Is bluepark going to be a good option for my website needs?

[truereddevil]

I am doing alot of research before i decide who it is i shall go with on my ecommerce but i want to make sure i get it right as i have already been stung in the past and thought i would ask the very good people of this forum on honest reviews because going on the EKMpowershop one they seem to delete the bad reviews where this forum seems to be an open one which shows to me a good sign already.We have been established with a good following on ebay now for 2 years and i feel it is time to fly the roost so to speak
The main features i would like for my website are

1.The most important for me is support if something goes drastically wrong with the website or i need a quick answer on something what are the sort of lead times on this with this company obviously i would prefer within 24 hour minimum but quicker if possible as when it comes to ecommerce i am a total newbie.

2.A customer being able to go straight through to the checkout process without having the hassle of having to sign upto our own site if they didn't want to so for example we would just need there delivery address name and payment.

3.Customers able to sign straight up with there facebook/twitter or any other social media accounts and if they buy something from our site they can share it on there facebook account to let there friends know

4.More & more people now are starting to use mobile phones and ipads/tablets to shop online so can bluepark be mobile/smartphone compatible with this responsive design i keep hearing people talk about

5.Possibly work with some sort of live chat system or email support ticketing system

6.Some sort of customer loyalty scheme where every time they buy from us they receive a certain amount of points which they can save up themselves,similar to the nectar card

7.Large banner across the top which will flash up with sale offers,new stock etc

8.A sort by drop down box with high to low, low to high, newest items, brands a-z, z to a, best selling

9.View upto 10-20 or 100 items a page however the customer wants to pick to view a page

10.Different currency options for people paying from abroad

11.Different language compatible if need be

12.Some sort of stand out deal of the day/week where i can have it at the side of my website with a countdown timer or something

13.Customers able to leave reviews on an item they have purchased and mark it on a 1-5 star system

14.Have some sort of bulk list tool so for example if i sell on other sites like ebay/amazon/play we can just easily bulk upload all our stock items from bluepark

15.Be compatible with 3rd party software like linnworks or some other software which can update all stock selling across multiple sites on a 24 hour basis or also work with any accounting software or any royal mail software etc

16.Can bluepark handle any huge jumps in traffic what i mean by this is lets say we decided to do a 2 day deal on a site like groupon and we received anything from 100-1000+ orders in a day can bluepark handle this and would we be stung for any extra charge traffic wise

17.Do bluepark work with all payment providers including paypal/google shopping wallet etc

18.Do you get all security with bluepark like the ssl certificate etc

I think for now those are my main questions and would just like honest and upfront answers from previous customers or bluepark themselves, the package we are looking at to start with is the medium business park package at just under £50 a month

[Dave]

Sorry but not got the time to go through the list, especially as a lot of your questions can be answered by looking at the BP website. Suggest you look at the following feature list

http://www.bluepark.co.uk/ecommerce-software.html

and for payment providers here

http://www.bluepark.co.uk/secure-payments.html

Have a look at the demo site here

http://www.demopark.co.uk/

And also sign up for your own free trial here

http://www.bluepark.co.uk/free-trial.html

Then once you have got a good feel for the software ask any questions you have which you can't answer yourself.

Just to add the support from Bluepark is first class. The software and hosting is rock solid and I would highly recommend Bluepark.

[Bather]

Blimy that's a long list in one go! BUT, I'll have a go at some of them.

First get a new user name for the forum, there is already an RD who is super helpful and it would be better no to have any confusion....

Support is fantastic. People here have had issues resolved in the hour but there are very very very rarely issues with BP, more a case of needed help with something weird or unusual. Consider getting one of the designers on board if design is not your thing.
Checkout tweeks and social media is not my thing so sorry can't help there.
In regard to mobile web and integration accross different channel prob best to pop an e-mail in to support at BP.
Live chat exists.
Layout is super flexible, lots of people use banners, look at a few sites.
There are detailed search tools, I don't use them so not expert.
Currency & Language I believe all available but I don't use them.
I think some people use Linnworks
SSL certificate is small extra every year or two
Yes major payment providers integrate very easily.

Its difficult to see on your list anything that BP wont handle !

Best to get a demo site going and try it all.
I'm not one but there are lots of ex-EKM on here so they may be able to comment.

[Bather]

PS this forum is VERY helpful and your correct, negative comments don't get deleted they just don't appear in the first place !

[icegems]

Most of these questions can be answered by looking through the forums or on the BluePark website (feature list) but I'll try and answer them anyway.

1.The most important for me is support if something goes drastically wrong with the website or i need a quick answer on something what are the sort of lead times on this with this company obviously i would prefer within 24 hour minimum but quicker if possible as when it comes to ecommerce i am a total newbie.

Support is second to none. A quick read through the forums will show you that. Any problems either email or ring BP and you get an answer pronto.

2.A customer being able to go straight through to the checkout process without having the hassle of having to sign upto our own site if they didn't want to so for example we would just need there delivery address name and payment.

Select "automatic account creation" in Site > Configuration

3.Customers able to sign straight up with there facebook/twitter or any other social media accounts and if they buy something from our site they can share it on there facebook account to let there friends know

Yes - http://www.bluepark.co.uk/ecommerce-software.html

4.More & more people now are starting to use mobile phones and ipads/tablets to shop online so can bluepark be mobile/smartphone compatible with this responsive design i keep hearing people talk about

On it's way.

5.Possibly work with some sort of live chat system or email support ticketing system

ShopTalk included - http://www.bluepark.co.uk/shoptalk-live-chat.html

6.Some sort of customer loyalty scheme where every time they buy from us they receive a certain amount of points which they can save up themselves,similar to the nectar card

7.Large banner across the top which will flash up with sale offers,new stock etc

8.A sort by drop down box with high to low, low to high, newest items, brands a-z, z to a, best selling

9.View upto 10-20 or 100 items a page however the customer wants to pick to view a page

10.Different currency options for people paying from abroad

11.Different language compatible if need be

12.Some sort of stand out deal of the day/week where i can have it at the side of my website with a countdown timer or something

13.Customers able to leave reviews on an item they have purchased and mark it on a 1-5 star system

14.Have some sort of bulk list tool so for example if i sell on other sites like ebay/amazon/play we can just easily bulk upload all our stock items from bluepark

All these questions are answered here - http://www.bluepark.co.uk/ecommerce-software.html

15.Be compatible with 3rd party software like linnworks or some other software which can update all stock selling across multiple sites on a 24 hour basis or also work with any accounting software or any royal mail software etc

Yes search forums for Linnworks,

16.Can bluepark handle any huge jumps in traffic what i mean by this is lets say we decided to do a 2 day deal on a site like groupon and we received anything from 100-1000+ orders in a day can bluepark handle this and would we be stung for any extra charge traffic wise

Yes.

17.Do bluepark work with all payment providers including paypal/google shopping wallet etc

http://www.bluepark.co.uk/secure-payments.html

18.Do you get all security with bluepark like the ssl certificate etc

http://www.bluepark.co.uk/services/thawte-ssl123.html

I think for now those are my main questions and would just like honest and upfront answers from previous customers or bluepark themselves, the package we are looking at to start with is the medium business park package at just under £50 a month

Take a look at the BP site and search the forums, you can find the answers to all these questions and many more by just reading through the information that is already there.

[john]

First off, Bluepark support and attention is second to none, secondly Bluepark integrates with only one 3rd party - Quickbooks nothing else, thirdly Bluepark is not responsive so your site on a mobile is just a shrunken full page - not very good considering probably 20% (and rising) of visitors are on phone.
Sometimes I wish the support wasn't so good so that development of the major improvements could get more attention (or there was a bigger development team).

[Paws]

In a nutshell , Bluepark has been the perfect alternative to my previous provider, EKM.

Support could not be better (both from Bluepark and on this forum), features are numerous with new developments coming through all the time and everything just works as it should.

A breath of fresh air, this place And no - you won't find any posts being deleted on this forum - what you see is what is really happening over here.

[Dave]

Bluepark is not responsive so your site on a mobile is just a shrunken full page - not very good considering probably 20% (and rising) of visitors are on phone.

Bluepark have said this will be addressed this year.

[john]

Bluepark have said this will be addressed this year.

I seem to remember the same thing being said in early 2010 regarding Integration and Mobile!

[truereddevil]

Cheers guys for your contributions to this thread if bluepark are to move with the times so to speak then mobile integration should be a big part that they should concentrate on i would of hoped

I was hoping on some sort of official response also from a member of bluepark staff on my questions

[Andrew]

I was hoping on some sort of official response also from a member of bluepark staff on my questions

Probably best to simply pick up the phone and give Rich and his team a call, they are very responsive and will talk you through all the features if you really need any more clarification.

[Dave]

I was hoping on some sort of official response also from a member of bluepark staff on my questions

As Andrew says give BP a call or drop them an e-mail at support@bluepark.co.uk and they will get straight back to you.

If bluepark are to move with the times so to speak then mobile integration should be a big part that they should concentrate on i would of hoped

Bluepark have made a firm commitment to get this done as part of their development this year.

[icegems]

Why would you need an official response? I'd personally prefer them to spend their time dealing with real support issues and ongoing development rather than answering questions that have been answered either on the forums (see links provided) or on their own website (again see links provided). There are no questions that you have asked that have not already been covered and the answers provided already. If you have specific questions that have not already been answered then why not pick up the phone and speak to them yourself, their response on this thread really isn't needed.

[Rich]

Cheers guys for your contributions to this thread if bluepark are to move with the times so to speak then mobile integration should be a big part that they should concentrate on i would of hoped

I was hoping on some sort of official response also from a member of bluepark staff on my questions

I remember you from the UKBusinessForums last year, I answered a number of questions you had at the time:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=264994&highlight=bluepark&page=4

Regarding the list above, we're compatible with all of the requirements except for direct integration with eBay and Amazon, and a mobile optimised version of the site. (One small point, on 12, there is no countdown timer - JavaScript will do it for you.)

In terms of eBay and Amazon, we don't yet have a direct integration, but that is the primary focus for this year (along with the API that powers it). We do have extremely comprehensive product and order imports and exports via CSV now, and we have clients who list on Amazon using the CSV export method. We also have a number of clients using Linnworks via the automated CSV data exchange available on our Enterprise package.

In terms of a mobile optimised version, this is the second priority for this year. I would make two points on this - firstly, Bluepark sites display perfectly on smartphones (i.e. iPhones, Android, etc.).

Secondly, a significant proportion of mobile users don't bother with mobile optimised versions, as they're ALWAYS vastly simplified versions of the full sites. For this reason, mobile optimised sites are quite often severely limited in terms of what they do and the information they provide. Personally, the first thing I do when I arrive on a mobile optimised site via my iPhone is scroll down to the bottom and click on "View Full Site". But I appreciate that everyone is different.

[niche]

Firstly, I would avoid EKM like a barge pole they are appalling and cannot be compared with BP.

I agree with Richard on the mobile site. My BP website comes up brilliantly and functions perfectly on a mobile and I personally wouldn't want a mobile version really. I would prefer an "opt in" to the mobile site when developed (in either our control panels or for the end user) as I dont think they look as good and are not comprehensive.

Also perhaps you should look at BP's reviews on Trust Pilot that will also confirm how happy their customers are.