Setting up a shop on the web

[Ding Dang Doo]

Okay,

so, in my boredom yesterday, I decided that the only way to get out of this little rut, was to give myself a few projects to run.

I've been thinking for a while about sorting out an online shop for the items we sell at work. (We manufacture ventellation ductwork).

There aren't many people offereing the service online, even better, we specialise in a certain type - so this could give us an advantage.

So, my question is - what is the best way to get this going? Is it something I could do myself - what software would I need etc? Or am I gonig to be totally out of my league and should look at getting it sorted professionally?

It doesn't have to include online ordering to start off with, but ideally this would be something I'd like to incorporate later, as a bolt on.

Your thoughts an opinions, as ever, mostly appreciated!

Pete

[Woz]

You can buy a few off the shelf packages- have a look at Aquanauts or Nackers for ideas. Alternatively look at doing your own PHP/SQL site as it's pretty straight forward.

To accept online payments, the realtime stuff is expensive. If you already have a Streamline machine then have a look at mals-e.com for a free low volume answer where your customer's details are stored on a secure server and you login to download them then enter the details on your machine manually.

Go-Dive use mals-e as their processing system.

[bigfeller]

I'm messing about with this at the moment
osCommerce: Solutions

Seems simple enough to get running but will know more in a couple of days.

Best of all - it's free!!

[Ding Dang Doo]

Thanks guys...

this OScommerce thingie looks pretty straightforwards... only thing is - this is me being forever the sceptic... how is this sort of thing free?

'There is no such thing as a free lunch' - or is there?

Pete

[chrisch]

No, nothing free. Cold fusion is a good way to integrate database stock items into a W3 front. The best setup will give real-time stock levels and so on. As Woz says getting online payments is not an easy task and if you want to allow account customers to pay through the normal trade route that's more work too. All of which is why there probably isn't much else out there

Since you say the eCommerce bit might be a later bolt on do you really need it? What do your customers think? That's where I would start (being a marketing research consultant I guess though that's what you would expect me to say ) If you just want to set up a "shop window" that is much easier and may be a good thing. Remember though it is just like any other advertising its not cheap if it is to work. You need to optimise the site so search engines find you first. There's a lot of bandwidth on how to do that if you google for it.

Personally I think its a job best left to the experts. I've tried a few sites and they look shit. My missus did an HTML course at night school and her stuff looks shit as well.

What you can do though is spec. the thing out and take loads of good quality digital photos that show off the product well. Make sure to take photos of the product at client's premises in situ and ask if they mind being named on the site (links to their W3 help with this).

Also write some copy about the product and this will help with the content. If you are not a skilled copywriter you might want to get a consultant in (again its not an easy thing to do without some previous experience and practice).

Think long and hard about what you want to say and why. Then look at as many other sites as you can and pinch all the best ideas.

There you go - still bored??

I would estimate that probably fewer that 8% of websites actually achieve anything at all. Of those at least half (probably three quarters) actually discourage customers rather than encourage them. There's an awful lot of shite out there.

Chris

[lloydwatkin]

Probably the easiest way is to use ZenCart, it's a customised version of osCommerce, and most out there would say better than its parent.

Quite easy to install, it's free, has a huge support forum and add-ons for any sort of thing you could imagine.

It's a case of downloading zip, unzipping, upload to server, create a database user (on mysql), feed install script username, password, and mysql server address (install is nice easy online script), and bang all done. Different payment systems are integrated too

Twenty minutes to play with the options and start getting some products on. Install a new skin (as the defaults on all the products are ugly), and away you go

Lloyd

[Ding Dang Doo]

Whoa, guys...

think I've got to do a bit of reading up on this before I go any further....

Is there a decent 'Idiots Guide' to all of the lingo you boys are rolling off?

I've had a quick peep at PHP / SQL but need to know a bit more I think!

This ZenCart thing looks like a good idea... and eay(ish) but I think I've got to read up and understand the mechanics of it a bit more before launching in the the unknown.

[lloydwatkin]

The joy of ZenCart and osCommerce is that you don't really need to know any mysql or php at all. The best thing to do I would guess is to install ZenCart or osCommerce and have a tinker with the options within the software. No coding needed!

Lloyd