I would know a fair bit about the system and quite a few large retailers use it. It's an enterprise class product, cost around ￡6k per month. They do keep things quite if you can't meet those financials, they don't want to talk to you... Even though I'm a bit biased it is a good platform for certain retailers....check out www.buy4now.com for an alternative.

cheers,

Bigbadbobster

I was the co-founder and CTO of Venda, so a bit biased I guess.

If you want many headaches to be taken away from you (and there are many when you run an online shop), Venda is indeed a very good option, started in 2001 and we were the first to provide ecommerce as a service. Everything was designed from the ground up to be SaaS.

Financially it is a no brainer, most of the cost is fixed and probably equivalent to the salary of one senior technologist if not less. You do not need any technical expertise, Venda can fully manage the online store.

Many top-tier retailers use Venda:

http://www.bbcshop.com/

http://www.superdrug.com/

http://www.clothingattesco.com/

http://www.heals.co.uk/

http://www.jimmychoo.com/

http://www.tkmaxx.com/

and the list goes on...

Alternatives:

http://www.demandware.com (they now have a $60K entry level)

http://go.magento.com (you will need technical expertise, either in-house or through a Magento specialised agency)

http://www.yoox.com/ (if you have a top fashion brand)

http://www.gsicommerce.com/ (tier 1 retailers, such as Ralph Lauren)

I'd steer clear of Venda because there just isn't that much information on them on the internet, therefore, not a lot of customers that use the system. This could leave you to being a "beta tester" as you work out bugs other people haven't found. Just be careful!

I am trying to put together the pros and cons of using Venda as a choice of ecommerce platform, I cant seem to find that much information on a traditional internet search. help me please !