Okay, so you have found a great value shopping cart solution that will allow you to start selling online almost immediately which both Cubecart and Storesprite will do this with great effect.

'What makes you different'
But what is going to make your online shop different from the thousands of people that have already found and applied these and other ecommerce solutions, well one thing that can make you stand out from all the other "pebbles on the beach" is a custom template design unique to you.

Sure, there are plenty of "off the shelf skins and templates" out there for free or a nominal cost. but these are available and used by lots of store owners.

The only sure fire way of becoming an individual amongst all the competition out there is to go custom.

'Commited'
A professionally designed template skin can instil confidence in your site visitors let them know that you are a serious player who is committed to your store and its customers.
Seriously would you buy from anybody who had amateur looking website and was asking for credit card details.

Design is a serious business and getting the right emotive colour selection and the correct "look and feel" that is aimed at your target market audience is crucial.
It is just like 'sexual attraction' we make our minds up in a split second of what we find attractive and what we would and wouldn't go for (forgive the expression).

I have worked in the marketing and design image world for over 20 years and have seen different levels of success because of marketing / design triumphs and blunders.

In short 'design pays off' and associates the customer with your products and brand. The big boys don't spend their billions of dollars on it because it doesn't work.