Erol 2

Erol 2 is a UK product, so it's good to find EU-specific tax and shipping contingencies catered for. The system is very logical. First, you choose the countries you wish to trade with, then you can define carriers and classes of delivery, such as Air Mail and Next Day. Next, you can create the actual bandwidths of charges to apply, based on the weight of the products, the quantity ordered, by total order value or a flat rate. Thankfully, you can import this information direct from the carrier if required. Tax is handled in a similar manner. You can set up default tax rates for your home country, a default rate for the rest of the world, and then choose those countries that are exceptions and associate a tax rate for each of them. Tax exemptions with a VAT Registration number asked for are due in the B2B version later this year.

If Erol 2 has a fault, it's the software's main strength - design flexibility - as building your Web shop one page and one item at a time can prove time consuming. A rudimentary knowledge of HTML will also make your life easier, particularly when it comes to negotiating the template editors.

To speed things up, however, you can import products from an outside database source into the template of your choice, plus you could always design any really clever bits in FrontPage or Dreamweaver. Dreamteam also promises downloadable skins created by professional designers by the time you read this, which should really get your shop started in no time.

In the final analysis then, any time-associated drawbacks to the Erol 2 approach are far outweighed by the advantages. Using Erol 2, you can design a unique and professional e-commerce Web site and, personally, I can't wait for the developer's version.

Author: Tim Woodward