Sales Receipts and Shopping Carts

What type of software am I looking for next.

[HeyJim]

I have a small store (brick/mortar) selling a low volumn of widgets. Typically, since my suppliers are local, we're able to buy in small volumns. One to six pieces at a time. We probably have in stock 50 to 60 different kinds of widgets.

I have a website where I publish pages of photographs and descriptions and use a basic free shopping cart to collect credit card information for those sales which I then process manually.

For store sales here, I use a database (.dbf) which is programmable. (I guess if I can say, "No, not Access" I can just as easily note that it's Alpha5).

For each sale I type in a stock number and the db fills in all of the other pieces of information. When finished I save the record, it calculates sales tax, totals and prints the receipt.

I'd like to be running software on my computer that would associate stock numbers with photographs, provide my sales receipts (which double as sales flyers encouraging future sales) and somehow be usable to show items on the website.

Considering I need this to run first on my desktop and handle a low volumn of in store sales and secondarily feed products with photos to my website, I'm kind of at a loss as how to procede.

Any suggestions appreciated.

[lorax]

Not sure I follow you.

>> I'd like to be running software on my computer

Is the db application loaded on a different computer than the one you mention?

>> that would associate stock numbers with photographs, provide my sales receipts

Sounds like you're talking another db application but the duplication would mean there'd be two data sources to synchronize stock on. You'd need someway to synch them together.

>> somehow be usable to show items on the website

Lost me. What do you want to use? Sales receipts/ads or images or?

>> secondarily feed products with photos to my website

This sounds like you're looking for a solution that will replace the existing db application and provide a way for you to use your computer to maintain inventory and sales for both the store and the website. Is this right?

[HeyJim]

This sounds like you're looking for a solution that will replace the existing db application and provide a way for you to use your computer to maintain inventory and sales for both the store and the website. Is this right?

Yes, that's pretty much it except that I'd also like to be able to use the same db to publish my website. (And, I apologize for the disjointed first post. It made perfect sense to me at the end of a long day.)

One db application, running on my desktop at the store which I could also use to publish via ftp to my hosted account with pictures, etc. of in stock items. (Hope that makes sense!) Although I haven't thought it through, the answer might have to include exporting filtered records and using Webmerge to build the pages. Hopefully, there's a simpler way.

[lorax]

Ah.

>> use the same db to publish my website

My suggestion is rather than using an application on your computer, use a web-based application tied into your online store. Literally, a database driven application at your DN - secured of course. The store would be database driven in the scenario I'm thinking of. That way it is building product pages from the same database you're managing orders and inventory with for both the online store as well as your brick and mortar store. This negates the need for a 'publishing tool' though you will need to spend some time with the store's UI.

[HeyJim]

So, I'm probably looking at developing something using php and mysql? It's probably worth spending some time checking out cart scripts for the instore feature already developed.

[lorax]

>> So, I'm probably looking at developing something using php and mysql?

Yup. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, osCommerce may be a good option for you. I'm know there are others that I'm not familiar with. osCommerce has many contributions available and some of them are oriented towards managing the business side of running an ecomm store.

The beauty of switching to a web-based solution is that you can access it from anyplace on the planet, it's customizable to suit your needs (all you need is a good programmer), and it doesn't require a beefy computer. The only thing I would do when you're done and ready to implement this is:

1. perform a complete backup of the website files and a dump of the table structure and burn it to a CD or Zip disk (so you'll always have a fresh start should you need it)
2. print out the mysql table structure used
3. get in the habit of nightly mysql dumps from the database to your local computer and/or copies to zip disk or CD
4. make copies of the complete set of website files after you make any changes to the templates.

#4 are not so much that you need to copy all of the files as it is doubtful that you'll edit them all but it's nice to know that you can grab one CD and it will have everything on it that you need to get yourself up and running again within an hour.