In an effort to become a hub for small businesses and snag more of the DIY ecommerce market, Yahoo launched a new version of its ecommerce platform today called Yahoo Stores.
The company is positioning the new service as as way for business owners to create an operational online shop quickly, even if they aren't well-versed in coding or up on digital marketing. Yahoo says users can have an online shop up and ready to accept orders within minutes.
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The move is meant to better position Yahoo against Amazon, which has a similar service called Amazon Webstore, as well as smaller sites such as Shopify and Bigcommerce.
In a blog post, Amit Kumar, the head of Yahoo Small Business, described the features of the service, which include customizable design themes, automatic payment processing and the use of Yahoo's SEO technology.
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The company has also released an iPhone app to accompany the platform called Yahoo Live Web Insights, to help business owners see how customers are engaging with their sites in real time and interact with them using the app's chat function.
There are three payment plans offered for Yahoo's suite of tools: a basic plan for $26 a month, a professional plan for $69 a month and a premier plan for $249 a month. The Amazon Webstore subscription is $79 per month.
Yahoo takes a varying percentage of each transaction depending on the subscription plan — 1.5 percent for basic, 1 percent for professional and 0.75 percent for premier. Amazon takes a flat 2 percent fee on all transactions.
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