out of 5.00)
Overall Value (15%)	3.85	Customer Service (15%)	3.74
Level of Customization (15%)	3.68	Ease of Use (15%)	3.78
Search Engine Friendliness (10%)	3.76	Range of Tools Available (10%)	3.64
Depth of Reporting Tools (5%)	3.68	Social Media / Social Commerce Integration (5%)	3.41
Mobile Commerce Integration (5%)	3.64	Free Trial Features (5%)	3.75

Overall ZippyScore: 3.72 out of 5.00

2011 nsCommerceSpace Review: Expert Shopping Cart Review

Network Solutions has been helping merchants buy domain names, take control of their SEO, manage a PPC campain, and more for many years. Thier level of experience in online business led them to release a hosted shopping cart called Network Solutions Ecommerce, which was rebranded in 2010 as nsCommerceSpace. Now labeled nsCommerceSpace, Network Solutions has a brand that allows them to provide merchants with an easy to use, entry level, ecommerce software solution. Many merchants come to nsCommerceSpace because they like the fact that they do not charge any transaction fees, which is a common practice among other ecommerce solutions that people switch from, though many of the best hosted shopping carts do not charge transaction fees either. The nsCommerceSpace ecommerce solution is often used by new merchants who want something really simple to power their first online store, but there are also other reasons why this software is picked by merchants. Below you will find a more detailed expert review of nsCommerceSpace and the features available in their ecommerce solution.

nsCommerceSpace Set Up & Design

Network Solutions looks to make it easy for merchants to use nsCommerceSpace, as they offer an online store setup checklist which helps to guide you through the core steps needed to start selling. This makes the process of setting up an online store less intimidating, so that someone without any HTML or CSS skills can get things started fairly easily. When it comes to the storefront design, there are a number of options that merchants can choose from to make their online store look the way they want. Merchants have a variety of pre-formatted online store templates they can use, and to further modify things there is a WYSIWYG editor or the option to utilize Dreamweaver to take your customization to another level. Everything is controlled and managed via a web based administration tool, so merchants can continue to tweak the design of their online store anywhere they can hop online.

There are some downfalls when it comes to your design options with nsCommerceSpace. To begin with, the free templates are not the most appealing designs. They are very basic and some look as if they haven't been updated since the late 90's. This is problematic for anyone who doesn't fancy themself a designer, as some templates require a decent amount of design intervention to improve. If you are looking for something that has a great design right out of the box, and is priced the same (or less than) nsCommerceSpace, consider 3dcart or CoreCommerce. They both offer great free templates and easy to use drag and drop design tools, another feature that nsCommerceSpace is lacking.

Overall merchants should not have any big troubles during the setup and design phase, but if problems do occur, then the customer service team at Network Solutions can help you out when using their nsCommerceSpace ecommerce software solution.

Managing Your Online Store & Products With nsCommerceSpace

Network Solutions does a good job of providing their merchants with a simple management system in their nsCommerceSpace ecommerce software solution, so that day-to-day tasks are easy to accomplish. Within the online store the product management features are what a merchant will use most often, as products are key to success. The nsCommerceSpace ecommerce software can accommodate merchants selling up to 100,000 products, and allows for multiple product variations and options. This is important for those merchants who sell things like clothes, as it will allow you to showcase all different sizes and colors. Additionally merchants can have up to 5 levels for product classification, which is typically more than enough to accommodate the products most merchants sell online. That said, if you plan on having more than 5 variations of any given product, then nsCommerceSpace is not the best option. Consider instead AmeriCommerce, CoreCommerce, or 3dcart, which all allow as many variations as you wish. Merchants can also use nsCommerceSpace as a solution to sell downloadable products, such as MP3's or software, which is a very common request these days from those wanting to sell online, and a very common feature in top hosted shopping carts.

Marketing Your Online Store & Products With nsCommerceSpace

If you spend the time and money to find the right ecommerce software solution, set it up, and add products, then you should be prepared to do the proper marketing needed to get people to your online store and convert them into paying customers. The nsCommerceSpace ecommerce software solution from Network Solutions does a good job in terms of SEO friendly designs and code, so that merchants who create an online store will have a better chance to rank for their top keywords. Outside of SEO, nsCommerceSpace also allows their merchants to have free or exclusive placement in their MonsterMarketplace® shopping portal. However merchants should also consider tapping into other shopping comparison engines which have greater reach, such as PriceGrabber, Shopping.com, and Shopzilla.

Once visitors arrive at your online store, nsCommerceSpace provides merchants with a variety of tools and features to help to showcase the products and entice consumers into making a purchase. The tools include discount & coupon codes, gift certificates, featured products, and recommended products which allow for cross sell opportunities. Merchants will need to experiment with the marketing tools and features to find the right mix that will work best for their nsCommerceSpace powered online store.

In comparison to other hosted shopping carts in the same price bracket, nsCommerceSpace is missing a few key features, which are worth considering when searching for an ecommerce solution to power your online store. nsCommerceSpace does not have many social media tools like the ability to sell on facebook, blogging software, or twitter integration. Their packages also provide different features for different package levels, which can be frustrating for a merchant who has very few products to sell, but wants all of the features available to merchants selling 100,000 products. That said, nsCommerceSpace does have the name Network Solutions behind it. When you become a Network Solutions customer, you are able to take advantage of a variety of services including personalized SEO, a managed PPC campaign, and more. This makes Network Solutions a one-stop shop for any merchant wanting to run a successful online business. Of course, these packages do not come with the monthly price of nsCommerceSpace, but are great add-ons if you are looking for one company to help manage all of your marketing while powering your store.

Reporting and Statistics

When you first start an online store, it will be tough at the start to figure out what is working and what is not. However once you get steady traffic you can build up enough data to extrapolate very useful information from your nsCommerceSpace reports that will help you to optimize things and improve the performance of your online store. The reporting and statistics in nsCommerceSpace allow merchants to view all of their key reports in one place, so that it is easy to understand what your customers are doing when they visit your online store. Additionally Network Solutions made it so that nsCommerceSpace can integrate with Google Analytics and QuickBooks, which will allow a merchant to have even more insight into performance. One important thing to note though, is that Quickbooks integration is only available for the highest level package from nsCommerceSpace, which costs $99.95 per month. Other hosted shopping carts, like those mentioned above, include Quickbooks Integration in their most basic packages.

nsCommerceSpace Customer Support

When secret shopping nsCommerceSpace, our ZippyCart team of experts had varrying results. Sometimes our team was sent to multiple people, as the first person contacted didn't have the answers needed. Another issue was hold time. You may find yourself on hold a lot when calling into nsCommerceSpace, which can be problematic if you need a quick fix. Their ticketing system is great though, so if you have a technical issue that you feel they should handle, they will often turn around fixes fast.

nsCommerceSpace Review: Pricing, Packages, & Conclusion

Now that you know a lot of details about the features of the nsCommerceSpace ecommerce software solution from Network Solutions, the next things you should learn more about are the prices and packages offered to merchants. The entry level nsCommerceSpace ecommerce solution is the Starter package, which runs $26.95 per month with a $49 setup fee. There are some limitations on this package, like only 25 products allowed (minus product variations) and some of the bulk import/export features are not enabled. However the bandwidth and storage space are generous, especially when compared to other hosted shopping carts at the same price, which is a big plus that merchants enjoy. The next option from nsCommerceSpace is their Standard package at $49.95 per month, which allows for 300 products and provides even more storage space and bandwidth, although the bulk features are also disabled at this level. Those merchants who want all that nsCommerceSpace has to offer should look at their Premium package, which runs $99.95 per month, and comes with all the features as well as the ability to have up to 100,000 products.

When thinking about the pricing of nsCommerceSpace packages, it's important to note that they advertise "no hidden fees." This is basically true when taken in context. nsCommerceSpace compares themselves to Yahoo Stores, eBay owned ProStores, and Amazon Webstore. These are solutions that charge transaction fees for every sale. The solutions, on the other hand, usually do not charge bandwidth overage fees, so things even out in the end. nsCommerceSpace does not charge transaction fees, so in context of this comparison, they have "no hidden fees." That said, they will charge a bandwidth overage fee, so be aware of that if you think you will go over their bandwidth allotments. They provide a very generous amount of bandwidth to even their Starter package, though, so it's likely you won't see any extra fees on your monthly statement.

Overall the nsCommerceSpace ecommerce solution from Network Solutions is a good option for new merchants, or those looking to switch from free shopping cart software. There are comparibly priced options out there that provide more features, though they will supply less bandwidth and are not agencies like Network Solutions. Anyone interested in nsCommerceSpace should head over to Network Solutions and see if one of the packages mentioned above is right for your online business. Also, it's important to remember that you can try any package for 30 days and get your money back if you cancel within those 30 days, which lets you try out their software solution with little risk.