Effective Ecommerce solutions - Any suggestions

[Stewart]

Looking for an effective shopping cart solution solution to support the launch of an ecommerce site - has anyone one got any experience of free or pay solutions ?

At this stage a key priority is to endeavour to launch an adequate shop reasonably quickly and then follow this with a redesign as necessary and potentially more elegant solution.

Stewart

[David]

Stewart, I've never built an e-commerce site but Actinic (http://www.actinic.co.uk) seems to be popular. It's not free but it is developed in the UK, which may be an advantage. The other pay-for solution I am aware of is Interspire Shopping Cart (http://www.interspire.com/shoppingcart/). I use other Interspire software and it is good. Another solution that seems to be popular is Cube Cart (http://www.cubecart.com/). The advantage with this one is that you may install the previous version for free and try out the current version free for 30 days - quite useful to be able to see it in action before parting with any cash.

This is one of the areas of server-based software where good free solutions are thin on the ground. I guess that most developers must feel that since the object of the software is to make money (unlike a forum, say) then it's reasonable for them to get a direct return.

[James]

I use jshop, http://www.jshop.co.uk

Has all the features you expect from an ecommerce platform, and the presentation is completely separate to the functionality so you have total design freedom. Not free but very good value at about £250.

From bitter experience I would say avoid free scripts like oscommerce unless you are prepared to use the "out of the box" version. They are notoriously difficult to apply your own style to.

One possible exception is Magento, http://www.magentocommerce.com/ but I have not had chance to test it yet.

[David]

James, do you have an example of a jshop site we can look at? Their demo store doesn't look great but I notice that the V&A are using jshop to good effect. Interesting how many of these solutions are developed in the UK. Do you think it's a case of local solutions for local currencies/taxes etc?

[James]

Yes, the demo site is awful-looking.

Here are a handful we have developed:

http://www.lenleys.co.uk (cannot buy online but uses jshop to manage products)

http://www.judd-dev.co.uk/wealdsmokery/ (in development, goes live soon)

http://www.specialityfoods.org.uk/

We have also another three in development which I can't post yet.

[Stewart]

Thanks for the suggestions - I was tending towards a paid solution and you've both confirmed that's the right way to go. I'm tempted by jshop given James's experience of the package and its flexibility in terms look and feel.

As this will be the first time I've personally built a eCommerce site I'm wondering if getting the package installed on my server space would be a sensible first step, and perhaps asking Jshop to do it for me for £50 would set me up for success. I've taken out a shared hosting package with Clook which I assume will do the job ?

Stewart

[David]

The hosting will be fine in the for a start and Clook have plenty of upgrade options should you need them in the future.

If you need to get up-and-running asap, the £50 install fee seems reasonable but I would encourage you to try it yourself so that you become familiar with the process. Most PHP/MySQL software applications are installed in the same way and this would be a good opportunity to learn.

[Stewart]

That's a far better idea - I will take up take up the challenge !

Stewart

[James]

Yeah, don't pay them to install it, just ask if you get stuck. My installs are all on Clook reseller - works perfectly.

[Stewart]

Thanks for offer! - A quick review of various payment gateways has left me unsure how to jump - noticed that sagepay is mentioned on jshop and that James had used on one of the site he shared - any rules of thumb I should use to choose from a long list ?

Stewart

[James]

It's a tough call.

PayPal = really easy to integrate and all the seller needs is a PayPal account. BUT, it has that "ebay/amateur" feel and most of our clients end up hating it.

SagePay is also a doddle to integrate but there are more hoops to jump through before you get an account. For instance, you need a proper bank's merchant account.

We're about to integrate a Worldpay solution soon too.

Whatever ecommerce system you use, you will have the same decision to make.

[Tom]

I'm always rather relieved when I find a shop accepts PayPal. It makes me think (1) I am not running a risk of credit card fraud (2) they are not going to get me to register before making a purchase (3) they value good sense above prestige.

[Stewart]

James

With the web design module almost complete I've been spending time looking into jshop and how to take it as the platform and design on top of it. To be honest my lack of php knowledge is not helping me to get things moving at any speed!

I was looking again at www.wealdsmokery.co.uk which looks great and I can see much of the functionality. I was wondering if you could share the key steps or work flow you move through in designing such a site, not the design but how you approach the coding.

[James]

James

With the web design module almost complete I've been spending time looking into jshop and how to take it as the platform and design on top of it. To be honest my lack of php knowledge is not helping me to get things moving at any speed!

I was looking again at www.wealdsmokery.co.uk which looks great and I can see much of the functionality. I was wondering if you could share the key steps or work flow you move through in designing such a site, not the design but how you approach the coding.

Hi,

You can set up jshop without knowledge of PHP. Although I do recommend learning simple PHP because even a few commands up your sleeve can make a difference.

If you want to push the boundaries of jshop it has its own built in language for doing more advanced things, mainly based on variables and if/and/or/not operators. e.g "if this product variable is x do y". It does support custom PHP too which means you can get it to do just about anything.

Bottom line - you don't need to know any PHP at all to get a store set up.

The approach we take is:

- analyse brief from client
- our designers do a Photoshop visual design which may go through several stages before the client approves
- we then build the XTHML and CSS - jshop not even installed at this point
- install jshop and apply the XHTML and CSS to the various template files (homepage, category page, product page, standard page, cart pages and so on ...)
- configure any extras like wish list (jshop offers this but it's weak), gift certificates, affiliates, digital downloads ....
- integrate payment processor (easy, just tell jshop the user ID of the merchant)
- sort out security certificate if required
- test, test, test - the customer experience, email notifications, order fulfilment support

I am happy to offer help and advice if you do go ahead.

[Tom]

Henry has done a few eCommerce projects and advises:

If you're looking for the bare minimum of setup then a hosted solution is the best bet. Obviously there's ebay Another possibility is www.shopify.com They charge a little over the odds but will give you an operating shop immediately even without your own domain, ssl cert or email setup.

Shopify does allow redesign but its clunky and will become frustrating if you intend to configure a lot in the future. www.magentocommerce.com is one I'd recommend for running it on your own. A bit of sys admin will be required to get it going.

Overall my suggestion would be to use your own domain with shopify to test a market and start link building. Then move to fancier software with a mass 301 redirect jobbie if you realise you're about to be a millionaire.

[Tom]

My suggestion is even more cautious: start with text content creation and selling through the Amazon affilliate scheme. Then move gradually into eCommerce as the traffic and the click-throughs build up.

[Henry]

I wouldn't recommend it, unless you find the coding fun, but I wrote my own code in RoR Ruby on Rails for CrinkleCrankle http://www.crinklecrankle.com/