In a Nutshell
pros
- Template-based designs
- Template-based designs Coupon management tools
- Newsletter sending engine
cons
- No free tier
- Not totally customizable
1&1 IONOS at a Glance
Features & Integrations
Security
Ease of Use
Pricing & Packages
Customer Support
Ideal for
Like most website builder products, IONOS’s site builder is really designed for organizations that don’t want to get under the hood editing code. This website builder is also a great choice for companies that want a builder that has specialist Ecommerce features. Using IONOS, users can get their Ecommerce site online quickly—without investing a lot of time getting wrapped up in small technical details.
Why Go With IONOS
IONOS’s tool is a good middle ground option for those that want an easy to set up Ecommerce website but don’t want the hassle of a custom setup.
There are some advanced features such as fraud detection and bulk invoice printing. The Ecommerce websites that it can build still aren’t going to be as customizable as ones that are hand-coded. But for those without development resources, this could be a great compromise solution.
Features such as
Fraud Checker
Any major Ecommerce website can be subject to fraudulent purchasing activity. Store owners need to do everything in their power to prevent such transactions from processing. IONOS features a fraud detection engine which helps store owners to identify fraudulent transactions. Users can receive warnings if transactions trigger certain conditions like originating from certain IP addresses that are known to be botnets or represent malicious activity.
Sales Tax Calculator
Tax rate changes are determined automatically. Additionally, users can set up their business as sales tax nexuses and mark specific customers as exempt from tax.
Other features include:
Multilingual shop: Users can roll out various versions of their online stores in different languages.
Wide inventory management: Online Store Advanced subscribers can add up to 10,000 products and eGoods to their stores. The limit is raised to one million for those on the top tier (Online Store Expert).
Wish lists: Wish lists are a vital online store functionality that allow customers to save items for purchasing later. Those on the top 2 tiers are able to offer customers this functionality.
Amazon / Ebay: Online Store Expert subscribers can sell through Amazon and eBay thanks to an integrated app solution.
B2B support: Online Store Expert subscribers can also set up websites that are designed for business to business selling. Business customers can see pricing exclusive of VAT when browsing the store.
Customization
Template Based
IONOS website builder designed stores are built based on an expert designed template.
All templates feature:
Drag-and-drop sections
Video and image widgets which can be drag and dropped
Automatic labelling for sales items
This means that they’re totally beginner-friendly. No technical skills are needed to register online sales inventory and merchandise them online.
Equally, it’s true that users will not generally be able to achieve pixel perfect customization levels. Therefore, Ecommerce site owners with more advanced customization requirements might be better off going for a dedicated Ecommerce CMS or building their site completely from scratch with proprietary systems.
Payment Processing
Stores built using the builder can accept payments processed via Paypal as well as all major credit cards. Additional payment gateways can be configured depending upon the location of the store. Some users may prefer to configure options such as Stripe and Bitcoin.
SEO Tools
If you’re planning on selling online, then your customers are going to need to find your website. IONOS comes with SEO pre-baked into all its templates. Additionally, the program contains SEO fields in which people can set up individual fields in order to create fields that will boost search engine visibility.
Secure Hosting
Typically those that need to get websites onto the internet need to worry about 2 components: hosting and buying and renewing a domain name. The good news for IONOS customers is that the hosting component is completely taken care of with the Ecommerce site builder package.
In addition to receiving the hosting required to store the website’s files, users also receive a free SSL certificate. This means that those browsing the store will receive the padlock symbol in their browser indicating that the connection is secure and encrypted. This is practically a requirement for anybody thinking about selling online these days.
Customer Support Services
Website builder customers get full access to IONOS’s suite of customer support resources. This includes access to the IONOS Customer Support 24/7 contact options which include:
Support through a phone number. For expedited identification, customers provide agents with a temporary phone PIN and their customer ID
Ticket based support for email resolution
Access to the IONOS Help Center
The Help Center is a veritable trove of information about IONOS’s various products. By accessing this page, users can consult detailed tutorials outlining how to make maximum use of the features that are available including setting up websites and changing SEO configurations.
Bottom Line
IONOS’s website builder tool for Ecommerce is a quick and easy way for users to build and design Ecommerce websites. Although the basic design interface is drag and drop, there are some surprisingly powerful features under the hood including a fraud detection system and support for up to one million products. Users can choose between 3 subscription tiers according to their needs.
About the Company
Founded in Germany and now based in the US, IONOS is a web hosting company that offers a variety of online services, including domain names, hosting packages, and website builder subscription products.
