Do you need a turnkey solution?

If you do not have programming skills (or access to programming skills), you will need an application that supplies a “wizard” to create your store automatically for you. The obvious advantage of a turnkey solution is that you do not need programming ability. The disadvantage is lack of flexibility – you will usually be confined to the solutions your host provides for you.

If you do have programming skills, on the other hand, you may well prefer an application which gives you access to the source code for customising and ‘tweaking’ to meet your needs.