Helping out a client tonight I found myself searching for a few decent examples of well designed and highly capable shopping carts that they could implement relatively quickly, efficiently, and cheaply.

http://web2.0stores.com/

Flash's Role in eCommerce

Flash is always getting a bad name but we're confident that it won't be discontinued any time soon (Sabrina chuckles in the corner). The truth is that most of the gripes folks have with Flash are based on either myths or bad design/coding. We're not trying to turn this post into a Flash vs. Ajax discussion, but it should be noted that Flash allows us to do many more intuitive animation techniques and handles content loading a bit more gracefully as well. With that said, we've been stumbling on a few new Flash eCommerce websites and we're hoping that more like these will be popping up in the near future.

Examples

• Nike ID


• Type Store

Advantages

• Intuitive user experience


• Animation


• Quick content loading


• Low file size capability

Disadvantages

• Bookmarking a specific item can be difficult


• Accessibility issues for screen readers


• Limited # of prebuilt eCommerce systems available.


• Small # of experienced web designers versed in Flash eCommerce


• Sometimes limited integration into other platforms (xbox, psp, iphone)

Overall

You don't see it often, but we're figuring that with the evolution of Flex and AIR, that Flash eCommerce sites will start popping up more. They might not be full eCommerce sites persay, but instead probably small eCommerce modules that can be contained in a portion of the webpage. _______________ Mixaloo, donations, etc...

Social Media + eCommerce = Brand Alliance

Another growing trend in website design is combining the worlds of combining the worlds of eCommerce and Social Media to make a user experience that is engaging, fun, and most importantly, promotes repeat visitors. We're all more likely to by something if our friends or family have used it, so why not capitalize on this when it comes to eCommerce?

Examples

• Threadless


• Make


• Etsy

Advantages

• Encourages brand champions


• Easy to push a new product


• As the community increases, so should sales

Disadvantages

• The community decides the fate of the branda and the website

Overall

You don't see it often, but we're figuring that with the evolution of Flex and AIR, that Flash eCommerce sites will start popping up more. They might not be full eCommerce sites persay, but instead probably small eCommerce modules that can be contained in a portion of the webpage. _______________ Mixaloo, donations, etc...

Mobile eCommerce, Not a Cheap Call

______ FIND ECOMMERCE STATS

Examples

• iTunes


• eBay


• Paypal

Advantages

• Intuitive user experience


• Animation


• Quick content loading


• Low file size capability

Disadvantages

• Bookmarking a specific item can be difficult


• Accessibility issues for screen readers


• Limited # of prebuilt eCommerce systems available.


• Small # of experienced web designers versed in Flash eCommerce


• Sometimes limited integration into other platforms (xbox, psp, iphone)

Overall

You don't see it often, but we're figu