Millions of e Commerce Options

I’ve been doing some e commerce research for a potential client. They are looking to save money on the software, while running their store on a rock solid open source platform. Of all the options I offered two obvious choices: Joomla using Virtuemart.
The CMS was the easy part, now what do I show the client when it comes to selling the product?

What should the site look like?

As things go, there are millions of options for skinning your storefront. This is a small sampling of what I found in my research:

Free Themes

Pro: Thousands of options.

Con: Watch out for companies who haven’t kept their themes updated with
changes made by Joomla / Virtuemart.

Pay for use Themes

Pro: Thousands of options.

Caveat: Make sure to check prices and how far the template covers the application.

More expensive options tend to provide more skin for administrative tasks as well as parts the user sees.

Con: More expensive does not necessarily mean better developed or the best cross browser support: read the small print, read reviews.

Theme Clubs

Pro: Multiple themes and updates for a given contract period. This is a good idea if you’re interested in a close tie to the community that created the theme(s) you’re using.

Con: Recurring monthly fees.

Con: Vendor lock in.

Essentially if you want to set up an e commerce site, you can find all the tools you need, for free. I would recommend a few sanity checks before diving in:

Know your product

The site should match what you sell. You want to sell your product, don’t let the user get lost in your theme.

Spend a little to help your site stick out

Sometimes paying a little extra for the nice theme, or possibly a custom design could make all the difference.

Take a look at what your competition is doing both online and offline

Paying attention to online competition makes obvious business sense, but brick and mortar stores also are about selling a product. Pay attention to product features, placement, and timing of sales. You may find a magic nugget just down the street at your local mom and pop shop.