Recipe for e-commerce success:

• Get loads of cheap products
• Hire Designers & Devs to build the store
• Burn $$$ in the process
• Success!!

All Wrong.

You aren’t in the Hire-Dev age anymore.

Welcome to the DIY era!

These days you don’t need a developer to build your ecommerce Store.

All that is needed is a good design in (your) mind and willingness to get hands dirty (figuratively).

And one tool that can get this done is…

The Storebuilder.

StoreBuilder is part of the Nexcess brand, which in turn is part of Liquid Web.

In a hurry, checkout this 5 min video:

Overall Rating

StoreBuilder is an excellent website builder. While it may not be for everyone, it is still very easy to use. The step-by-step procedure (to start an online store) is simple, and you can create unique websites in minutes using the StoreBuilder platform.

My rating is a good 8/10, and I highly recommend it. In fact, Nexcess is so sure you’ll love StoreBuilder that they offer a 30-day free trial.

Pros & Cons

Like other site builders, the StoreBuilder platform has both advantages and disadvantages. However, the pros outweigh the cons.

Below are the pros and cons;

Pros

• Unlike other ecommerce sites, you can easily transfer your site to another provider without losing your site. Data and Content are only yours.
• At $19 per month, StoreBuilder is more affordable than other site builders. In addition, you get excellent performance on both small and large sites and more features, e.g., daily backups and staging sites.

• StoreBuilder has a few free plugins and templates; this makes it easy to have a great-looking site at a lower cost.
• Finally, if you use StoreBuilder, you don’t have to worry about customer visit limits on your plan. Nexcess’ StoreBuilder only limits your bandwidth. It will notify you that you need an upgrade.

Cons

• To test drive, there isn’t any “no signup required” demo to check out. You will need to sign up with your credit card just to try things.
• When purchasing StoreBuilder, you only have two options of paying. Credit card or Paypal. It might be better if there were more paying options.

Who Should Use StoreBuilder?

There is no doubt that StoreBuilder is a good platform. However, it isn’t meant for everyone. The platform partially creates a website enabling you to finish up quickly and get your products online.

However, the people who would most benefit from StoreBuilder include the following;

Newbies

For beginners who are new to WordPress and WooCommerce, StoreBuilder helps them quickly adjust and get started. The little work needed to create a store is very suitable for beginners.

Launchers

These are business people who want to get their products out there in as little time as possible. They are already familiar with WordPress and WooCommerce and don’t want the technical hassle of installing and setting up new software.

StoreBuilder sets up most things automatically so that business people can quickly get their products online.

Professional Site Builders

Professional site builders have less time to waste, and the StoreBuilder platform helps them reduce the time taken to build a store.

Since most of the steps in the platform are automated, the initial site setup time is drastically reduced, enabling site builders to build more sites while saving time and resources.

Overview of StoreBuilder

Nexcess StoreBuilder is an e-commerce site builder for anyone who has an online store and wants to start an online business. The platform helps you easily create and customize a digital storefront using its AI assistant.

StoreBuilder is an excellent option for anyone who wants something different from Wix and SquareSpace. Unlike Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace, Storebuilder offers more premium features for free and more customizations.

What is unheard of is that StoreBuilder won’t charge any transaction fees, nor are there any expensive add-ons to pay for.

Using StoreBuilder, you can grow your physical business by creating an online store.

StoreBuilder has many plugins to help you run your business well. There’s no ceiling to the products you can list when setting up your catalog.

In case of problems with your account, you can contact an expert via live chat, email, or call.

What Makes StoreBuilder Unique?

The main selling point of StoreBuilder is that most premium features of other store builders are already built-in at a price point that is lower than others. At $19 monthly, it’s cheaper than other popular site builders, which are much higher than this.

Ease of Use

StoreBuilder has simplified the way you create your store. Once you create an account (free for 30 days at the time of writing), the system automatically sets up your store.

The AI system asks you some questions which help determine the kind of template to use. After a few steps, StoreBuilder generates your WordPress access details that enable you to access WordPress.The system provides you with a temporary username and password to help you to log in to WordPress.

StoreBuilders’ AI customizes the WordPress dashboard, making it easy to add your content and customize your site.

Once you’ve logged in, you change the username and password and add your site name and address. You then proceed to choose the type of product you sell and how many products you have.

Finally, you can now move on to design. You can choose one of 10 templates and select a font and colors, and the AI wizard starts importing your files. It takes about 5 minutes, and you can now add content and images of your store.

As you can see, it’s very easy to get started with StoreBuilder. Time taken from start to finish; about 10 minutes.

Tools & Features

Store builder has so many features. Some of the features include;

1. Analytics

Know your server stats like disk space, bandwidth, CDN usage and Auto Scaling stats from the Analytics section of the Nexcess Dashboard.

2. Server Management

You can control plugin and WordPress Core updates using this section. You can also activate auto scaling to take care of sudden traffic spikes to your store.

3. Staging and Dev

Have confidence in your code and check it on Development Server before deploying it on Live server. Sitebuilder gives you the (paid) option to create Development and Staging environments for your store.

As shown below, it ain’t expensive to have these environments. Any issues that may come up, will get caught in these environments before it can hit you on the live site.

4. Visual Comparison

Updating plugins in WordPress can sometimes be tricky. It may end up changing the appearance or the behavior of the site. By Visual Comparison tool you can easily detect visual “unintended” anomalies. This can be pretty helpful and a great time saver.

5. Nexcess CDN

CDNs help in delivering your site to the server nearest to the user. That way, no matter where the user is, site will be loaded at the same speed as he would have seen it if the server was in his country/city.

And getting standard CDNs like BunnyCDN and KeyCDN would usually cost around $7 – $20 per month depending on your site bandwidth, etc.

StoreBuilder provides Nexcess CDN completely free with their plan.

6. Containers

If you are into Cloud computing you know how important containers are. StoreBuilder provides support for popular containers like Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ and Solr.

7. Schedule Tasks / Cron Jobs

If you are into Multichannel selling i.e. selling your products in multiple platforms (amazon, ebay, etsy, etc.) along with your site, then you need Cron jobs.

With Cron jobs, you can automate price syc, inventory sync, order sync, shipment sync, etc. Basically it saves you time & efforts.

So, for example, if you want to update the price on Amazon, you don’t have to update it on other platforms. A cron job will be able to do it for you.

Storebuilder supports cron jobs and scheduling of repetitive tasks.

8. Integrations

If you are using tools like The New Relic, then StoreBuilder provides integration to that as well.

9. Backups

And lastly backups. StoreBuilder takes automated backups of your site so you don’t have to worry in case of site hacking or malware attacks. Backup of your working site is easily available to restore.

10. Stencils

Stencil is a new concept of Storebuilder wherein you can save a kind of “template” of the store with all colors and layout. This is useful if you want to create a new store/site using a copy of an existing store/site. Saves you time and efforts.

11. Attention to Details

One of the small things which has a big effect is the way information is organized in Nexcess Storebuilder Dashboard.

Look at below. If you are ever stuck, how convenient it is to have chat, email and call info pretty handy.

Displaying information like domain CName, Account ID, password, etc. are so well placed in the layout, you really feel you are looking at the most organized Dashboard for eCommerce Store.

Even installing SSL is a matter of toggling a button.

These attention to details makes the Nexcess Storebuilder dashboard really easy to use and well organized.

Other Important Features

1. Custom templates

You can get free templates that help you quickly design your site and move on without incurring additional costs.

2. Detailed product pages

Using the platform’s tools, you can add pictures, videos, and good product graphics. In addition, StoreBuilder also enables customers to zoom in on your product pictures. This allows you to showcase your products.

3. No coding required

You don’t need to be a programmer to open a StoreBuilder account. The web builder is simple to use, and you only need some imagination, and the system will make it happen.

4. Abandoned Cart recovery

The abandoned cart recovery feature helps you convert customers who didn’t buy your products. It reminds them via automated emails that there is still something in the cart that they didn’t buy.

5. Sales monitoring

StoreBuilder lets you know how your business performs by sending you insights directly to your inbox.

6. SEO

With SEO Tools, you can easily set up keywords that link to your products. Once you optimize your keywords, you don’t have to worry about search engines.

Pricing & Value for Money

Nexcess’ StoreBuilder is a people’s platform; the wide range of pricing offers reflects this. Prices start from around $19 per month for the starter plan.

You don’t need a separate hosting plan to use StoreBuilder. The $19 monthly fee caters to your hosting.

StoreBuilder lets you get two months free once you pay annually. This is an excellent deal for businesses that want to save resources and get value for money. You can also pay monthly and get a free month.

The good thing about StoreBuilder is that, unlike other hosts, it doesn’t limit customer visits; it can only limit bandwidth.

How Good are StoreBuilder Templates?

When you create your StoreBuilder account, you have access to 10 templates. The templates cover most of the industries that many businesses are in.

The templates look good and work well. They make your site look professional.

I chose the Wooden craft template for my demo site, and it looks nice.

You can get more templates under Site> Appearance > Templates.

When you click on Starter Templates, you can see both premium and free templates. Keep in mind that the following templates are free.

As you can see, these templates look professional, and you only need to replace the content and pictures.

Pro (Premium) templates that start at $129 look even better.

How Good is Nexcess’ Customer Support

Customer support is one of the best ways to gauge the quality of service. Nexcess offers multiple ways to get in touch with them. You can contact them via email, 24/7 telephone line, or chat.

To check their 24/7 support, I contacted them on Sunday evening. And within seconds, there was Nolan to help me out.

Usually, many sitebuilder claim 24/7 support, but their support is usually ‘lite’ on weekends.

But in the case of StoreBuilder, I was pleasantly surprised by their prompt reply.

Another way to reach Nexcess Support is by using email. Just remember to give as much information as possible so that the support team may resolve your issue.

They also have active social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Example Gallery

1. Wall Art Template

2. Makeup Template

3. Nutrition Course Template

4. Jewelry Shop Template

Summary

StoreBuilder is a good site builder with plenty of features and tools.

In this article, you’ve learned that there are a lot of site builders out there, and they may not be to your liking. Some of them are hard to use and require you to have prior experience in building sites.

However, StoreBuilder is different. It has a smart AI assistant that asks you simple questions and then uses that data to create an excellent store for you.

Some of its features are meant to help you sell more. For example, the abandoned cart recovery feature lets you remind customers that they have forgotten their products.

StoreBuilder caters to newbies who don’t have any experience creating online e-commerce stores. Business-focused individuals who just want to launch their product without the hassle of updating and installing new software are also catered for.

StoreBuilder even supports professional site builders with years of experience building websites. It drastically simplifies all their work and helps them save both time and money.

Thanks to the nice designs and tools, the StoreBuilder platform takes care of all the hard work by providing nice templates and themes that help your store look professional.

You can further customize StoreBuilder with your images, graphics, and content, and you’re guaranteed to have a store that looks great and is different from others in the industry.

Finally, StoreBuilder has great pricing offers that suit people of all backgrounds, whether you want the monthly plan at $19 per month or the annual plan at $190. You can take advantage of the features and tools to make sure you have a working online store that looks great and works well.

Therefore, if you want to grow your business by starting an online e-commerce store or upgrading your current store, StoreBuilder has your back. You can quickly begin to upgrade your store without too much worry.

In the end, to all e-commerce store owners like you, I just want to say this (straight from LiquidWeb’s Facebook page):

Good luck for your ecommerce journey!

FAQs