A new ecommerce option is opening up for artists and craftspeople.

Wicked Plum (wickedplum.com) is a shopping cart system that users can add to their own sites. This makes it a closer model to Big Cartel or Zen Cart than to Etsy or Artfire (it is not a handmade market place). The benefits of this are that shop owners can build their own individual stores with their own rules, ethos and style. The downside of this type of ecommerce option is that store owners do not benefit from being part of a larger handmade marketplace.

The people behind Wicked Plum are experienced crafters who have experienced first hand the challenges of some ecommerce options. They have decided to build on their experience to create an ecommerce solution specifically geared towards micro businesses.

Wicked Plum has the aim of making ecommerce simple and straight forward so that artists and craftspeople can concentrate on the making and selling of their products, rather than worrying about the back end of the ecommerce side of their business. Wicked Plum will offer a range of design templates, for instance, the store owners can pick from.

Wicked Plum, currently in private beta testing, is offering a special deal to the next group of beta testers that join. More information can be found on the pricing page of the Wicked Plum website.