how to learn to build an ecommerce website...

tim-ater said:
@ Phil: If you haven't yet decided, I'd pick openmind commerce, as they are genuinely very good and from the looks of it, quite easy to edit store front and back CMS.
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It's not easy to edit the backend CMS, as mentioned before this is coded in Coldfusion, and editing this may cause problems with the site and future updates/upgrades to the install.

tim-ater said:
It also comes with statistics, but does cost £300 to buy a license. I've just pitched this to my client for double that amount and they've agreed, so it's worth a try.
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I would be careful in posting your quotes on the forums Tim, I would also be sure you know the full specifications back to front and inside out before jumping into a decision to go with one setup. It really is worth the extra time to ensure you get the right system, as you know from your own experiences I'm sure, what the client thinks are small changes can be huge amounts of work on an e-commerce site, and perhaps not even possible once you commit to one e-commerce system.

Thanks,
Greg
 
Thanks Greg, I'll take a more in depth look at OMC.

Jaz. Thanks for those links. The first one is brilliant and I came across this:

Freeway - OpenSourceCMS

From the demo it looks promising, ease of use, CMS, product manager and can easily change templates with html/css. I'll have a fiddle with it later.

As for google/paypal etc. Im currently using paypal on a website now that I am building for an ecommerce solution (less than 100 products). And for that its fine as I am going to be updating it but I want to offer an ecommerce solution that the client can take on.

THanks to everyone - and keep the suggestions coming.

Will let you know how my investigation comes on.

Phil
 
No problems Phil, look forward to hearing how you get on, will be interesting to know which way the project goes.

Thanks,
Greg
 
I've been looking at this for quite a while really, had to decide between RomanCart and this for my current clients, and this looks like the genuine best option.

I'll edit that post in a minute too, as I didn't mean backend was easy to edit, i actually meant easy to navigate and sort through and find stats, etc. I wouldn't change the backend as that'd probably be a waste of time when I could be spending it on storefront.
 
@Greg: editing the backend wouldnt be something that I would need to do...the client can live with that for ease of use and cost!

@Tim: I might give romancart a go at a later date but for now im going to look into Freeway - OpenSourceCMS and Openmind next week.
 
Cool, just wanted to be sure you was clear on that Tim, as I wouldn't want you to have problems later down the line. Try the demo's on these sites and get your clients to try them as well if possible, and one key area I had with my e-commerce site was the delivery options for products, make sure you are 100% certain on how delivery prices will work on every type of product available, and how this changes with multiple products, discounts, offers, etc, etc.

Good luck to you both!
Greg
 
That's cool Greg, I know you weren't doing it to have a go at me, it's cool :D

I'll check out the demos of others, but I think the ease of editting (or the ability more like) the store front, would be the best idea, and they really need an easy CMS that doesn't mean I have to explain every single thing to them!
 
Sounds like it could be a good option in that case then. If they're looking for the most cost effective solution I would really keep your front end design as simple as possible, the default layout structure for OMC is actually quite good, so with some simple design changes using basic CSS you should be able to deliver quite a nice little site.

I've just e-mailed Phil from OMC to see if he gets a chance to come along to the forums and take a look over this thread, just to make sure I haven't got anything wrong!

Thanks,
Greg
 
Sorry Phil, I meant Phil from Openmind Commerce, I've sent him an e-mail to see if he gets a chance to take a quick look over this thread :)
 
And as if by magic ;)

I'm Phil and I own Open Minded Solutions, the company behind Open Mind Commerce.

Greg is pretty much on the money with this one in that the system is very simpe to skin and requires a few edits on the template files to get the look right. The other really nice aspect is that is completely white label so you can brand the work as your own if you wish.

However..

He is also dead right in that getting the client spec. right is absolutely critical in the planning stages as clients as we all know are avid football fans and love to move goal posts ;) In Gregs client case, he threw a curve ball after the site was launched which left a problem to fill. Had the client given Greg the full picture before it kicked off then life would have been easier.

Yes the system is coded in ColdFusion but if you know PHP, you will not have major issues with CF as it is a tag based language that is very similar in logic to PHP. The front end of the system code can be changed to your hearts content but the admin area is encrypted.

One thig to bear in mind is that when we send out upgrades to the system it may overwrite files you have changed. You do need to take care therefore and use a program such as Winmerge to compare the files and merge in the changes if required.

It should be noted though that upgrades only contain changed files so if you know the files you have edited are not in the changes then you're good to upgrade immeadiatly.

As for the OP, take a look at our demo and apply for a 30 day trial install. You will get FTP access with the trial so you can really get into the system to find out how it works. You can also email me the clients spec sheet and I'll go through it in detail and let you know if anything is not supported (yet)

The system is undergoing constant change and you can see what's coming up at the road map and change log here:

Roadmap - Open Mind Commerce Bug Tracker
Change Log - Open Mind Commerce Bug Tracker

If you have any questions or comments then please do give me a shout :)
 
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