In thinking further about Sage’s acquisition of Verus Financial Management acquisition, it struck me there are two or possibly three parallel development worlds emerging. There are those rooted in existing paradigms like the desktop – most existing vendors fall within this group. Then there are those who see hosted services and outsourcing as the future – I’m in that camp. Finally, there are those who are developing applications that solve problems that have traditionally been difficult for the SMB. It’s this last group I want to address but from a very specific standpoint.
Managing credit remains one of the major problems facing SMBs. Operating an online store ought to alleviate at least some of the problems but in reality, setting up e-commerce solutions is a royal pain. So it was with a sense of anticipation that I checked out Shopify . It ain’t ready yet but first looks are promising . According to the blurb:
"Our whole intention in developing Shopify was to remove the barriers that keep people from selling online. We provide a hosted service so you don’t have to deal with finding a hosting company. We have pre-integrated with many credit card processing gateways so you don’t have to figure out how to do that or pay some programmer to do it for you. Even if you don’t have a merchant account, we offer Paypal integration. But best of all, we are a subscription service which means you don’t have spend and arm and a leg just to find out if there is a market online for your products.
Since we all know that buyers end up paying the bills, Shopify’s storefronts are designed with two purposes in mind. The first is to give the potential buyer a clear uncluttered view of everything that is being sold and the second is to provide an uncomplicated check-out process that instills confidence and trust in the buyer that their credit card order will be processed quickly, efficiently and securely. Shopify stores don’t require all buyers to register for accounts, or show them sale item before check-out. They just simply check them out."
I don’t know about you but that sounds eminently simple and user focused. There’s a bit to go on the development front but in keeping with the current trend in hosted applications, there will be a free version . Assuming this takes off, then what does this say for existing solutions? Would you recommend it to clients on a try before you buy basis? Immediate questions that came to me were:
- What about services or online media distribution?
- Who’s providing the hosting and what guarantees are in place to ensure service continuity?
- What’s the security model?
- What about integration to accounting systems?
- How will the overall costs compare to buying a dedicated merchant service or existing style of e-commerce app?
- What comparisons can be meaningfully drawn between this service and say that of a Verus?
When those answers are forthcoming then it will be easier to assess the long term value beyond the no-install and ease of use allure promised by the Shopify people. I’ve asked them so will update when I hear back.
