Is what you sell such a commodity that you can take any technology off the shelf for it? 

No, we didn't think so.

A business can be in a competitive field with lots of players.  Yet each one has something special about it.  Something different.  And it's those differences that matter.  The shout from the crowd.

When it comes to website technology, it's those shouts which are as important as the basic nuts and bolts.  Every e-commerce site we've done has at least one thing (if not more) which needs a bit of tweaking programmatically.  Many marketing sites have a slightly different way of presenting their information.

Our sites are about accentuating those things.  About taking them in their stride and not costing the earth to do that.

Of course, you need a website which simply works.  Which is easy.  Which acts as expected and doesn't act up.  You'll also want one which can deal with product kits, handle a 110 volt vs 240 volt drill, check that a customer is order the right curtain pole for the filials.

We use Drupal.  It's not just a content management system.  It's a serious programming environment.  It's designed to be extended.  Massively.  Nine times out of ten, it's easy enough to hook into the core kernel of that engine, and make the changes you need.  Best of all, you're not building a behemoth of your own which is expensive and you have to maintain.  Everything else works as it is intended to.  The SEO works, the content creation works, the feeds to Paypal works.  Your unique small add-on which sites unobtrusively on the side - it works.