Time for a brand new store

[Christopher Parrett]

Re: Time for a brand new store

I have not made a decision on WHO to go with.
An independent or with someone at MIVA Corp.
I will be happy to toss your hat into the ring.
Will go visit your site and see what you have to offer.

THANKS.

[lesliekirk]

Re: Time for a brand new store

If you don't mind, TELL ME WHY??

Well lets see, here's a few -

• improvements to the core product
• new features continually being added (now this is not necessarily a good thing for the third party module developers, but there always seems to be a need for something not "in the box" and I am continually amazed by their skills to create new features)
• updates are not rushed out, but throughly tested
• documentation has greatly improved
• greatly improved tech support - while I prefer using the support desk, there is onshore phone support
• training for store owners
• training for developers
• the President of the company is an active poster to the forum
• the President of the company is almost always accessible and if Rick can't help with something he will put you in contact with someone that will
• a clear roadmap for the future of the product
• this forum (which after fighting it kicking and screaming I have come to love)

You may have also noticed that Rick listed other developers (including myself) and I don't know if this is something that you will find with other companies. I find that same willingness to refer to another developer within that same list. We tend to be more than a community.

[Christopher Parrett]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Got this from another developer


Dear Chris,

1. Most other e-commerce software is not PCI and PA/DSS certified. This is very important when taking credit cards.

2. You have an actual company standing behind the product. Freeware is great, but not when your lively hood depends on it.

3. Scalability - I tried Magneto for some clients but we could not get it to scale the way we Miva Merchant would scale.

4. Functionality - Miva Merchant has a lot of bells and whistles, but if it does not have what you want there is most likely a Module that will do what you want. It there is not a Module there are guys like me that can make one.

5. Stability - Under the current ownership it is much more stable and updates are done on a much more sooner time frame than in the past. Even when Miva Merchant the company was messed up guys like me kept site running by intervening with Modules as a work around for system problems. I do not know of any other software this can be done with.

6. Partnerships - Miva Merchant is doing great at establishing strategic partnerships and then making the software work with them.

7. Development - I think Miva Merchant has a much more robust API for people like me to be able to extend the functionality of the system.

8. Security - I cannot tell you the last time there was a security issue with Miva Merchant. Cannot same the same for a lot of the PHP Carts out there. This has a lot to do with the PCI and PA/DSS certification Miva Merchant has to go through. They have spent close to $500,000.00 the last I heard to jump through all the hoops to get certification and to keep certification.

I have looked around over the years to see what new things come out and what old things have been updated. I always come back to Miva Merchant. I can take a server from any hosting company and have a store up in less than an hour from scratch. I cannot say the same for other e-commerce packages.
From a hosting and development standpoint I think Miva Merchant is the way to go. From and end user point of view I do not know know of any other system that is as robust and easy to use.
Thank you,

[Christopher Parrett]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Well lets see, here's a few -

• a clear roadmap for the future of the product

You may have also noticed that Rick listed other developers (including myself) and I don't know if this is something that you will find with other companies. I find that same willingness to refer to another developer within that same list. We tend to be more than a community.

And just WHERE is MIVA headed over the next couple years???

[lesliekirk]

Re: Time for a brand new store

I'm getting a bit confused here, you have posted answers to your own questions, so I'm not sure the purpose of this thread.

I'm trying to refrain from putting on the moderator hat and needing to move this topic to another forum since you had previously asked for pitches.

The purpose of this forum is to match customers with designers and developers who can fulfill specific job requests. It is not a place to make a blanket pitch for your services to the community at large. Any posts considered unsolicited advertising for services will be deleted.

If you search through the forum you find that Rick has posted comments about the roadmap here:

http://extranet.mivamerchant.com/for...hlight=roadmap

As for moving this thread to another forum - I'll defer to the other moderators.

Leslie

[Christopher Parrett]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Three developers have responded to me so far.
I am going through their materials.

The purpose of this thread is to determine WHO I should work with on my new store and to reassure me that MIVA is in fact still the best solution to my needs going forward.

Why on earth would you want to shut down this discussion by pigeon holing it in some other forum?

Its not like your forums are BURSTING forth with threads that are filled with activity...
This is one of the only threads I see that has a pulse right now..



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[Rick Wilson]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Since this is Work For Hire, we can leave it here as it's Work For Hire for Christopher and he's asking questions about his job ultimately.

We do put out an annual Roadmap at our users conference in San Diego every March and then post the video on Vimeo. Here's the one from this past March: https://vimeo.com/67250546

and here is my Keynote which also covers a lot: http://vimeo.com/66920641

Finally here's 2 pages that shed some insight on our thinking: http://www.mivamerchant.com/why-miva-merchant

and this is far more in depth: http://www.mivamerchant.com/blog/how...e-platform-for

[lesliekirk]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Three developers have responded to me so far.
I am going through their materials.

The purpose of this thread is to determine WHO I should work with on my new store and to reassure me that MIVA is in fact still the best solution to my needs going forward.

It has always been my understanding that this forum was to be used as a means for store owners to post their needs and contact information for developers to be able to respond privately to the request.

I will defer to Rick's ultimate decision on leaving the post here.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Time for a brand new store

We'll leave it here.

I don't think you'll see a big discussion of who to choose, since many if not most of the posters in this specific forum are developers and most of them are also friends.

So they're not going to come post anything negative about someone they work near. For example 3 of the people I suggested you look at:

Leslie, Glendale Designs and NetBlazon while all technically competitors are also all good friends.

I will say you might see a good healthy discussion about HOW to choose the RIGHT developer for you, based on your needs, which I think can be healthy.

For example here at Miva our PS department is specifically in existence for a couple of reasons:

1. First and foremost it helps us build a better product. The reason we keep adding high quality core functionality is because we don't work from some meaningless check mark marketing list, but from feedback internally on what works and doesn't in the real world on the roughly 300 stores we maintain on behalf of clients.

2. Specifically on the higher end of the market, customers are willing to pay a premium for a single vendor. So for example we're gearing up to launch Taylor Swift's merchandise store on Miva next week. In general she's willing to pay some premium to only have to call one place for help.

So I can say with all certainty that from a percentage perspective most Miva Merchant customers aren't ideal for us to do their Professional Services work as they might be more budget conscious and need a level of hand holding that comes with working with a single personal consultant instead of a larger team.

On the other hand, if you need an integration to an ERP system or CRM system or any high quality back end automation, it's far less likely that a one person shop will be able to provide the caliber of integration that you'll get directly from us.

[Christopher Parrett]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Since this is Work For Hire, we can leave it here as it's Work For Hire for Christopher and he's asking questions about his job ultimately.

We do put out an annual Roadmap at our users conference in San Diego every March and then post the video on Vimeo. Here's the one from this past March: https://vimeo.com/67250546

Over the years I have received your e-mails on these conferences, but I was always left with the impression it was for developers more so than end users? Have I mis-read that, and would it be of benefit for a store owner to attend??

[Christopher Parrett]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Didn't realize it till just now BUT..
I have been a MIVA user since 2002
This will be my 4th new store I am about to build using this e-commerce system.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Over the years I have received your e-mails on these conferences, but I was always left with the impression it was for developers more so than end users? Have I mis-read that, and would it be of benefit for a store owner to attend??

Yes you should, we've morphed it since 2008 into a User Conference primarily.

[Dan - Glendale Designs]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Leslie, Glendale Designs and NetBlazon while all technically competitors are also all good friends.

Who is this "Leslie" and "NetBlazon" you speak of?

On the other hand, if you need an integration to an ERP system or CRM system or any high quality back end automation, it's far less likely that a one person shop will be able to provide the caliber of integration that you'll get directly from us.

...3rd party developers don't have access to the command line tools that Miva Merchant has implemented via their enterprise solution for such integrations. We would have to sit down and develop something from scratch for each request in the case of an ERP or CRM system integration.

Kidding (somewhat) aside, ultimately we find that Miva Merchant is a good fit for a number of our clients, however there are most definitely times when it is not based on the client's specific needs. There are also times where we as a company are not a good fit based either, in which case we will try to get them pointed in the proper direction.

I highly recommend that you provide a solid outline to whomever you are discussing your project(s) with. The more information you provide, the better they will be able to find a solution that best fits your needs.

The purpose of this thread is to determine

WHO

I should work with on my new store and to reassure me that MIVA is in fact still the best solution to my needs going forward.

No one can directly answer that question at this point as we don't have enough information on your specific requirements.

[Christopher Parrett]

Re: Time for a brand new store

I highly recommend that you provide a solid outline to whomever you are discussing your project(s) with. The more information you provide, the better they will be able to find a solution that best fits your needs.

No one can directly answer that question at this point as we don't have enough information on your specific requirements.

Here are some of the things that come to mind...

1. I am primarily a BOOK SELLER.
But, we run specials on preparedness items all the time.
Solar Generators, Tents, Sleeping Bags, Silver Bullion, Stoves, ect...
A wide range of different items that are constantly changing.
Lots of One-Time specials, but core of items that seldom changes.

2. I want to create a very visually appealing new store that can do a great job of highlighting our products.
Vastly more graphical than it is now.
Would like to have high end product banners that rotate through a range of our products.
I have found that for my customers, MORE product information is what they want, so I give them as much info as I can.
Example.. http://www.abysmal.com/Merchant2/mer...oduct_Code=TVG

3. I want user friendly Navigation within the store for customers to find what they are after.
Looking for a much better menu structure to move customers around in the store.

4. Painless checkout that supports all major forms of payment
We LOOSE far to many customers in the checkout process for any number of different reasons.
Classic example
One of our books.
Product Views: 71,054
Added to Basket: 21,474
Removed from Basket 194
Ordered: 5,964
Lost Sales = 72%!!

5. Clean shipping options that display all available choices for the customer

6. Basket Follow up.
I want to behave more like Amazon with my customers.
When they fail to complete an order for an item that went into their basket, I want to be able to FOLLOW UP with them and encourage them to complete the order!

7. Customer Shipment tracking
Multiple formatted order status updates to customer and all required shipping/tracking info.

8. Formatted invoices to customer

9. Formatted orders to shipping

10. USPS/UPS shipping integration & label generation

11. Good internal store reports for Sales, Inventory, Taxes, Traffic, Ect.

12. Follow up for customer product reviews/ratings

13. MANY of my customers are seniors, I can't over emphasize that the site needs to be EASY TO USE / USER FRIENDLY

14. Some products require attributes of Size, Color, or Customization
Example https://secure.snowestonline.com/mm5...ry_Code=INS-HD
I will handle all product creation/description/inventory ect.
But will need help in coding to create the parameters for Size/Color/Customization ect

15. While my stores are open to the general public, I have NEVER made any attempt whatsoever to get any of my products indexed or listed with any of the search engines. This is because I have a captive audience of paid forum members. MOST of our advertising is done within the forums, where we have an unlimited amount of space to promote the products in PAINFUL DETAIL with lots and lots of images and text. BUT, I would very much like to make the store MORE appealing and accessible to the general public.



Is that enough to get the wheels turning?

[Dan - Glendale Designs]

Re: Time for a brand new store

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that you post your specs to this thread, but to potential developers. We usually ask for admin access (don't post) with any estimate so that we can provide the most accurate feedback possible. I don't think your going to get much feedback by posting those specs here.