Forum Moderators: buckworks
I'm sure I can't post the name here, so ping me and I'll tell you.
Note that the php aspects of both OSCommerce and ZenCart are not necessarily a dealbreaker - I designed and maintain a number of storefronts using one of these two solutions and would estimate that 95% of any changes made were done to (d)html or css content, graphics, etc. By and large the majority of php work is defining text strings (which is trivial it consists of replacing the current text with your own).
Customizations for both carts are made to:
1) css stylesheet
2) php text strings
3) images
And optionally:
4) templates corresponding to the head, foot, left and right nav bars.
5) (zencart) - global template corresponding to the body
5) (OSC) - individual page templates
4 and 5 are the only areas where some expirience with php is benificial, and only for very extensive changes. I would argue that OSC necessitates a bit more php knowledge (its layout is less intuitive and requires a bit more following of the code I think but then my expirience with zencart is limited).
ekmPowershop, RomanCart, MonsterCommerce, etc...
(Just did a search on Google for 'Shopping Cart Software' and those 3 were there along with thousands of others.
Also take a look at...
[hotscripts.com...]
and
... both have links to lots of shopping cart systems.
BC
Interchange is a nice, easy one page checkout.
XT-Commerce
This is a fork of OSCommerce, created in German with English translation available.
It expands upon OScommerce by adding support for
Product Attribute inventory tracking
Smarty Templates
A built-in basic CMS utility
Auto image resizing
and alot more. I've just started using it and I really recommend it. Hopefully more English speaking people will start using it since I feel like I'm the only non-German guy that uses it.
Good luck with your search for the best ecommerce system.
Geesh - that's a tough one. You're being put in the position of having to learn about ecomm on multiple levels (code and tactics). It sounds like your company doesn't understand the intricate details of ecommerce and is likely to lean on you when sales don't match expectations.
Reasoning for the above: Ecommerce is more than just which cart you use. For every post I see about "which cart is the best" I groan. The answer to that question depends upon what you're level of familiarity with coding is and what you hope to do with the cart.
And there isn't a shopping cart out there that won't require some level of customization to achieve top performance in sales. Mechanically, most of them will work just fine out of the box but are they designed to maximize YOUR sales? Doubtful. The simple reason is that they provide a basic framework. It's up to you to decide how best to sell your customers and this is totally dependent upon the product and market sector you're in.
Example: selling CDs is not the same as selling clothes. Consumers have a wealth of information available to them prior to making a purchase of a CD. In many cases, the cart is simply a vehicle for purchase and the likely concerns of the buyer are price, shipping, and availability. Clothing on the other hand requires a bit more information. Colors, styles, and sizes affect the buyer's decision process in addition to price, shipping, and availability. And returns are likely to more important to a clothing store than to a CD. I'd venture people return clothes more often than they do CDs.
In some cases cart functionality is applicable to different market sectors. The ability to do side-by-side comparisons for example. Not totally applicable to the above examples but think of how useful it is for someone interested in buying a camera or printer to compare similar models side-by-side.
So the bottom line is, while you're being asked to get a shopping cart setup and running, keep in mind that you're going to need to tweak it to suit your needs. And it sounds to me (forgive me if I'm wrong) that you're not very experienced with developing the 'shopping experience' for your customers - the all around experience of your customers from their first introduction to your cart right through checkout and beyond. So you'll need a cart you can not only edit for the basic product and customer administration but one which can be customized as you learn more about how to provide the best shopping experience for your customers.
And I don't know about you but when I first started out with working with the secure area of the cart, I wanted someone more experienced than me available to evaluate what I did. Primarily to ensure I didn't make any mistakes. Leaving a hole in the security of your cart is a major liability issue for your company should anything unfortunate happen.
Just my thoughts. ;)
I am definitely not experienced in the world of ecommerce!
Like I say, at the moment we use something which is just about accetable - easy to use but with many bugs and it doesn't look likely that an upgrade will be out any time soon!
I fully intend to look into the intracacies of ecommerce to gain a better understanding, but have so much other stuff to do at the moment that we really need a quick fix...
I totally understand where you're coming from, and I am a bit in awe of the complexities!
If we can't find an easy to customise alternative at a reasonable price, we will probably stick with what have until my understanding is better!
Get a copy of Neilson Norman Group's [nngroup.com] report on Ecomm User Experience. $150 but you'll be VERY glad you bought it. ;)
