I am currently developing an ecommerce website, and it's going to fairly simplistic: the client needs a private section to enter/delete/modify his products, and a public section of the site where the user can view products, select them, and then buy them.
Normally, I would take an off the shelf shopping cart (e.g. osCommerce, agoracart, etc) and tailor it to the look and feel of the site. I haven't spent much time with these pre-written carts, but it seems like it's overkill, and it seems like an all or nothing deal? By that, I mean if you use one, do you have to use it to store products in its database, display your products etc?
The reason I ask is this: I don't want to spend hours and hours learning how to customize one of the carts to make it do what I need, when code I've written gets me halfway there. I already have an administrative section that I've written for other clients. I already have basic pages up to display the products as the client desires. The only thing I need is the ability to put them into a cart. The client has a company that will serve as a payment gateway.
So, what do you think? Is it possible to use my own code, and take only those parts of a prewritten cart as needed? Or, am I up the creek, and I have to use of the off the shelf carts?
Looking for advice on developing an E-commerce site
Moderator: General Moderators
Re: Looking for advice on developing an E-commerce site
If it's really as simple as you/clients said (it never is in my experience) then I'd just do it myself. However, when things start getting complicated like when you need product attributes, need details on shipping, exporting the cart in different formats (for things like kelkoo and froogle), then thats when it'll get annoying. Displaying a product and making it editable in the control panel is fairly simple, but it's how complex you want everything to get that should define what solution is right for you.
Re: Looking for advice on developing an E-commerce site
Thanks for the feedback, it was helpful. You brought up a point that I had failed to consider: just because the first 10% is easy, doesn't mean the other 90% will be. And you're also correct, every project I've ever done of any scale is NEVER as easy as it seems before you start. I don't want to put myself in a spot where I invest time and resources only to find there's a never ending "todo" list, and it eventually gets so time consuming and complex I end up using an off the shelf cart anyway.
That being said, can anyone recommend one that they've had good experiences with? My main criteria is the ease it can be tailored to your site - both the look/feel so the templates match your site, and the removal of features in the cart I don't need. Also, the clients are not that internet savvy, so when they enter/remove products, it should be user friendly.
Thanks,
White Wolf
That being said, can anyone recommend one that they've had good experiences with? My main criteria is the ease it can be tailored to your site - both the look/feel so the templates match your site, and the removal of features in the cart I don't need. Also, the clients are not that internet savvy, so when they enter/remove products, it should be user friendly.
Thanks,
White Wolf
Re: Looking for advice on developing an E-commerce site
Everyone raves about Magento, but my Fedora core 4 box won't install the required PHP version so I've never tried it.
I use PrestaShop quite a lot and I've only had pleasant experiences so far.
I use PrestaShop quite a lot and I've only had pleasant experiences so far.