Content Management System
eBay to build X.Commerce platform
EBay has been acquiring a number of e-commerce companies recently with a view to build its own e-commerce platform – X.Commerce. In May 2011, EBay acquired the rest of e-commerce platform Magento, which it previously had a 49 percent stake in. On June 17, 2011, EBay Completed Acquisition of E-commerce Service Provider GSI.
eBay is building a broader commerce operating system that spans online, mobile, social and local with a view to be the go-to resource for online and offline retailers, helping connect them to consumers.
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WordPress as Ecommerce Platform
WordPress as Ecommerce Platform, WordPress as Ecommerce CMS, WordPress Free Ecommerce CMS, WordPress Open Source Ecommerce CMS.
WordPress is emerging as one the most popular Content Management System (CMS) for bloggers. However, WordPress is increasingly used for Ecommerce Solutions. As someone say, “What other CMS can do, WordPress can do!”. In this article, I want to point out some advantages and disadvantages of using Wordpress as an Ecommerce Platform:
Advantages
Easy to manage
WordPress Dasboard is very simple to use in comparision to Joomla or any other CMSs. Anyone can easily install a WordPress site using Fantastico scripts on the control panel of their hosting provider. Using the system to create a Post or Page is again a very simple. This makes it very appealing for users that don’t like complicated systems .Additionally, sites created using WordPress offering a “add content and publish” facility would require less maintenance if the site was going to be administered by someone else. Handing a WordPress site to a client could theoretically result in the number of support calls being reduced. Wouldn’t that be great?
More over, it’s easy to make amendments to the header or footer and having direct access to the PHP via the Themes editor. This is very powerful as it means site wide changes can be made very quickly. It would be very simple to place products in the sidebar, for example.
Search Engine Friendly
Looking at the source code of the default WordPress template, you can see that the posts automatically are positioned at the top and the navigation comes at the bottom. In terms of an underlying site structure, this is ideal site. This pretty much follows the CSS Zen Garden philosophy of using stylesheets to separate style from content in order to create visually fantastic sites.As the default WordPress template is more or less already screen reader/accessibility friendly, with a few minor modifications it could realistically be made to be fully SEO’d.
Since WordPress already “pings” and search engines love this, then why not cut out the middle man?Were there any good technical reasons why it shouldn’t be done?Surely any new products would get “discovered” more quickly than if they were placed on a normal static html driven website that would be spidered by the likes of Google… well, eventually? Why waste time waiting?
Powerful Plugins
Playing with the Adsense Deluxe plugin I found that I no longer used this for AdSense, it is possible to use it for inserting near enough any bit of code that you need to place in certain positions on a site. For example, using it to display newsletter opt-in box on the sidebar could mean that these controls are accessible within the Admin interface instead of having to amend the PHP files. You can imagine the implications of creating individual product “boxes” to be used across the site – having one central location to make an amend to several instances across a site is very powerful indeed!
(To be continued…)
Top 10 Free E-Commerce CMS
E-commerce has grown into one of the most feasible ways to establish a market presence. For those already reining the market it’s a channel for cheaper and more efficient distribution chain for products services. There are a good number of firms who have tasted success with eCommerce. Especially the Open source e-commerce applications are being largely used to fillip businesses. The whole game is how to fit the ecommerce app to your.
1. Magneto - For user as well as admin, this software has some strong features to support e-commerce. It allows multiple stores to be managed from a single admin interface.
Magneto is one of the best free E-commerce CMS
2. OXID esales – This open source e-commerce system is ready for B2C, B2B and social commerce scenarios.
3. Prestashop - What attracts most is it’s sleek interface. With this open source you can create special deals such as gift vouchers, price reductions, tag products.
4. osCommerce - t is one of the oldest free e-commerce apps that offer several marketing options and supports most of the payment system. This multilingual and SEO friendly app works with PHP/MySQL.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv227/haiwasnm/ScreenShot00477.jpg
5. Digistore - This is developed from the osCommerce engine with improvements in front end and admin of app. It provides a platform for selling physical & virtual goods.
6. OpenCart - This PHP – MySQL shopping cart system is simple-looking application but it has all the must-have features.
7. Freeway - This app has some innovative ideas for selling. It’s can be used to sell a guitar lesson or rent a tennis court on a given date and time.
8. Zen Cart – It’s a free and compatible open source shopping cart software. Developed by a group of shop owners, programmers, designers and consultants.
9. Ecommr - This app offers the website presenting interface and design elements of e-commerce websites in a categorized way.
10. Spree - Another ecommerce platform using Ruby on Rails. Spree allows improvement and customization. With the Active Merchant plugin it supports most of the payment processors.
Some popular Open-source ecommerce programs
We did what’s known in the world of the Internet as a “classic treasure hunt” usability test: we tried to find all of the above vital information as quickly as possible from the top OSC providers. The results are timed, and the sites with the most information found in the least amount of time are deemed to be the best.
A summary of each Web site in this classic web treasure hunt is as follows:
Cube Cart
“What is Cube Cart?” is answered on the home page, neatly and succinctly. Excellent features list accessible from home page. Excellent screen shots are also available you rech them from a link called “Demo” and there is no working demo on that page for the Admin. There is a page of technical requirements and compatible Web hosts, but I had to do a Google search to find the page.
An online user manual is also available. The company offers paid support, but it is nearly impossible to find out about it. A potential customer must click a link called “ordering system” at the bottom of a paragraph on the support page, register as a customer, activate the account via e-mail before logging in. Apparently then the potential customer will receive information on pricing for support packages.
CRE Loaded
No concise description of the product, so potential customers must already know what the program is before they arrive at the site. The home page is written with heavy e-commerce lingo; it’s a veritable paradise for Buzzword Bingo fans (where he who gathers the most buzzwords wins). One screenshot of the storefront is included on the home page. A features list is sorted by version number, which is good for existing customers but confusing to potential new customers.
The company markets three versions of their program to three different target markets, although the home page only mentions two of the versions. A requirements page is accessible from the products or the support section, but not from the home page. Support is well-packaged with “10 incident” easy-to-buy packs directly from the makers, as long as you know what “SLA” means. The support has a Service Level Agreement (turn-around time for incidents) of two business days via email and live chat. A user manual is available on the site and on Amazon.com.
Magento Commerce
Magento Commerce is the second place winner of the treasure hunt. What’s not to love about a site that has product page that lists nearly everything a potential customer could want – features list with screenshots, exactly who the product is for, working demos of both the storefront and the Admin back end. The commercial enterprise edition of the program at $8,900 per year includes support with a one-day response time. An official user manual ebook is available on the site and a third-party user manual paperback is available from Amazon.com.
Minor quibbles include: no concise description that answers a potential customer’s most important question, “what is Magento?” and second place for Buzzword Bingo for tech jargon on the home page. System Requirements must be reached through a “Resources” menu. Paid support for the open source version should be much easier to find; instead it is three levels down from the home page via “Partners – Find a Partner – Solutions Partners.”
osCommerce Online Merchant
A brief description of the product is included on the home page, assuming that the business person knows what “GNU Public License” means. Ample screenshots are available on the product’s home page under “Solutions”. No mention of who the product is suited for, which is somewhat alarming given that the features list on the Solutions page leads in with, “although osCommerce is still in its development stage…” Minimum requirements are listed on the same page. No working Admin demos.
No paid official support; support is available from free discussion forums only by clicking the “Community” link and then “Community forums.” No official manual, but many different manuals are available including for programmers, designers, and users on Amazon.com.
The osCommerce Project
The home page contains a description of the project, but not a concise description of the product. A potential customer must know what osCommerce is to know that this is a fork of the original osCommerce. No features list, screen shots, specification or who this product is for. No working Admin demos. No support link; support is available from free discussion forums only by clicking the “Community Forum ” link. No official manual, but manuals written for osCommerce Online Merchant should cover 99 percent of this program.
osC-MAX
“What is osCMAX?” is answered on the home page. A list of features is included on the product’s main page. No screenshots or who the product is for. Requirements are mentioned on the “Download” page. A user manual is available from the left column of every page.
PrestaShop
The winner in the treasure hunt contest: everything a potential customer needs was located in a mere seven minutes! Concise description and screenshot of the product on the home page written in plain language. Good features list. Screenshots of both storefront and Admin back end on the Showcase page, along with the working demo of the Admin. No direct support, although in the free forums the names of Prestashop team members who are logged into the forum are prominently displayed along with their photos. No official or third-party manuals as of press time, though several are promised.
The only faux pas: the PrestaShop company does support its product with service and consulting, however this information is available only from the footer link “Prestashop services” which leads to the company’s Web site in French only.
Zen Cart
A concise description of the product on the home page, but that’s it – no demos, screenshots, description of who it is for, pricing, or support. Hello! A comprehensive programmers manual is endorsed on the Web site, and a third-party user manual is available on Amazon.com. A features list can be found by going to the tutorials/FAQ section, and then doing a site search for the word “features.”