Volusion Shopping Cart Review

Volusion Review
Software Version Reviewed: 3.1

There is a company making a big splash in the shopping cart market. That company is Volusion. Founded by former Dell employees back in 1999, Volusion is proving to be a leader of ASP based e-commerce solutions. After reviewing Volusion’s rich features and search engine friendly stores, this solution is proof that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Volusion is a complete e-commerce solution; the first of its kind to be offered to small business at an affordable price. Using this solution, a merchant can benefit from an integrated gateway, a RMA system and a phone order system. This allows the merchant to process refunds, issue credit and take phone orders without having to leave their store’s control panel, or dashboard. Volusion also offers a great selection of features that enhance the shopping experience for the customer. Volusion is a superb all around solution that leaves little to be desired.

Where Volusion Excels

1. A Complete Solution

Looking to tie your POS system to your online store? Volusion’s got you covered. Looking to take phone orders? No problem with Volusion. Want to process returns (RMA’s) and issue credits without leaving your store’s control panel? Using Volusion with Authorize.net is the solution for you.

2. Search Engine Optimization

It appears that Volusion has really focused on making their client’s store as search engine friendly as possible. Volusion solution offers:

Dynamic Static HTML page creation.
Keywords in page titles
Keywords in breadcrumb navigation
Automatic Site map generation
The ability to have an html index page rather than one based on ASP.

3. Excellent Selection of Features

Volusion offers many of the customer comfort features that e-commerce merchants have come to expect from their solution. These include:

Wish List
Gift Wrapping
Customer Reviews
Email to Friend Option
Gift Message on Packing Slip

4. Knowledgeable Support

Volusion’s support team can readily answer just about any question you throw at them.

5. Marketing Channel Feeds

Volusion offers a robust selection of integrated marketing channel feeds. The following are feeds included in Volusion’s solution:

Froogle
Shopping.com
BizRate
Dealtime
Epinions
Yahoo Shopping
NexTag
PriceGrabber

Where Volusion Needs Improvement

1. Limited Number of Store Templates

Volusion only offers 7 customizable store templates. This is a limited offering when compared to their competition.

2. Checkout Process Need Sprucing Up

The checkout process Voluson currently offers is 7 steps. Industry trends are moving toward 1-2 checkout steps. Volusion could also benefit from adding customizable checkout questions and allowing customer to checkout without having to register (guest checkout).

3. Missing a Few Key Reporting Tools

Volusion currently does not offer the ability to log and review abandoned shopping cart or customer search queries. These are both valuable tools when trying to figure out how customers are using your store. Conclusion

With Volusion, the sky is limit. This solution is already ahead of most of the e-commerce shopping cart pack and will only improve with future releases. If you’re looking to start an online store or upgrade from your existing solution, we recommend that you take a good hard look at Volusion.