Actinic may claim to be a market leader in ecommerce website software with thousands of sites in 40 countries, but we think that there are good reasons for ecommerce businesses to avoid them and choose Tiger Commerce instead...
Actinic's pricing is out of step with the market
Whilst Actinic's entry level product, Express (ecommerce software available via your web browser on a monthly payment plan) has comparable pricing to Tiger Commerce at £18 /month this is by no means a comparable ecommerce solution. By their own admission, Express is 'basic with very limited functionality' (quote from Actinic sales team).
Actinic Catalog (downloadable software to install on your computer with a one off cost) which is more comparable to Tiger Commerce in terms of functionality, costs £399 to purchase. Now that might not seem bad if you think that’s all you have to pay for your ecommerce website lifetime. But they bring out a new version every 15 - 18 months and you have to pay an additional £400+ for each new release.
Also, bear in mind that hosting is not included – Actinic's most popular hosting package comes in at £250 per annum. There's no support provided either unless you buy Actinic Cover ('just' £295 for first year) although admittedly this gives you free software upgrades. Dare we add in another major cost with Actinic... unless you're a dab hand at web design, Actinic say it typically costs £1500 - £3000 to get your site designed by one of their approved design network.
With Actinic, you need to upgrade and pay more as your business grows
Actinic Catalog is a mature and robust product; there's enough client testimonials and independent expert reviews to confirm this. However, even expert technology reviewer, PC Answers, say it is only 'An entry level package'.
We've delved a bit further into this and found that there's actually very little in terms of basic marketing features for your Actinic Catalog ecommerce website. Promotional techniques such as Buy One Get One Free, flexible discount options and voucher codes don't exist, nor does the capability to create customised email marketing campaigns within the software. Pretty basic stuff really for the successful ecommerce business.
The only way to get this additional functionality is to upgrade to Actinic Professional - £799 plus associated costs as above. In contrast, Tiger Commerce is ecommerce software that accommodates your growing business, be it start up or £multi-million enterprise (at no extra charge).
With Actinic you're likely to be dependent on a 3rd party web design agency
Actinic have relied historically on independent web designers to sell their software. That's why they have a whole suite of packages specifically targetting web designers on their sales site. Many of the ecommerce clients using this more traditional route to set up their online shop will not only find that they are paying over the odds, but they are more likely to have less control and flexibility in terms of managing and updating their shops.
With Tiger Commerce, there's no intermediary; you as the shop owner have complete control over everything to do with your shop and the software has been designed to be used by non technical folk. Also take into account the time to market factor; there's a revealing quote on Actinic's website from one of its approved web designers 'It takes us a month tops to develop an ecommerce site with Actinic'.
Actinic has limitations for managing a modern day online business
Harsh maybe, but even a technology review from PC Pro judged the latest release of Actinic Express (2009) with the following criticism; 'looks old-fashioned... there's no Web 2.0 here'.
So how can an Actinic Catalog website shop be a practical solution when you can only access it from one PC (an often quoted complaint from clients who switch from Actinic to Tiger)? When it comes to upgrading a shop to the new Actinic Catalog version, the potential for lost data, errors and other business critical issues is huge. Note that an Actinic Catalog shop database sits on the shop owner's computer and therefore if your computer decides to crash you may lose essential data. We manage the whole upgrade process for our software after thorough pre-testing (you don't have to do anything and your shop stays live through this process).
We also hold your database on our servers and will be able to recover any data that you may have inadvertently lost from your own PC.
Actinic is not a one stop web services provider
Also, they won't provide professional online marketing services to help you maximise your budgets and drive business to your site. They outsource all services. Even at a more basic level we've often had the complaint from former Actinic customers that customer support is not responsive.
Tiger is owned by GForces which is now a 100+ headcount, full service web management company. We provide the technology and the professional services to support your growing business. On this Tiger Commerce Sales Site you will find over 25 ecommerce service packages from design to training, to technical assistance to online marketing (e.g. search engine optimisation and Pay-Per-Click) and more. We're all about building relationships over the long term and customer service is at the heart of our ethos.
