I'm about set up my first eCommerce site. I was hoping you could recommend some shopping cart software. What are the perks of using pre-built software rather than developing some simple solution catered to my needs. Also, are there pre-written Terms and conditions for sites? Or templates that outline what aspects need to be addressed? What other things should I look out for when building this website?
Also, I develop in PHP server side, so software in that language would be best.
I use osCommerce a lot, but this software is a bit outdated. Magento is a good alternative for setting up a commerce website.
Google Checkout is probably a good starting point for a clean base to start from: http://checkout.google.com/sell/.
The hands down easiest all in one ecommerce platform IMO is the Yahoo Small Business platform - you have a number of options there, including using hosting and php. It's not free, but you get EVERYTHING you need to run an eCommerce store all in one painless spot - your cart, ssl, content management, integration for merchant gateway, shipping rules, integration with ups realtime rates... Order processing, the whole nine.
There are two ways to develop on this platform - using their proprietary RTML language, or use the hosting that you get with it and access the items in your catalog through what they call store tags.
So I wound up writing my own shopping cart software because the site is not based in the U.S. and services like PayPal and Google Checkout do not cover it. I coupled my cart with an API from a national bank to charge credit cards. This required SSL which was easy enough to set up.
I found a Terms and Conditions generator online and used that to lay out the basics of the document. Then I added site specifics myself and tried to sound as much like a lawyer as possible.
I second Yahoo! Small Business (although I would get a developer, their default template looks horrible). If you are looking for something that looks nice and is out of the box good to go, Bigcommerce would be my second choice. After that, I would go with 3dcart (it's a little more flexible, but the default themes are not as good as what Bigcommerce offers). Although, if you are a hardcore programmer, going with Drupal Commerce would probably be your best bet, but you will really need to know some programming to customize it. On the plus side, it is the only cart that I have mentioned that is free (minus hosting costs of course).
Related
I am tasked to build a shopping cart that sells book. I would like to seek help in putting me in the right direction as to where to go from here.
As of what I see, I can do the cart in two ways:
Use CI framework and build the site from scratch.
Use an existing shopping cart system and build from there.
The problem with doing the CI is its very tedious. You are basically building from scratch. So this will take time and add to the fact that this is my first time building a shopping cart. The second option seems to be ok. Why would I re-invent the wheel so to say. The only problem is finding the right open source cart that is well documented for me to start on.
So based on the two options I have. If you think it is the second option, can you suggest (if you had created a cart before) a shopping cart application that is easy and the code base is similar to CI. I found OpenCart to be ok but I would like to seek other suggestions before I start.
There are many things to take into consideration here.
What is your programming experience?
Have you worked with big scale web applications before? (I would say that almost all online store could be considered big scale web applications)
Have you worked with payment integrations?
Have you worked in setting up hosting environments?
What is the budget for your project?
Are you the only one working on the project?
What is your client expecting from the finished product?
When the store is online, who manages hosting, support, maintenance, etc?
Building a online store is no simple and small task. A small store with a flow like this add product to cart -> go to checkout -> pay using a third part payment provider could be accomplished quite easily and fast. But here are some more considerations:
Shipping methods, should there be multiple ones?
Must the site handle multiple countries, in that case you have to consider VAT, shipping again, etc.
Payment options: Credit card, SMS, invoice, PayPal, and the list goes on.. What should be available? And this will require a good hosting environment if you wish to do direct implementations (SSL certificates, etc).
Handling orders, returns and products in the backend
Discount features, such as discount codes
Being able to sell multiple products bundled as one.
I could go on for a while and make the list more and more specified, but I don't really have the time for that :) And this was just to show you that there are a lot of factors that comes in to play when building an online store.
Magento
This is an excellent choice if you are an experience developer and familiar with the Zend framework (which it's built upon). Take a look at the features for Magento, pretty much anything is possible with Magento if you know how to customize it correctly. This is not an easy task if you're not familiar with it and the learning curve is very steep.
This is a bad choice if you're not experience or the store doesn't need all of the advanced features. It's a resource hog and if you don't know your caching you will have a bad time.
Shopify
If you need to setup a online store in a hurry with a stable environment and you can settle with having the features they offer, I would say this is your best choice. Well actually I would say that at least 90% of the times, this would be the best choice.
You won't have to worry about payment implementations, backend development, support, hosting, and all the other things that comes into play.
Conclusion
I've only listed 2 options here, one advanced and one more simple on. I think you should really investigaste the different options. Take a look at their features, how much they cost, etc. Then you have to take that into consideration vs the time it will take for you to complete the store.
At least I hope I gave you some perspective on this, just let me know if you have any questions on what I wrote.
I recommend Zend Framework to building shopping cart site. If you want to build from existing tool use Magento. Check Front End and admin end here
You can create your custom module or download free modules and can purchase developed module from magento.
You have couple of options
Magento
Opencart
Both of them are built for e-commerce.
Magento is slow without any doubt, opencart is fast but not the best as Magento.
If your's application scope is limited, you can build the application in CI and i knows that it will be faster than both of these two.
But as programming perspective, its always better which is already build instead starting from scratch.
Since there's currently no complete solution to build a modX powered website with integrated shop, I was wondering which would be the way to go, to achieve this with a third party cart.
The integration in the frontend should be very close, so you can't distinguish the parts coming from modx with the parts (cart, product listings, product views) and everything should work without heavy js processing. On the other hand it would be totally ok to manage content in the modX backend and products in the shopping carts backend, independent of each other.
There should be a convenient way for i18n and a big range of (international) payment methods, everything should run on own hardware and it would be lovely to use an open source cart. In addition, it would be a big plus if the commerce software would be well suited to sell digital goods.
A pretty long wish list, I know, but I expect a combination of modX with something as powerful as Magento, XtCommerce, Opencart or the likes would be a really nice way to realize a big website with integrated shop.
I'm absolutely willing to spend a lot of time for the integration, I'm only very unsure, if there's something that can be considered the way to go for a project like this.
There's a MODX shopping cart addon called SimpleCart: modxsimplecart.com
It is built using standard MODX techniques (templates, TVs, chunks & snippets) and the output is fully customizable. Because of this, it's well integrated into the back end as well.
Not free nor Open Source though.
In the modx forums, I found reference to FoxyCart which seems like it can integrate well. I found a video tutorial though to help with that:
http://www.my619.com/foxy-cart-modx-tutorial-1
i´m building a shop in simplecart atm. also soon there will be a new one http://forums.modx.com/thread/?thread=83288&page=1
I'm prefer shopmodxbox. You can download it from our repository: http://rest.modxstore.ru/extras/
But be careful! It's a package with working shop. Install it only at clear site.
Here you can find sources.
Try minishop2 This is great e-commerce opensource MODX Revo shop. I used it in some projects. Not very simple, but in some way great to use.
I'm about to launch a few online stores and I would like to share my thoughts so everyone can benefit and also was wondering about your opinion related to the question: open-source eCommerce vs custom built.
I've been exploring some the existing solutions (Magento, OpenCart, OSCommerce, Xcart).
Advantages and cons:
Existing solutions:
Advantages:
You don't maintenance the code.
Plug and Play extensions.
Support.
Less code hours (not so sure about that anymore).
Cons:
Hard to custmoize: custom templates, plugins, special needs has to be implented over an heavy code already (not a MVC fan).
Too many features (could reduce performance).
Custom built:
Advantages:
Easy theme customization (no limits).
Lightweight.
More secure (questionable: Minimal is more secure, though existing solutions has more pen-testers == Users/Coders).
Easy work-around.
Cons:
Hours, a lot of them.
Lack of plugins, you need to craft everything yourself.
More things to consider:
If I'm going for the custom built - which PHP framework would help me the must?
Do you know any existing solution which is lightweight, has good plugins database, and is easy to customize?
at the moment I have to 'like' custom built more, since i'm going to built a network of stores and would like to get a customized solution, though wondering if I might be wrong.
Please, share from your experience and your thoughts related,
Thanks in advance, your help is appreciated.
Sagi.
a few things to consider, in addition to what you stated.
Developing a new eCommerce solution requires not only manpower, but also knowledge. Many topics require dedicated knowledge. Some examples:
Integration of payment systems requires knowledge about federal laws, about the regulations for VISA and Mastercard
Integration of customer systems requires knowledge of encryption systems, of federal regulations for personified data, of opt-in and opt-out customer relation systems
Integration of interfaces to other solutions (ERP, CRM) requires knowledge of secure transactions and channels, secure authentication, transport layer security
Many of the solutions available on the market already have most of this down. If not, they usually don't gain a competitive market share. Some swipe these requirements under someone elses carpet, Magento is known for redistributing it to writers of plugins.
If you are confused between open source or Custom eCommerce solution then I would advice you to choose Custom eCommerce solution. The reason behind this is that if you choose Custom eCommerce solution then the end product that you will see is fully according to you that will satisfy your requirements.
Its true that you have to pay a bit more than a normal eCommerce solution but you will get a powerful and engaging Online Store that will also help you to generate good revenues and sales.
If you are looking for a Smart eCommerce Solution but still confused about choosing then Go for a FATshoppe eCommerce System and check the demo website of your Online Store.
I have been tasked by a client to rebuild an E-Commerce platform. The goal is an online shop on which vehicles are sold. The specialty is that it's supposed to be multi-supplier capable, i.e. external suppliers will have their own login back-end where they can manage their listings, add new ones, view their sales, etc.
The shop shows all the suppliers' products in one big catalogue that should ideally support some options like sorting and filtering, but they are not a requirement. Orders are transmitted to each relevant supplier, and the administrator, by E-Mail.
The ordering process is very simple - it's essentially just taking the ordered item out of the catalogue, and informing the supplier (and the administrator) that the item has been ordered. No online check-out / payments are required, although they are nice to have as an option.
All the on-line shopping systems I know are targeted at one single administrator.
Are there shop systems out there that can handle what I need?
Requirements:
Top priority: Quality code. Preferably PHP 5 and object oriented. I don't care about the exact feature set of the product as long as the existing code is nice and neat to work with.
Access control: Suppliers can log in and add and manage own products; have no access to the rest of the system. Administrators can manage listings and configure the shop. Administrators create supplier accounts
Must be multi-language or localized to German
The sales process is very simple: An E-Mail to the supplier and to the administrator, containing the buyer's data, is enough.
No need for on-line payment/checkout, although it is a welcome extension
Open Source is preferred, but a commercial solution is not out of the question if the product is really, really good and well documented
As long as the basic product is fine and supports the basic catalogue and user management necessary for this, all further features are negotiable (i.e. I'll add them myself if necessary.)
If no payment methods and checkout is involved, it is surely better to write from scratch. With any of the existing systems, you will just have the overhead of code that is not actually used. Also, not so many systems support searching and filtering by parameters and this seems to be a core feature for such a large project.
Magento ! You have to use it, its the best thing since sliced bread.
I've created a multi agent e-commerce system that had reps login and add sales, credit notes and so on. The system had a standard catalogue setup. It could even be customised so that supplier A could have their own shop, supplier B have their own. They could both skin them and so on.
We have different languages. It has a massive developer community so anything we didn't have I just bought and integrated (My time is expensive, this gave the customers real return). There is an open source version, which is what I used, there is also a pay version. I really cannot recommend it enough.
I'm currently working on a similar project.
I'm trying things out with magento to begin with. There's an add-on module for advanced permissions aitoc_magentomods_advanced_permissions which might help you.
The first problem you're going to have in getting a multi-supplier type system is that it will never meet your needs.
If you really wish to have the right system then you should create your own from a decent framework.
if you still wish to use a pre designed system that meets the needs you specified i would go with Magento
Magento is one of the most advanced E-Commerce system I have ever worked with.
The code itself is not so much easy to work with at the start but you get used to it after a few days/weeks.
In regards to the "Access control", im not 100% weather this is supported but the Magento system is very abstract and im 80% positive that this can be done.
"Must be multi-language or localized to German", Every language you need.
"The sales process is very simple: An E-Mail to the supplier and to the administrator, containing the buyer's data, is enough."
instead of me going on about the features i advise you to check it out.
http://www.magentocommerce.com/
But I still would prefer to develop my own framework and build from that.
Regards.
If you're going to build from scratch, do it in Seaside. You're likely to find available solutions don't meet enough of your needs. The quality of code is going to be much better in Seaside. Real reuse, no templates.
Talk to Norbert Hartl
I've been looking for some open source (preferably PHP) online shop software that is relatively minimal but haven't had any success. The people that I'm developing the shop for are selling a very limited selection of items and only need PayPal intergration and as such don't need all the bells and whistles of the major open source software options (Zen Cart, etc).
Does anyone have any experience with any minimal open source shop software they can recommend?
Thanks in advance!
This is a frequently asked question.
Unfortunately there are rarely any simple requirements for e-commerce. There are just too many variables: taxes, product attributes, sub products, packaging, stock control, user account details, shopping carts, shipping methods, delivery methods, payment options, legal requirement, refunds, security methods... the list goes on.
This is why you probably won't find a package that will do exactly what you want that's simple.
But you never know. Good luck!
Did you look at http://www.cmsmatrix.org/
Is something Drupal really to complicated for you?
That makes an online shop simplicity itself
I dont recomend drupal if you program OO.
Ive use it and its really a nightmare, the only plus it has its that its so old that there its a lot of modules and they are all free. The downers are that not all the modules all well integrated, all api its procedure (functions) oriented, there its a lot of "hacked" modules that modify others modules behaviour, modifying or trying to customize or make specific customizacion could involve a lot of time. but i guess its a disadvantage of all generic cms
Virtuemart pluging for joomla has paypal integration, it has cms and its an Object Oriented framework with a lot of documentation. its easy to install, easoy administration, and even easy to modify.