subject: UltraCart Review [print this page] This UltraCart review is being done with the name of this ecommerce shopping cart in mind.
Normally, I would simply look at the product, and the category the product falls into, and then do a comparison of the product versus the competitive products in that category.
For example, I would compare UltraCart vs 1shoppingcart, or UltraCart vs Premium Web Cart, etc. to garner a perspective to determine how a product stacks up to the competition in its price point and intended user market.
But, when someone names their product "UltraCart", I review that product with a different mindset. Now I need to review UltraCart based not only on its competition, but I also need to compare it to it's own name.
If you're confused by this theory, think about it another way. Is Superman only kind of strong? Is the Flash only a fairly fast runner? Are the Fantastic 4 only a little impressive?
If you're going to call yourself Superman, Flash, or the Fantastic 4, you better be outstandingly amazing, or you're going to feel pretty foolish introducing yourself as the 'Flash' at parties if you struggle to break the 4 minute mile.
So when you call your online shopping cart system "UltraCart", you better be heads and shoulders above the crowded ecommerce software tools market, or you're going to look like a blowhard with nothing to back up your prodigious claims.
UltraCart Review - Glaring Affiliate System Problems
Before moving on to the rest of my product review, UltraCart has a glaring problem that has the potential to decimate your sales conversions when using their affiliate marketing system to generate sales.
For some inexplicable reason, UltraCart chooses to display the affiliate URL in the browser address bar no matter what you do. This is a major marketing blunder, as every smart affiliate knows that the last thing they want is for their affiliate URL to be exposed, and this appears to be a unique proclivity to UltraCart.
Because this is such an important item, every smart affiliate marketer also recognizes the need to 'cloak' their link to avoid exposing their affiliate link to the rest of the world. But, with UltraCart, even cloaking your link will not help, because the affiliate link is 'uncloaked' when UltraCart does the final redirect to the merchant's sales page.
This is a very strange way to run an affiliate program, and a glaring problem for users and affiliates of merchants using UltraCart.
UltraCart Review - Affiliate System Problem #2
The second inexplicable problem with UltraCart's affiliate system is that it only displays the default affiliate link in the affiliate's user panel.
No matter how many additional affiliate programs a merchant adds into their affiliate system, UltraCart still only displays 1 program to your affiliates so they're never aware that there are other programs that they could be promoting for you.
This is a very odd setup, and one that most affiliates will never understand and/or figure out. And, when you have confused affiliates, you do not have productive, selling affiliates.
When an affiliate system is structured with 2 logical system errors this obvious, it's readily apparent that the creators of the affiliate system lack a very basic understanding of affiliate marketing, or they would see the obvious problems on their own accord. It makes me wonder if UltraCart will ever fix these critical flaws since they allowed them to exist in the first place.
If this were simply a bug in the software, I would actually feel better about the situation, but this was a system design that was done on purpose.
UltraCart Review - Shopping Cart Integration
UltraCart operates off of the popular, powerful, and flexible "Buy Now" button methodology, which means the website operator retains complete control over their website. This allows the website to be on any platform, or any system, and gives the merchant the freedom to optimize for search engine optimization amongst other desirable options.
In this regard, they operate much like their competition without any of the idiosyncrasies found in the affiliate system.
One of the items I like about UltraCart is their integration with various 3rd party fulfillment centers, because fulfillment is an important part of a merchant's complete business system. It's good to see some level of integration through UltraCart. Even if it's not a true two-way communication integration, it's still a step in the right direction.
The Bottom Line
If we take the name at face value as simply a "name", and not an expectation of the performance expected by the software, then UltraCart might be a decent software system, and do a reasonable job for you and your online store.
But, given the fact that affiliate sales can literally make or break your online business, I really struggle to recommend UltraCart after this review for the sole reason that their affiliate system is simply not a true "marketers" affiliate system. Even if you do not run an affiliate program today, your future success will dictate that you put one in place at some point in time so you better be certain you have the right foundation for success when you do.
My UltraCart review analysis
It's more of a "me too" product, than it is a "cart of steel", able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, or move faster than a speeding bullet. I recommend that you keep searching, and look at other online cart systems that better understand what online marketers truly nee
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