As stated in many previous posts, ecommerce is a great way to dump your current job and be your own boss. Get your chance to open and run a successful store using the Highwire shopping cart. When looking for a shopping cart to use for our online store, most of us turn to big giants like BigCommerce and Volusion. However, they are a good alternative but most of us end up skipping over it. Continue reading our complete Highwire review to see why it is a good alternative to other shopping carts.

Primary Features Overview

If it is features that you want, Highwire truly delivers by giving you the features you need to run a successful online store. Here is a look at some of their shopping cart features:

• Product and Inventory Management – Easily create new products using their one-page product creation interface and upload multiple product images. Create multiple product categories and sub-categories. Add multiple product options including color, size, type, and more. Use their bulk pricing editor to update thousands of products at once or simply use their CSV spreadsheet.
• Customer and Order Management – Complete order history shows you a list of all of your store orders including the ones that have been shipped, refunded, or cancelled. Order labeling allows you to label the state of your orders including shipped, awaiting shipment, and more. Full customer management tools allow you to see who are your repeat buyers and their purchase trends.
• Store Design – Choose from a dozen of their free templates that are fully optimized for mobile commerce. Use their built-in template editor to modify the look of your store. You have full access to HTML and CSS files.
• Mobile Commerce – All of their templates are mobile ready and your customers can purchase products using their mobile devices. You can even manage your store on the go using your mobile or tablet device.
• Shipping Tools – Create custom shipping rates and offer discounts on shipping. USPS, Fedex, and UPS are fully supported by their platform.
• Marketing Tools – Highwire allows you to sell on several different platforms including eBay, Google, Bonanza, Facebook, and more. Keep customers coming back by giving them coupons and allow customers to purchase email gift certificates for your store. Gain trust and boost sale conversions by allowing customers to write product reviews.
• Search Engine Optimization Tools – One of their best tools for SEO is their integrated blog. You have full control over your SEO tools including keyword-rich URL’s, meta descriptions, titles, and keywords. If you use their tools correctly, you should be able to receive higher page rankings on most search engines.
• Payment Methods – Give your customers several options at checkout. Highwire is fully integrated with 10 popular payment gateways to accept credit cards including PayPal, Google Checkout, Amazon Payments, Authorize.Net, and Stripe.

Highwire Plans and Pricing

Highwire has two monthly plans available ranging from $14.95 to $29.95 per month. Although, the $14.95 per month plan limits many key features including reporting tools, coupon codes, gift certificates, and CSV import and editing. Both plans start you off with a 14 day free trail to test out the service.

• Starter Plan – The starter plan costs $14.95 per month and entitles you to list 100 products, unlimited bandwidth, and no transaction fees. However, this plan does not include many key features such as reporting tools, coupon codes, gift certificates, and CSV import and editing. I would not recommend this plan.
• All Inclusive Plan – The all-inclusive plan costs $29.95 per month and entitles you to 10,000 products, unlimited bandwidth, and no transaction fees. This plan entitles you to all of the features we listed under “primary features overview.” This plan is strongly recommend!

Template Selection – Highwire has over 25 free templates to choose from. All of their free templates are fully editable. More than half of their templates are professional templates that will suit most online stores.

Search Engine Optimization Tools

Highwire gives you an integrated blog that gives you a higher page ranking on search engines. Furthermore, you have full control over meta descriptions, titles, and keywords. Overall, their SEO tools will help your store rank higher on Google and other search engines.

Marketing Tools

Their marketing tools are good but lack an affiliate program. However, you can give your customer coupons and offer email gift certificates. Highwire allows you to sell your products on several platforms including Google, eBay, Bonanza, and Facebook. Product reviews are included and they can help increase your sale conversions.

Ease of Use

Highwire makes it easy for anyone to create and launch a professional online store. Their tools require no HTML knowledge to manage your store. Simply pick a template, add some products, and you are ready to start selling. However, if you want to edit their templates, you will need some HTML and CSS experience.

Help and Support

Since they are a smaller company, their help and support is limited. Highwire help and support is available Monday through Friday via phone, live chat, and email. However, they have a support center, forum, and API documentation that can help you with common issues.

Pros and Cons

✓Both of their plans give you unlimited bandwidth
✓You pay no transaction fees
✓Plans start as low as $14.95 per month
✗No affiliate program
✗Help and support is limited

Summary

Highwire gives you a quick and reliable way of opening your own online store. Their shopping cart platform is perfect for stores that have less than 10,000 products. They have key features that will help you run a successful online store.

Each plan gives you unlimited bandwidth so you do not have to worry about any overage fees. Most importantly, you get to keep more of profits as there are no transaction fees.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by starting a no risk 14 day free trail.