eCommerce and Hosting with Miva Merchant
March 18, 2014
eCommerce and Hosting with Miva Merchant
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
PR 8
Modules Used
- Cloud solution - entire system used
- add ons from Viking coders and netblazon
Overall Satisfaction
Miva Merchant is a complete, powerful, and fully featured eCommerce platform. Using Miva, we built a unique online store and managed over 1000 products. Customers could place orders along with gifting and shipping instructions. They could create accounts, and track the orders. Miva integrated nicely with our order management and inventory system (Stone Edge Order Management)
Miva 5.5 (the current version) comes with a number of standard templates, or you can create your own. Because Miva has been so widely used for so long (it was one of the very first eCommerce platforms) there is a large community of developers who can create custom templates to give your store a unique look and feel.
Miva 5.5 (the current version) comes with a number of standard templates, or you can create your own. Because Miva has been so widely used for so long (it was one of the very first eCommerce platforms) there is a large community of developers who can create custom templates to give your store a unique look and feel.
Pros
- Very flexible storefront design - You can use a standard Miva template or design your own. Miva dynamically produces all pages. You can add, delete, inactivate, and otherwise manage all products
- One of the things I always liked about Miva was the open API. This allows third party ISVs to create modules that extend the functionality of Miva. We used modules for coupons, gift certificates, gift messages, and advanced shipping options
- They also provide great hosting support
- There is a large community of Miva users and third party developers. There is an active forum
Cons
- Several of my customers wanted to be able to place one order, and specify products going to different locations (send the chocolate to Aunt Jean, the bath gifts to Aunt Sophie, etc.) Miva can't do this. Customers have to place separate orders for each shipping address
- Our entire online business was based on Miva - During our best years, our online business result was over $250,000
- Zen Cart,volusion,amazon storefront
When we started using Miva, (in 2003) the other alternatives simply weren't available. Miva was the eCommerce solution our hosting provider offered.
Over the years, we considered migrating to several other services, including Volusion, Amazon Storefront, and Zen Cart. Zen Cart was a disaster, We couldn't get anywhere near the level of functionality we had on our Miva Store. We worked with several developers to try to get Zen customized to what we needed, and ultimately gave up. Amazon Storefront was missing a few pieces of key functionality. Volusion appeared to be equivalent to Miva, but we did not see a compelling reason to migrate
Over the years, we considered migrating to several other services, including Volusion, Amazon Storefront, and Zen Cart. Zen Cart was a disaster, We couldn't get anywhere near the level of functionality we had on our Miva Store. We worked with several developers to try to get Zen customized to what we needed, and ultimately gave up. Amazon Storefront was missing a few pieces of key functionality. Volusion appeared to be equivalent to Miva, but we did not see a compelling reason to migrate
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