I get asked around all the time by clients about running your own ecommerce website store or how to go about somehow teaming up with some of the larger retailers online and creating one big mega store. Whether it is possible at all, how it can be arranged, etc. Well, of course most online retailers do offer api's and customized and whitelabel product feeds and everything can be arranged but it will require a whole lot of customization and progamming. It's a lot of headaches. It will also cost tens of thousands of dollars to get something functional put together. Something powerful and unique? You are talking about $100,000 or more. For first timers and beginners I always recommend to start from something very basic and go from there. Luckily there is Amazon and AOM. A pretty simple straightforward solution and a match made in heaven.
One of the best ecommerce storefront's out there that can be setup within minutes is Associate-O-Matic. You can setup your niche store using a proven system, developed by Justin Mecham of Gyrofly Inc., that has been around since 2004. For over five years now the the Associate-O-Matic ecommerce service has sold thousands of copies all over the world. Over a million bucks worth! The system is great and I highly recommend it. Why? Because pretty much everything in it is customizable from top to bottom and the controls of are very simple and require no technical expertise. It's feature packed and gets the job done real well. Deploying an ecommerce store has never been easier.
"Associate-O-Matic or otherwise known as AOM has been helping Amazon Associates from around the world create online niche stores. In 2006 Amazon.com invited Associate-O-Matic to be a part of their Amazon Web Services (AWS) Developer Advisory Council (DAC). We have been serving on the council ever since. Associate-O-Matic has been featured in numerous blogs, websites and magazines such as Inc., WebUser and Domainer and received numerous accolades..."
All you need is a domain name and web hosting! That is it. No databases or any fancy expert installations. You can be up and running with your very own Amazon whitelabel store within minutes thanks to Associate-O-Matic. The web based control panel is user friendly and easy to use. You can even control the locale and switch it up between USA / Canada / UK / France / Germany if you have international traffic. The customer support is top notch. The pricing is only $99 for the first year and $20 every year after licensing.
"Build and customize a complete Amazon Associate Store in minutes. Build one store (or many stores) or add a shopping area to your existing web site or blog. Free and paid versions make it accessible to anyone. Control the look and feel from top to bottom. Choose the topics/categories you want (filter those you don't). Thousands of items available across thousands of categories. No programming / database required. Can be installed on multiple servers, with an unlimited number of domains. Major categories include: Apparel, Automotive, Beauty, Books, Computers, DVDs, Electronics, Gourmet Food, Health, Jewelry, Kitchen, Magazines, Music, Office, Outdoor, Photo, Software, Sporting Goods, Toys, Games, Wireless and more..."
You can check out some of the ratings of Associate-O-Matic over at associate-o-matic.com as well as directly on Amazon.com. I've had nothing but positive experiences using Associate-O-Matic storefronts over the years and never heard anything negative from anybody either. It's one of the best if not the best customized and self managed Amazon storefronts out there.
If you are looking for a fully hosted and a bit more customized / prettier version of an Amazon storefront you can check out E-commerce For Everyone although I never tried them or had any experiences with them. Their services look pretty good though. Designs and customization especially, it is better than Associate-O-Matic. It will run about five hundred bucks per year for the professional plan and style customization to create a unique store. It looks like they built a custom platform and only offer it under a hosted plan as a service.
"E-commerce For Everyone (E4E) grew out of the desire to reduce the barriers to running an e-commerce business. As developers, we've seen time and time again the difficulties and hoops that people would have to go through to start an online business, and even when it was up and running, there was no guarantee that it would be successful. We saw an opportunity to provide e-commerce for everyone who was interested, with out all of the hassle and hurdles. While the entire concept of e-commerce for everyone is new, we've been working on e-commerce websites and specifically with Amazon E-commerce Services for years now."
Now of course just by setting up a storefront doesn't automatically mean that you are going to make a lot of money overnight. You will need to do a lot of work in order to be able to turn in a profit. You gotta get visitors to your website and you need to optimize the website and products properly. It's tough work... But the more traffic you get, the easier it will be. There is a lot of money to be made if you can match up consistently targeted traffic with good products/offers or in other words really good deals.
Reviews at WannaDevelop.com
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