Looking for a package to handle 30000+ Products

e commerce package to handle large number of products

[welsh_boy]

Hi, I am looking for a ecommerce package for someone who has little HTML knowledge but wants to be able to handle a large database (30000+) of products in an ecommerce site and be able to update the prices regurlarly.

Any suggestions or tips!

[sun818]

Is there a web platform you had in mind? Like PHP, Perl, ASP, ColdFusion? Or do you want static HTML files?

[welsh_boy]

there is no specific platform needed. Just a reliable one :p

[amznVibe]

Well I can recommend mysql be part of the equation, that's an easy call.
Static webpages for 30,000 items is not such a great idea, think of the rebuild time.
I have a similar problem dealing with a 10,000 item library that needs to be (re)computerized.

[georgeek]

If you're a welsh_boy in the uk you may like the uk product 'Evolve Merchant Ecommerce Software'. You can keep all the pricing data etc. in a spreadsheet and just upload it when required. Minimum html knowledge required...

[welsh_boy]

Thanks for your help so far guys, but Evolve Merchant Ecommerce Software is a bit pricy for me, I was looking to spend about £100-£300

and yes I am in the UK :p

[georgeek]

If you are short of money you could always go open source and use osCommerce.

[Mr Bo Jangles]

Interchange looks pretty impressive to me, and cheap *_*

Go to icdevgroup dot org

Have a look at the demos - menu selectable from that home page.

[sun818]

Take a look at ShopSite. I got a newsletter from pair.com the other day and they're hosting the ecommerce package. What impressed me were the search engine friendly links and unique titles for each product.

[lorax]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld welsh_boy!

If you have little in the way of HTML skill then you're going to need to buy a product that accomodates you. osCommerce, while a very good product, is definately not for you. The issues you're going to run up against are simple. If you buy something off-the-shelf then you'll be faced with either using their default look and feel or whatever templates they offer. Same goes for an ecomm solution provided by your webhost.

If this is ok with you then you're looking functionality and should test as many carts as you can before you go to the trouble of setup and uploading 30K products.

Many OTS carts have a free demo version available either through a download and install (30 day timer is typical) or online demo.

That being said. MIVA is a pretty good cart for beginners with ecomm as are a few others that have been mentioned on this Board. A quick search for shopping carts will yield some good reading.

I encourage you to make a list, however, of the key features that are 'must haves' and then evaluate the carts you try.

If you really want to customize the look and feel then the budget you mentioned won't cut it unless you're willing to learn HTML and a programming language.

[welsh_boy]

I myself have a lot of HTML knowledge but the person who is after the online shop doesnt have.

He would be willing for me to set it all up for him, but he would like to be able to update the prices, descriptions etc.. himself.

[Edouard_H]

ClickCartPro is probably worth a look since you'll be setting it up; the most recent release has very useful catalog admin functions and is pretty reasonably priced.

[rogerd]

Whatever packages you put on your short list, ask the manufacturer for some sites running their software for a comparable or greater number of products. With that many products, you are going to need a good organizational structure for the site and products. Specifically, you'll need a hierarchy of categories to allow navigation, a powerful search feature, and ways to display related products on the same page. Ask the software maker to show you some successful sites with 50K products and then contact the owner or webmaster for some direct commentary on the software. If the software supplier can't provide examples, avoid them - you don't want to be the guinea pig who finds the previously unknown bugs.

[apsunick]

Just do a search on yahoo for "php shopping cart"

[ecommerce man]

If you need 30,000 products and a back end administation interface then I'd go with Interchange. It can be difficult to set up (if you don't know what you are doing) but many hosts offer it ready configured. I know of one which comes with a ready configured UK shopping template ready to go straight out the box.

[Giles Palmer]

I strongly recommend you look at a company called Meieir Pollard who have a product called Inrax

This product is an comprehensive online accounts package specifically designed for e-commerce.

I have a similar problem with about 600 products with regular price changes. It is very difficult to keep the website and the accounts system using the same prices! My website and accounts are changing to Inrax. It will also drasticly reduce my admin burden.

The other great feature of Inrax is that it is aimed at the SME and is very cheap.

Take a look.

[edited by: TallTroll at 1:20 pm (utc) on Oct. 13, 2003]
[edit reason] url drop [/edit]

[sun818]

The ability to mass update your prices may not be built into a lot of ecommerce packages. But its a simple update query that wouldn't be difficult to automate.