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Types Of E Commerce Software

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There are various types of e-commerce software available: hosted, licensed, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The size of the e-commerce business is the best indicator of which e-commerce software type is the best fit. Hosted (where the software is hosted by the developer), is recommended for very small or small businesses, licensed (hosted by your own business server) is geared toward small to medium sized e-commerce shops, and ERP is intended for medium to large businesses. I turned to Jasmine A.’s article “A list of the Best Shopping Cart Software for E-Commerce Websites” for details on each e-commerce software option. Based on Jasmine’s article, I learned immediately that we could eliminate the hosted solution from the mix as Godiva.com is not a small shop, and hosted solutions do not integrate well with other software. Additionally, the Godiva site requires customization of the shopping cart’s source code, which is not possible with the hosted option; and lastly, Godiva has more than five product types sold on the site. In considering the licensed option, although the business does have control over the software and are able to customize to a point, Rachel Andrew of Smashing Magazine.com reminds us that many open-source licensed options force the business to use their templates, additionally, they may force the business to turn-on JavaScript in order for the shopping cart to function properly. If the software does allow the business to update the script, when

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