How to set up Ecommerce?

samjacksondesign

Senior Member
Hey,

I am unfamiliar with Ecommerce. I have a new business venture and i am looking at having an Ecommerce site.

is this something that can be done with HTML, JS etc or do i need proper software.

Can someone advise me on what i need to do please:)

Many Thanks,

Sam:)
 
Invest in a good e-ecommerce package, you will only need one in the future if the product/services takes off.
 
You could build it in Wordpress then use Shopp or wp e-commerce or something like that.
 
If it's a serious business venture then invest in a decent e-commerce platform, as Geoff recommended, it will save you a huge amount of headaches and problems down the line, especially if the package you use is built for the task, eg. for a UK shop, a UK based package.
 
Use Open Mind commerce. I used them and the software is great and easy to use. They are on here. There is a link on the forum home page. and its fully customisable using html, css etc
 
Look in to Joomla and Virtuemart if you want a CMS / Cart, if your looking for a top E-com look at Xcart.
 
Greg said:
If it's a serious business venture then invest in a decent e-commerce platform, as Geoff recommended, it will save you a huge amount of headaches and problems down the line, especially if the package you use is built for the task, eg. for a UK shop, a UK based package.

Can we recommend a good e-commerce platform?
 
Can you afford to employ a company or freelance team to do it? What's the venture by the way?

Best solution depends on your requirements, one may be good for a certain type of e-shop and another for another type...
 
Jeff.P said:
Look in to Joomla and Virtuemart if you want a CMS / Cart, if your looking for a top E-com look at Xcart.
If you can't build it yourself I would back this. :)

Personally look into the top 3 solutions yourself and see which one best suits your needs, as people will only recommend the one's they use and know the system inside and out, so if they recommend it its a good thing especially if multiple people recommend the same solution. :)
 
Basically its a womens clothing company. I have previously run several Ebay stores and am looking at doing it properly.

Just i am no expert when it comes to Ecommerce etc.

Cheers:)
 
I would advise investing in Magento e-commerce Platform, its worth it, as it will give you all the features and tools for you to manage and rund your online e-commerce business. Its a very powerful and probably one of the best e-commerce platform out.
 
Look in to Joomla and Virtuemart if you want a CMS / Cart, if your looking for a top E-com look at Xcart.

I built my ecommerce website using Joomla and Virtuemart, I want to experiment with wordpress and wp-ecommerce but as for Joomla and Virtuemart Iw as thoroughly impressed...

- the bought a template and reskinned it
- the website is connected to Sage Line 50 - one of the biggest accounting/stock systems so all stock that is on the physical shop is correct on the website too
- theres a wide choice of payment gateways that are fairly easy to set up
- postage can be a nightmare I found but once I;de discovered the right thing for me its pretty simple...

The add-ons you can get for it help a great deal - £16 for a voucher add-on that adds a great deal of functionality to the existing coupon feature. Blog add-ons, reskins of the shopping cart and more...

I'd recommend it, but be prepared to learn from your mistakes along the way!
 
I have used OSCommerce, which is building from scratch - i found it quite touch to get on with as a beginner - but it worked - this site i built: Pickup Parts: Second Series using OSCommerce and with a bit of help from people in the know.

There are plenty of open source (free) web platforms, such as Drupal and some hosting companies set up databases for you (click and create style form, which you can create your database) making it easier to get on the web - It also depends on how many products you have?

The shop connects through paypal for payments too, so there is only small paypal fees to pay.

There are plenty of discussions on the web too giving pros and cons for the various different options.
 
Thanks Iain:)

I will try sourcing this. Just i think i tried a while ago and well... i was pulling hairs out:)

Maybe a second attempt is in order:)

Cheerios,

Sam
 
Although megento is a very very good system its also has a massive footprint, you will need a mid to high range dedicated server to get the best out of it, so if you go megento forget shared hosting.
 
For a simple solution I highly recommend the Wordpress/Shopp Combo. I've used it a couple of times now and it's fairly straightforward to set up and customize (if you know XHTML/CSS and have a bit of PHP experience). If it's for a big name client with a very large product catalog I'd probably go down the Magento route.
 
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