Volusion Review
Starting in 1999, Volusion was one of the first providers to offer a hosted shopping cart service for ecommerce sites. Despite increasing competition from the likes of Shopify and BigCommerce, Volusion also remains one of the most popular ecommerce solution providers, and continues to update its service with new features.
Volusion is a web-based hosted shopping cart software service which allows users to create, customize and maintain an online store without the need for substantial HTML or other programming skills. Volusion users can choose from a number of payment options, with the Gold option ($99.99 US per month, 5000 products, 15GB of bandwidth and storage, access to Volusion’s premium customer support and API) being the most popular. All options require a $49 one-time setup fee.
Volusion Packages
Volusion offers a true full-service ecommerce solution, with a feature set similar to that of the industry leader BigCommerce. So, how does Volusion’s service stack up next to the competition?
Features
In terms of features that can help a business thrive, Volusion is right up there with anyone. Integration with most common payment methods, including PayPal, Google Checkout, and direct credit card payment are included. Its SEO features are similar to those offered by BigCommerce, and its integrated shipping options are also numerous, including support for Canada Post and DHL WorldWide in addition to most standard US-based options.
Volusion does go beyond BigCommerce in some important ways, including language support, as Volusion allows stores to be made in any language, as opposed to BigCommerce’s current limitation to the Roman alphabet.
One of the best things about Volusion is its customer support. While BigCommerce only offers extended business hours-only support, Volusion’s support is available 24/7.
Ease of Use
Where Volusion falls a bit short is in its user friendliness. Compared to BigCommerce, or the even more intuitive Shopify, Volusion suffers from some oversights and other frustrating issues. Most glaringly, Volusion’s preset design templates are very poor compared to those offered by its competitors, meaning that you’ll have to build your own storefront design from scratch, or hire someone to build it, if you want to have an attractive, modern online store.
This in turn means that, for all intents and purposes, it’s more difficult and time consuming to get your store up and running with Volusion, as you’ll probably need to factor in the time necessary to create a custom design.
Conclusion
In terms of price and features, Volusion is very similar to BigCommerce. However, Volusion suffers from some minor problems that make it, overall, an inferior choice for most purposes.
