8 replies to this topic

[yuccadude]

Has anyone recently did a review of shopping carts that are currently available?

Things that need to be considered are:

1) Locally Hosted apps. Compiled vs PHP vs APS vs ?

2) Remotely Hosted on another domain.

3) The two above as to their being search engine friendly or not.

4) Ease of use for both Non-Programmers vs Programmers

etc.

[gstark]

Cool Yucca, I was asking which forum to start this discussion in elsewhere.

I am currently using AbleCommerce (a Cold Fusion solution) and also am looking for a next generation answer.

I want to keep the hosting so that question doesn't apply.

I am looking at OSCommerce and want to hear from users regarding its inate SEO abilities. I have just started the process though and have not done much more than read some of the nice sales info at http://oscommerce.org/

Let's definitely keep this thread going until we get some clarity.

[Randy]

Here are some other threads about the subject of shopping carts you might find useful.

http://www.highranki...?showtopic=3673

http://www.highranki...?showtopic=3133

http://www.highranki...?showtopic=1677

As to your specific questions Yuccadude, the only answer I can give is It Depends.

Depends upon what you need the cart to do for you; how much flexibility you need; how much you would like to spend in both the short and long term; and how comfortable you are with tweaking code.

I prefer hosting the cart myself because I like the control over everything it gives me. Unless you go the freebie route (ie osCommerce) those typically cost more up front. And sometimes you will need to tweak the underlying code a bit to make them as search engine friendly as possible.

Others I know prefer the Hosted solution where the cart sits on someone else's server/domain. Those are typically easier to use out of the box and cost less at start up, but the monthly fees can add up over time. Many hosted solutions come with the billing solutions built into them, so that's an expense you don't have up front either, but they take a little cut with every sale and some make you wait a couple of weeks to get your money.

The potential downsides with hosted solutions is that you need to make sure before signing on the dotted line that they are indeed search engine friendly. The same issues (Session ID's and/or Cookies being required) apply to both. But with a remotely hosted cart you have no access to the code, so no way to fix it after the fact.

As far as what language the cart is written in, that one is a matter of personal taste as far as I'm concerned. Lately it seems a lot more carts are being constructed with PHP-MySQL, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're any better. Just that there are more PHP scripters these days than there are CFM scripters. If you're going to dig into the code just make sure the cart is in a language you're comfortable with.

[yuccadude]

Thanks QStark. I'll need to look into http://oscommerce.org/

Thanks as well to Randy: I'll peruse those other threads for info.

I though that I had read somewhere (probably in one of those threads) that someone was doing a comparison of shopping carts, prices, features, reviews, integrational capabilities, etc. of both the self hosted and the remote hosted packages.

If it were me, (and it might be some day) I'd roll my own with either ASP or PHP with either a SQL Server or MySQL backend. Then I could control everything!

Since this is for a client, I wanted to make sure that I do a little research. There currently using an older version of StoreFront and None, nada, zilch of their product pages are indexed in the SE's.

I'm just looking for a comparison chart. Most of my clients are either Fortune 100 or just small Mom & Pops. I'm primarily looking for all options to give them a choice, but looking for a good, inexpensive and easy to implement solution. IE: One they could start off with a wysiwyg editor, like FrontPage, put price, code, shipping cots and do the CC transactions and email the order to them.

But I want it to be able to grow, as they do, to integrate (upload) it with some accounting software like QuickBooks or PeachTree, etc. and even further.

MUST BE SE FRIENDLY!

[Randy]

ahhh...could you be thinking of the article by Haystack that is linked from This Thread Yucca?

I'd forgotten all about that one til you mentioned it being a comparison of some different cart options.

You'll notice towards the end of that thread that Grumpus also has a cart in development. IMO you can count on that one being as SE Friendly as humanly possible. Yes, you can trust that I'll be giving it a whirl as soon as Grumpus tells us it's ready for testing.

[GedePasek]

I have written a se friendly one.

bali-handicraft.indexnl.com/ - Bali Handicraft

Don't worry about the sids, they are removed when bots are coming by.

No cookies, no javascript.

[Live Link removed per guidelines.]

Edited by Randy, 21 February 2004 - 09:59 AM.

[Randy]

Welcome GedePasek !

I've removed the live link to your cart per the forum guidelines. But thanks for posting about it! I noted that the link goes to a storefront using your software, but didn't see anything there detailing the cart or the ability to purchase/download it.

If you have that info up anywhere I'm sure folks would be interested in taking a look. You can put a link to it in your Signature if you would like as you can have two lines in your sig.

[GedePasek]

My Excuses for not following the guidelines, its in my sig now.

On the shop itself there is a link to my main website.

Its not for download, every client gets a personal package including SEO.

[SEO-Richard]

Computer shopper at http://www.computershopper.co.uk/ did a survey of e-shops in Dec 03. Here's a summary of their results. The site's in frames, so I can't give a better bookmark. Search for any of these products, and look for results in the lab section. They're more comprehensive than the reviews given here. Sorry I can't post any more information but it would contravene copyright guidelines, though I have waded through the site and copied out the full reviews if anyone's interested and wants to PM

Richard

3D3.COM ShopFactory
RATING 5
PRICE: £199 (inc VAT)
SUPPLIER: Shopfactory
PROS: Easy to use
CONS: No database support





Shop@ssistant
RATING:4
PRICE: £234 (inc VAT)
SUPPLIER: Shop@ssistant
PROS: Very customisable



Actinic Catalog
RATING:5
PRICE: £445 (inc VAT)
SUPPLIER: Actinic
PROS: Easy to use and very flexible
CONS: Needs an ISP that supports Perl CGI



BazaarBuilder
RATING: 3
PRICE: £116 (inc VAT per annum)
SUPPLIER: Surenames Internet Solutions
PROS: Very easy to use and includes hosting
CONS: Limited to small stores





Shop in a Book
RATING:2
PRICE: £50 (inc VAT)
SUPPLIER: UKShop
PROS: Inexpensive and easy to use
CONS: Doesn't handle sales tax, stock control or customer accounts




SmartStore.biz Startup Edition
RATING:4
PRICE: €173 (inc VAT around £120)
SUPPLIER: SmartStore
PROS: Supports uploading and downloading of product databases
CONS: No customer accounts





WebTrader
RATING:2
PRICE: £587 (per annum)
SUPPLIER: Sage
PROS: Order processing using Sage Line
CONS: Expensive; manual catalogue creation