Lab #12 Business Analytics Proposal

Brick and Mortar E-commerce Business Proposal


There are several ways to build an Ecommerce site and a variety of different software to make things easier. However, finding the right type of software can be difficult without knowing what’s out there, how much you wish to expand your business, what types of resources you already have access to, or what types of products would best suit the needs of your business without going over your budget. This is simply an example of some of the software that is available to business owners and consumers who wish to broaden their horizons and expand to a larger group of clients. Hopefully after reviewing the different programs listed here it will be much easier to make an informed decision about which E-commerce website tool is best for your business.


Magento: Magento is one of the many E-commerce building tools out there. It is free to download and offers a variety of options for those trying to manage their own E-commerce sites. Here are some examples of the services that Magento provides to its users. Keep in mind that although Magento is free to use the free edition only provides a limited number of resources to its users where as the Professional and Enterprise packages which are paid services provide much more options to the users of the site. Overall it comes down to how much control you want over your businesses site and how much you’re willing to spend to get your product out in the E-commerce market.

Magento Community Edition:
Price: free
License: Open Source
Support not included
Warranty not included
Identification not included

Magento Professional Edition:
Price: $2,995 USD/Yr
License: Commercial
Support: PCI Data Security Standard coming soon
Warranty included
Identification included

Magento Enterprise Edition:
Price: $12,990 USD/Yr
License: Commercial
Support: PCI Data Security Standard. Complete end-to-end product support
Warranty included
Identification included


Out of the 3 packages listed above the Professional edition is probably the best way to go since it provides all the tools needed to create and maintain an effective E-commerce site for an entire year without investing a large amount of time or expense into the site.
Clicktale: Unlike magento clicktale has more visual elements included in its E-commerce site design that allow users get more in depth views of what their clients are looking for, which places on the site received the most views and mouse clicks, and which parts of the site were uninteresting and caused clients to leave or not purchase an item. Clicktale also offers 3 different service plans ranging from simple to complex and based on price but there is more flexibility given to the user since clicktales plans go on a monthly payment basis instead of a yearly basis as seen with magento but there still are yearly packages set up that offer discounts to those who purchase that particular plan for a year.

Free Edition:
Customer Support: Online Resources
Custom Email Alerts: Weekly

Bronze Edition: $99/month $890/year
Customer Support: Email
Custom Email Alerts: Daily

Silver Edition: $290/month $2600/year
Customer Support: Phone
Custom Email Alerts: Hourly

Gold Edition: $990/month $8900/year
Customer Support: Priority
Custom Email Alerts: Hourly

Although all of these plans provide a great number of tools to manage your E-commerce site the best plan would be the Bronze edition mostly since it is geared very much towards smaller business by providing the essential tools and services needed to manage an effective E-commerce site without getting to complex in scale with tracking and monitoring of clients.


Prestashop: This is another E-commerce tool that allows you to create an online store but unlike the other 2 E-commerce programs Prestashop is completely free to download and use as you see fit. Although it is free to use initially you can still purchase modules, themes, and other programs to make your online store flow better and give you more access to better tools as your online business expands without having to pay a large amount just to keep your online site active. Also Prestashop has a very large support network from E-commerce users around the world. It has been translated into several different languages and has implemented several tools to make setting up your E-commerce page very simple. The entire site is comprised of many features that make tracking customers and visitors to your site easy and Prestashop has contracts with most international shipping carriers so getting your product to your customers is hassle free when using Prestashop. Overall this is probably the best E-commerce setup for your business at this point in time to use.

Out of all the E-commerce services I visited I believe that Prestashop would be best suited to get your online business started. You have the greatest amount of flexibility and support with Prestashop and you don’t have to invest a large amount of time and energy into creating your E-commerce page. Also if for any reason your E-commerce pages proves not to be successful you can rest easy knowing that you didn’t invest a large amount of money into setting it up and you won’t be locked into a commitment of continuing to pay for your E-commerce site until your payment plan is finished.